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Multi-day hikes in Europe in autumn and winter: eight routes, October to March

By October most hut treks in Europe have shut. The GR20 refuges in Corsica were staffed until 4 October in 2026, and the huts on Kungsleden in Lapland closed on 13 September. Eight routes in the Treksup app still grade October to March as walking months, by their own month-by-month data: two islands in Spain, two trails in Portugal, an island in Scotland, the last week of the Camino, and two trails in Luxembourg and the Ardennes. Here is what each one is like in the dark half of the year, what closes, and where to check before you go.

The eight routes, month by month

Grades from the app: ideal and good mean the route works for most walkers that month; experienced only means it can be walked, but asks for winter skills or a careful plan.

RouteDays, distanceOctober to March in the app
GR221, Mallorca8 days, 136 kmGood October to January, ideal in February and March
GR 131, Lanzarote5 days, 71 kmGood in October, ideal November to March
Historical Way, Portugal4 days, 81 kmIdeal in October and March, good November to February
Fishermen’s Trail, Portugal4 days, 73 kmIdeal in October and March, good November to February
Camino Francés from Sarria6 days, 115 kmGood in every month
Mullerthal Trail, Luxembourg6 days, 111 kmGood in every month
Escapardenne, Luxembourg and Belgium5 days, 107 kmGood in October, November and March; experienced only December to February
Arran Coastal Way, Scotland8 days, 107 kmGood in October and March; experienced only November to February

Days and distances are the app’s stage plans. The grades are the app’s month-by-month conditions; each route’s own sources are listed at the foot of this page.

GR221 on Mallorca: the second season

The app treats October as the GR221’s second season, and lists it among the months when the refuge chains fill, alongside March to May. The refuges are run by the Consell de Mallorca and book through its one central system, night by night. The exception is night 1 at Coma d’en Vidal, which is let only as a whole refuge of 24 places, by phone.

What changes in winter: at Tossals Verds the door shuts at 22:00 from 1 November to 31 March, an hour earlier than in summer, by the Consell’s own refuge page. The weather risk is rain, not snow: the Tramuntana drains through steep stone torrents that flash-flood after autumn downpours. Never walk or camp in a torrent bed with rain forecast. AEMET publishes warnings for the Balearic Islands up to 72 hours ahead; pick Illes Balears in the region list, because the page opens on another region.

Consell de Mallorca, Camins de pedra AEMET, Balearic warnings

GR 131 on Lanzarote: winter is the season

On Lanzarote the walking season runs the other way round. The island winter, from about late December to late March, brings days of roughly 14 to 22 °C, and the strong trade winds blow far less often than in summer. June to September are the windiest and warmest months, and the path has no shade in any month. A calima, the dust wind from the Sahara, can arrive in any season, two or three times a year for two or three days.

What to watch: there is no hut system, only village hotels booked one by one, and wild camping is forbidden on the island. Teguise is the hard night. On 10 October 2026, for one night on 12 January 2027, two of three places checked there had no room and the third sold only two nights at a time, from €824. The ways round are bus line 7 to Arrecife for the night, or walking on from Haría to San Bartolomé in one day, 21.7 km. Some local businesses close around Christmas and New Year, and the buses keep a holiday timetable. In Teguise itself, road works have moved the bus stops since 17 June 2026, for an estimated six months.

A caveat on sources: the climate, wind and calima figures for Lanzarote come from island travel guides, not from an official climate record. The ministry’s own trail page would not open when the route was researched, and the island council publishes nothing on the season that we found.

AEMET, weather warnings Intercity Bus Lanzarote, Teguise notice

The Historical Way and the Fishermen’s Trail: Portugal’s wet green half

Both trails belong to the Rota Vicentina, and its association recommends both from September to June. In its own words, the winter temperature on the Historical Way rarely drops below 11 °C by day, and winter is the wettest time of the year: tracks turn to mud and streams run high after a front. On the stage into Odeceixe the association writes of winter floods, so after heavy rain expect a wait rather than a crossing.

On the Fishermen’s Trail the coast path is mostly sand and runs along cliff edges. Storm spells bring the hazards the association lists on its warning map: flooded stream crossings and unstable cliff edges. Wild camping is forbidden on the trail, which runs inside a protected natural park.

Beds in winter: on 10 October 2026 the association’s directory listed at least one partner house open all year at Cercal, São Luís, Odemira and Odeceixe. For São Teotónio it stated no season, but ten places there were on sale that day for a night in January 2027. Which guesthouses on the Fishermen’s Trail close in winter we could not read at any source: ask when you book. One standing notice on the Historical Way: the riverside path in Odemira has been closed since 29 January 2026, and the association sends walkers along the road pavement between the pedestrian bridge and the red bridge.

Rota Vicentina, warning map IPMA, weather warnings

Camino Francés from Sarria: open all year, wet from October

The last 115 km to Santiago stay between 250 and 730 m and link villages, so the app grades every month good. The weather is the change. AEMET’s averages for Santiago give 226 mm of rain on about 14 days in October, 261 mm in December, and 210 mm on about 15 days in January. At Lugo, the nearest station to the start, it freezes on about ten nights a month from December to February. December gives about nine hours of daylight: start the long stages at first light.

