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NEW – Called the Garden of Eden or, for German speakers, Garten Eden, the Alpe Adria Trail is 750 kilometres long. It begins in Austria at the base of that country’s highest Alp (or Alpe), crosses into Slovenia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) and then enters and leaves and enters Italy before arriving at the Adriatic Sea (or Adria) near Trieste.

Divided into 37 stages ranging in distance from 11km to 28km, it’s a challenging route for flatlanders like me. But it’s well marked, has great trail information, including a GPX version and if you book it through the Alpe Adria site (https://www.alpe-adria-trail.com/en/the-trail/), there is just about always someone at the end of the phone to help you out should you need it. And that someone is more likely than not to speak English.

And did I mention the views? Whoa. The views.

The Alpe Adria Trails is organized as a village-to-village trail so there are accommodations each night. Where I stayed ranged from incredible to great. Unlike some European hikes where you stay in mountain “huts” (there are two of those), I stayed in proper hotels and enjoyed great meals.

It’s not inexpensive to stay in a hotel every night for 37 nights, but the Alpe Adria Trail association makes booking your stays easy. Go online and you’ll see that all you need to do is fill in where you want to start, how many days you want to hike for and presto! up comes your booking including the cost. It’s extraordinary.

The route takes you through Austria for the first 21 days. It’s mountainous, but you look down on impossibly green valleys where you expect Maria to come waltzing along singing My Favourite Things. Speaking of favourites, my favourite hike was climbing the Julian Alps into Slovenia. It was among the toughest hikes, but the mountains were so close I thought I could touch them. Then the route took me along the turquoise Soca River and into Italy. Gradually, the Alps gave way to grape vines and a rolling landscape that led down to the sparkling Adriatic Sea.

I hiked the route starting in late August, finishing up on October 1. The weather was superb, and the trail was anything but crowded. Fortunately, I did meet some fellow hikers. Four of us finished the route together. We met up most days somewhere along the route. It was a perfect mix of being on my own and having good friends to share the trail with.

If you are looking for a gorgeous hike that is taxing, at least it taxed me, but is well organized and marked and offers overnight accommodations, then consider this trail. Meanwhile, I invite you to read about my experience and observe my whimsical illustrations.