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13 best walking boots for women, tested by the WH Lab experts
Find your hiking sole mate
Who said cardio has to be hard-io? Sure, spin classes and HIIT sessions that leave you dripping in sweat and gasping for air will boost your cardiovascular fitness, but there are less hardcore ways to get your heart pumping.
Evidence shows that heading out for a hike, walk or ramble can rev up your heart rate and strengthen the muscles in your lower body and core. Not to mention, it’s also accessible, easier on the joints and you can reap all the mood-boosting, stress-relieving benefits of spending time in nature.
If you’re ready to embrace the elements and hit the trails – cosy country pub lunch mandatory – you'll need a pair of walking boots that are comfortable, protective and won’t leave your feet blistered and bruised.
We tasked our WH Lab experts with finding the best for all budgets, and they understood the assignment — plus we've included some top recommendations from the WH editors.
What are the best walking boots for women?
What should I look for in a hiking boot?
According to Backpacker.com, you should judge a hiking boot on comfort, durability, stability, weight, warmth and water resistance – which, fortunately, we've done for you with this edit of our top picks. You and your feet are welcome.
How we test hiking boots
To make our list, boots had to prove they could walk the walk. The WH Lab tested over 35 shoes, with each pair trialled by at least three people.
Our panel of keen walkers put the boots through their paces across a range of distances and terrains to see how they coped with both casual jaunts and hardcore hikes. They considered how well they fitted around the toes and heels, how much support and flexibility they offered on challenging trails, how dry they kept feet in wet conditions and whether the soles felt comfortable on longer walks. They also considered grip on a variety of surfaces, including sandy trails, rocky paths and muddy fields.
Our panel gave detailed feedback on the comfort, fit, design and performance of the boots they tested, with only footwear that recorded exemplary scores across the board making our final list, alongside some WH-approved favourites.
13 best walking boots for women in 2024
After rigorous testing from both our panel and the WH editors, these are the walking boots that made the cut for 2024. Wondering whether you need to break in your new boots, or concerned about their waterproofing abilities? We've answered all your questions below — just scroll down.
Priyankaa is our senior health and wellness writer, specialising in expert-tested reviews and roundups on the latest health and fitness products. From walking boots to running machines, Priyankaa has written about hundreds of products and is passionate about providing in-depth, unbiased reviews. Plus, as an avid runner and gymgoer, she knows exactly what to look for when finding the right gymwear, fitness tracker or earphones.
Priyankaa has an MA in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University and over five years’ experience in health and fitness journalism. Priyankaa has written for Stylist’s Strong Women Training Club, where she regularly wrote about diversity in the fitness industry, nutrition tips, training advice and her experience completing various fitness challenges.
She has also written for a variety of publications including Business Insider, Glamour, Bustle, Metro, HuffPost UK, gal-dem and more.
Outside of work, Priyankaa can usually be found trying out a new gym class, seeking out London's best eats or watching a Spanish TV show in a bid to keep up her language skills.
Hattie Parish is the Health and Fitness Ecommerce Editor for Women’s Health, Men’s Health and Runner’s World, covering the best gym wear, latest fitness tech and wellness launches worth investing in, plus the best deals during Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. As well as clocking up the miles in myriad running socks, pummelling her muscles with massage guns, testing out fitness mirrors and donning dry robes every other weekend, Hattie consults leading experts in the health and fitness industry to help readers make informed decisions when shopping online. Brought up by two medics, Hattie worked in health clinics before completing a BA in English at King’s College London. She qualified as a journalist in 2015 and has since written for titles such as Healthy magazine, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Red, as well as worked commercially with health and wellness clients such as Holland & Barrett, Lloyds Pharmacy and Superdrug. Hattie is passionate about arming readers with honest, unbiased product reviews and has a particular interest in the role of technology in our wellbeing, as well as gender-based inequalities in healthcare. When she’s not putting gym wear through its paces on the Pilates reformer or kitting out her home gym (garage) with the latest equipment, she’s attempting to make progress on her teetering pile of bedside books, cycling round South East London or sampling wellness retreats for the Women’s Health travel pages.
Jodie is our Health and Fitness product tester. She runs tests on a wide variety of products, including gym leggings, walking boots, fitness trackers and more. Jodie has managed the testing for 577 products to date, including working with over 600 panellists.
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