Buying guide Shoes

Water shoes, a sock or a shoe, and the size is in centimetres or nowhere

By Khizar Published 28 Sept 2026

The short answer

Prices in GBPeach row carries the day it was read

Best overall, for the pool and the beach 1 Pair Water Shoes Women Barefoot Socks A water sock with a ribbed fabric upper on a thin rubber sole that rolls up in one hand, in black, grey, pink, blue or yellow. One of only three listings here with a size chart in centimetres, from 23.7cm heel to toe for a 36-37 to 28.5cm for a 46-47, and it tells you itself to size up if you are between two. Its own note warns of a slight smell out of the packet that goes after a day or two in the air, which is honest £6.04checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

If your feet are at either end of the chart Men Water Aqua Shoes Women Swimming Sneakers Another sock, with a patterned upper and a pull loop, and the widest chart on the page: 22.1cm heel to toe for a 34/35 up to 30.3cm for a 46/47. If your feet are small or large, this is the one listing that tells you it goes that far. Photographed standing on wet rocks, and rolled up to show how thin the sole is, so it is a pool and beach shoe rather than a walking one £8.17checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

The cheapest proper shoe Women Men Aqua Shoes Beach Barefoot Water A laced water shoe with an elastic lace and a toggle, and a lugged sole shaped round each toe with holes through it to let water out, at close to the price of the socks. In white, black, grey, teal or beige. Its photographs show it on sand and in a gym, and it gives no size chart, so measure your foot and ask the seller before ordering £6.38checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

For rocks and rivers, from a maker with a name ALIUPS Barefoot Shoes Men Women Water Sports ALIUPS, a name you can search, on a laced shoe with a toggle and a pull loop at the heel. Its photographs show the sole from underneath: separate lugs under the toes, a grooved middle and drainage holes, which is the sole you want on wet stone. Black, grey or pink. Costs more than most of the socks £15.31checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

If you do not want laces 2022 New Beach Aqua Water Shoes Men Boys Two wide straps across the top that fasten with buckles instead of a lace, on the same kind of lugged sole with holes through it, in blue or black. Straps are quicker with wet hands and cannot come undone and trail in the water the way a loose lace can £15.77checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

Between a sock and a shoe Slip on Water Shoes for Men Women Quick Dry A slip on with a stretch mesh upper and a pull loop, like a sock, on a thicker rubber sole that wraps up round the toe and heel, more like a shoe. In black, white, pink, grey or apricot. Worth it if you want to walk a little further than a sock allows without laces to deal with. Its title says drainage and its photographs do not show the sole £11.84checked 18 Oct 2026 Check price opens in a new tab

Twenty two water shoes from one search, none of them handled here. The thing you wear on a pebble beach, in the pool on holiday, or wading across a river.

Twenty one titles say quick dry and twenty one say barefoot. Underneath they are two different things, and the size, which decides whether either fits, is on no title at all.

A sock or a shoe

What it is	Listings
Water sock: fabric upper, thin rubber sole, slips on	8
Laced shoe: mesh upper, lugged sole shaped round the toes	12
In between: slip on mesh on a thicker wrap round sole	1
A moulded slide sandal, sold as water shoes	1

A sock is light, packs flat, and is the thing to swim in or wear round a pool. Its sole is thin enough to feel every pebble, and it keeps your feet off hot sand and sharp shells rather than protecting them from anything much harder. A laced shoe has a thicker, lugged sole, the lugs shaped round each toe, and it is the one for walking any distance, over rocks, or up a river bed. Most of the laced ones close with an elastic lace and a plastic toggle rather than a knot.

The size is in centimetres, or nowhere

No title gives a size. Three galleries print a chart, and two of those three are the same chart. The two different charts disagree:

Size label	Heel to toe on one chart	On the other
36-37	23.7cm	23.4cm
38-39	24.4cm	24.7cm
40-41	25.5cm	26.0cm
42-43	26.5cm	27.4cm
44-45	27.8cm	28.7cm
46-47	28.5cm	30.3cm

Up to 1.8cm apart for the same label, which is more than a whole size. One chart also warns that its own measurements may be 1 to 2cm out. Neither gives a UK size.

So measure your own foot, heel to toe, standing, in centimetres, and match the number rather than the label. On a stretchy sock, if you are between two, take the larger; on a laced shoe, ask the seller for the insole length before you order, because nineteen of these twenty two do not print one.

