Monkeys and Mountains

A hiking blog turned tour company offering self-guided hiking trips across Europe.

Visit monkeysandmountains.com

Written By

Laurel Robbins

Travellers

Solo

Focus

Hiking

Popularity

23 / 100

Last Updated

Oct 2026

About Monkeys and Mountains

Monkeys and Mountains is run by Laurel Robbins, who began the site as a personal hiking blog sixteen years ago and turned it into a self-guided hiking tour company about eight years ago. The project now offers more than a dozen hiking tours across Europe, says it has helped over one million hikers, and operates with a small team and local partners. The site publishes several posts a week, with long tested route guides, practical planning resources, an AI tour finder and downloadable training plans. Posts are illustrated with original photos and detailed route information.

Think of Monkeys and Mountains as the mountain-obsessed friend who knows every hut, shortcut and which kolbasa pairs best with a summit view; we come away from it informed and ready to hike. The writing is practical, wry and unhurried, Laurel mixes long, first-person route narratives with very detailed, actionable guides, as in the four-thousand-word Pyrenees piece. We like the mix of planning tools and commerce, from the AI tour finder to clear pricing and training plans, and the site publishes several new guides a week so the material feels fresh. If you want deep, tested European hiking advice and turnkey self-guided trips, this is the place to linger.