Walking into an outdoor shop to buy your first pair of hiking shoes is a weirdly intense experience. There are boots that look ready for Everest, trail runners that look like they should be on a start line, waterproof labels everywhere, and someone will almost certainly mention ankle support with great confidence. If you are new to hiking, it can very quickly feel as though there is one technically correct answer for what you should buy and everybody except you already knows what it is.
In reality, hiking footwear is one of those subjects where people become surprisingly loyal to whatever works for their own feet, then occasionally forget that other people have different feet, walk different routes and hike in different conditions. The useful question is not which hiking shoe is objectively best. It is what you need your footwear to do for the walking you are actually planning.
Start with the walk, not the shoe
Before you look at brands, sole compounds or whether something comes in a pleasing shade of green, think about the ground you are going to walk over. A few hours on well-made paths puts very different demands on your footwear from a long day over wet rock, bog and rough mountain terrain. The amount you carry matters too, as does the season, the weather and how confident you already feel moving over uneven ground.
This is why I am always slightly wary when somebody asks me to recommend "a good hiking boot" without telling me anything else. A shoe that feels brilliant on a dry path around your local woods may be completely wrong for a winter hill day, while a heavy boot that feels reassuring in mud might be far more than you need for a warm summer trail. Neither is bad footwear; they are doing different jobs.
A lot of beginners also buy for the hiker they imagine they are about to become. Apparently next weekend we are all doing huge mountain days in terrible weather with a very serious rucksack. If that genuinely is where your hiking is heading, factor it in. But if the next few months are likely to be local trails, lower hills and gradually building experience, there is nothing wrong with buying for those walks first. Your kit can develop as your hiking does.
Boots, walking shoes or trail runners?
Traditional hiking boots are often where people start because they feel protective and substantial. A stiffer sole can be useful on rough ground, the higher cuff can help keep mud and debris out, and many people like the secure feeling of a boot when they are carrying more weight or walking over broken terrain. The trade-off is that boots are usually heavier and warmer, and some take longer to dry once they are properly wet.
Low hiking shoes sit somewhere in the middle. They tend to have more grip, structure and underfoot protection than an everyday trainer without feeling like you have strapped small buildings to your feet. For a lot of UK day walking, particularly on established paths, they can be a very sensible option.
Trail runners take that lighter approach further. They are generally flexible, breathable and quick to move in, which is why they are so popular with many long-distance hikers. I ended up buying a pair midway through the Coast to Coast after my old boots finally gave up, and at that point putting something light and comfortable on my feet felt miraculous. They also suited the walking I was doing. That does not mean I would automatically choose the same pair for every mountain day or every season.
The difference is worth understanding because footwear changes how you feel the ground beneath you. A stiff boot can give more underfoot protection from rocks and rough terrain, while a more flexible shoe allows your foot to move and respond more naturally. Some people love that ground feel; others find it tiring or insecure. There is no prize for choosing the most serious-looking option. The best starting point is the type of terrain you will walk on, followed very closely by what actually fits your feet.
Fit matters more than the logo on the side
A technically brilliant shoe from a very expensive brand is still a bad shoe if your toes hit the front every time you walk downhill. Fit is the bit you cannot negotiate with, and it is also one of the reasons footwear recommendations only get you so far.
Your heel should feel secure rather than lifting noticeably with every step, while your toes need enough room to move without your whole foot sliding around inside the shoe. On descents your foot naturally moves forwards, and feet can also swell over a long day, so something that already feels cramped while you are standing in a shop is unlikely to become more charming after six hours of walking.
Take the socks you normally hike in when you try footwear on and try both shoes, because most of us do not have two perfectly identical feet. Walk around for longer than the 30 seconds it takes to look in a mirror and, if the shop has a ramp, use it in both directions. Pay attention to pressure across the top of your foot, your heel moving, your toes touching the front, a tongue bunching up or a seam rubbing your little toe. Those boring little niggles rarely become less annoying after six miles.
Width and volume matter as much as the number printed on the box. Two shoes labelled the same size can fit completely differently through the heel, forefoot and instep, which is why finding a brand or last that suits the shape of your foot can be more useful than obsessing over whether you are normally a size six or a six and a half. If you use orthotics or particular insoles, take those with you too.
Do hiking shoes need to be waterproof?
For UK hiking, waterproof footwear can be extremely useful. Wet grass has an extraordinary ability to soak a non-waterproof shoe before it has even properly started raining, and a membrane can make muddy paths, puddles and ordinary British drizzle considerably more pleasant.
What waterproof does not mean is that your feet are now invincible. Water can still come in over the top, feet still sweat, and once some waterproof shoes are thoroughly soaked they can take longer to dry than lighter, more breathable footwear. This becomes particularly relevant on multi-day hikes, where putting yesterday’s wet shoes back on is one of life’s less glamorous little rituals.
