The Finest Sandals of 2024

Sandals are the chameleons of the footwear world. Some look like flip-flops, others like sneakers. Either way, on warm days, they let your feet breathe. And when your activities turn wet and/or wild, these adaptable kicks are ever ready to oblige.

To the untrained eye, some sandals might appear to be little more than flip-flops with heel straps. While others sport beefy straps and 1-inch soles that look like they mean business. But our experts don’t judge sandals based on mere chunkiness. We walk the walk to assess various use case(s).

Main tester Scott Tharler has written about tech and gear—including innovative footwear and apparel—for nearly 30 years. In that time, he’s logged hundreds of miles testing dozens of flip-flops, sandals, sneakers, and shoes. Especially having made the annual pilgrimage to walk the grueling week-long Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas over 25 times, Tharler has learned the true value of a supportive insole

Specifically for this buyer’s guide, we tested nine pairs of men’s sandals, ranging in price from $50 to $140. We left out one pair from this final guide due to a snafu with the strap and buckle that couldn’t be fixed in time. The remaining eight stalwarts were evaluated based on their performance in a mix of hiking, road, beach, trail conditions, and general everyday use.

Below, you’ll see how the entrants fared based on our rigorous testing. We’ve included a buyer’s guide, an FAQ, and a comparison chart to help you more easily determine the best men’s sandals for your unique needs,

The Best Sandals of 2024

Sandals Comparison Chart

How We Tested Sandals

From hardcore hiking boots to whimsical water shoes and everything in between, GearJunkie knows footwear. Main tester Scott Tharler has been writing about tech and gear—including innovative footwear and apparel—for nearly 30 years.

In that time, he’s logged hundreds of miles testing dozens of flip-flops, sandals, sneakers, and shoes in a variety of conditions. Whether traversing a cavernous convention center, a 5.8 route on a rock wall, or a relaxing river on an innertube, Tharler knows the value of quality footwear.

Although those living in cold-weather climates may see sandals as seasonal footwear that goes in and out of fashion, they’re year-round daily drivers here in Hawaii (where we conducted our research). In fact, from vast lava fields to sprawling jungles to dual 13000-foot mountain peaks—and let’s not forget its many beaches—the Big Island is an optimal testing ground for sandals.

During our time with these sandals, we logged dozens of miles. We hiked dusty trails, sandy shorelines, lava beds, and loose gravel, plus more pedestrian adventures over pavement and indoors. Though these sandals aren’t necessarily meant to go toe-to-toe with more hardcore versions or with hiking shoes, we certainly found that they can hold their own.

Ultimately, the best sandals combine comfort, flexibility, and technical prowess. Those are the ones we favor even when we aren’t seriously testing. As we continue to wear these sandals and consider additional ones, we’ll update this guide to bring you the latest and greatest options in men’s sandals. If you’re looking for something suited for more hardcore water adventures, check out our guide to The Best Water Shoes.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Best Sandals

With the same fun fervor as a sporty little convertible, sandals offer your feet a sense of freedom and excitement. They’re a chance to enjoy the outdoors and sip in fresh air on sunny days. And though they can be workhorses, sandals are sure to put a smile on your face.

Having said that, we understand how tricky it can be to choose the best sandals. After all, the most popular brands are popular for a reason, but their particular style and performance might not equate to what’s best for you. So whether the thought of sandals conjures up pictures of canvas strappy casuals or a more OG brown leather look, consider this an opportunity to explore beyond the first sandal models that jump to mind.

In this handy how-to-choose guide, you’ll find all the info you need to select solid sandals. You’ll discover which features matter most and why you should—or shouldn’t—consider purchasing particular sandals. And, if you’re looking for women-specific models, hop over to our guide to The Best Sandals for Women.

Use Types

Of course, the most important factor to consider is how you intend to use them. Sandals are highly adaptable by nature to different situations, but they tend to fall into one of these three subcategories.

Lifestyle

Think of these as everyday, walking-around sandals. They usually have a softer footbed and a more flexible outsole. And they’re often marked by a sense of style, with an appealing appearance and multiple colorways. The Malibu Sandals Canyon is a prime example. It’s eye-catching, super comfortable, and sure to dress up any outfit. But the more minimalist Chaco Lowdown Slide also fits the bill, as highly capable but easygoing and casual.

Adventure

If you plan to cover varied terrain and clock some vertical, this is the sandal type for you. They include models like the Ecco Yucatan, Teva Terra Fi 5 Universal, and Chaco Z/1 Adjustable Strap Classic. They can handle pretty much anything you throw at them, on or off the dusty trail. These do-anything sandals usually have chunkier, stiffer outsoles. And their footbeds might not be as cushiony as lifestyle sandals, but they’re reliable, secure, and will get you wherever you need to go.

