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There is no shortage of wonderful trails and trail races across North America. But as trail running has become a global sport, runners have gotten the itch to chase adventures in unfamiliar terrain via new paths and challenges, and, increasingly in recent years, they’ve found it in European destinations. Quite frankly, there are a lot of European trail races to put on your bucket list.
In Europe, you can run the rugged terrain common to many U.S. trail races and also immerse in rich cultural experiences in both historic mountain villages and big city experiences—in fairly close proximity. That can be an ideal way to set up a European running vacation. Case in point: you can run a race in Germany and easily continue your trip into Luxembourg, France, Belgium, or the Netherlands within the massive network of interconnected train lines.
Although you can very easily cobble together your own trail running or fast-pack adventure overseas with a little research, you could turn to the growing collection of small travel companies that specialize in trail running travel and tours.
Liz Gill, a competitive collegiate runner-turned-trail runner from Bishop, California, and a running coach since 2009, founded Runcation Travel to provide international running retreats and adventures. Since 2016, Runcation has organized running tours in the Italian Dolomites, Chamonix, France, the Patagonia region of Argentina, Slovenia, California’s Sierra Nevada, and the French and Spanish Pyrenees, among other places, and many of her clients are U.S. runners.
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While her company was at the front end of the destination running trend, she says the Covid-19 pandemic catalyzed the overseas trail running boom.
“I think it was a perfect storm of an increase in people trying out running during Covid since it was a safe form of outdoor exercise during the pandemic, combined with a few years of international travel being on hold and people itching to get back out and travel again once it opened back up,” Gill says. “In getting to know our participants, there is at least one or two on every trip that began running during Covid and really got into it—enough that they are now pursuing traveling for races like marathons in the states and abroad and taking international travel trips to explore new places through trail running such as the trips we offer.”
Gill’s hunch is more than just an educated guess. The Sports and Fitness Industry Association’s 2024 Topline Participation Report revealed that participation in trail running increased by nearly 26 percent from 2021-2023. But the trend isn’t just a flash in the post-Covid pan, like Gill originally expected. The total number of participants in their guided and self-guided trips has quadrupled since 2022, and, according to RunRepeat’s 2024 Ultimate Trail Running Stats report, women are beginning to make up a greater percentage of international running participants.
“It reported that 36.5 percent of trail runners are women,” Gill says. “Our guided trips have always had more than 50 percent women participants. I’m not sure if this is because Runcation is a woman-owned business, but I love to see that we’ve always seen a strong participation of female trail runners on guided trips and as solo travelers on self-guided trips.”
Gill says most of her clients use running as a vehicle to travel and explore a new place on foot and aren’t necessarily traveling for races. That said, some use Runcation trips to cover routes with hefty amounts of vertical gain and loss over a week’s time to prepare for an upcoming race. And you need only check out the results of some of Europe’s top races to see that people are, indeed, traveling from all over the world to run across the likes of the Dolomites and Alps.
Like in North America, there are thousands of wonderful trail running races across Europe.
Here is a sampling of races with a range of distances from 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to 100-mile ultramarathons. These are races I’ve either run myself or heard about from trusted running friends. From the sun-roasting rocky mountain passes of Greece to rugged Irish coastal routes, each race is an opportunity to experience unique regions and immerse yourself in the local dirt—I mean, culture.
So buckle up for a dose of fun with a side of pierogi, pastitsio, and pie. It’s time to catch your flight.
Hydra Trail Event
April 12-13, Hydra, Greece
Imagine an old-world, Greek island with rugged mountain paths, donkeys instead of cars, and a fraction of the tourists roaming around a quaint, cobblestone harbor surrounded by the shimmering Aegean Sea. That’s what Hyrda and its aptly named Hydra Trail Event offers in a nutshell.
It’s a mountainous run for travelers looking for a physical challenge without committing to the ultra race. The 23-mile route takes runners through cobblestone streets, ancient trails, and steep ascents (totaling roughly 6,500 feet) with panoramic views of the Aegean. The schlep (there’s no other way to describe it) up Mount Eros with the smell of fresh oregano and the beaming sun melting my pale derriere will forever be etched into my memory as one of the more challenging sections of trail in my life. (Keep in mind I come from flat lands and knew bupkis about proper fueling at the time.)
During your downtime, you can take in the postcard Greek island sights that inspired Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire” and stuff yourself with endless helpings of fasolada (a hearty white bean soup) and spanakopita (a savory pie filled with spinach, feta cheese, onions, and herbs).
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Xterra Snowdonia Trail Marathon Eryri
July 11-12, Eryri, Wales, 2025
The Snowdonia mountain region of northern Wales (which is known locally as Eryri) is home to one of the biggest and most popular national parks in the United Kingdom. In 2025, it’ll play host to the Xterra Trail Run World Championship, the title race of the collection of 25 Xterra qualifying races around the world. There are 21K and 44K championship races for qualifiers, but amateur athletes can register for the open events as well as the as well of the same distances. There are also 10K (6.2-mile) and 57K (35-mile) events on offer.
Bonnie Ka is a Hong Kong-based trail runner who ran in the 57K ultra-distance race in 2023 while living in Berlin. She says the race wasn’t especially easy to get to, but “totally worth the hustle” after finishing 13th among women in 9 hours, 18 minutes.
Ka enjoyed the scenic, mountainous course with lakeside views, in part because of the many sheep and cows seen along the way.
“The course was generally not too technical apart from the last big climb up Eryri from less than 100 meters above sea level to almost 1,000 meters!” she says. “It was around 8 kilometers of never-ending ascent when you already have a full marathon in your legs. Pretty brutal, indeed.”