Think about the conditions you spend most of your time in. If you regularly walk through wet grass, bog and mud, waterproof footwear may earn its keep constantly. If you mainly hike in warm, dry weather or expect your feet to get wet during river crossings anyway, breathability and drying speed may matter more to you. Plenty of experienced hikers own both because the useful answer changes with the season and the route.
Socks are part of this conversation too. A well-fitting technical hiking sock helps manage moisture and reduces friction, while changing damp socks and dealing with a hot spot early can prevent a small irritation becoming a blister. Expensive boots cannot compensate for ignoring your feet for eight hours.
What grip should you look for?
Turn the shoe over before you buy it, because the outsole tells you a lot about what it has been designed to do. Trail footwear usually has lugs — the raised sections of tread underneath the shoe — which help bite into softer ground. Deeper, more widely spaced lugs can be useful in mud because they have more chance of finding purchase and shedding the mud again, while shallower tread may feel smoother on hard-packed paths and rock.
The rubber compound matters as well, although this is harder to judge just by looking. Softer, stickier rubber can grip rock well but may wear faster; harder compounds can last longer but do not necessarily feel as secure on every surface. This is one of the reasons a shoe marketed for dry rocky trails may behave differently from one designed around muddy UK paths even if both look impressively rugged.
Whatever you buy, grip has limits. Wet rock, polished stone, roots, mud and ice can all be slippery, and tread becomes less effective as it wears down. How you move matters alongside what is on your feet, so slow down on slippery ground, shorten your steps and place your feet deliberately rather than assuming an aggressive-looking sole has repealed the laws of physics.
Do hiking boots really provide ankle support?
This question comes up constantly when people are buying their first hiking footwear, usually accompanied by the idea that beginners should automatically be in high boots to stop them rolling an ankle.
Higher boots can feel more supportive around the ankle, and some people genuinely prefer that sensation, particularly on rough ground or when carrying more weight. They can also offer useful protection from mud, scree and knocks. What they cannot do is guarantee that you will never injure an ankle, and the height of a boot is only one small part of how stable you feel when you walk.
Strength, balance, fatigue, the terrain, the stiffness and fit of the footwear and your experience moving over uneven ground all play a part. If you have a previous injury or a specific clinical concern, get advice from an appropriate healthcare professional rather than relying on a sweeping claim from the internet. For everybody else, I would choose the footwear that suits your feet and your walking rather than assuming a high cuff is compulsory hiking equipment.
What about breaking hiking boots in?
The old advice about spending weeks painfully breaking in a pair of boots comes partly from an era of much heavier leather footwear. Modern hiking shoes and many modern boots should feel reasonably comfortable from the beginning, although stiffer footwear can soften and mould a little with use.
What you absolutely should do is test new footwear before the important walk. Wear it around locally, then take it on a shorter hike and gradually increase the time. That gives you a chance to notice rubbing, pressure, hot spots or numbness, and to work out whether a different sock or lacing pattern solves a genuine minor fit issue.
Do not make a 25-kilometre mountain day the first occasion on which you discover what your new boots feel like after four hours. Equally, do not spend weeks trying to persuade yourself that genuinely painful footwear just needs breaking in. Sometimes it is simply the wrong shape for your foot, and no amount of determined suffering is going to turn it into the right one.
Buy your first pair for the walks ahead
I learned the footwear lesson the hard way on the Coast to Coast. I had worn my old boots into the ground over a few years of Mountain Leader work, knew they were nearing the end of their life, and still started a 309-kilometre hike in them because they had always been comfortable before. By Day 7, every step felt like they were stabbing me in the ankles and I was very aware that I still had rather a lot of England left to cross.
Buying trail runners in Kirkby Stephen solved the immediate problem, but the more useful lesson happened before I ever reached the shop: footwear needs to suit the walk in front of you, and it needs to be in good enough condition to do the job. Check the tread and the upper, look for cracking or separation around the sole and pay attention when cushioning or support no longer feels the way it used to. Shoes do not have to fall dramatically apart on the trail before they are ready to retire.
For your first pair, set a sensible budget and then try several options without becoming too attached to the one you expected to buy. Think about your terrain, the weather you usually walk in, how the shoe fits and what you want to do over the next season. Test it before the day that matters and look after your feet while you are out.
As your hiking develops, you may eventually end up with different footwear for different conditions. You do not need to build an entire shoe cupboard before your first proper hike. You need a pair that fits your feet, suits the ground you are actually going to walk over and is comfortable enough that, when you get home, you still want to go hiking again.