Trekking in Europe for Seniors

Time of year? That may play a big part in recommdations

Figure summer, but I'm good down to below freezing and up to 100F. But because of other scheduling issues, I'd be going sometime from May to September.

Do you know about the Cicerone guidebooks? British publishers and have a wide range of walking books covering the British Isles and Europe. https://www.cicerone.co.uk/books

Everywhere you have suggested is good - if your preference is for France or Italy just be aware of the higher temps in summer. No bad choices - what about one of the caminos in Spain/Portugal?

We are headed out to do western Ireland for a 6 day self guided walk in September. We are using a company that books the inns and baggage and gives us the route. We have already done Hadrians Wall and the Menalon trail in the Peloponnese.
Are you interested in something like that which are self guided walks? Or do you want to do day hikes etc.? There are also guided walks. More expensive. The others are available with a single supplement.
Personally we hike on every vacation, some more than others. We seek out hikes. There is some work to do in that. Even for day hikes of any consequence. For a self guided hike, we like the day after day goal of getting from one inn to another without having to plan all the sequential nights and the path along the way. Planning the sequential nights is the most tedious. As all may be planning OK and then the third night there is nothing available. So then you are stuck. Where will you stay? Another town 10 miles away? You probably don’t want to walk an additional 10 miles at the end of your hike, and then 10 miles back in the AM to resume the trail.
I would say start with Macs Adventures for a general overview of what may be trails you are interested in. Then you can narrow it down to country. Macs is a bit more $$ than some others but it is a starting point.
As for your south of France there is the entire Stevenson trail or you can go the north of south haves.
PS we are 70 and 73 y/0.

You could choose an appropriate leg of the Camino de Santiago. Maybe the Camino Inglés or the Camino Finisterre. A week would involve 15-20 km per day, or 10-12 miles. There's plenty of support for those making the walk, and decent food and lodging along the way. It's most meaningful to Roman Catholics, but I know non-Catholics who've enjoyed it greatly.

Your comments and advice have been extraordinarily helpful. Thank you. I look forward to being able make my own contributions, since it will mean that I will have completed a journey or two.

Much of your advice has guided me to refine my goals. In response to treemoss2, I realize that I'm a point-to-point kind of guy: out-and-backs and day hikes don't appeal to me as much as enjoying both the journey and the destination. I know that, back in the day, people wandered the Cotswolds, Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands, and other areas, crossing both public and private land, and staying in quaint pubs at night. Is that still a thing? Ramblin' On's recommendation of the Cicerone series seems to suggest that it is, and that there are appealing routes all over Europe. That's the kind of trip I'm trying to put together. In my narrow perspective as a backpacker, I see the difference as being one of evening accommodation: pubs and inns instead of campfires and tents. Have I got this right?

When I first started exploring a trek when my lovely wife announced her Viking cruise plans, I dreamed up doing the Mont Blanc loop and then walking back to Paris (although it may be easier on the knees to go the other direction). Who's with me??!! My phone says it will take about six days from Chamonix to Paris: about 350 miles. The problem is that I don't know the territory: the walking route seems complex, and I don't have enough French to overcome my inevitable wrong turns.

So, some kind of organized trek along a familiar route seems in the cards. Jphbucks has made the valuable suggestion of a Camino such as the Santiago. I've run across these in my research, but my impression is that Caminos fall into the broad category of pilgrimages. Am I wrong about that? As important as my personal faith is (Protestant), such a journey is not as high a priority as communing with nature and acquainting myself with rural areas. I celebrate my Maker's natural creations. A cool climate would be my first choice, which I know drives both location and time of year.

So, at the risk of boring you and losing your valuable advice, can you suggest point-to-point treks? Treemoss2's suggestion of the Stevenson trail is an excellent example.

Again, many thanks for your help and advice! I look forward to antagonizing you all with my trek stories!

At the risk of information overload here are details of long-distance paths in England & Wales and Scotland

Most people who walk the Caminos do so because of the walk, not because of any religious desire

It can be overwhelming so maybe focus on a country and take it from there.

Some companies that can organise things for you.
https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/
https://www.contours.co.uk/
https://www.inntravel.co.uk/walking-holidays

I believe the Camino in Spain part would be a hike mostly along dirt or paved roads and probably a lot more people than I would want to see on a hike. However it may be a hike you can wing it more so than others, since it caters to that copious amount of travelers.
I admire your assessment of walking 350 to Paris in 6 days. But am skeptical. You must be in shape at a rate of 60 miles a day.
Your rambling around notes are fraught with logistical problems, unless you are going for day hikes, out and back. Town to town is seemingly easy, until you may find that the towns are hamlets and few places to stay to stay, much less on a show up and book itinerary. Then you have to plot your path and obtain the relevant maps. That can be a large problem.
Our Ireland hike is planned by a company. Maybe we are paying 25% more than doing it ourselves. It is worth it to us. Try and find a trek for yourself and then start putting together all the elements involved. Try something already existing. Such as Hadrians Wall path or the Coast to Coast England. Try your hand at these as they are popular. See if all the maps and stays come together. Have at it. If you see the more obscure treks, as in the Balkans, then you can try there also. I am a planner and have investigated the work involved in even the shorter treks and IMHO it is better to let an experience company handle all that work,

HF Holidays was mentioned above. We like this UK company and will be trekking around Lago Maggiore with them next month.

