List of longest walks
This is a list of the longest walks that have occurred in groups and on solo or duo projects. Many have promoted social causes or medical conditions. Some have been done mostly for the experience.
Groups consist of three or more people who walked at least most of the entire distance. Solo/duo walks are one or two people. The difference is that the former is tougher to organise logistically, especially when crossing international borders, since there generally needs to be greater accommodations and more thorough approvals for a group. There is also a tougher process of decision making with even a small group than with one or two people. Some people walking in groups say that the walking part can be easier than dealing with group politics and dynamics.
The walks should be continuous, save for a few weeks to organise through other countries. There is a separate section for long runs and wheelchair expeditions that were not walks.
Longest group walks
These were walks involving three or more long-distance participants.
Length: Date: March 1984 – November 1985Distance walked per month: Details: A Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life called for an end to the Cold War with better relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Walkers started at Point Conception, California, and went through Texas and the Deep South to New York City. A core group of eight flew to Dublin, Ireland, and walked to the border of the former East Germany. They obtained visas to Hungary and walked to that border before visiting several cities by train. Some walked to Geneva, Switzerland, then organised a trip to Moscow, Soviet Union, by train. The project attracted a wide range of support from across the political spectrum and was covered in the media by hundreds of newspapers and radio and television stations in those countries. It was the only walk from the U.S. to Moscow that went through the Deep South, Northern Ireland, and Hungary, which added to the mileage.
Length: Date: April 1982 – December 1983Distance walked per month: Details: This peace walk of about 20 core people started from Seattle and walked across the U.S. to Washington, D.C. Members then flew to Ireland and walked through much of Europe, taking a boat from Greece to the Middle East. The project ended in Bethlehem in the West Bank. It was led by Jesuit Fr. Jack Morris and Fr. George Zabelka, the pastor for the airmen who dropped the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.
Length: Date: December 1960 – October 1961Distance walked per month: Details: Organised by the Committee for Non-Violent Action, about ten core people started from San Francisco and walked to New York in six months. More people joined in Europe, and the project, led by pacifist leaders A.J. Muste and Bradford Lyttle, covered about in just ten months. Unlike numerous projects, they were able to walk through the Soviet Union, and the distance walked per month was significantly higher than most long group walks.
A Walk to Moscow
Length: Date: March 1981 – October 1983Distance walked per month: Details: This peace walk started from Bangor, Washington to Boston. Members continued in the United Kingdom, walking to the border of the former East Germany. Some stayed in a village for nine months to negotiate for visas to walk in Czechoslovakia and Poland. Some then traveled to cities in the Soviet Union by train and tried to walk to Moscow but were stopped and sent back to Minsk.
World Peace Walk
Length: Date: April 1982 – August 1984Distance walked per month: Details: Led by writer and activist C.B. Hall, participants walked from Seattle to New York and then across much of Europe. They were not allowed to walk in Eastern Europe but obtained visas to camp and meet people in East Germany for a few days. Some visited Moscow to meet with Soviet Peace Committee officials.
HikaNation
Length: Date: April 1980 – May 1981Distance walked per month: Details: HikaNation was a 14-month cross-country backpacking trip starting at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California on April 12, 1980, and ending at Cape Henlopen, Delaware on May 27, 1981, after traversing over 4,286 miles and passing through 14 states and Washington, D.C.
Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life
Length: Date: December 1994 – August 1995Distance walked per month: Details: Led by Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga Japanese Buddhist monks, this walk started in Auschwitz, Poland, and ended in Nagasaki, Japan. More than 1,000 people from different nations joined at various times along the route that passed through war zones in Bosnia, as well as troubled parts of Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Iraq, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Great March for Climate Action
Length: Date: March 2014 – November 2014Distance walked per month: Details: Led by former Iowa state representative Ed Fallon, the Great March for Climate Action called attention to the need for a more substantive response to climate change. About 30 people hiked most of the distance.
Length: Date: February 1978 – July 1978Distance walked per month: Details: Several hundred Native Americans and supporters marched from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to affirm American Indians' land and water rights. Some elders and organisers camped on the National Mall to end the Longest Walk. Similar projects were organised in 1980, 1984, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
United Souls of Awareness Walk
Length: Date: April 2006 – April 2007Distance walked per month: Details: Four musicians/artists in their 20s walked from Venice Beach, California to New York to encourage creative pursuits.
Alexander Gabyshev's Walk
Length: Date: March 2019 – May 2020Distance walked per month: Details: Alexander Gabyshev, a shaman, started walking from the Republic of Sakha in far east Russia with the goal of reaching Moscow some later and performing a ritual to cause President Vladimir Putin to resign. He was joined by two other core walkers, and as many as 1,000 people greeted him during the first almost. In September 2019, Russian authorities detained him and sent him to a psychiatric hospital. In early 2020, authorities stopped his walk for the third time. He was committed to a Russian mental asylum by a court order in May 2020, a move criticised by officials from Amnesty International and other organisations.
