12 best trail running shoes for women to tackle all terrains

Trail running means very different things to different people. For some, it means navigating the muddy path along a river or avoiding the tarmac in a park; for others, it means pounding through woodland or tackling hills or mountains littered with wet, slippery rocks and sharp debris. Some runners will be off-road from the moment they set off; others will be running on the road to get to the trail.

Trail running shoes are designed to keep out debris and protect your foot from hazards such as rocks and tree roots, and offer reinforcement around the toes – some trail running pairs will have rock plates built in, to prevent sharp pieces of debris from hurting the sole of your foot.

They tend to have tackier outsoles for grip, and deeper lugs that help them bite into the ground too. Trail shoes are also built to withstand trail running, with stronger, more supportive uppers for durability and sharp changes of direction. For tackling wetter terrain, they are generally either waterproof or will drain very quickly when wet, to stop your socks getting sodden.

Like road running shoes, trail running shoes will vary in their heel-to-toe drop (which is the difference in height between the heel and the toe), and also how stacked the shoe is (the height from the ground up to the bottom of your foot).

It’s worth looking at these features, as changing them from your road running shoe can take getting used to, or you may want something a bit different for your type of terrain.

How we tested

We ran on various types of trail, adding short stints on the road, to see if they could be used across both. We were assessing comfort, fit, traction, how well the shoes protected the foot, and breathability. None of the shoes we tested are waterproof but all drained well when wet.

The best women’s trail running shoes for 2022 are:

• Best overall – Merrell MTL long sky 2: £125, Merrell.com

• Best for muddy trails – Saucony peregrine 12 ST: £130, Saucony.com

• Best for long distance – Hoka speedgoat 5: £130, Hoka.com

• Best for rocky and rooty runs – Salomon speedcross 6: £130, Salomon.com

• Best for stability – Montrail trinity AG: £135, Columbiasportswear.co.uk

• Best for being close to a road shoe – 361˚ Taroko 3: £113, 361europe.com

• Best for long miles of easy trails – The North Face vectiv enduris 2: £87.50, Thenorthface.co.uk

• Best for durability – Inov-8 parkclaw G280: £110, Inov-8.com

• Best for a stiffer ride – New Balance fresh foam X hierro v7: £145, Newbalance.co.uk

• Best for long-distance racing for faster runners – Saucony endorphin edge: £200, Saucony.com

• Best for wide-footed runners – Altra Olympus 5: £155, Upandrunning.co.uk

• Best for a barefoot feel – Vivobarefoot primus trail knit FG: £140, Vivobarefoot.com

Merrell MTL long sky 2

This shoe is a jack of all trades on the trail – if your run takes in several types of surfaces or it’s generally technical, this is a great choice, as it can handle anything. The perfectly placed 5mm lugs and grippy rubber didn’t slip on anything we encountered, including some fairly deep mud on the way up as well as wet rock and loose ground.

The shoe has a 4mm drop (the differential between the heel and the toe) and a low stack (meaning its outsole and midsole combination is not that high), which we felt gave the perfect amount of ground feel for being agile, and felt good on both ascent and descent. The cushioning is moderate, with superb energy return, and it provided just enough protection against sharp stones underfoot. The shoe dried quickly after going through a deep and unavoidable puddle too.

The toe protection is spot on and our heels were locked in and secure. It has a generous toe box and will suit people with wider, deeper feet – they come up big, so we’d order street-shoe size. It has plenty of recycled materials in there too, it’s vegan, and both upper and outsole feel durable.

However, it’s definitely not for roads and there are less aggressive options if you run gentle trails. It’s cushioned enough for some very decent mileage (more than enough for us), but perhaps not enough if you go extremely long.

Buy now £125.00, Merrell.com

Saucony peregrine 12 ST

If your trails are the ones that get muddy after the first rainy spell and never quite recover until spring, this shoe will be your friend. Designed for wetter, muddier conditions than the Saucony peregrine 12 – its nippier, lighter, less aggressive counterpart – this shoe has 6.5mm lugs that grip incredibly well and are widely spaced, to prevent mud from clogging them. It’s a flexible, fairly responsive ride, with the same 4mm drop as the regular peregrines – which will take some getting used to, if you tend to have a higher drop in your road shoes – and it has a protective rock plate, to stop rocks and roots pushing up into your foot.

The shoe just about houses a wide foot, although its upper is slightly less flexible than the regular peregrine 12, so we found our toes couldn’t spread quite as easily. The top of the heel cup could be a little softer, as we found it pressed into our Achilles but this will depend on your anatomy.

The cord laces tuck away under the mesh shield that effectively keeps out debris, combined with the sockliner.

If you don’t need lugs this deep, opt for the regular peregrine 12, but the 12 ST is great if you’re regularly battling the mud.

Buy now £130.00, Saucony.com

Hoka speedgoat 5

A popular shoe for good reason, the speedgoat 5 is a bouncy, moderately cushioned option that’s extremely comfortable as soon as soon you put it on. With a 4mm drop, it’s also 15g lighter than the speedgoat 4, at 234g – placing it at the lighter, more dynamic end of trail shoes.

