Hiking trousers: reviews and buying guides

What makes a good hiking trouser

Four things separate a proper hiking trouser from a pair of trousers you happen to hike in: fabric, stretch, weight and pockets. The fabric needs to dry fast, because on a British hill it will get wet, from rain, dew or long grass, and a trouser that dries in an hour is a different day out from one that stays damp until the car. Stretch, either woven into the fabric or added as panels, is what lets you take a stile or a steep step without the trouser fighting you. Weight matters because you wear trousers all day: a light pair disappears, a heavy pair reminds you it is there. And pockets only count if you can reach them with a pack on. Zipped thigh pockets work under a hipbelt; hand pockets mostly do not. Articulated knees and a gusseted crotch round out the list. For the specific pairs that get all of this right, our tested picks cover every budget.

Softshell, stretch nylon or cotton: fabrics explained

Most hiking trousers are one of three things. Stretch nylon (or polyamide, same material) is the three-season default: light, quick drying, tough enough for brambles and cheap to make well. If you are buying one pair, buy this. Softshell is a denser woven synthetic with more stretch, more wind resistance and a bit of warmth. It is the cooler-months fabric: more comfortable in a cold wind, slower to dry and heavier in summer. Polycotton blends sit off to one side, tougher and more traditional but slower drying, and they suit bushwhacking and cold, dry days more than a wet coast path.

Then there is cotton, which is the wrong answer, plainly. Jeans and cotton chinos soak up water, hold it against your skin, take hours to dry and pull heat out of you the whole time. On a warm dry day you get away with it. On a wet, windy hill you get cold legs at best and a hypothermia risk at worst. If it is cotton, it is not a hiking trouser.

Waterproof trousers vs water-resistant trousers

Nearly every hiking trouser sold as "water repellent" is water resistant, not waterproof. The fabric carries a DWR coating that makes light rain and drizzle bead up and roll off, which handles most of what a British day throws at you. But DWR is a surface treatment, not a barrier. In sustained rain the fabric wets through, every time, and no amount of marketing changes that.

Waterproof trousers are a different construction: a membrane bonded into the fabric with taped seams, rated by hydrostatic head, which is the height of a water column the fabric can hold back before it leaks. Anything over 1,500mm can be labelled waterproof, so read the number; for UK hill use you want 10,000mm or more. Most are overtrousers, designed to go on over your normal trousers when the weather turns, with ankle zips so you can do it without removing boots. The system that works is water-resistant trousers as standard, waterproofs in the pack. We have rated the options in the best waterproof hiking trousers guide.

Lined and winter trousers: when ordinary trousers stop being enough

A standard stretch trouser plus your own body heat covers more of the year than you would expect, because walking generates a lot of warmth. Where it stops being enough is the cold, windy, stop-start days: winter summits, long lunch stops, standing around with the dog on a frozen morning.

You then have three options. Fleece-lined trousers are the warmest and the least flexible: superb when it is properly cold, sweaty on any real climb, and you cannot take the lining off halfway up. Brushed or thermal softshells split the difference, with a warm inner face and better wind resistance, and they regulate better on the move. The third option is the one shops mention least because it costs nothing extra: a pair of merino or synthetic thermal leggings under the trousers you already own. It is cheaper, it adapts to more conditions, and for most UK winter walking it is the answer. Buy dedicated winter trousers when you are out in the cold often enough that the faff of layering annoys you.

Fit: the thing everyone gets wrong

Hiking trousers fail on fit more than fabric, and the failures follow a pattern. Too tight through the thigh and every stile becomes a negotiation, whatever the stretch rating says. Too baggy and the excess fabric chafes on the inner thigh over a long day and snags on gorse. You want room to lift your knee to waist height without the waistband pulling; do the step-up test before you commit, in the shop or at home before removing the tags.

Length matters more than on everyday trousers. The hem should sit over the collar of your boot without dragging under your heel: too long collects mud and wears through, too short rides up and leaves a cold gap above your sock. If a brand offers leg lengths, use them.

And try them with a hipbelt on. A thick waistband, a bulky button or a belt buckle that felt fine in the mirror becomes a pressure point under a loaded pack, and hand pockets vanish entirely. Thigh pockets earn their keep here.

Care: making them last

Hiking trousers die two deaths: worn out or washed wrong, and the second is avoidable. Wash them cool, with a liquid detergent or a technical wash, and never with fabric softener, which coats the fibres and kills both the DWR and the wicking. Zips done up, pockets emptied, and keep them away from anything with velcro in the drum.

When rain stops beading and starts soaking in, the DWR needs help, not the bin. First try a tumble dry on low heat, which reactivates the coating; a cool iron through a tea towel does the same job. When heat stops working, a reproofing spray from Nikwax or Grangers restores the repellency for a few pounds, and the same routine applies to waterproof overtrousers, where a clean, reproofed shell is the difference between working kit and a clammy failure. Beyond that, patch small tears early. A decent pair of hiking trousers, cared for, outlasts three neglected ones.