Lowa San Luis GTX Walking Shoes

Review Score

I’ve been testing the Lowa Walking shoes, they are great for every day wear as well as a long leisurely stroll. Price Range £125 from www.lowa.co.uk

Our Score: 9.3/10

We've given the Lowa San Luis GTX Walking Shoes the Thumbs Up award.

Value for MoneyQuality

The good

• They have a Gore-Tex lining so they are waterproof, the soles are well cushioned and the inserts can be removed should you need to deodorise.

The not so good

• The sole is a large grid of triangles and can get clogged with mud and stones. The sizing seems a little narrow.

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

Price Guide

Lowa San Luis GTX Walking Shoes Photos

Our Review

I’ve done enough walking to see the need for dedicated walking boots, but I prefer to keep things simple. I have a pair of ‘going out’ shoes and a pair of universal shoes for ‘everything else’. Now that I am camping more and needing something more robust I have taken to ditching my trainers and now prefer to wear a pair of walking shoes.

For me the Lowa San Luis GTX walking shoe therefore is perfect, it is robust enough to track up a hill side or sandy dune, casual enough to look good while sitting in a beachside cafe drinking an Americano and sturdy enough to trudge through the mud of a damp camp site.

I’ve been wearing these for about 2 weeks now and they are starting to mould to my feet.

However I have noticed that they are a bit on the narrow side, so the little toe on each foot feels ‘pinched’, but I’m sure they will bed in properly.

The uppers are a stone colour sued with orange highlights, the soles have a wide white rim and the bottoms are an orange triangular grid affair.

As soon as I saw the bottoms my first thought was “that’s going to be a heck of a job to clean if I step in any dog mess!”

“that’s going to be a heck of a job to clean if I step in any dog mess!”

Thankfully I haven’t but I have traipsed through the mud at a local National Trust woodland walk and I was right, the grid fills up with debris (both mud and small stones). The best way of removing this build up is to wait for the mud to dry and give them a swift bang on the ground and most of the muck falls out. The small stones can be a bit tricky to remove though.

According to the Lowa website the open sole allows air to circulate through the shoe to ensure your feet stay dry and sweat free.

There is a nice 5 mile walk around where I live which does a circular route around Ironbridge, it takes you up the side of the gorge and past some pretty fabulous pubs, over the river and back to the bedlam furnaces. The shoes behaved perfectly and the raised sole protected me from feeling the sharp stones of the old paths.

A neat feature of these shoes is the removable inserts, if they get wet or a little ‘fragrant’ they can be taken out, deodorised or cleaned if need be. I like that idea so long as they stay put while you are wearing them - and so far they have!

Lowa have categorised these San Luis shoes as ‘travel’ which in my opinion is about right, they are rugged enough to go for a walk in, but they wouldn’t be the choice of a serious hiker. Lowa do have boots that you would chose for a day’s walking so there is plenty of choice in their range.

they are versatile, comfortable and I hope to report in a years time… hardwearing!

These shoes are exactly what I need, they are versatile, comfortable and I hope to report in a years time… hardwearing! I’m heavy on soles, that’s where my shoes normally wear out so it will be interesting to see how well the grid on these shoes bears up.

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