Watersports

As the name implies, these specialized adventure sandals are the ones you’ll bring to such aquatic activities as boating, paddling, and kitesurfing. The Keen Uneek excels in this regard. The corded upper conforms to your foot, yet remains open enough to let water and silt pass through. They’re ideal for amphibious activities, with water-piping outsoles that offer grip but aren’t as deeply lugged as more land-based adventure sandals. And while they generally offer less comfort and support than lifestyle sandals, they’re infinitely better structured than formless water socks.

Adjustability

This factor works on a sliding scale, relative to the sandals’ use case. For instance, bopping around town in lifestyle sandals, you might just need them to have some adjustability across the bridge of your foot—as with the Birkenstock Arizona Essentials EVA and Chaco Lowdown Slide—such that they stay on during a brisk walk. But your expectations will climb higher with adventure sandals, which should snugly hug your feet whether you’re sashaying down the street or rappelling down a ravine. As a rule, those types of sandals will have three or more adjustment zones, to make sure your feet are completely secure at all times.

How much of your feet that sandals cover is subjective. It has less to do with technical proficiency and more to do with personal preference. In other words, you might be perfectly confident and adept at hiking with most of your feet exposed. Or you might have a fear of stubbing your toes and want to keep them mostly covered. Just remember that more coverage usually equates to heavier sandals, which can be more physically draining over the long haul.

Closure Configuration

In terms of the number of adjustment zones, you’ll usually set and forget all but one of them. Most likely the one you’ll fiddle with most will be the strap around your heel or over the bridge of your foot. With that in mind, the closure type will affect you every time you don your sandals.

Hook-and-Loop Straps

Exemplified by the Ecco Yucatan and Teva Terra Fi 5 Universal, these types of straps—used interchangeably with the eponymous “Velcro” brand—are often found on adventure sandals. They’re easy to use, pull tight, and stay secure.

Floating/Buckle Straps

Practically synonymous with Chacos, you pull the canvas strap to tighten and push up on the buckle to loosen it. They’re easy, quieter than Velcro (if that’s important to you), and fairly reliable.

Bungee Cinches

This is what’s on the Keen Uneek. It’s a single point of adjustment. Once you wriggle your foot into the sandal, you pull up on the elastic bungee and pull down the plastic cinch until it meets the top of your foot. The closure itself is plenty secure, but it tends to be used on sandals with less rigid structures.

T-Style Straps

Though we didn’t review any in this guide, minimalist hiking sandals such as Xero and Bedrock commonly use this configuration, complemented by a buckled heel strap. They essentially look like a streamlined sandal/flip-flop hybrid. But they’re secure as heck, which is why they’re so well-loved.

No Closure

Flip-flops and slides—such as the OOfos OOahh—technically don’t offer any closures. You just slip them on and hope for the best. The Birkenstock Arizona Essentials EVA are the outlier here, in that they do feature a couple of adjustable buckles. But after you initially find your happy settings on them, you pretty much ignore those buckles and just slide them on.

Sizing

Sandals can be forgiving when it comes to sizing, but it’s still important to find the best-fitting ones. They usually follow the same sizing as regular shoes and sneakers, with a few caveats. First, half sizes aren’t always available. For instance, Keen and Teva offer them, but Chaco only offers full sizes. So, especially with highly adjustable sandals, you may want to size up. (If you’re a 9 1/2, a 10 will probably work fine.)

If you have wide feet, you might want to focus on brands like Chaco and Birkenstock that offer variations based on different foot widths. Birkenstock even offers a fit calculation tool that tells you the best size/width for you based on the actual measurements (in millimeters) of each of your feet.

Some companies—such as Ecco—base their sizing on the European system. That’s why you might see a sandal listed as a 9/9.5. That’s in place of a European 43. So if you see a guide that lists sizes in various countries, be sure to confirm you’re buying a sandal size that translates into something equivalent. Again, when in doubt, size up a bit.

Lastly, sometimes manufacturers post recommendations, saying that a particular sandal tends to run big or small. These recommendations may be worth following. In the case of Malibu Sandals, we initially heeded the company’s suggestion to size up to a 10, but it turned out that a 9 fit best. So it’s worth your time to delve into posted user reviews to see how consistently the manufacturer’s recommendations have worked for folks in the real world.

