ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a setting-experience-relationship approach to tourism and recreation research that helps to understand walking experiences from the hiker's point of view. Experience quality is not only confined to service performance and functional dimensions, but also refers to the psychological outcomes resulting from customer participation in activities. When aiming at developing a high experience quality of hiking trails, the concept of "aesthetics of pleasure" can be a particularly suitable approach to the subject. The root categories of nature and landscape characteristics, tourist infrastructure and human settlements can be seen as the macro level, which describes the dimensions of the hiking experience in general. Natural and landscape characteristics, such as flora and fauna, mountains, lakes and rivers exert a great influence on the hiking experience. There are some participants who perceive the overall appearance of the countryside, and others who are more interested in various elements and details of the varied landscape.