Beds and transport in winter: the public hostels of the Xunta de Galicia cost €10, take no reservations and open at 13:00. On 12 October 2026 none of the fifteen on this route showed a closure, but single hostels have shut for weeks in past winters (Sarria from 19 December 2021 to 2 February 2022), so read the page of each one you count on. The daily coach from Santiago to Sarria was in the booking system until 31 October 2026 and not in November 2026 or January 2027: plan the way to the start through Lugo. The pilgrim office is closed on 25 December and 1 January.

Xunta de Galicia, public hostels AEMET, weather warnings

Mullerthal Trail: one bed that closes

Low, sheltered and close to buses, the Mullerthal Trail is graded good in every month. The rock formations show through bare trees, and ice on the stone steps is the winter hazard. The app’s month notes reckon on about eight hours of usable light in December and January, against a last stage of 25.3 km on the trail’s own six-stage plan: plan short days or split it.

The one real winter problem is the bed in Müllerthal, at the end of days 3 and 5. Le Cigalon, the only bed the app lists there, is given as closed from 12 November to 14 March by a booking site, and the tourist board showed it bookable from 14 March to 16 November in 2025. Its own site gives no dates, so ask the hotel. The ways round: a bus from Müllerthal to Echternach, where the youth hostel is open all year, and the youth hostel in Beaufort, halfway through day 5, also open all year. Buses in Luxembourg are free.

Forestry work moves the trail too. Visit Luxembourg carried a notice of 28 July 2026 about a diversion on Route 3 and the local path M4; it does not say whether it still applies. The trail’s own home page marks closures and diversions on its map.

Mullerthal Trail, official site MeteoLux, warnings

Escapardenne: the hunting season

The Escapardenne is walkable in every month, but from October the forest belongs partly to the hunt. On the Belgian stages a hunting ground can hold permission to close the public paths through its woods on hunt days. ChasseOnWeb, the Walloon government’s map, gives the 2026-27 season as 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027; on 24 September 2026 the ground between Houffalize and La Roche-en-Ardenne was almost solidly covered by grounds holding that permission. Only the red-and-yellow posters at the forest entrances carry legal force: treat one as a closed gate. In Luxembourg the driven hunts are listed on Geoportail and the zones are signposted on the day; the government strongly advises against walking through one. Its 2025-26 season ran from 18 October to 31 January.

Daylight is the other limit. Stage 1 is 24 km with over 800 m of climbing, and the app grades December to February experienced only. More in our comparison of the Ardennes and Luxembourg trails.

ChasseOnWeb, Service public de Wallonie Geoportail, Government of Luxembourg IRM, Belgian warnings

Arran Coastal Way: fine with a bed, hard with a tent

The app treats the Arran Coastal Way as walkable in every month, round the island from Brodick. But the Met Office’s averages for Rothesay, the station its site assigns to Brodick, give 159 mm of rain on about 19 days in November and 166 mm on about 20 days in January. December has about seven hours of daylight. In November, the 17.6 km of day 6, past the Black Cave at Bennan Head, which the Arran Access Trust calls impassable at high tide, barely fits into eight hours of light.

What closes: Lochranza Caravan and Campsite, at the end of day 2, was open from 27 March to 25 October in 2026. Seal Shore Camping in Kildonan keeps a few pitches open from 5 October 2026 to 18 March 2027 with reduced facilities, and was the only campsite found open in winter. The hotel at Lagg is listed as summer only, and Imachar has no bed at all. The CalMac ferry from Ardrossan went to its winter timetable on 19 October 2026, storms stop it, and it does not sail on 25 December or 1 January. That is why the app grades November to February experienced only with a tent; with beds booked it is a cold, short-day walk.

CalMac, service status Met Office, UK warnings

What changes on every route in winter

Every month of every route, in the app

Treksup grades each route month by month, lists what closes and links the page to check. Seven routes are open in full, free on iPhone: the Escapardenne, the Mullerthal Trail, the Fishermen’s Trail, the West Highland Way, the Jämtland Triangle, the Adlerweg in the Wilder Kaiser and the Presidential Traverse. The GR221, the GR 131, the Historical Way, the Camino from Sarria and the Arran Coastal Way are in the paid plan. Treksup sells no beds; it tells you where to book them.

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Questions

Can you do a multi-day hike in Europe in October?

Yes, on routes that do not depend on mountain huts. In the Treksup app the GR221 on Mallorca, the GR 131 on Lanzarote, the Historical Way, the Fishermen’s Trail, the Camino from Sarria, the Mullerthal Trail, the Escapardenne and the Arran Coastal Way are all graded good or ideal in October. Hut treks such as the GR20 and Kungsleden have closed by then.

Which multi-day hikes in Europe can you walk in winter?

In the app’s month-by-month data, the GR 131 on Lanzarote is graded ideal from November to March, the GR221 on Mallorca good in December and January and ideal in February and March, and the Camino from Sarria and the Mullerthal Trail good in every month. The Escapardenne and the Arran Coastal Way are graded experienced only in midwinter.

Is November too late for a multi-day hike?

Not on these routes, but beds and transport thin out. Le Cigalon in Müllerthal is given as closed from 12 November, the coach from Santiago to Sarria was not in the booking system for November 2026, and the campsite at Lochranza on Arran closed on 25 October 2026.

Do I still need to book in winter?

Fewer walkers does not mean more beds, because single places close. On Lanzarote, two of three places checked in Teguise had no room for a night in January 2027. On the Camino the public hostels cannot be booked at all: beds go in order of arrival from 13:00.

Read next

Sources

Seasons, timetables and opening dates change from year to year. Check the source before you book. Page written 19 October 2026.