The best hiking routes in Parco Nazionale Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni

Parco Nazionale Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni offers a stark contrast between its limestone interior and its coastal fringe. In the high inland areas, such as the Alburni massif, walkers encounter grey karst plateaus, deep sinkholes, and steep cliffs. The terrain here is rocky and uneven, dominated by beech forests that give way to bare stone at higher elevations. This is a dry, porous landscape where water quickly disappears underground, leaving the surface rugged and exposed.

Further east, the wide clay basin of the Vallo di Diano provides a flat, cultivated break in the topography, while the coastal sections present a completely different environment. Along the Tyrrhenian shore, the path shifts to sandstone cliffs, Mediterranean scrub, and pine woods. The underfoot conditions change from loose limestone scree in the mountains to hard-packed dirt tracks and sandy coastal paths, with some steep, stepped descents down to the sea.

This park is not a place of gentle, rolling meadows or soft grassy paths. The climbs are often sharp and demanding, requiring careful footwork over sharp rocks and exposed roots. While the coastal paths near the towns can draw more visitors, the high limestone ridges of the interior remain quiet, defined by their sheer scale and the demanding nature of the terrain.