6 Best Hiking Sandals in 2024

How we test hiking sandals

At RunRepeat, our review database is one of the largest, so makes it possible for sandal lovers to get what they want in a matter of minutes. And by review, we mean super extensive ones! Now, you can save lots of time picking the most suitable for you because:

• We, ourselves, buy these hiking sandals for us to try on. FYI, we do not tolerate brand-biased opinions here, so we strictly acquire them using our own funds.
• We get to inform you everything about the shoes, from feel, fit, weight, durability, and more, all from our individual experiences. We hike in them on different terrains, may it be muddy, rocky, dry, or whatever. We also cross water streams, trek on ascends and descends, and pass different obstacles with these sandals. 
• We bring it to our lab to collect additional figures by performing tests on them. From waterproofness to measuring the sandals' lug size, we have a test for those. Furthermore, we cut the sandals in half, to bring light to each component and measurement.

Here, we talk about hiking sandals. Flip-flops and slides are NOT sandals. For footwear to be categorized as sandals, they should have straps around the heel so that the heel is always attached to the base and the footwear is not flopping around. 

Caution: hiking in flip-flops and slides is dangerous as they are not considered proper hiking footwear. In some countries, if you need mountain rescue services, you can get fined when you don’t have the appropriate hiking equipment (hiking footwear included). 

Why you SHOULD be hiking in sandals

If you’re on the fence about buying hiking sandals, these might convince you: 

1. Many hiking sandals can have their fit customized thanks to the adjustable straps. They are easy to put on and off.
2. Hiking sandals tend to be very breathable, or at least more breathable than other types of hiking footwear. This depends on the amount of the material they have and the type of the material, but usually, there’s a lot of open space for your feet to breathe. 
3. They also tend to be very quick-drying! 
4. They are lightweight! Especially when we’re talking about those made for light hikes and well-maintained trails. 
5. Hiking sandals are easy to maintain, wash, and sometimes even repair! 
6. They are cheaper than hiking shoes or trail running shoes. 

Caution: Must know BEFORE buying hiking sandals

1. Generally speaking, hiking sandals are not meant for demanding hiking, especially not for backpacking. There are only a few models that can be used for backpacking, but even then, you have to prepare for that adventure. It is best if you have strong feet and strong ankles and if the terrain is not extreme. 
2. You’ll get weird tan lines. 
3. Exposed feet mean risk of injuries. Sandals offer much less protection than hiking shoes and hiking boots. 
4. Debris, rocks, sticks, scree, they are all your enemy. They can easily get stuck between the sandal material and your feet. You can’t use gaiters with sandals. 
5. You might get very cold when the weather changes suddenly and the temperature drops. 
6. Get used to dirty feet. Dirty toes, dirt under the nails. Even if you wear socks with hiking sandals, your feet will still get dirty; there’s no way around it. 

8 things to pay attention to in hiking sandals

There are 8 things to consider when buying hiking sandals:

1. Closure type: closed or open-toe
2. Upper type: straps, braids, or regular
3. Purpose: do you need sandals for regular hiking, casual use and light hiking, water hiking, or backpacking? Many things depend on this. 
4. Depth of lugs (grip): from no lugs to very deep lugs. The shallower the lugs, the less we recommend hiking in the sandals (especially when sandals don’t even have the lugs). 
5. Midsole softness: comfort is directly related to this. Hikers usually relate softness with comfort, but firmer midsoles offer more stability and are better for heavier options (both hikers and backpacks)
6. Outsole hardness: softer outsoles are usually stickier, but harder outsoles are more protective and durable
7. Flexibility: stiff sandals are great for terrain covered with debris, but more flexible sandals allow for more natural foot movement 
8. Weight: usually, lighter sandals are meant for lighter hikes and maybe even casual use, while havier sandals which have hard outsoles, firmer midsoles, and a lot of protection, can be used on moderate hikes.

We dig deep into all of these features below. 

Which is better: Closed-toe or open-toe hiking sandals

There are 2 types: closed-toe or open-toe. 

Open-toe (left) and close-toe (right) hiking sandals

And, if the toes are open, you can choose between a toe post, a finger loop, or a simple open toe. 

Closed-toe hiking sandals are recommended for hikes where you need protection at your toes. They have a toe bumper, just like hiking shoes, hiking boots, and even some trail running shoes. Open-toe sandals offer more freedom of movement for your toes but are also less supportive and protective. 

Straps, braided upper, or regular upper?

