If you are on your feet for a full day in a city, the right bag is decided by where the weight sits, not by how it looks on a hanger. A crossbody puts the load diagonally across your torso and leaves both hands free, which is why it is the default for sightseeing, commuting and anything involving stairs or public transport. A shoulder bag sits higher and comes off more easily, which is better for a day of going in and out of buildings. A top handle carries in the hand and keeps the bag off your clothes, which is why it works for meetings and badly for a museum. A tote takes the most and hurts the most, because all the weight lands on one shoulder.

The honest hierarchy for a walking day is crossbody first, soft shoulder second, tote only if you need to carry a laptop, and top handle only if you will be sitting down for most of it. Everything below is grouped that way, so you can shop by how the day is actually shaped rather than by category.

Strap drop is the number that matters and the one most listings bury. A 20 to 22 inch drop lands a crossbody at the hip, which is where it swings least. Longer than about 24 inches and the bag hits the top of your thigh and knocks on every stride. Shorter than 18 and it rides under your arm, which is uncomfortable with a coat. If a strap is adjustable, that solves it. If it is fixed, check the number before buying.

Width matters more than height for capacity. A 9 inch wide crossbody takes a phone, a card holder, keys and a small sunscreen. Around 11 inches you get a paperback and a compact umbrella. A 13 inch laptop needs roughly 14 inches of interior width, and a 15 inch machine needs about 15.5, which is why so many mid-size totes technically do not fit the thing they are sold for. Measure the widest point of the opening, not the base.

Then there is the bag's own weight. A structured leather bag can weigh close to two pounds empty, which you feel by hour six. Soft unlined leather, suede and raffia weigh a fraction of that. If you are walking all day, an unstructured bag in a mid weight leather is the comfortable answer, and a stiff boxy one is the reason your shoulder aches.

Rotate the shoulder you carry a tote on, or at least move it every hour. Persistent single-shoulder loading is what causes the neck ache people blame on walking. With a crossbody, wear it under your coat in bad weather and over it in crowds, and shorten the strap on public transport so the bag sits in front of you.

Protect the corners, because that is where every bag fails first. Do not set a soft bag on the floor, and do not overfill a structured one, because a bag stretched past its shape never goes back. Suede and unfinished leather mark in rain within minutes, so if your day includes weather, carry grained or coated leather instead. Raffia and woven leather are for dry days only.

On colour, a mid brown, burgundy or deep green hides scuffing far better than black, which shows every mark on the base, or cream, which picks up denim transfer. If you are buying one bag to walk in every day, buy it in a grained mid tone and buy it in the size you actually carry, not the size you aspire to.

We have carried most of these shapes on real days of walking, and the pattern is boring but consistent. The bags that stay in rotation are the ones with an adjustable strap and a soft body, and the ones that come out twice a year are the stiff top handles we bought because they photographed well.

The other thing worth saying is that laptop capacity is oversold. Plenty of bags described as work totes will not close over a 15 inch machine, and the ones that do are usually heavier than people expect. If your commute involves a laptop, measure first and accept that the bag will be a tool rather than a small accessory.

If you take one thing away, take the strap drop. Around 20 to 22 inches, adjustable, on a soft body in a grained mid tone will carry you through a ten hour day better than anything else on this list, whatever it costs.