Heading for warmer climes for your adventures? Take on land and sea with our roundup of the best walking sandals for 2024
Now might be a good time to get a pair of the best walking sandals. With summery adventures beckoning on the hazy horizon, the versatility offered by the finest adventure sandals will come into its own. Whether you’ve got your eyes on rocky scrambles or are planning to embark on some water sports, you’ll be surprised at just how well a walking sandal performs across a range of demanding activities.
The best walking sandals are designed to give you the breathability and good looks of a casual beachwear sandal, with the grip and comfort of a hiking shoe. This makes them extremely versatile products that are just as at home on boulder-hopping expeditions as they are exploring rock pools on the beach.
What To Look For When Buying Walking Sandals
As walking sandals are often employed for amphibious outings, they need to be crafted from quick-drying materials that also grip well when wet and won’t wear out after only a few adventures. The excellent traction offered by Vibram rubber soles is used in some of the best models, while padded neoprene and leather are also sandal mainstays thanks to their comfort and durability. The quality of the materials is the main reason that you’ll have to fork out a little more dough for a pair of decent walking sandals – cheaper models sold to everyday holidaymakers simply don’t stack up.
The best walking sandals differ in terms of the protection they give your feet. Minimalist models may just feature a grippy sole and a y-strap to hold your foot in place, while some sandals resemble hiking shoes that look oddly unfinished, giving you the breathability and freedom of a sandal with the protective shield and toe box of a trail shoe. If you’re off on rugged scrambles, you’ll want a more maximalist sandal than people who are merely gallivanting around on the beach.
One final note: If you’re looking for some footwear for longer distances and/or trips over challenging terrain, you might also be interested in our best walking shoes round up, or our top 10 guide to the best walking boots.
The Best Walking Sandals We’ve Tested
We’ve gathered together the very best walking sandals. These are firm favourites that, over countless adventures, haven’t let the team at Outdoors Magic down:
When choosing sandals for hiking you want them to be lightweight but sturdy, cushioned and comfortable. You want them to be grippy, you want them to be fresh-feeling and you want them to be quick drying too. These tick all those boxes. We used them, most notably, during a week of hiking in the mountains of Albania and their performance was very good – and over a variety of terrain.
OM editor Will using the Super Trek in Scotland. Photo: Michael Drummond.
Lizard Super Trek has three-point adjustment, with a snap buckle on the top and then velcro tabs around the ankle and at the toes, and this means you can get a really precise, custom fit from these. The strap has a neoprene lining too, which feels comfortable against the skin.
Underfoot, there’s an EVA foam in the midsole which is made from 30 per cent recycled content. Overall the stack height is 25mm at the heel and 17mm at the toes – fairly big then. This gives these sandals a nice, somewhat springy feel to them. The grip is decent enough, though there are grippier sandals in this round up.
Meindl began making footwear 300 years ago in Germany’s beautiful Bavaria region. Eleven generations on, their products still maintain the same handcrafted quality, and this of course extends to the unisex Capri sandals.
Well named after the rugged yet beautiful Italian island that’s renowned for its quality leather sandals, it’s no surprise that the Capris are designed to take on jagged, watery terrain and, in the spirit of the island, are crafted from high-quality nubuck leather themselves.
The uppers are lined with padded neoprene that, in tandem with the nubuck, gives you an extremely comfortable feel, even after many hours on the trail. Both materials are also ultra quick drying, which is vital for treks that involve the occasional splash in the sea. The chunky outer sole’s tread achieves great grip, while the Capri’s breathable straps are fully adjustable, giving you a customisable fit.
This is a hiking sandal that’s made for big mileage on the trail. It has a stable and supportive upper that is very high on comfort and its midsole cushions well, particularly under the heel, while it capably blocks out sharp stuff like rocks and roots underfoot.
During our tests, we appreciated the comfort of the neoprene lining on the straps and we also really liked the amount of arch support too.
OM editor will using the Kahuna III
For water usage, the drying time is pretty good and we found the straps and platform kept our feet from slipping around Still, we’d say this is best used as a hiking sandal for long trail hikes in hot conditions. If you want a sandal from Merrell to use in or on water, you’d be better off opting for the Merrell Speed Fusion.
Hiking is at the heart and soul (or should that be sole?) of Teva’s Hurricane XLT2s. With a sole forged and shaped specifically with the trails in mind, they’re an excellent choice for summer adventures and are reasonably priced too. A heel height of 3cm is enough to absorb all the shock of a day spent trekking, as well as protecting your feet from any spiky encounters.
The Tevas pictured during our Outdoor 100 test trip. Photo: Chris Johnson
All of this would be academic if the sandals didn’t grip properly or weren’t durable enough to keep you going for many trips. It’s a good job, then, that the Hurricanes are crafted from Teva’s proprietary Durabrasion Rubber, which is impressively grippy and gives you traction even on wet rock. The sandals hold up very well over time, with next to no loss of cushioning or wear and tear.
Grippy, reasonably light, well-cushioned and quick-drying, in our tests, the Merrell Speed Fusion Web proved to be a useful sandal for trail hiking in hot conditions.
In our tests, the outsole provided good grip on a range of surfaces, including on grit, mud and rock. We also liked the amount of cushioning and shock absorption, particularly under the heel.
