7 Best Festival Shoes: Footwear for Glastonbury & Other Festivals
Choosing your festival shoes is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when it comes to festivals. Your festival footwear has to be perfect.
Do you need wellies for Glastonbury?
Should you take hiking boots instead?
Or would you rather go for fashion on your feet at festivals?
Number one rule of Glastonbury and all festivals for that matter: your festival feet need to be comfortable.
You will be walking miles. Miles and miles.
Choose the best festival shoes to keep your feet happy.
You need to choose the best footwear for festivals so you don’t end up blistered, moaning and just generally totally annoying to your friends. No one wants to be ‘accidentally’ lost when they pop to the toilet, do they?
So, festival footwear. You need to ask yourself, what would you rather walk ten miles in the mud in?
Wellies, hiking boots, trainers… or other? What are the best shoes for festivals?
Best footwear for festivals
Let’s debate the pros and cons of festival footwear shall we? Gotta get the best shoes for festivals right!
1. Festival footwear: wellies
Wellies are the obvious choice when the famous Glastonbury mud reaches three inches thick. You need that extra length to keep the squelch from getting near your toes. It’s not about having trenchfoot at a festival.
I guarantee as soon as you enter the Glastonbury field you’ll see about 100 people in Hunter wellies. They’re the classic music festival shoes, and the welly of the festival. You can shop Hunter wellies on Amazon.
When I went to Glastonbury in 2012, wellies were an absolute necessity for the first two days. But, all around me people were losing their wellies to the mud suction. I can vividly remember my ex boyfriend losing one of his and then just stood there like a desperate flamingo unable to move, until I pulled it out for him to tread in (shouldn’ta bothered!).
So, wellies are great for thick mud, but they’re also harder to keep on your feet when the sucky mud pulls them down. You can get round that with some well fitting wellies, or ones with laces for a more fitted feel.
Personally I won’t be taking any full size wellies this year. I don’t have any that are broken in, they’re heavier to walk in, they chafe on the top of your toes and where they push against your leg with every step round the top, and they’re bloody heavy to carry if you don’t end up using them.
I just wore black Dunlop wellies that I bought on site from one of the Glastonbury footwear shops. Don’t remember how much I paid but I’m sure that seeing as I only had trainers they were worth every penny.
Pros of wellies as festival footwear
- Keep your feet dry
- Can be quite cheap
- It’s a look
- Easy to spray down and wash when you get home.
Cons of wellies as your festival shoes
- So heavy to carry on your feet and in your festival backpack
- Stuck with them if the weather changes
- Not the most comfortable
- They can be cold, bring welly liners too.
2. Festival footwear: hiking boots
I love wearing hiking boots to festivals. These would be my festival shoe of choice, and the best festival shoes I’d recommend for you.
I lived in hiking boots when I went to Tanzania, while everyone else was in trainers, leading me to get the nickname ‘SpyGirl’. That was also because they knew I was a blogger though, and joked I was spying on them – mix of the two.
Anyway I’ll wear hiking boots at any opportunity, they’re so comfy, make me feel like I’m going on an adventure and they’re sturdy as.
The hiking boots I have at the moment are just from Sports Direct – think they were about £30. Oh look the same ones are on Amazon for £40. When I was buying them my friend told the sales assistant I was off to the Costa Rican jungle on assignment, which I kind of was, and the sales assistant was super impressed. I felt like Indiana Jones, or female equivalent.
You can get festival boots for cheap – try TK Maxx, Amazon or the sales area at Millets et al. Or you can search for hiking boots on Amazon.
I like hiking boots for my footwear for festivals because they’re easier to manoeuvre, easy to carry (if you don’t wear them on the way, which I’d recommend) and they’re very comfy. They’re better than trainers because they’re more resistant to the elements – rain, hard ground, rough terrain, festival toilets – and I feel like they give you energy, like you’re ready for action, rather than that laden down feeling of wellies.
I’ll be taking my festival boots this year for sure!