Straps are great because they are customizable; they can be loosened up or tightened. Sometimes, even in more than 1 place (around the heel, over the instep, and/or above the toes). This works especially well for hikers with narrower or wider feet. 

Adjusting the straps with a ladder lock buckle (up) and velcro (down)

Braided uppers work wonderfully with a single lace pull (quick lace) but don’t allow for that much customization. They offer more protection that the strappy sandals but less than those with regular uppers. 

Braided upper present on a hiking shoe we've tested 

The regular upper is not customizable, but it is also the most protective and very durable as it’s often made of leather or very thick synthetic materials. 

Regular upper with a single lace pull (elastic, no-tie lace)

What you plan to do: water hiking, backpacking, day hiking?

Sandals are often used for water hiking, day hikes, and light hiking. Knowing what you plan to do basically dictates what to focus on when buying a new pair of hiking sandals. 

Water hiking sandals: what to look for

If you plan to hike near water, across some streams, maybe use the sandals when kayaking, water hiking sandals are a great idea. Here are a few features to consider: 

• Materials should be quick-drying. If not, they can start smelling badly, plus they will keep wet for longer periods of time, which might result in your feet getting cold. Synthetic materials dry faster than leather. Anti-microbial materials are a bonus because of all the moisture!

Quick-drying polyester material under the microscope 

• Quick drainage! Look for sandals with a lot of areas where the water could escape. If there are drainage holes present on the upper, it is best if they are lower to the midsole so that even low levels of water can drain out. 
• Best not to slip or slide! Because of this, choose the sandals that keep your feet locked down to the maximum. Which design you will choose (straps, closed toe, etc.) depends on the shape of your feet. If you actually plan to hike through the water, where a lot of rocks can hit your legs, go for the close-toe design so that the toe box keeps your toes safe. 
• Grip! Some outsoles are better for wet surfaces, others for dry surfaces. Look for the former. 

Backpacking hiking sandals: tread lightly 

As mentioned above, hiking sandals are usually not recommended for backpacking. This is because backpacking involves multi-day hikes, long daily mileages, and heavy backpacks.

All of that asks for as much support and stability as you can get, and hiking sandals tend not to deliver, especially not when compared to hiking shoes and boots. However, some sandals can be used for light backpacking.

Tearing a hiking sandal into pieces for further lab testing

In case you want to go backpacking in sandals, we recommend looking for: 

• Secure lockdown. Make sure your feet don’t slip or slide. 
• Cushioning. Look for a lot of support, which means firmer midsoles. Carrying a heavy backpack means the 2 of you weigh more, so it is best to have more materials below your feet to respond to your weight and pressure. We don’t recommend minimalist (very flat and low to the ground) sandals. 
• Stiffer outsoles. In the long run, they provide more support and stability. This comes in handy when the terrain gets rougher. 
• Best if they can be easily adjusted in case your feet need a bit more room due to swelling after a full-day hike.
• Some sandals have a shank placed in the midsole or between the midsole and the outsole. Shanks offer more stiffness, which means such sandals are more supportive and comfortable in the long run. 
• Consider looking for anti-microbial materials, as you might sweat a lot during long hikes, especially if backpacking in summer. 

If you want to get into backpacking, consider the safer option: getting backpacking shoes or backpacking boots. 

Day hiking and light hiking in sandals 

When it comes to day hiking, we recommend versatile sandals. This means they must have some grip (at least ~2 mm deep lugs) and they should fit perfectly. The rest depends on the terrain and weather.

Go for leather sandals if you want durability and protection, but choose synthetic upper (straps) if you prefer something that is quick-drying and lightweight. 

Light hiking is the lightest hiking, which means you’re basically getting hiking sandals for very short and easy hikes on hard-packed trails, even terrain, and maybe even popular maintained trails. In this case, you can choose shallow lugs and no need to worry about more expensive features like the type of material (leather or waterproof), whether your sandals have a shank in the midsole to make them more supportive, etc. 

Lug thickness: lab measurements and our recommendations

The grip depends on the outsole: how sticky it is, whether there are any lugs, how deep they are, and what’s the orientation of the lugs. Because hiking sandals are more oriented towards lighter hiking, we will discuss only the hardness of the outsole and lug depth here. 

Different hiking-sandal lug depths we've measured in our lab

Depending on where you plan to hike, we recommend: 

• Deep lugs (3mm and deeper) if your hikes involve soft ground, maybe even a bit of mud
• Shallow lugs (less than 3mm) if you plan to hike on well-maintained trails that have no extreme details 
• No lugs if you don’t plan to actually hike in the sandals. 

