Looking for advice on shoes for myself and my husband to wear on our trip to Italy and Greece this July. I want to buy them soon so they can be broken in.
Weather will be hot!! Looking for recommendations for walking/hiking sandals, we are taking quite a few tours that involve a lot of walking.
I know the wrong shoes will make us miserable!
Keen sandals let the breezes in, have fine traction and toe protection, and look decent.
After years of travel, I always say the same thing. Buy shoes or sandals that you are use to wearing. Everyone has completely different feet. Some shoes have very aggressive arches and some none. The Walking Co has a great process of measuring and telling you what type of shoe would work for your feet. For some reason when we travel we try to find all these "travel" type clothes and shoes and then we are never really happy with clothes that we never wear. So I have learned in the past to shop in my closet and take what I like and am comfortable in. And the same with foot wear, buy what your feet are use to wearing.
I would go for an athletic shoe made of material that "breathes." I have some Merrells that are supportive with the Superfeet insoles and are made of a breathable material. Some people can wear sandals for all day walking,but I can't. I have Crocs to wear evenings and mornings to give my feet a rest.
There is another thread on down with tons of Sandal suggestions. I have spent 3 months now ordering and trying on walking sandals. I totally agree...what one person finds comfy, another will find horrible. However, what these posts do help with is finding manufacturers of good quality sandals..and then you can test drive different sandals within the same manufacturer.
I decided that i want to take one beige and one black walking sandal. After trying on about 25 beige sandals (all the good manufacturers), I ended up with Clark's Morse Tour (beige) And ABEO Party (black). However, I have ABEO Cheri and Camille on order to try out for black. I think ABEO are very comforable and love the support.
I"m going to give you a VERY long list of sandals I"ve tried. You can google them and see if the looks of them are appealing to you or not. Zappos is free delivery, free return in one day! YOu can't beat that to try. This list doesn't include the ones I've tried on in the store. I wear a wide width and have high arches and plantar fashittis...plus certain straps, etc just bug my feet to walk in all day.
Merrel Eluma Breeze
Keens Rose Sandal
Cole Haan Air
Ahnu Maia
Ahnu Karma
Sketchers Go Walk
Merrell Agave 2 lavish
Clarks Lucena
Ahnu Maze
Bzee Flawless Wedge
Clarks Morse Pewter
Taos Trophy
Bzee Luxury
Ecco Yucatan Gold
Easy Spirit Esquell
Clarks In Motion
Cobb Hill Tara
Cobb Hill Fiona
Clarks Morse Tour
Abeo Bahia
Abeo Cheri
Abeo Party
Abeo Chamille
Agree with Judy -- wear what already works for your feet. That said, I have worn Keens (ugly toe cap has saved my toes many times) for trips to China, Italy and France ... and all summer at home.
My fave is either Keen Venice H2
http://www.zappos.com/keen-venice-h2-black-neutral-gray
Or Ecco Yucatan. Keen Whisper is also good.
Oh and they have Keen for men. I think the most popular style is the Newport, but they have the ?Venice as well. You can google any of these shoes by name and they pop right up, I also wanted to add that Lulu's pick, the Clark Morse Tour, is a good shoe also.
I have traditional sport models of both Teva and Keen sandals. I have worn my Tevas everywhere for years and they're my best shoes for standing in museums. An issue I experienced with the more closed Keens was that pebbles would get in and could not be shaken out without removing the shoe, as well as the neoprene version can get sweaty; but mine are probably more closed up than the link that Ginger provided.
Thanks for all the advise. We are headed to The Walking Company today. I did peruse all the Brands and Styles suggested so far and feel a bit more prepared to make a purchase.
I especially like the advise to "wear what you are used to and already have". I have made the mistake of purchasing clothing for a trip and not liking it and never wearing it again!
Let us know what you end up buying! Walking sandals have now become an obsession of mine....as you can see.
I purchased a pair of Abeo-Huntington walking sandals in Brown. Not a huge fan of black as I wear mostly browns and warm tones. So far they seem quite comfortable and not as cumbersome as some. I tried on quite a few pairs!
I also have a pair of Teva-Neota coming in Slate. Found them at a very good price on Amazon, so we shall see.
I purchased a pair of Abeo-Caryse in black and snakeskin for light sightseeing. Very cute to wear with skirts! They are awesome as I have been wearing them already.
Thanks for all the response, still watching for other options...