Our team testing the Merrell Speed Fusion Web on the coast of Wales
The straps are easy to operate and create a close, comfortable fit. The toggle on the back works well, though it does feel a little flimsy. The drying time was excellent and the platform stayed grippy even when it was wet – those are two aspects that make these great sandals for use on hikes alongside water sources or for things like kayaking or SUPing.
Merrell deserve credit for using a large proportion of recycled materials in the production of this sandal too.
This minimalist offering from Californian brand Bedrock does everything you need an adventure sandal to do, and it does it with assured, understated confidence.
Simplicity is the key here: a high-quality y-strap attached to a Vibram sole gives you a product that’s perfect for wild and wet outings. However, don’t confuse simple with basic; the Cairn Pro has been refined over a period of eight years to arrive at the durable, capable sandal it is today.
The Bedrocks during our Outdoor 100 selection process
Performance wise, the Cairn Pros are reassuringly grippy, with superb traction achieved thanks to their triangular lugs. The minimal footbed is surprisingly comfortable and conforms to your feet with each step. Finally, though they are relatively expensive compared to some, we consider them an excellent investment and, if they do eventually wear out, they are fully re-soleable. Oh, and did we also mention they are 100% vegan friendly.
The Hyperport H2 is based on Keen’s Newport sandal, giving the old classic a more modern look, a lighter build and a bit of extra cushioning too. We took this out on a road trip around the Brittany coast where it was put through its paces on coastal hikes and days out on the beach and it turned out to be just about the perfect shoe for the job.
Will using the Hyperport H2 on a tour of Brittany’s coast.
What we liked most about this is its performance in and around water. It holds its shape when wet, it drains quickly, dries quickly and it offers good grip on hard rocky slabs. It’s not a great shoe to choose for any muddy hikes, however, as the lugs on the outsole are very shallow.
There’s a lot of cushioning in the midsole, but also a bit of stiffness so that sharp rocks and roots are blocked out well. As for the fit, it’s super roomy around the toes but pretty normal throughout the rest of the shoe, bringing that classic relaxed and comfortable Keen fit to the table. Just bear in mind that, as this is a closed toe design, you will tend to find yourself taking these on and off fairly often to remove little bits of debris that has found its way in.
These are supremely comfortable sandals. We love the sponginess of the midsole, the roomy toe box and the fact that the stretchy upper makes it fit like a sock.
Granted the UNEEK design is unashamedly a bit love it or hate it, but it does make for a very ergonomic hiking sandal that combines comfort and hiking performance well.
OM editor Will testing the feel of the Keen Uneek NXIS in water.
It has a solid, protective toe bumper, making it excellent on uneven trails, and it scored well on the grip front due to its combination of a tacky rubber compound with 4mm lugs. It’s not so good as a sandal for water sports as the drying time isn’t that quick and the materials become heavy when saturated. It’s also on the heavy and bulky side overall, so it’s not really a sandal to carry in a backpack for river crossings. It’s more of a wear-all-day sandal.
We found the Globetrot to be a great packable sandal that serves well as an option to carry in your pack on any hikes where you might be expecting some river crossings. It’s also useful as a wear–all-day, providing the comfort, grip and support that you want from a sandal for light trail hiking.
Putting the Columbia Globetrotter to the test on the Welsh coast.
It offers good arch support and cushioning, the platform is stable even when wet and the lugs and rubber compound provide grip on a range of different surfaces.
It’s very similar to the Merrell Speed Fusion Web, which is also in this round up. The Speed Fusion Web is a little more expensive but it does have the better eco credentials.
These sandals from U.S-based footwear brand Danner showcase some nice materials and design details. One aspect we particularly liked during our tests was the magnetic buckle which snaps quickly, easily and reassuringly into place. We’ve not come across any other sandals with this type of closure before and we like it a lot.
The sole provides a lot of cushioning, particularly under the heel and there’s quite a lot of arch support. This was welcomed amongst our testers but those with flat feet might not appreciate it.
The patterned platform provides a reasonable amount of traction to sweaty or wet feet. There are sandals in this round up with grippier platforms though, with the Meindl Capri and Merrell Kahuna being the main examples there. The outsole is excellent, however. In fact, it wouldn’t look out of place on a hiking boot, offering aggressive lugs and a soft compound that grips well onto hard, smooth surfaces.
The main downside is that the upper straps are quite minimalist and, while you might get a lot of airflow here, we found that you don’t quite get the same levels of support that you’d get from some of the other sandals included here. Still, they’re smart, functional and very well crafted and overall a good fit for low level, less technical hikes.
The Quechua NH900 is a reasonably priced sandal that combines a trail shoe-like sole and closed toe with an upper that mixes mesh and open panels for a nice amount of ventilation and sweat wicking.
The Quechua NH900 during our tests. We quickly realised that they’re not ideal for use in water.
There’s a good amount of padding around the ankle cuff and the toggled lace creates a comfortable, precise fit. The sole unit is robust and blocks out roots and rocks well while there’s a bit of cushioning and shock absorption too. We found it to be quite light on arch support; if you like that in a shoe then the Keen Uneek NXIS (also reviewed here), would be a good bet.
The sole, which has 3mm lugs, grips well. We felt confident hiking in these on slightly muddy trails and on boulders too. The insole is quite thin and basic, but it is at least removable, so you can swap it for something more technical if you need to.
We found that these sandals aren’t well-suited to water-based activities or for river crossings as the insole and upper materials aren’t really designed for getting wet. As a shoe for hot weather hiking and casual wear, however, it’s a decent offering, especially given the price.
Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy.