What the sole is for

The laced shoes are sold on the sole. At least five show it from underneath with holes through it near the toes, so water drains out when you step out of the river, and two titles say drainage outright. Two photographs show water pouring out of a lifted shoe. The socks drain through the fabric and do not need holes.

A thin sole is the point of a barefoot shoe, and it is also what lets a sharp stone through. For a rocky beach, the lugged shoes are the better choice.

What the photographs claim

One title says anti-cut, and its photograph shows a shard of glass under the sole, captioned that the rubber protects your feet from sharp objects. No listing here names a test, a standard or a thickness, and a thin rubber sole is not a safety shoe. It is not picked.

One pair has 5400lb and security printed along its side, which is not a measurement of anything a shoe does. Two galleries carry a Factory badge on every photograph. One spells sport as sprot across the upper.

What was left out, and why

The slide sandal is a good slide sandal and it is not a water shoe. The anti cut sock is left out for its claim. One sock design from one maker, PSCOWNLG, is sold here under two listings. The two with a Factory badge on every photograph are left out, because a pin is this site speaking and that badge is the seller’s.

Side by side

Prices in GBP. Each row carries the date its price was read.

Product	Price	Why it is here	Where to buyLink
Best overall, for the pool and the beach 1 Pair Water Shoes Women Barefoot Socks Anti-Slip	£6.04checked 18 Oct 2026	A water sock with a ribbed fabric upper on a thin rubber sole that rolls up in one hand, in black, grey, pink, blue or yellow. One of only three listings here with a size chart in centimetres, from 23.7cm heel to toe for a 36-37 to 28.5cm for a 46-47, and it tells you itself to size up if you are between two. Its own note warns of a slight smell out of the packet that goes after a day or two in the air, which is honest	Check opens in a new tab
If your feet are at either end of the chart Men Water Aqua Shoes Women Swimming Sneakers	£8.17checked 18 Oct 2026	Another sock, with a patterned upper and a pull loop, and the widest chart on the page: 22.1cm heel to toe for a 34/35 up to 30.3cm for a 46/47. If your feet are small or large, this is the one listing that tells you it goes that far. Photographed standing on wet rocks, and rolled up to show how thin the sole is, so it is a pool and beach shoe rather than a walking one	Check opens in a new tab
The cheapest proper shoe Women Men Aqua Shoes Beach Barefoot Water Sports	£6.38checked 18 Oct 2026	A laced water shoe with an elastic lace and a toggle, and a lugged sole shaped round each toe with holes through it to let water out, at close to the price of the socks. In white, black, grey, teal or beige. Its photographs show it on sand and in a gym, and it gives no size chart, so measure your foot and ask the seller before ordering	Check opens in a new tab

What is good

What you can settle before you buy

Decide between a sock and a shoe first. Eight of these are water socks: a stretchy fabric upper on a thin rubber sole that rolls up flat. Twelve are laced shoes with a thicker lugged sole shaped round the toes. A sock is for the pool, the sand and swimming in; a shoe is for walking over rocks, in a river, or any distance at all.
Measure your foot in centimetres, heel to toe. Stand on a sheet of paper, mark the back of the heel and the tip of the longest toe, and measure. That number is the only one that carries from one chart to another.
Sizes come in pairs. The socks are sold as 36-37, 38-39 and so on, because a stretchy sock covers two sizes. The chart that goes with them says to size up if you are between two, which is the right advice for a sock worn wet.
For rocks, look under the shoe. At least five of the laced shoes show holes through the sole in their photographs, which is how water gets out when you step out of a river. A sock drains through its fabric and does not need them.

What is not great

What to read twice

No title gives a size. Three galleries print a chart, and two of those three are the same chart. The two different charts disagree: 42-43 is 26.5cm heel to toe on one and 27.4cm on the other, and 46-47 is 28.5cm on one and 30.3cm on the other.
No chart gives a UK size. Both give the European pair and a US size. Go by the centimetres, not by converting the label.
Quick dry and barefoot are on almost every title. Twenty one of twenty two say each. Barefoot means a thin, flexible sole with no raised heel, which is true of both kinds here and tells you nothing about which you are getting.
Protection is a claim nobody has tested. One title says anti-cut, and its photograph shows a shard of glass under the sole. A thin rubber sole does keep off barnacles and hot sand, and none of these is a safety shoe. None of the twenty two is sold with any standard behind it.
One of the twenty two is a slide sandal. Its title says aqua socks and water shoes; every photograph shows a backless moulded slipper.