Whether you’re going on a day hike with friends or tackling an ambitious backpacking route, you need a good pair of hiking boots to protect your feet and stabilize your ankles.
Over seven years, we’ve worn 59 pairs of hiking boots while trekking more than 1,600 miles and taking some 2 million steps across all types of terrain.
We chose the Salomon Quest 4 Gore-Tex Hiking Boots (men’s and women’s) as the best hiking boots. They are breathable and waterproof, and they provide solid traction and support.
These boots also have several essential features—including a wide toe box, sturdy heel protection, and a gusseted tongue—that allowed us to hike comfortably for miles.
Salomon’s Quest 4 Gore-Tex Hiking Boots (in men’s and women’s) offer ample toe and heel protection, solid traction and support, and a gusseted tongue. Made with breathable, waterproof materials, these boots also have a flexible midfoot plate, which makes flexing your foot a bit easier. Salomon Quest 4 Gore-Tex Hiking Boots (women’s sizes)
Updated in 2022, the newest Quest boots took slightly longer to break in than the previous model, but they also had the widest toe box of any of the boots we tested. So these boots are likely to fit most foot shapes right out of the box.
The Quest boots are fairly bulky, so they’re best for someone carrying a heavy pack or a kid on their back. Despite their clunkiness, though, these boots are surprisingly comfortable on shorter hikes.
Merrell’s Moab 3 Mid Waterproof Hiking Boots (in men’s and women’s) are a no-frills, trustworthy option for hikers on a budget. These boots have been one of our picks for seven years, and each time we test them, we find them to be a good fit in all the ways that count. Salomon Quest 4 Gore-Tex Hiking Boots (men’s sizes)
The Moab boots are waterproof, though not for an extended period of time as our other picks are. They provide decent ankle support for moderate-length hikes, and they’re easy to lace and fairly breathable. We found them to be extremely comfortable, too. The shock absorption and contoured foot bed make a noticeable difference in preventing sore feet, especially on longer treks.
Vasque Breeze Waterproof Hiking Boot (men’s sizes)
If you have wider feet, you may appreciate that the Moab boots come in both regular and wide widths, and even the regular width is wider than that of our other picks.
We’ve tested the Vasque Breeze Waterproof Hiking Boots many times over the past few years, and we’ve found the most recent iteration to be the best yet. These boots (in men’s and women’s) offer the most flexible fit we found, along with the ankle support for you to carry a heavy pack, if you wish.Though it takes about 10 miles to fully break these boots in, they seemed to get better with wear in our tests. In addition to their substantial underfoot support, the boots’ lighter weight (just over 2 pounds per pair) was especially noticeable after our longer hikes, when we found that our legs and feet were less sore than we expected.
Hoka Trail Code GTX Lightweight Hiker (men’s sizes)
The only downside, besides the break-in time, is that these boots run narrow all the way up the ankle; several of our testers ended up with hot spots there. We recommend ordering at least a half-size up from your street-shoe size.
At less than 2 pounds a pair, Hoka’s Trail Code GTX Lightweight Hiker boots (in men’s and women’s sizes) are the lightest of our picks. They’re also breathable and made with mostly recycled materials. They offer superior underfoot support while maintaining stability too, though the pillowy underfoot characteristic of Hoka footwear can be an acquired taste. Hoka Trail Code GTX Lightweight Hiker (women’s sizes)
Of all the boots we’ve tried in the past three years, the Trail Code boots have the best lacing system—with ideally placed hooks, easy-to-thread laces, and a high enough ankle to keep your foot locked in even when you’re carrying a heavy pack. This lacing system allows you to customize the fit, which is already quite comfortable, right out of the box. You can also opt not to lace your ankles, if you have a lighter pack or you’re hiking on flat terrain. Hoka footwear tends to run big, so we recommend ordering a half-size down from your regular street shoe. Because of their marshmallow-like underfoot support, however, these boots are polarizing. You’ll either love the fit or hate it, so be sure to try these boots on before you buy.
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