admin Walking is good for you—like, really good for you—but the best walking shoes for men haven’t exactly always screamed “sex appeal.” Until now. Given the explosion of interest in running’s less strenuous cousin over the past couple years, walking shoes have, ahem, stepped up their game.
And now these semi-sporty hybrids have suddenly become the key to unlocking new sights in your city. Remember when you were able to walk for hours on end without tell-tale aches and needing to call it the day before happy hour? Turns out, you still can, you were just missing the right soles to set you straight.
The Best Walking Shoes Shopping Guide
- The Best Hardcore Walking Shoes: Hoka Challenger 7 Sneaker, $160
- The Best Retro Walking Shoes: New Balance M1906RCH Sneaker, $182
- The Best Really Retro Walking Shoes: Mephisto Rush Walking Shoe, $389
- The Best Dressy Walking Shoes: Paraboot “Michael” Shoe, $635
- The Best Walking Shoes Favored by the Pros: SAS Journey Mesh Shoes, $205
- The Best All-Terrain Walking Shoes: Norda 001 Sneakers, $285
- The Best Cult-Favorite Walking Shoes: Tarvas Explorer Sneaker, $275
- The Best Delightfully Freaky Walking Shoes: Merrell Jungle Leather Slip-On Shoe,
$100$46 - The Best Walking Shoes with Fashion Cred: Salomon Speedverse PRG Sneakers, $140
- The Best Slip-Resistant Walking Shoes: Birkenstock A630 Clog, $65
- The Best Shoes for Walkers on the Mend: OOFOS OOahh Sport Recovery Slide, $71
Today’s walking shoe is still packed with all the cushion-heavy outsoles, breathable uppers, and vital arch support you need for a long day on your feet, but now they’ve got the style to match. Some borrow design details from sleek modern runners, some take their cues from retro silhouettes, but all of the ones here will help you get that daily step count in while looking primo with just about anything you’ve got on. Whether you’re heading out for an hours-long stroll or just making a quick trip to the bodega, these are the 11 best walking shoes for men to lace up now.
Looking to replace your grimy white sneakers with a fresh pair of pristine kicks? Need to lock in court shoes that’ll look just as good hitting layups as they do walking down the street? We’ve got you covered. From the best sneakers of 2023 (so far) to the top-shelf products that’ll keep them looking brand new, all the intel you need is right here.
The Best Hardcore Walking Shoes
Hoka’s Fitness-Award winning sneakers are beloved by runners and fashion heads alike. The Challenger offers a smooth, luxurious walking experience—no matter the distance or terrain involved. Yes, the shoe is engineered with the brand’s thick, cloudlike EVA midsole, a grippy outsole with a design borrowed from gravel-ready tires, breathable mesh uppers, and an ultra-soft memory foam collar for a more custom fit. But it’s also—dare we say it?—downright sexy, which is a rarity in a market largely dominated by sneakers that place function high above form.
The Best Retro Walking Shoes
Long before they were fashionable, New Balance had the comfort shoe market cornered. The Boston-based brand has been churning out some of the chunkiest, daddest (in a good way!) sneakers around for over a century, and every shoe in its 990 series has rightfully achieved icon status. Almost any pair of NBs will treat your feet with the dignity they deserve, but this one—with 360 mesh uppers and a specialized sole to maximize shock absorption—is particularly suited for long days on the move.
The Best Really Retro Walking Shoes
So you’ve got a swankier-than-usual event to attend and would rather walk than take the train (because it’s a beautiful day and/or you’d like to keep your blood pressure stable). Doesn’t mean you have to turn up looking any less the part! Mephisto’s slick Rush sneakers will keep you looking dapper, while the buttery smooth nubuck leather—set on top of an ultra-cushy, foam outer sole—will make sure your arches feel just as good as they look. Long gone are the days when beauty equaled pain–or stowing an extra pair of shoes in a bag and having to make a dash for the bathroom before anyone registers you’d arrived.
