Best Hiking Beanie for All-Weather Adventurers

Best Beanies for Hiking by Category

Budget: Minus33 Merino Ridge Cuff Beanie, The North Face Bones Beanie
Merino: Minus33 Merino Ridge Cuff Beanie, Smartwool Merino 250 Cuffed Beanie, Arc’teryx Rho LTW Beanie
Synthetic: Under Armour Men’s ColdGear Infrared, The North Face Shinsky Beanie, Mountain Hardwear Dome Perignon Beanie, The North Face Bones Beanie

The Best Hiking Beanie: Our Top 7 Picks

What Makes for the Best Cold-Weather Beanies?

Before making your purchase, it’s well worth taking a few minutes to look into the specs and features that make one beanie better than the other.

Material

Beanies can be made from several kinds of fabrics. For our money, the best are synthetic materials like polyester fleece or natural fibers like merino wool.

The reason that these materials are the most popular is that they combine all the most desirable characteristics for outdoor pursuits. These include quick-drying capacity, breathability, moisture-wicking capabilities, and, of course, the ability to keep your head warm.

Merino Wool

These days, thanks to brands like Smartwool and Icebreaker, merino wool is the most popular fabric in high-performing hiking hats. It’s lightweight, comfortable, highly breathable, and dries very quickly. It’s also naturally odor-resistant and continues to insulate your dome even if it gets wet while you’re hiking. 

The only downside to merino is the price, with some models of hat costing twice as much as their synthetic counterparts.

Synthetic Materials

The positive aspect of synthetics over wool is that they are generally more affordable. This is especially true of models made with 100% merino wool. They also tend to dry faster and are more durable.

Whatever material you ultimately choose, you should find one with an antimicrobial treatment. We often don’t think of our heads as being particularly germy, but after wearing something over and over again, it can be surprising how dirty (and stinky!) it becomes.

Warmth 

Most of us wear a winter hat like a beanie to protect ourselves when hiking in cold weather. A lot of heat is lost through your head. Although it isn’t the 45% that researchers assumed in the 1950s, it is still around 10% in cold temperatures. As such, protecting your skull in cold temps should be a priority.

But how do we know if a hat’s warm or not?

The best way to gauge warmth when buying online is to study the specs for the hat’s weight and thickness. Most merino and fleece hats boast a density or weight of 100-400 g/m2 (grams per square meter of material). In short, the higher the number, the heavier, thicker, and warmer the hat will be. 

But it isn’t just cold temps we need to be wary of. In any season, strong winds can chill our domes and leave our ears feeling like lumps of ice without the right protection. As such, hats with an added wind-resistant layer, like the double-layer Mountain Hardwear Dome Perignon, can make all the difference. Failing that, models that use integrated earbands are the way to go.

Comfort & Fit

All hiking hats perform better when they fit well. With a good, snug fit, they’re less likely to let in cold air and, of course, more likely to stay on your head in high winds.

Many hats are one-size-fits-all or unisex. If you’re concerned about finding a good fit, opt for a hat that is made specifically for your gender—female products are typically slightly smaller than those for men.

For a more precise fit, we recommend choosing a hat with multiple size options. If doing so, hunt down the manufacturer’s sizing guide. Then, measure your head with a tape measure and use your measurement and the chart to decide if you need a small, medium, or large.

Durability

Any product meant to accompany you on an outdoor adventure should be durable. One of the best ways to determine this is to look at previous customer reviews to get a handle on how it performs in the longer term. 

Another way is to pay close attention to the specs.

Some of the factors and features conducive to long-term durability include double-stitched seams, DWR (Durable Water Repellent) treatments, thicker fabrics, and stretchy material like spandex that will help the hat keep its shape. 

And some materials are, of course, more durable than others. For example, even a good merino wool hiking hat is likely to get a little “holey” over time, something to which a fleece hat will not be quite so prone. If you’re particularly fond of merino wool, look for a merino-nylon or merino-polyester combo as synthetics typically add durability. 

Style

Cuffed and Cuffless Beanies

A cuffed beanie has dramatic foldovers or a “cuff” that you can fold back up and over the lower half of the hat, thereby providing added insulation for your ears. The roll cuff also helps them sit tighter and makes them less prone to sagging over your eyes.

“Cuffless” models are the opposite. As the name suggests (!), they have no cuff but come down across your forehead and stop there. They’re one of the most popular styles out there owing to their light weight and straightforward and low-profile design, which makes them especially well-suited to more active pursuits.

Slouchy Beanies

Slouch beanies (aka “hipster beanies”) are one of the only beanies that don’t have any form of cuffing at the brim but are only folded over. They form a slight slouch on the head and are styled backward.

The slouchy style is often used more for fashion than functionality, however, and can sag a little at the back of your dome and on your forehead.

Woven Beanies

Woven beanies go by many names, including fisherman’s, docker hats, and skull caps. They are similar to cuffed beanies but are much more shallow, so they sit over the middle of your ears and do not normally cover up any of your forehead.

Brimmed Beanies

If you are looking for some protection from the elements built into your winter hat, then a brimmed beanie is the way to go. These hats can be made in any other style but include a cap-like brim on the front and sometimes ear flaps on the side. These stop the sun from getting in your eyes and can even be sturdy enough to shield your face from rainwater.

Best Beanies for Hiking: The Verdict

Just in case you’re still undecided, let’s have a quick recap.

Our favorite beanie out there is the Minus33 Ridge Cuff Merino. This hat boasts all the benefits of merino and outperforms the best of the rest in the comfort stakes. Its fair pricing also makes it all the more attractive.

If you need a little more warmth, we recommend the Smartwool 250 or the Under Armour ColdGear Infrared. Both of these are a little thicker and are good for winter hiking in most locations.

Finally, if you’re looking for a lighter hat to pack just in case or for three-season hiking, take a look at the Arc’teryx Rho LTW Beanie. The Rho weighs just 1.1 oz, so will take up very little room in your pack, but provides enough insulation to keep your dom and ears warm on long afternoon descents or faster-paced hikes in the cold season.

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