The 5mm lugs grip nicely on loose ground but we wouldn’t choose it for deep mud. The well-designed tongue sits softly against the ankle and the shoe is lower around the ankle and Achilles than many trail shoes, but Hoka fans clearly like that, as it’s the same in the Hoka road shoes we’ve tested.

It has a heel collar that flares out and makes it super-easy to put on and take off, as well as eliminating any chance of it pressing into the Achilles. It’s a shoe for long miles, with a responsive and propulsive ride, aided by the rocker shape, while a high stack absorbs the impact of sharp objects underfoot. The toe protection isn’t the best we tested but it’s adequate.

The shoe comes in a regular or wide fitting – the regular will accommodate reasonably wide feet but we’d go wide if in doubt. It has a soft, flexible upper that allows for movement of the foot while also supporting it well enough. It doesn’t shed mud as easily as shoes with more widely spaced lugs but it’s fine for damp paths. This is an adaptable shoe that can manage some tarmac and is very much at home on either hardpack or looser, gravelly trails.

Buy now £130.00, Hoka.com

Salomon speedcross 6

This is a shoe that has had an update three years after its previous iteration. Oh-so-comfy and with traction that didn’t let us down on any surface – from loose and rocky to soft and muddy – its updated Y-shaped 5mm lugs are designed to shed mud easily and they do just that.

It has great protection all the way around the lower section of the upper (the best of all of the shoes we tested), it’s extremely durable and has more sensitivity underfoot than you’d expect from a deeply lugged shoe like this, with nice flexibility as you roll through – and it feels stable on changes of direction.

The cord laces make for a glove-like fit and the mesh cover wards off debris. It’s lighter than the speedcross 5, at 262g, which is relatively light for such a protective, lugged shoe, and it has a 10mm drop. It’s not a shoe to wear if you encounter tarmac, though, and we would recommend you go up a whole size from your street shoe, if not a size and a half.

Buy now £130.00, Salomon.com

Montrail trinity AG

This is a fairly nippy, light shoe, at 240g, with an 8mm drop that doesn’t look too far off a road shoe but performs well on the trail. The cushioning is absorbent without being dull, and gives a nice responsive ride. The shoe has quite a wide platform, built out slightly at the heel and forefoot, which gave it a stable feel that would suit people whose ankles turn easily. It also has a pebax plate in the midsole for added stability. The toe protection is on the softer side – more like a reinforcement rather than a guard, and we wouldn’t want to smack our toes hard.

We can’t say we noticed its asymmetric lacing being superior to regular lacing systems but it does give a snug fit. The 4mm lugs sit in an interesting arrangement on the sole and provided good traction on loose ground, although we’d be looking for more in serious mud.

The fit in the toe box is on the narrower side and it’s not as breathable as some, due to the upper being made of a seamless mesh with overlays, but it does make for good durability. A small gripe is that the laces are a bit slippy and worked themselves loose.

Buy now £135.00, Columbiasportswear.co.uk

361˚ Taroko 3

If you like trail shoes to look closer to a road shoe, this is a good choice, as it also has all the right features for being off-road. It’s among the most flexible shoes we tested. The foot rolls through nicely and the shoe has decent traction on loose ground and wet surfaces. The cushioning is on the firmer side and feels especially good once you’re on softer ground.

A slim, soft tongue is shaped around the ankle, the upper feels durable and the toe cap is firm enough. It suits a more compact foot in both depth and width, as it’s quite narrow and shallow, but this can be a plus, as many trail shoes are too roomy for compact feet. Go up a full size in these, as they come up slightly small.

Buy now £113.00, 361europe.com

The North Face vectiv enduris 2

This is the most supportive shoe in the brand’s range of trail shoes, and it performs well over distance, with great cushioning that’s the perfect balance of shock-absorbing and responsive, while the slight rocker shape adds to the feeling of propulsion.

It has a 6mm drop, and there’s a TPU plate in the midsole, to add stability and propulsion, and we’d say it achieves this. We’d like to see a sockliner, so fine debris can’t work its way in down the side of the padded tongue, but the breathable upper kept feet cool. The heel has a particularly comfortable and supportive fit, the 3.5mm lugs are enough to manage some loose ground, and the rubber grips well in the wet.

It’s mid-range in the weight department, at 265g, but it still feels light. It doesn’t provide a lot of ground feel, as it’s quite a stacked shoe – not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re used to that, you’ll love it. It provides nice protection around the toe and it feels good on the road and on easy trails. We prefer more ground feel and less bounce on steeper, more technical trails but we’d wear them for high mileage on forest/river paths and rolling trails.

Buy now £87.50, Thenorthface.co.uk

Inov-8 parkclaw G280

Everything about this popular shoe screams durability, from its super-tough graphene-enhanced rubber outsole (which is also infused into the foam midsole) to the robust laces. It’s ridiculously comfortable out of the box, with a wide toe box (you might find your toes wallowing about, if you’re narrow footed) and secure-fitting heel. The tongue is attached with panels inside the shoe to prevent debris getting in.

