Hiking Distance Calculator

Distance Map is a free hiking distance calculator for day hikes, long-distance trails and backpacking trips. Measure any trail on the map, see its elevation profile, and plan realistic timings before you set off.

How to Plan a Hike

  1. Open Distance Map in your browser or on iOS
  2. Find your trailhead — use satellite view to spot the parking area
  3. Drop pins along the trail — follow the path you plan to take
  4. See total distance and elevation profile update live
  5. Save the route for offline reference in the app, or export as GPX

For out-and-back hikes, measure one way and double the distance. For loops, close the path where you started.

What Distance Map Tells You

  • Total hiking distance in kilometers, miles or meters
  • Elevation gain and loss for the full route
  • Altitude at any point along the trail
  • Highest and lowest points
  • Individual segment distances between waypoints

Naismith’s Rule for Hiking Time

A common estimate for walking time is Naismith’s Rule:

  • 1 hour per 5 km of horizontal distance
  • +1 hour per 600 m of ascent

So a 12 km hike with 900 m of climbing takes roughly:

  • 12 ÷ 5 = 2.4 hours for distance
  • 900 ÷ 600 = 1.5 hours for climbing
  • Total: ~4 hours

Add extra time for heavy packs, poor weather, rough terrain or rest stops.

Import Hiking Routes

Distance Map’s GPX viewer opens routes from every major hiking platform:

  • AllTrails — download any trail as GPX and drop it onto the viewer
  • Komoot — export your planned routes
  • Wikiloc — view community-shared trails
  • Garmin Connect — review recorded hikes
  • Strava — open your own or a friend’s activity

All GPX parsing happens in your browser — your routes stay private.

Good Hiking Measurement Practices

Measure the planned path, not the straight line. Trails zigzag up slopes; straight-line distance can under-estimate the real walk by 20–50% on switchbacks.

Check the elevation profile before committing. Long flat approaches followed by steep summit pushes are common — the profile spots this.

Plan turnaround times. Work back from sunset: if the hike takes 4 hours up and 3 hours down, turnaround is 3h before dark with a safety margin.

Note water and resupply points as waypoints on longer trips.

For Multi-Day Treks

Distance Map supports longer planning:

  • Break into day stages with waypoints at each campsite
  • Total trek distance for food and resupply calculations
  • Per-day elevation to anticipate harder days
  • Save stages separately for offline reference

Share Your Route

Save any hike and share it with a link. Trip-mates see the exact planned route on an interactive map — no account or install required. Or export as GPX to send to a Garmin watch or import into AllTrails.

Try the Hiking Calculator

Plan your next hike with Distance Map. Free on iOS, and the web distance calculator works in any browser.

More Distance Map Tools

Get Distance Tool

Download Distance Tool for iOS and start measuring in seconds.

Download on the App Store