Bharat Jodo Yatra
Length: Date: 7 September 2022 – 30 January 2023Details: Bharat Jodo Yatra was a padyatra from Kanyakumari, the southern most point of mainland India to the Jammu and Kashmir. It was organized by the Indian National Congress.
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
Length: Date: 14 January 2024 – 16 March 2024Details: Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was a political campaign organized by the Indian National Congress. It started from Thoubal in Manipur and ended at Mumbai.
Bharat Yatra
Length: Date: 6 January 1983 – 25 June 1983Details: The padyatra was led by Chandra Shekhar. It started in Kanyakumari and ended at Rajghat in New Delhi.
Longest solo or duo walks
These are walks done by one or two people. The length of some usually relates to the difficulties of securing access to walk in certain countries.
Jean Béliveau
Length: Date: August 2000 – October 2011Distance walked per month: Details: Setting out from Montreal, the Canadian small business owner covered some and wore out 49 pairs of shoes while walking through 64 countries. He met four Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Nelson Mandela in South Africa. His walk raised awareness for children who suffer from violence, with the start of the project coinciding with a similarly themed United Nations initiative. He pushed a three-wheeled stroller carrying food and supplies such as a tent and returned to Montreal to a welcome of several hundred people.
Peace Pilgrim
Length: Date: January 1953 – July 1981Distance walked per month: Details: Citing the need for a pilgrim to make a strong statement against militarism during the Korean War, Mildred Norman changed her name to Peace Pilgrim in 1953 and walked continuously back and forth across the U.S. She kept walking until her death in 1981, in a car accident after she accepted a ride to a speaking engagement. She stopped counting miles after reaching but estimated she covered per pair of sneakers, and wore out 29 pairs.
Ignacio Dean Mouliaá
Length: Date: March 2013 – March 2016Distance walked per month: Details: Nicknamed "Nacho Dean", Mouliaá walked across several continents to raise awareness for environmental causes. Leaving his native Spain, he traveled through 31 countries, pushing some food and supplies on a trekking tricycle. He survived violent attacks in Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, as well as a dog bite in Honduras.
Chris Lewis
Length: Date: 1 August 2017 – 30 July 2023Distance walked per month: Details: Chris Lewis walked the entire UK coastline in just under 6 years. The father of two was facing homelessness and struggling to cope with anxiety and depression after returning to civilian life from serving with the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. Lewis decided on the challenge during an epiphany on Llangennith beach on the Gower peninsula, near his home city of Swansea, south Wales. Lewis set off on 1 August 2017 not knowing how long it would take but aimed to just keep going with the sea on his left side.
Nicolò Guarrera
Length: Date: August 2020 – September 2025Distance walked per month: Details: Nicolò Guarrera is walking around the world to find beauty through diversity and slowness. He was moved by his child-dream of writing a book. As of September 2025, he ended his travel arriving at his house in northern Italy. He walked across Western Europe, South America, Australia, India, the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey and the Balkans, covering more than 36.000 km by foot. He’s pushing a stroller named Ezio, with which he carries all of his supplies and equipment. During the journey, he had to deal with Covid in Europe, sailed across Atlantic Ocean and walked from the “Mitad del Mundo” in Quito to the “End of the World” in Ushuaia.
George Meegan
Length: Date: January 1977 – September 1983Distance walked per month: Details: George Meegan, a British adventurer and former Merchant Navy seaman, hiked across two continents, from the southern tip of South America at Tierra Del Fuego to the northernmost part of Alaska. He said he made the walk as a "celebration of freedom" and because he was not aware of anyone completing such a continuous journey along the two continents before. A few months into the project, he married Yoshiko Matsumoto of Japan in Argentina, and she accompanied him on part of the way. She returned to Japan twice to have their children, and the family traveled to be with him for the final leg.
Konstantin Rengarten
Length: Date: August 1894 – September 1898Distance walked per month: Details: The highly educated Russian spent a decade preparing for what some believe was the first true walk around the world. Starting from Riga, he paid his own way and did not claim to be lured by a bet or dare, as some world walkers did. His route included South Russia, Iran, Armenia, Siberia, Mongolia, Japan, the US, France and Germany. He wrote regular reports to newspapers and did not change his story.
Steven Newman
Length: Date: April 1983 – April 1987Distance walked per month: Details: 28-year-old Steven M. Newman from Ohio crossed 21 countries on a four-year solo walk. His motive was a "deep urge to find out if was really such a terrible place as everybody was saying." He concluded that it was not, even though he was arrested several times, attacked by bandits and a drunken construction worker, and had to fend off wild boars and other creatures.
Karsten "Mütze" Rinck
Length: Date: April 2021 – ongoing, expected to finish end of 2025Details: "Mütze" walks through 30 european countries for his mental health. He cites Jean Béliveau as one of his inspirations.
