If you love backpacking then sometimes you want to keep up with the latest news and these are the best backpacking magazines to read for gear guides and trails to hit up, as well as much more.
Apart from these outdoor magazines mentioned here, there are plenty of online blogs that aren’t magazines but are excellent for outdoor inspiration and I’ll include a list of some of those at the end of the article.
These backpacking magazines can be read online or in a print version.
It should be noted first that I have no affiliate connection with any of these backpacking magazines, I just like them.
Backpacker Magazine
This is easily one of the best backpacking magazines you can read. Backpacker magazine has been around since 1973 and covers everything about the outdoors and adventure.
It has backpacking gear guides as well as the best places to get out into the wild, such as National Parks guides and more.
Trail Magazine
Trail magazine is a print or digital magazine from Live For The Outdoors and covers excellent hiking trails and gear guides, like many of the others here.
Although it is a U.K.-based backpacking magazine they do cover other destinations for hiking as well.
Country Walking
Another good magazine for the outdoors that is also from the team at Live For The Outdoors is Country Walking.
It’s a U.K.-based magazine and most of the articles are related to getting out hiking in Britain, with advice on trails and outdoor inspiration.
The Great Outdoors (TGO)
The Great Outdoors magazine has been around for over 40 years now and is my personal favourite outdoor magazine. It’s a UK-based magazine so most of its articles are about hiking in the UK, although they do cover other destinations.
It has some of the best gear guides you can find for outdoor gear and advice for outdoor skills for your hiking adventure.
Outside
Outside magazine has outdoor gear reviews as well as practical advice on fitness and stories related to the outside.
It’s a very well-respected magazine and is the one that run the Jon Krakauer story about the Everest climbing disaster in 1996.
Trek and Mountain
Trek and Mountain magazine is, not surprisingly, all about trekking and mountains. This is a great magazine if you love trekking on mountain routes and mountaineering.
This will get you wanting to get up a mountain!
Outdoor Photographer
If you are interested in outdoor photography then Outdoor Photographer is the magazine for you.
Packed with useful tips and gear guides this will help bring your outdoor photography up a notch.
Notable mention:
National Geographic magazine is one of the most famous magazines in the world for adventure and discovery and you should take a look at it as well.
I didn’t include it here though as the main option as it’s not specifically a backpacking magazine but does have some interesting adventure stuff to read.
Best Backpacking-Related Websites
As I mentioned at the start of the article I have included some of the best outdoor blogs to read for hiking advice and gear guides. They are online only.
Note that there are a lot of great hiking blogs out there apart from the ones mentioned here, these just happen to be the favourites of Backpackingman.
Apart from these ones, you can also find excellent blog posts on popular outdoor brand websites such as REI.
Section Hiker is one of the best hiking blogs for gear reviews and trail guides. I have read it for years and have got a lot of useful information from it.
The Trek is dedicated to long-distance hiking, be it thru-hiking, or tackling epic trails like the Appalachian and the Pacific Crest Trail.
Alastair Humphreys is one hell of an adventurer and an inspirational writer. He’s known for great adventures but also for promoting the “micro-adventure” where just getting out into nature near where you are is a great thing as well.
He writes on his website his thoughts and advice on all things adventurous.
Bald Hiker is a guy in Britain who blogs about walking and hiking as well as other pursuits in life. Great to follow for outdoor inspiration.
Hiking in Finland isn’t just about hiking in Finland but is a great outdoor blog by Hendrik Morkel, who is from Finland.
He covers hiking and gear advice. He is one of the first main hiking bloggers Backpackingman followed.
The Hiking Life covers all things hiking and is excellent to keep up with hiking news and hiking gear.
Clever Hiker tells you everything you need to know about hiking in the outdoors along with really good gear reviews.
The Big Outside is, not surprisingly given the title, all about the outside.
Best Backpacking Magazines
And those are the best backpacking magazines out there for you to read.
As you can see some don’t focus exclusively on the backpacking angle but mix it up with other outdoor pursuits. But then that just allows for more outdoor inspiration!
For more backpacking fun out 10 of the best backpacking movies to watch.
Share the best backpacking magazines:
Looking for free magazines by mail for hiking and camping
I’m not sure if free magazines by mail covering hiking and camping are out there, as far as I know. But I could be wrong… I’m just not aware of any. Let me know if you find any by replying here again.