They do have a guided inn-to-inn walk along the Camino di Santiago, covering the last 70 miles into Santiago—-which they describe as the most scenic stretch. Dates for 2025 are not out yet. This year’s 2 remaining treks, in September, are fully booked.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/camino-de-santiago?format=pdf&vid=6

This link is for a few treks in Austria but other parts of the website include a variety of different types of treks you might also find interesting. https://www.moonhoneytravel.com/trekking-austria/
Also, try tyrol.com and the website for the state of Carinthia. The website for the Austrian Alpine Club (OAV) also has a lot of options: https://www.alpenverein.at/index.php. Look at the trails and huts tab. There are hut-to-hut treks in the Alps that run a spectrum of effort levels and distances. You could look for a portion of the Adlerweg or Alpe-Adria trail that fits your interests/ability/time constraints. Have fun!

I was going to recommend one of the Camino routes, either through Spain or Portugal. It is far less religious than you might imagine. Lots of different religions or non-religious people walking. I fall into the latter category and have never felt out of place. There are lots of companies that can help you organize this.
My favorite part is walking from Burgos to Leon, but also enjoy walking over the Pyranees or along the coast from Porto.

If you plan on going alone in an area unknown to you, I suggest you use a GPS wayfinder app. I use OutdoorActive, but there are others.

You plan your trip at home on your computer (easier on a large screen) and download the route to your smartphone, then you can get directions on the screen and in your ears. Or you can use one of the houndreds of public routes made by others - maybe there is one where you want to go.

Personally I have had to admit that I am to old to carry my luggage, so I have used Contour walking (mentioned earlier) and been very satisfied. They plan the route, book accommodation and arrange transport of luggage.

I hope you have a fantastic walk/hike/trek/vacation

Not all the online walking guides are useful in areas where cell service is spotty--and they vary in their usefulness in the first place. We walked the Cotswold Way last year with paper maps and directions in two different guidebooks. Leaving one village we saw a lady get lost--twice--before she even got out of the village. She was relying on an online guide that wasn't very good in that area. We "adopted" her for the day, and a couple other times the next few days when she got lost on the route, so I would advise an old-school backup if using an online resource.

Both Switzerland and Germany offer a number of "Hiking without Luggage" types of loose tours. If interested, google 'Wandern ohne Gepaeck."
Usually, of variable durations.
They provide suggested hikes, and book non-luxury village B&B's for you.
They convey the luggage to your next destination by van. Where you enjoy dinner and a sleep.

Wow. I'm almost overwhelmed by these generous and helpful suggestions and recommendations. I need to sit down and focus on this trip. I'm still leaning toward the Mont Blanc loop. I worry a bit that it has become crowded, sort of like the Appalachian Trail gets sometimes, especially in peak season. For those who have done the Mont Blanc, have you had any such experience?

We hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc as a guided hike with MT Sobek in 2018. The trails were not at all crowded, but some of the Refugios where we stopped for lunch were quite busy. This was an “inn-to-inn” trip, not staying overnight in Refugio’s (which are too rustic for my husband).

The TMB may have become more popular since then, especially post-pandemic. I am sure advance reservations are necessary, whether you intend to overnight in huts or inns.

There are companies that will set up a “self=guided” trip for the TMB, with hut reservations, maps, and maybe baggage transport. A friend of ours, who is a very experience and strong hiker, used Distant Journeys for this. She said they had trouble with route-finding. In some places, but apart from getting boost a few times it was fine.

If you are thinking of going solo, I highly recommend you consider a guided trip for safety reasons. Melting of glaciers on Mont Blanc and nearby peaks has led to landslides and route changes along with the closure of some climbing routes on the mountain. Even on our trip 6 years ago, a rockslide closed a section of trail that we were to hike from Courmayeur italy into Switzerland. The guides figured out an alternate route for us, but I wondered what people hiking on their own did about this. There have been instances of hikers inadvertently taking a closed trail and being killed by a subsequent landslide (I think this was in Italy and not on the actual TMB but nor far away).

Our guide on that trip works for the local Chamonix Guides association, and they offer low-cost guided hikes of varying length on the TMB. You might have a look:

https://www.chamonix-guides.com/en/activites?field_dates_de_depart_value=&categorie=653&niveau_de_difficulte=All&field_duree_du_sejour_value=5.5&duree_max=12&field_tarifs_from=0&field_tarifs_to=3500&destination=All

We spent last month in southern France, including in Cauterets, a spa town in the Pyrenees. The Tour de France bike race came close by this year (a treat!), and we did hiking on many trails in the area over several days, but not a point-to-point trek. France has lots or established, numbered, Grand Randonee “Big Trekking” routes. The one through the awesome Pyrenees is the GR10. We saw, and talked to, several GR10 trekkers. Many had sizable backpacks, not just daypacks, so probably weren’t having their luggage simply forwarded to each night’s lodging. But they were likely carrying their pack from one guesthouse/hotel to the next, and not setting up a campsite. Restaurants are easier and better than eating just energy bars and reconstituted freeze-dried meals!

We walked the Hadrian’s Wall path, west to east, in 2017. A service took our bags from B&B to B&B, and we used daypacks and trekking poles during the day. Fascinating museums, Roman engineering, and great pubs along the way. Do prepare for rain, though!

Wherever you decide to go, thought I'd pass along that the AllTrails website (and app for smartphone) worked well for us everywhere we tried it in Europe. The reviews of trail conditions, degree of difficulty, etc. might be helpful to you for individual legs of your notional multi-day trek.