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A good pair of trail runners is your ticket to a more adventurous way of keeping fit. Maybe you’re sick of the toll pounding pavements has taken on your knees. Or perhaps you’re looking for a way to escape busy city streets and enjoy your runs uninterrupted by red lights.

Whatever your reasons, taking to the trails achieves all of the above with a side of fresh air, natural scenery and increased elevation to help hit your fitness goals even quicker. So long as your footwear’s up to the job, of course.

Trail runners differ from conventional road-running shoes in a number of ways. They’ve evolved to cope with the unique demands posed by rough, uneven terrain. Instead of flat soles, they usually feature pronounced “lugs”, which bite into the earth and aid traction on soft ground.

Trail runners also tend to fit closer than road-running shoes. This increases precision and maximises foot control on technical terrain. Some trail runners have additional features like waterproof uppers and toe protection too.

To pick the best trail runners for you, give some thought to your local conditions, terrain and what sort of distance you usually run, then scroll down to find the best options based on these variables.

How we tested

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The only real way to test a trail running shoe is to get out there and put some miles on it. So that’s exactly what we did. We logged at least a full week running in each of the shoes featured here – in some cases much more.

The bulk of our testing was done in Northumberland, which is one of the few counties in the UK that offers everything from sandy coastal paths to forest singletrack and rocky mountain trails. The weather is notoriously changeable, with frequent wet and muddy conditions, which allowed us to put Gore-Tex shoes through their paces too.

The best men’s trail running shoes for 2023 are: