Your ultimate backpacking kit list
Whether you're planning a year long trip or a couple of weeks backpacking one country, the essentials are pretty much the same. Here's a list of our favourite gear for travelling, variations depending on the type of trip and for each item, why we do (or don't) love it!
We also have country - specific packing lists on the blog. If you don't want to read the in's and out's of each item - most things mentioned below can be bought here.
Disclaimer - this article contains affiliate links, which means we receive a commission if you decide to purchase via the link, at no extra cost to you. We will only ever items that we have personally used and consider good value.
Covered below (tap to skip to section):
Space saving solutions
Water
Travel tech
Camping gear
Entertainment
Bags and Luggage
Jordan’s “big bag” for backpacking destinations (see picture) or wild camping. She particularly likes the lightweight but durable material which doesn’t add unnecessary weight, and the pockets on the hip belt for easy access to snacks! This is the ladies fit which is very comfortable, even when wearing for long periods of time. The separate bottom pocket is ideal for shoes.
Chrisy’s “big bag” for backpacking and wild camping.
He loves the abundance of easy access pockets and snack pouches! It’s comfortable to wear and he likes that he can remove the top section of the bag to make it smaller. He also gets quite sweaty when hiking/travelling so the airflow system on this bag is ideal and works really well.
Jordan’s go-to bag for “small cabin bag only” trips on UK budget airlines. Dimensions wise, this does push the boundaries a bit so you can’t overstuff it, but it has been Ryanair and Easyjet sizer checked and passed the crew’s eagle eyed assessment so far! She particularly loves the hip belt and chest strap - a rare sight on smaller backpacks, but essential for city break type trips, and the roomy suitcase style large compartment. There is also a separate laptop/tablet compartment and a few pockets to help with organisation without adding bulk.
Ideal for the rare occasion that we’ll splash out for a large cabin bag (or are flying with an airline that’s more generous with the cabin bag allowance). It’s exactly the right size for Ryanair and Easyjet’s “large cabin bag”. We particularly love the zip compartment on one side for some organisation, and having 4 wheels on this type of case. We loved this case so much, we bought a second one.
More coming soon!
Space Saving
Packing cubes
Jordan actually dislikes packing cubes in general but Chrisy will use small ones to help seperate clothes within a big bag. We don't feel like they're great for compression though and just tend to distort if you overstuff them. Chrisy uses these.
Dry Bags
Instead, Jordan is a BIG fan of good old fashioned dry bags - not only do they keep everything dry (great for when your backpack gets unceremoniously loaded onto the roof of a minibus), but they do compress bulky items while still having a level of shape flexibility - ideal for squashing into a large backpack. A range of sizes and colours is useful so you know roughly which clothes are in which bag.
Vacuum bags
I didn't want them to work but they do - kind of! Great for bulky items but for a pile of cotton tshirts which don't really trap air, the compression is no different to a dry bag really. These roll up ones are useful for backpacking. There are also versions that come with a pump - Jordan tested this one - which did compress really well, but the only downside is you have to also pack the pump, which wasn't exactly tiny.
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