Comfort reigns supreme when traveling, whether you’re sprinting through an airport, sitting for hours on a red-eye, or hopping between trains in a new city. That’s why the best travel pants combine style with function: they need to move with you, hold their shape, and keep you comfortable mile after mile. After testing 179 pairs (including jeans, joggers, hiking pants, and compression leggings), we found the styles that stood out for fit, comfort, quality, durability, versatility, and performance.

As someone who only wears pants on planes and often when sightseeing, I can vouch for how transformative the right style can be. The travel pants below aren’t just practical on paper.…