Best Travel Sandals for Women of 2026

The Original Universal is what we point to when the top pick looks like more sandal than the trip needs. Hook-and-loop straps over the toes and around the ankle do the fitting, the footbed is flat and open, and the pair packs down small enough that bringing a second set of sandals stops feeling indulgent.

Where it lands is the everyday pair rather than the walking one. It handles a city morning, a market, a beach bar, and a sundress without complaint, and a couple of miles on level ground doesn't register. Point it at a mountain, though, and the missing support shows up fast — there is far less underfoot here than in the Yucatan or the Hurricane, so we plan flat days around it.

Sizing deserves a minute of attention. The footbed runs slightly long, so if you sit between two sizes, take the smaller one and let the straps do the rest. The color range is broad enough that you can pick a neutral for cities or something brighter for the coast without changing anything else about the shoe.

If a flip-flop is what you actually wear on holiday, start here. The Breeze Sea is a thong sandal with a padded footbed and an adjustable strap across the instep, which is the difference between a flip-flop you can walk in and one you shuffle around in until dinner.

That strap is the detail we appreciate most. It takes up the slack on a wide forefoot, and it lets you loosen the fit when your feet swell on a flight or after a long lunch. Underneath, the footbed is thicker and more supportive than the drugstore thong it resembles, with enough arch under the midfoot to make a difference on a long afternoon.

What it isn't is a walking sandal. There's no heel strap, so anything more ambitious than a promenade will have you gripping with your toes, and that's a tired foot by evening. Treat it as the pair for the beach, the boat, and the buffet, and it does that job as well as anything here.

Grip is the thing we flag first. On dry ground the On-the-go 600 is one of the plushest sandals here, but the outsole is the weak link: on a smooth, wet floor it can slide, and that inconsistency is what keeps it out of the top tier.

What it does better than almost anything else in this guide is cushion. The footbed is soft the way a running shoe is soft, and it doesn't need breaking in, which makes a theme-park day, an airport marathon, or a stack of museum floors exactly the kind of day this sandal was built for. Wide widths are available, which matters if most sandals pinch across the toes, and the whole thing is washable after a dusty afternoon.

The look is unapologetically athletic. It works with shorts, a swimsuit, and a sundress in a pinch, and less well with anything you'd wear to a proper dinner. If you want one pair for everything, that's the trade you're making, and given how much walking comfort you get for it, we think it's the right one.

Three straps, three places to adjust: heel, ankle, and just below the toes. That's the idea behind the Hurricane XLT 2, and it's what makes it the most secure sandal in this set once the ground stops being flat.

Point it at a trail and it behaves. The sole is the rugged sort that grips loose gravel and wet rock, the footbed carries real arch support, and because every strap moves independently you can lock the heel down while leaving room over a high instep. Wide feet do well here — this is one of the few pairs built to be tightened rather than endured.

The catch is the front strap. Where it crosses the top of the foot it can rub, and on some feet that becomes a blister before the sandal softens, which is why comfort on this model splits so sharply rather than settling into a consensus. Trying them on with the strap snug and walking a lap of the house tells you most of what you need to know. We treat these as a hiking sandal first and a holiday shoe second, and they're excellent at the first job.

Every trip has a wet half — the pool, the beach, the boat, the tap at the campground — and this is the pair for it. The Swiftwater is a rubber sandal you can hose off, and it is the one that lives by the door of a rental rather than folded into the suitcase.

Rubber does the work here, and it does it well. The upper shrugs off sand, sunscreen, and pool water, and a rinse resets it. Colors are bright without being loud, and the shape is neat enough that you can walk into a beach café without feeling like you've come straight out of the sea.

Two things it isn't. It runs wide, with a footbed that feels flat next to the support sandals here, so a long walking day will leave you wanting more. What we appreciate most is how little it asks of you: as a second pair it does the job no walking sandal can do, and it's ready again minutes after you rinse it.

Cork footbed, soft brushed straps, and a shape that reads far dressier than anything else here — the Lane is the pair you slide on after a beach afternoon when you want to look like you made an effort, and it is the least expensive way on this list to get that look.

The footbed is the reason we kept it in the guide. Cork has a little give that foam doesn't, and it warms to your foot over a week instead of staying exactly as it came out of the box. As a slip-on with nothing behind the heel, it is for breakfast, the pool bar, and the walk to dinner rather than a day of sightseeing; you'll walk out of it otherwise.

The materials are what date. Cork and a soft upper look their best in the first season, where the rubber pairs here shrug off a second summer, so think of the Lane as a trip sandal rather than something you'll still be wearing in three years. For the outlay, that is a fair trade.