David Kunst
Length: Date: June 1970 – October 1974Distance walked per month: Details: With a mule and hero send-off, brothers John and David Kunst started walking from Minnesota to New York and then through Europe, with a goal of completing the first verified walk around the Earth. They also raised funds for UNICEF, although some questioned whether that had a pure motive. In Afghanistan, they were attacked by bandits, and John was shot and killed. David was also shot but survived by acting like he was dead. After returning to Minnesota for a few months to recuperate, David continued with another brother, Peter, from the point where John had died. They were denied access to the Soviet Union and China, and southeast Asia was wracked with war. So they flew from India to Australia. Peter left the project after developing leg problems, so David walked alone with a mule, which died, causing him to have to push supplies with a cart. An Australian teacher aided him, and he later married her, even though he had three children with a Minnesota woman who supported his walk. Guinness World Records cited his accomplishment as the "first verified achievement" of circumnavigating the planet.
Prem Kumar
Length: Date: October 1982 – August 1986Distance walked per month: Details: As founder of social service organizations in India, Prem Kumar walked to raise awareness for peace and development in poorer countries. He then organised walks in India involving participants from other countries.
Pablo Nemo
Length: Date: November 2021 – January 2024Distance walked per month: Details: Pablo Nemo, a Spanish adventurer and explorer, embarked on an unprecedented journey across Africa, spanning 11 countries from Cape Town to Cairo. Walking alone and unassisted, he traversed South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Nemo's journey was a celebration of cultural and geographical diversity. Along the way, he received recognition from various organizations, including being named the Tourism Ambassador of Zanzibar and receive the Medal of Honor from the National Youth Council in Egypt.
Louis Michael Figueroa
Length: Date: January 2005 – June 2005, June 2010 – January 2011Distance walked per month: Details: Walking for victims of child abuse in January 2005, Figueroa was forced to stop after six months due to legal issues and complications from leukemia. He started again in 2010 and finished the circumference route around the US in Tucson, Arizona. In 1982, Figueroa ran across the country in just 60 days to raise funds for cancer victims. He walked across the country to raise funds for AIDS victims in 1996.
Ichiro Omura
Length: Date: 14 June 1994 – 6 November 1996Distance walked per month: Details: His 622 page Japanese book "900 Days on the Silk Road: Walking 12,000 km from Xi'an to Rome" provides dates, distances, map drawings and some photos.
Shihab Chottur
Length: Date: June 2022 – May 2023Distance walked per month: Details: Shihab Chottur, who walked on foot from the Indian state of Kerala Athavanad, reached the Makkah in Saudi Arabia after covering a distance of more than 8600 kilometers to perform the Haj.
Alexandre Poussin and Sylvain Tesson
Length: about Date: 15 May 1997 – November 1997 Distance walked per month: Details: In their book, Poussin and Tesson describe their walk from Bhutan to Tajikistan, crossing some closed borders secretly. Chapter sections, many each month, provide numbers. The last one: 24 October, 163rd day, 4,554km, 118,087m.
Avdhesh Sharma
Length: Date: 21 April 2021 – 26 August 2021Distance walked per month: Details: Avdhesh Sharma walked from Ladakh to Kanyakumari, a journey he called the L2K Hike. He is the first person to hike from Thang, Ladakh to Cape Comorin. During the walk he spread awareness for RGBforLife - ed for Blood Donation, reen for Save Environment and lue for Save Water.
Others
Persons whose very long solo or duo walks total over 10,000 km, but who don't fulfill the specifications in the introduction of this article. Bernard Ollivier. from Istanbul to Xi'an, from 1999 to 2002 in four walks, interrupted by long stays at home in France.Jens Kwass. from his home town Recklinghausen to Kazan in 2015/2016, with a long winter break. in total from Recklinghausen to Santiago de Compostela and back, in 2012. from France to Santiago de Compostela in 2011.
Longest runs, wheelchair expeditions
Tony Mangan
Length: Date: October 2010 – October 2014Miles run per month: Details: Beginning in his native Ireland, distance runner Tony Mangan jogged through North America, Central and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe, raising funds for a charity that battled depression. He ran with a stroller named Nirvana, which carried a tent, clothes, food, and other belongings.
Robert Garside
Length: Date: October 1997 – June 2003Miles run per month: Details: British runner Robert Garside was cited by Guinness World Records as being the first person to run around the world. He started in India and jogged through Tibet, China, Japan, Australia, South America, Mexico, the US, Africa, Turkey and back to India. He had considerable corporate sponsors and met his future wife in Venezuela. He got mugged twice at gunpoint and was jailed in China.
Rick Hansen
Length: Date: March 1985 – May 1987Miles wheeled per month: Details: Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen pushed his way through 34 countries on four continents. He wheeled on the Great Wall of China and met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. He wore out 160 tires and was robbed four times. The project raised $26 million for spinal cord injury research.
Sergej Luk'janov
Length: Date: April 2015 – February 2017Miles wheeled per month: Details: A former athlete, marathon walker and pensioner from Russia traveled around the world on foot. During this time, he walked unaccompanied 32 thousand km, visited 25 countries and 4 continents, wore out 10 pairs of sneakers and wore out almost a hundred pairs of socks. On the way he turned 60 years old. During the walk, he was robbed twice, planned a longer route, but was denied a visa to Australia. Start and finish St. Petersburg. Also along the way he managed to stop by the Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016.