Best Hiking Shoes for Beginners

The short answer

A first pair of hiking footwear has one job: get you through your first dozen walks without hurting, so you can find out what kind of hiking you actually like. It does not need to be the stiffest, lightest or most technical thing on the shelf, and buying as though it does is the most common and most expensive beginner mistake.

Every shoe here is a low cut, which is deliberate. Low shoes are lighter, cheaper, cooler, and need far less breaking in than a leather boot - and for maintained trails and a day pack, that is the whole requirement.

Why a shoe rather than a boot

The instinctive first purchase is a boot, because boots look like hiking. For a beginner on maintained trail the shoe is usually the better call, for three reasons that have nothing to do with toughness.

Break-in. A synthetic or suede-and-mesh low shoe is comfortable more or less immediately. A full leather boot is not, and a beginner is the person least likely to put in the dull indoor hours a leather boot needs before a real walk.

Weight. Weight on your feet costs more effort than weight on your back, every step. On a first hike, when your legs are the limiting factor rather than the terrain, that is the difference between finishing happy and finishing sore.

Commitment. You do not yet know whether you will become a person who carries a heavy pack over rough ground - which is the case where a boot earns its keep. A shoe is the cheaper way to find out. When you want the argument in full, it is in mid vs low hiking shoes, and the boot-side version of this page is best hiking boots for beginners.

The three things that matter at the start

1. Width, before anything else. More first-timers are hurt by a shoe that is too narrow than by one that is not technical enough, and a shoe sold in one width is a shoe that fits one shape of foot. Four of the six here publish a Wide. The APMA's guidance on choosing sports shoes (APMA) puts fit and comfort first for exactly this reason.

2. A real outsole. The thing a hiking shoe does that a trainer does not is grip loose and wet ground. A named compound and a published lug depth tell you the maker has thought about it; the Moabs publish both - Vibram TC5+ with a 5 mm lug depth - which almost nothing else at this price does.

3. Something under the arch. A flat foam sheet under a long day is how arches ache. The Oboz ships a structured O FIT insole in the box; the others ship a plainer footbed, which you can upgrade later for less than the price of new shoes - best insoles for hiking boots covers that when you get there.

Waterproof or breathable?

Five of these six have a waterproof membrane and one does not, and the non-membrane Moab 3 is not the afterthought it looks like.

A membrane keeps out wet grass, puddles and light rain, and slows the shoe drying once water gets in over the collar - which on a low cut it eventually will. It also makes the shoe warmer. If your hiking is mostly dry and warm, the breathable version is genuinely the better buy, and it is 20 g lighter per shoe into the bargain. If you hike in the UK-style damp, or in dewy mornings, take the membrane.

Worth knowing before you shop: the Merrell membrane is in-house and unnamed, so there is no third-party rating to look up for it. KEEN.DRY and Oboz's B-DRY are the same deal. The Salomon is GORE-TEX, which is the one with a published guarantee behind it. The full version of this decision is in waterproof vs non-waterproof hiking boots.

What not to spend money on yet

A stiff backpacking boot. Stiffness is for carrying weight. Carried on a day hike it just makes you work harder.

Gaiters, poles and a second pair. All have their uses and none of them is a first purchase. Buy them when a specific problem makes you want them.

Cotton socks. This is the one thing worth spending on immediately, and it is cheap. Cotton holds moisture against the skin, and wet skin blisters. A merino or synthetic hiking sock will do more for your first ten hikes than any upgrade to the shoe - best hiking socks is the shortlist.

Your first few walks

Wear the shoes around the house first, with the socks you will hike in. It is not that these need breaking in the way a leather boot does - it is that this is when you find out the shoe is a half size out, while you can still return it.

On the trail, stop at the first hint of a hot spot rather than at the first blister. Taping a warm patch takes two minutes; a burst blister changes the rest of your day, and the rest of your week. The full routine is in how to prevent blisters hiking.

And if your heel lifts as you climb, relace before you blame the shoe. A surgeon's knot at the ankle flex point fixes most of it for free - hiking boot lacing techniques shows how.

The published specs, side by side

Every value links to its source. A dash means the brand does not publish that figure.

Getting the size right the first time

Fit late in the day, in hiking socks. Feet swell over hours of walking, and a shoe fitted first thing can be a size too small by mid-afternoon.

Leave a thumb's width in front of your longest toe. Hiking is full of descents, and a shoe that is just-right on the flat will bruise toenails downhill.

Check width by standing, not sitting. Your foot spreads under load. If the sides of your forefoot press against the upper while standing, go Wide rather than going up a size - sizing up adds length you do not need and lets your heel lift.

The complete fit check is in how should hiking boots fit; it applies to shoes just as much as boots.