Fit

Once you’ve selected the right size, getting the right fit can be easier done on some sandals than others. As a rule, the more adjustment points, the longer but more satisfying it will be to find that happy point. The first step is to make sure that the arch of your foot aligns with the sandal’s arch support. That’s a good time to tighten the heel strap accordingly. If there’s a separate strap over the toes—as with the Ecco Yucatan and the Teva Terra Fi 5 Universal—tighten that one appropriately. (It should feel snug, but not so tight that it hurts your toes or changes your skin’s color.) And lastly, use the strap over your footbridge to lock in. (Moving forward, it’ll probably be the only one you need to loosen to get out and tighten to get in.)

Some of Chaco’s sandals—such as the Z/1 Adjustable Strap Classic—offer extra adjustability that you might not realize just from looking at them. That’s because they’ve sneakily routed the straps right through the middle of the sole.

To avoid playing a frustrating game of Tug-of-War back and forth with the straps, just focus on the straps on the inner side of your foot. (The same side as your arch.) With your foot in the sandal, start with the strap near your big toe. Right where it meets the sandal, pull up and it’ll tighten across the way near your pinky toe. Next do the same thing with the strap that hits the sandal by your arch, pulling up to tighten across the bridge of your foot. Once you’ve done that well, you’ll just need to adjust the standard buckle strap on top to get in and out of them.

Ultimately, you want the straps to hit and secure the widest part of your foot. You don’t want them tightened in a way that pinches either of your outer toes. Your little piggies should still be able to wiggle around to avoid immediate or long-term pain.

Comfort and Support

Just like with mattresses, everyone has their own idea of how much cushiness or firmness is the perfect amount. Maybe that’s why the place you put your foot on a sandal is called a footbed. The key is that as you’re choosing a sandal that dials in the comfy factor just right, make sure that it fits your typical use case.

In other words, a softer footbed may work well for a lifestyle sandal or something you’re using for recovery after a workout, such as the OOfos OOahh Slide. But you may not want all that bounciness in each step if you’re through hiking. Think about the kind of suspension you’d want on a 4-wheel drive vehicle versus a minivan.

That’s not to say that hiking sandals are supposed to feel uncomfortable. Just that comfort in them might look and feel different than more water-borne or lifestyle sandals. Supporting your foot throughout is what matters most.

Also, pay attention to the materials used in the midsole. A microfiber cover may feel nice, but EVA—with its varying degrees of softness/firmness—may be enough on its own. At the end of the day, you can’t possibly tell how comfortably sandals will cradle your feet over thousands of future steps. But when initially trying them on, do a detailed mental scan of the different parts of your foot to assess how they feel.

Weight and Packability

Weights naturally vary by sandal size. Not all manufacturers list the weights of sandals. Some list the weights of single sandals, while others specify the weights for the whole pair. With all this in mind, we scientifically measured each set of sandals with our own scale. The results listed in the above comparison chart are based on a pair of (mostly) size 9 sandals.

Just like with backpacking tents, every ounce matters with sandals. The difference between the lightest (half-pound Birkenstock Arizona Essentials EVA) and heaviest (nearly 2-pound Chaco Z/1 Adjustable Strap Classic) of this group is quite stark. Relatively speaking, the former feels feather light and the latter like bricks.

The weight matters because you’ll likely be either wearing or carrying them. In each case, anything under or around a pound is preferable. Over a pound and a half is a formidable weight over the long haul. In addition to making you expend more energy on their behalf, the heavier sandals are likely to take up more precious space in your pack. So you’ll be less likely to take them along for sweet relief after extended jaunts. Or to put it another way, it’s better to have the decent sandals you actually take with you than the “better” ones you leave home.

Sustainability and Durability

These two naturally go hand in hand. It’s nice to see manufacturers such as Teva and Keen use recycled polyesters and plastics in their sandals. And either vegan or responsibly sourced leather is becoming common. But ultimately, durable sandals that are better made and need to be replaced less often are the most sustainable. So a chunky outsole is lovely, but useless if your buckle breaks and you have to chuck the whole pair. Speaking to this problem, Chaco’s ReChaco program is a step in the right direction.

Though we’ve only been testing these sandals for a month or two, we’ll continue to wear them and report back any new findings regarding durability in the months to come. But sandals of this quality should easily last for years without any issues, so it’ll more likely just entail notes about how they wear rather than if they break.

Price

Having considered every other sandal buying factor, let’s share a quick word about price. The average for this group was $98. That means that you could drop upward of $150 for great sandals, but you’re likely to find something perfectly serviceable for under $100. As with other footwear, you expect to wear the heck out of for years, buying something a little more expensive now may save you from buying multiple less expensive versions in the future. In other words, if you spot some sandals for under $50 from a brand you don’t recognize, avoid them like a set of Class VI rapids.

FAQ