The Best Dressy Walking Shoes
The French-made Michael showed up in 1945, when everyone was sacrificing resources for the war effort, and yet almost 80 years on, there’s absolutely nothing stingy about what some (okay, we) are calling the “Most Important Shoe in Menswear Right Now.” It’s simple, durable, comfortable—and wildly stylish as a result of all that function-meeting-form. Thick leather uppers are secured to a shock-absorbing natural rubber lugged outsole with waterproof welting to ensure everything stays nice and dry. The two-eyelet lace-up system makes for easy on/off access a fit that can be tailored to the width of your foot. If you’re going to be pounding the pavement for long distances while needing to handle both business and pleasure, it’s hard to beat the Michael.
The Best Walking Shoes Favored by the Pros
SAS makes slept-on footwear gems with an orthotic bent and a beautifully basic design sense, and you’ll see them in only two places: old folks homes and low-key style circles. While the brand’s Journey model looks like a kids drawing of a sneaker in the best way possible, it’s the top-tier craftsmanship that’ll hook you: A breathable mesh upper that’s been reinforced with leather so it molds to your feet without losing the shoe’s natural footshape. A D-ring lace-up system for quick lacing. A heel stabilizer to make sure you’re hitting your stride correctly. And widths from slim to triple-wide, so your feet feel right whether you’re strolling the sidewalk or sprinting to catch the train.
The Best All-Terrain Walking Shoes
Canadian-born Norda brings the performance cred, designing footwear and clothing for extreme athletes. The brand leans heavily on a sustainably-constructed Dyneema, a technical wonder fabric that’s ridiculously strong for being ridiculously lightweight, as well as breathable, too. With the help of a grabby Vibram outsole, Dyneema makes the 001 into an all-terrain shoe without the usual trail-runner heft—they’re almost 50 grams lighter per shoe than those New Balance above. That adds up to your legs moving an extra 990 pounds over a 10,000-step day.
The Best Cult-Favorite Walking Shoes
These Tarvas Explorer sneakers may not be as well known as some of the other picks on this list, but that’s kind of the point. And you’ll be double converted once you take them for a spin.Crafted in Finland, the Explorer pairs a silky-smooth suede upper with a water-resistant rubberized canvas mudguard that wraps around the entire shoe. But the killer app may be what’s inside: a full leather lining, which will breathe nicely and keep the Explorers in good shape while their odometer runs up the miles.
The Best Delightfully Freaky Walking Shoes
It’s not hard to understand while Merrell’s legendary camp shoe that was inspired by a hiking shoe translates almost flawlessly into a perfect walking shoe. The Jungle Slip-On’s roomy toe box keeps blisters at bay, the chunky outsole brings 360-degree grip, and the suede upper helps the shoe transition from dusty trailhead to casual drinks. Wide feet? No problem: the shoe comes in an extensive range of widths. And don’t discount the joy of quickly kicking off your kicks the moment you’re back in the door.
The Best Walking Shoes with Serious Fashion Cred
A surprise fashion-crowd favorite, the Salomon Speedverse is the rare walking shoe with plenty of city-ready appeal. It’s packed with uber-functional tech to dominate the trails—a bungee-style lace-up closure for a micro-adjustable fit, a heavily-padded collar to spare your ankle, a built-for-speed midsole—that will work just as effectively in a concrete jungle, and look completely at home anchoring a pair of wide-legged cords. For anyone unwilling to sacrifice for style, this is the walking sneaker that proves you really can have it all.
The Best Slip-Resistant Walking Shoes
You can tell it’s rained in New York City when you see these clogs clomping up and down the sidewalks. The A360 is the brawnier brother to Birkenstock’s podiatrist-approved Boston clogs, designed to keep your feet dry, stable, and slip-free. In addition to the German brand’s legendarily comfortable cork latex footbed, a cupped heel locks your foot in place, helped by a little bit of heel elevation. (We’ll take any extra height, thank you.) What this clog lacks in athletic ability it makes up for with sheer practicality.
The Best Shoes for Walkers on the Mend
This GQ fitness award winner is sweet relief in footwear form. OOFOS’s patented footbed reduces stress on your back and feet, with plenty of arch support courtesy of the sole’s cushy memory foam. (If you’re thinking to yourself, these actually look kinda cool, that was also “built-in.”) Last year, avant-garde designer Takahiro Miyashita gave these slides a fresh update, but even sans the designer cosign, the OG version remains a no-brainer for warm-weather wandering.
