Hiking Boots: How to Choose

Boots are the item most worth trying on in an actual shop, at the end of a day, wearing the socks you will hike in. Everything else about them — membrane, sole stiffness, weight — is secondary to whether the specific last happens to fit your foot. A €90 boot that fits will outperform a €300 boot that does not, every single time.

How to choose

The decisions that actually change the outcome.

• Fit first: your heel should not lift, and your toes should not touch the front on a downhill slope. Test both.
• Trail runners for fast, light travel on good paths; boots for rough ground, heavy packs and ankle support.
• Waterproof membranes keep water out and also keep sweat in. In hot dry climates, non-waterproof is often better.
• Sole stiffness: softer for walking, stiffer for scrambling and for carrying a heavy pack over rough ground.
• Buy half a size up from your normal shoe if you wear thick socks or hike long descents.

What to buy, by use case

Matched to what you will actually do with it.

• Mid-cut waterproof hiking boot

  Use case: The default choice: rough terrain, day hikes and weekend trips

  Ankle support and a waterproof membrane without full mountaineering weight. The right first serious boot for most people.

  $120 – 220 Check price

• Trail running shoe

  Use case: Fast hiking, good trails, hot climates and long-distance walking

  Lighter, cooler and faster-drying than a boot. Genuinely the better choice on well-maintained trails and for thru-hiking.

  $100 – 180 Check price

• Mountaineering boot

  Use case: Crampons, snow, ice and serious alpine terrain

  Stiff enough to take a crampon and insulated for cold. Uncomfortable and unnecessary below the snow line.

  $300 – 700 Check price

• Approach shoe

  Use case: Walking to the crag, scrambling, via ferrata

  A sticky rubber sole for rock grip with enough comfort to walk in all day. The most versatile shoe in a climber's bag.

  $110 – 190 Check price

• Hiking socks and insoles

  Use case: With any of the above

  Merino or synthetic, never cotton. A proper insole often fixes the fit problem people try to solve by buying new boots.

  $15 – 45 Check price

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Pitfalls to avoid

The expensive ways to get this wrong.

• Buying boots a size small because they felt fine standing still in the shop
• Taking brand-new boots on a multi-day trip — break them in over at least 50 km first
• Buying waterproof for a hot desert trip and getting trench foot from sweat instead
• Assuming a stiffer sole is always better — it is worse for pure walking comfort
• Ignoring the insole, which is often the actual problem
• Wearing cotton socks, which lose all insulating value when wet and cause blisters

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