Open any dating app and you’ll find yourself drowning in a sea of hiking boots and summit selfies. “Long walks” have become the new “loves to travel”, except this time, people actually mean it.
Hiking was once the domain of retirees and Girl Scout troops. But in 2026, it’s never been so fashionable. It could be something to do with the lockdown barrier to fresh air, or a technology fatigue that is leading to a longing for the outdoors. Or, we could be in a cost of living crisis and are simply looking for cheap frills (that’s why walking holidays in Switzerland are so popular, because you get to see the country without interacting with its exorbitant economy).
Hiking is no longer the fleece and compass activity of the 2000s. And even if it is, odd-patterned fleeces are on trend, while North Face, Patagonia and Fjallraven jackets continue to dominate shopping malls.
So how does this relate back to dating? Well, it seems to be a popular hobby that we can’t connect through, and it just so happens to be the perfect first date idea. If a relationship blossoms, you’ve now got hiking holiday ideas, like the romantic Highlands routes in Scotland.
The first date that actually works
First dates are always tricky, and hiking manages to occupy the sweet spot between coffee (too brief, too formal) and dinner (too long if it’s going badly, too much pressure, and quite expensive).
There’s something quite equalizing about huffing up an incline together. Suddenly you’re not performing across a table, you’re collaborating toward a shared goal. The side-by-side nature of walking eliminates the intensity of constant eye contact as well, making it easier for conversation to flow naturally. It’s particularly great if you’re neurodivergent or socially awkward, as you can talk about each other, but also punctuate it with comments about what you see. If conversation slows, you just talk about the weather like the British might.
Plus, hiking offers quite an immediate personality litmus test. How do they react when the trail gets muddy? This could be a good insight to see if they’re laid back or not. Do they complain incessantly or just adapt with humor? Are they precious about their shoes or genuinely prepared? You’ll learn more about someone’s temperament in two hours on a moderately challenging trail than in six hours of eating steak together. The trail doesn’t lie.
Of course, we should touch on the fact that not everyone will be comfortable with a stranger taking them to a rural, wooded area away from society for a first date. That’s fair. But perhaps there are semi-urban trails, like a beach promenade walk, that is populated by other residents but is a just few miles in length. If you’re extra clever, you’ll cover the coffee along the way and make sure there’s a bar towards the end of the walk – if everything is going well, you can ask to pop in for one drink. If it’s not going well, you’ve still completed the walk – and therefore date.
The character reveal
Here’ s where the hiking enthusiasm might actually mean something beyond matching athleisure aesthetics. People who genuinely love hiking – not just the Instagram-friendly summit moments, but the early starts, the preparation, the commitment to finishing what they started – tend to show qualities that translate well beyond the trail.
There’ s a particular breed of person who willingly wakes at dawn, packs their own snacks, studies trail maps, and pushes through discomfort to reach their goal. These aren’ t the flaky types who ghost after three messages. They understand delayed gratification, they plan ahead, they’re self-sufficient, and they follow through. When the metaphorical trail of life gets steep, they’re the ones who packed extra water.
This isn’t to say non-hikers are unreliable or that everyone with a summit photo is marriage material. But someone’s relationship with hiking can reveal their relationship with challenges in general. Do they approach obstacles methodically? Can they pace themselves? Do they know when to turn back?
And again, if your interest in hiking is deep (as in, you actually want to spend your limited vacation time walking the Camino de Santiago), then it’s really important to find someone who shares this passion. Else, you’ll be going on vacation alone, or you’ll be trapped poolside for a week, bored senseless. If you want a hiking partner, start as you mean to go on.
The all important verdict
Perhaps hiking has become a dating tool because it strips away the performance anxiety of more traditional dating, while revealing authentic character. When it’s difficult to parse and understand someone through their social feed, undergoing a challenge together can reveal all. You can fake a lot on a dating profile, and it’s common to say you like hiking and traveling when, instead, you actually just enjoy walks in the park and going on vacation. It’s not about gatekeeping hobbies, but to see if they’re passionate about them, or just performing.