Despite the challenge, Ka says the reward of an incredible view on top of Eryri and the satisfaction of conquering your own pain cave is priceless. From there, it was a very steep 7K (4-mile) downhill dash to the finishing line.
“I could still remember vividly how great I felt in that last bit and cruised down the sandy slopes overtaking so many people,” she says, calling it a top 10 race that every trail runner should have on their bucket list. “It was such a memorable race with pretty good organization and lovely people all around.”
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Făgăraș Rocks!
July 30-August 3, Recea, Romania
Gabriela Fatu is a Romanian-born human resources manager based in the United Arab Emirates. For her, running is an outlet to stay fit and healthy so she can take on challenges like Făgăraș Rocks! in the Transylvania region of central Romania. The event, situated in the Făgăraș Mountains above the village of Recea, offers seven races with increasing difficulty that range from 4.5K (2.8 miles) to 141K (87.6 miles). She’s run the race three times, increasing her distance with each attempt.
“I loved it so much. I love the place, I love the scenery,” she says. “The only thing I was concerned about was the wild bears because we’ve got a lot in Romania. Other than that, the race is amazing.”
The race is run on diverse terrain through forests with edible berries sprouting alongside the trail. But above all, she remembers how challenging and physically exhausting the race was, particularly the climbing.
“But it’s so rewarding,” she says. “The scenery was amazing. You have the waterfalls and then you have the shepherds with the sheep.”
Fatu says she met wonderful people from across the region at the race—particularly Ukraine and Poland. Everyone, she says, was encouraging throughout the course.
“The whole spirit was just really nice,” she remembers. “I really loved that. I’ll definitely go back next year.”
But she won’t be returning just for the atmosphere. She lost one of her trekking poles along the way and hopes to recover it. While that might seem like a fool’s errand on paper, she said someone else in the race lost their phone and managed to find it the next year—still working despite snow and ice.
“[Other runners] said nobody actually goes there,” she says, describing the remoteness of the route. “So I have a chance of recovering it next year.”
Panorama Run Around Are Castle
August 30, Altenahr, Germany
The Panorama Run Around Are Castle, known in German as Panoramalauf rund um die Burg Are, gave me my start in trail running with its 35K summer course that taught me the importance of hydration in the heat and fueling. (There’s a 19K race and a 54K ultra I plan to return for one day.)
This community-led race is held in the stunning Ahr Valley (think Mose, the popular German wine region, but with fewer tourists), known for its beautiful vineyards and rolling hills. The Burg Are, a medieval castle, is the highlight of the course before sending runners through lush vineyards, dense forests, and charming wine-growing villages.
The course also touches on the AhrSteig, a multi-stage, long-distance hiking trail that stretches across the region. You know, in case the ultra isn’t enough.
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The Kerry Way Ultra
September 5-6, Killarney, Ireland
The Kerry Way Ultra is one of the most renowned endurance challenges that the Emerald Isle has to offer. Runners can choose from four options: 58K (36 miles), 101K (62.8 miles), or the marquee distance of 200K (124.2 miles) taken individually or as part of a relay. The 200K loop runs along the southwest of Ireland, taking runners through the kind of mystical Irish landscapes we’ve all seen in our dreams.
Murray Nolan is an Irish runner who’s taken on different versions of the Kerry Way in recent years. He’s run the “Ultra Light” distance of 58K twice, finishing first in 2020 and again in 2021. “It’s a point-to-point race starting in Sneem and finishing in Killarney, with amazing and largely runnable trails along the way, passing by the highest mountains in Ireland,” he says.
Most recently, Nolan ran the Kerry Way Ultra Nite, which is the 101K course that starts just as the sun sets near a town by the name of Waterville. He paints a picture of a soggy trail, leading to miles and miles of slippery, muddy terrain. “I’ve never seen so many people fall over while running!” he says. But he adds that everything else above the ground was a pure delight.
“When my training partner and I ran, the conditions were incredible—a mild, starry night with a full moon illuminating Kenmare Bay below us,” he recalls. “Passing ancient dolmens by moonlight and seeing the headlamps of fellow racers twinkling across the hillside was a fantastic sight.”
Ladybower Reservoir Trail Races
October 11, Derbyshire, England
Run Through Trails, an independent trail running event organizer in the United Kingdom and Europe, hosts two race distances (22K and 52K) at Ladybower Reservoir in England’s Hope Valley between Manchester and Sheffield. Josie Hull, a Manchester-based social media marketing manager, took on the 22K and finished just outside the top 10 for women—an impressive feat for her first trail race.
“I was terrified to go, terrified to race,” Hull says. “I just hate the concept of racing, but this didn’t feel like a race. It felt like you could push yourself, but it was just such a cool vibe. Everyone there was just really nice, doing it for themselves, doing it because they love nature, doing it for the vibes.”
One of Hull’s apprehensions about running was the possibility of getting lost. But she says that was never an issue and commends the organizers for putting on a well-organized, well-signposted race.
“It’s a beautiful route going up the hills, through forests, by the reservoir, along lakeside paths, and farms,” she says, estimating there were about 3,000 runners making their way across the increasingly muddied trails. “It was such a nice, varied route.”
After the race, runners could use their race entry as a voucher towards food and drink (wood-fired pizzas, toasties, gyro, coffee) at the surrounding food trucks on the site and hang out by one of the fire pits—a practical necessity in the rainy, cold October weather. Hull says it gave the race a camp-meets-festival atmosphere that encouraged runners to hang about after the race, eat, and chat with friends and family.
“I just sat by this fire eating watermelon for about two hours,” she laughs. “Just vibing. There was music playing. I had such a good time.”
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