A pair of good walking shoes goes a long way when traveling, especially when going to a walkable destination. It’s not something I don’t hear people talk about all too often as a necessity, but I think it’s one of those things where you think, “Why did I wait this long to try these?”.
I’ve worn the Asics Gel-Nimbus 27 since this past December, and it has been a great purchase. Not only is it a good pair for when I travel, it’s perfect for my day-to-day life in the city, where I average over 10,000 steps a day.
The shoes run true to size, and the toe box is a bit on the wider side. I stuck with my regular size, 10.5 (about 42 in Europe).
Here’s the unboxing from back when I first bought them:
In the running shoe world, there’s something called a “max cushion shoe.” These types of shoes include some of the most cushion among a brand’s running shoe lineup. Shoes with plenty of cushioning are what you want when you do a lot of walking, and the Asics Gel-Nimbus series is one of them.
This pair is pretty comparable to the Hoka Bondi series or the New Balance 1080s, which are also max cushion shoes for their respective brands. I like the weight and slimness of the Asics better, though.
I like to describe these shoes as “walking on pillows.”
These are, of course, running shoes. In addition to being fantastic day-to-day and travel shoes, I’m also able to comfortably use them for some of my slow and long runs.
However, the weight is a limiting factor for faster, more intense runs, where I prefer my Asics Novablast 5 instead.
On the topic of walking shoes during traveling though, these are as good as they get. I’ve taken these to Tokyo, I wear them all the time in New York City, and my legs don’t feel beat after those days where I walk 20,000 steps compared to when I used to not care about what shoes I wore.
Traveling and visiting places often involves tons of walking, especially when going to Europe or megacities in Asia. Your step count will undoubtedly go up, walking from place to place and walking up and down stairs for the train.
As I said earlier, they feel like I’m walking on pillows. Give them a try if you have a big trip coming up.
All photos taken by the author.
There is so much cushioning in this shoe (good) that it’s like walking on clouds. Someone with problems with their balance might fall with so much cushioning.
Yeah, that’s the only thing with cushioning is that the more you have it, the less support you have because you’re a bit higher up.
Kayano > Nimbus