In the lab, we measure the thickness of the lugs with a caliper. 

Using a digital caliper to measure the depth of lugs on a hiking sandal

We also measure the hardness of the outsole with a durometer. The harder the rubber, the higher the number on the durometer. 

Measuring the hardness of the outsole on a hiking sandal using an HC durometer 

It’s also important to note here that the harder rubber is usually more durable and protective. It’s dense, so the chances of sharp rocks cutting through a hard outsole are smaller than when you hike in softer outsoles. On the other hand, softer outsoles tend to be more flexible, pliable, and stickier. 

How durable are hiking sandals?

While the durability of hiking sandals is often worse than that of hiking shoes and boots, it still isn’t something that should be forgotten. Not all sandals have a toe box or heel padding, so we can’t measure the durability of those areas on all of them, but we can measure the durability of the outsole. And this is an excellent indicator of what type of terrain the sandals can be used on. 

We measure the durability by pressing our Dremel against different parts of the sandals (toebox, heel counter, outsole). 

Testing the durability of the toebox

When we test the durability of the toebox or the heel padding, we rate it on a 1-5 scale based on the amount of damage our Dremel has made. 

Heel padding durability test result: visible damage made by our Dremel

However, when we test the durability of the outsole, we don’t have to assess the damage; we can measure it precisely using a tire tread gauge. The higher the number on it, the bigger the damage. Or, the bigger the dent we’ve made, the less durable the outsole. 

Outsole durability test results (depth of the dent): left: 6.6mm, center: 1.4mm, right: 0.5mm

Flexible or stiff: which is better?

When hiking sandals are flexible, they actually allow us to move more freely. They bend in sync with our feet with less disturbance. Stiffer footwear, on the other hand, while it doesn’t support that natural-movement feel, it does offer more support and stability. 

So, it’s up to a hiker to decide what they will prioritize: 

• More flexible sandals, which allow more freedom of movement and support the natural bending of feet 
• Stiffer sandals, which are better for terrain covered with debris as they offer more protection and stability, which results in less foot fatigue (at least) on such terrain

We test the flexibility of hiking sandals by clamping their toebox to the ramp and bending the heel to 90 degrees using a digital force gauge. We read how much force we used to bend the sandal: the more force we used, the stiffer it was. 

Testing the flexibility of hiking sandals in RunRepeat lab

Softer or firmer sandals? Lab results and recommendations

There are 2 common materials used for midsoles in hiking sandals: 

• EVA: usually soft, flexible, lightweight. It is not supportive enough for more serious hikes as it compresses over time. Short for ethylene vinyl acetate. 
• PU: very supportive, usually found in backpacking sandals and hiking shoes and boots. It is more durable but also heavier, and it might require some break-in time. Short for polyurethane.

Hiking sandals with EVA and PU midsoles 

In our lab, we test the softness using a durometer. The lower the number on the durometer, the softer the midsole. 

Using a shore A durometer to measure the midsole softness in a hiking sandal

We recommend softer hiking sandals for shorter, easy hikes. Firmer midsoles offer more support and are better when you carry a backpack. In them, you won't sink in and use extra energy to bounce back. 

Lightweight vs. heavy hiking sandals

Lightweight sandals are great because you barely feel them on the feet and they inspire that feeling of freedom and traveling light and naturally. However, with light weight usually comes less protection, less stability, and the ability to hike over moderate trails (not to mention the demanding ones). 

Hiking sandal on a scale in RunRepeat lab

We measure the weight of every sandal in our lab.

Here are a few numbers from our current database to create context around the weight of hiking sandals: 

• Average weight of hiking sandals: 317.0g
• Average weight of lightweight hiking sandals: 236.6g
• Average weight of heavy hiking sandals: 371.3g
• Average weight of hiking shoes: 377.8g
• Average weight of hiking boots: 549.9g

Lightweight (up) vs. heavy (down) hiking sandal

Prices of hiking sandals: a comparison

The price of hiking sandals depends on the upper materials used (leather is usually more expensive than synthetic) and their purpose (more durable and grippier sandals are heavier and include more expensive materials). 

For context, here are a few data points from our database: 

• Average price of hiking sandals: $90.8 (for synthetic sandals: $86.2)
• Average price of hiking shoes: $129.9
• Average price of hiking boots: $196.6

If you’re on a discount hunt, check out our page dedicated to deals on hiking sandals.