It’s a hybrid shoe and it’s comfortable enough on the road for what looks more like a full trail shoe, but it really comes into its own once you’re off road. It has the best off-road traction of the hybrid shoes we tested – well-arranged 4mm lugs (and lots of them) give an aggressive bite, and the rubber provides great grip on wet surfaces. It’s nicely cushioned but on the firmer side. It has an 8mm drop and, at 280g, it’s at the heavier end of the spectrum but didn’t feel like it.

Buy now £110.00, Inov-8.com

New Balance fresh foam X hierro v7

This shoe shares the same kind of midsole foam as the ever-popular New Balance fresh foam X 1080 road shoes, and you can feel that springiness here without it being quite as extreme (which suits a trail shoe). It also absorbs any impact from small roots and stones. It can manage some road running, but it’s a good shoe for putting in the miles on the trails – the traction is decent and the flared heel adds a feeling of stability on downhills, if you come down hard on your heels. It’s not as flexible as some other shoes we tested but many trail runners like a stiffer ride, so it will suit you if you do.

The regular fit comes up reasonably wide but we’d go for the wide fit if in doubt. It’s also quite a deep shoe and we found it pressed into the bottom of our ankle bone but this is very much anatomy-dependent. It’s light, at 235g, while toe protection is substantial and the sides of the tongue are attached inside but we’d like that internal panel to come a little higher to keep out debris on loose trails more effectively.

Buy now £145.00, Newbalance.co.uk

Saucony endorphin edge

This is a new launch from Saucony, with a carbon-fibre plate designed for speed. The plate is three-quarter length, which is designed to allow “a more adaptable heel strike on varied terrain” and it’s certainly an agile, nimble, propulsive shoe, with a 6mm drop.

At 221g, it’s the lightest shoe we tested and it’s ridiculously comfortable, housing a reasonably wide foot – if you’re very narrow footed, this might not be the shoe for you.

With great traction on undulating, hardpacked trails, as well as loose gravel, it can handle a bit of mud but not a lot. It’s fairly stacked, and we’re less comfortable being so high off the ground if there’s a lot of multi-directional movement, but for straightforward going forwards, these are the bomb. You really feel like you’re flying on smoother sections of trail.

The price is high, so probably only worth the investment if the fit suits you and you run at a rapid pace (you won’t really feel the benefit of the carbon plate if you’re a medium- or slower-paced runner).

If you like a lot of space beyond the end of your toe, you could go up a full size from your street shoe, as it comes up slightly short on length.

Buy now £200.00, Saucony.com

Altra Olympus 5

The shoe that looks unlike anything else on the market – it’s maximally cushioned but shaped like a barefoot shoe with a very broad toe box, allowing your toes to splay fully on each step. This model has the original footshape, which is the widest Altra does. It has really nice traction and quite a spring as you take off from the forefoot.

The 0mm drop is designed to promote a natural stride and takes some getting used to – build up your mileage gradually, if you haven’t run in a zero-drop shoe before. It’s a chunk of a shoe and heavy at 295g but the cushioning and toe box comfort make it a good shoe for long miles despite this. Its wide base makes it feel stable, the heel flare comes into its own on the downhills and the padded heel cup is very comfortable.

Buy now £155.00, Upandrunning.co.uk

Vivobarefoot primus trail knit FG

Groundfeel is the order of the day with its 2.5mm base plus 3mm insole and the wide toe box allows for full spreading of the toes. The lugs are stated to be 4mm, although they seemed shallower than this and can’t manage anything excessively muddy or slippery, but they hold well on dry, loose ground and there’s good toe protection. Given how thin it is, the outsole provides a surprising amount of protection from stones underfoot – you feel them but it doesn’t feel like it’s going to puncture the shoe. The shoe is ultra-flexible, to give you a completely natural roll-through too.

You can take this shoe on the road but the lack of cushioning is obviously felt more than on softer ground, especially if you’re new to barefoot running. The knit upper absorbs moisture when running through dewy grass, but it does dry off. It’s vegan and contains recycled materials, and the brand has launched Revivo, a service that lets you send in your Vivo shoes once they’re worn out to be repaired and resold, rather than going to landfill. If you’re new to zero-drop barefoot shoes, build up mileage slowly.

Buy now £140.00, Vivobarefoot.com

The verdict: Trail running shoes for women

The Merrell long sky 2 is a thoughtfully designed shoe that will suit those who really do run off road – with comfort, traction, breathability and durability all being there in spades. The Inov-8 parkclaw G280 is a good investment if you run on roads and trails (especially if the trail is more technical than a rolling path), as is the Hoka speedgoat 5 if you want great comfort and like a lower drop on a stacked shoe.

After a supportive pair of kicks for your run? Check out our edit of the best running shoes for women