A bath towel in a backpack is a mistake you make once. It goes in dry, comes out damp, and never really recovers for the rest of the trip.
A travel towel solves a narrow problem: dry a whole person, then be dry again itself before you need it next. Four things decide whether one is any good.
Size is where most people go wrong
Travel towels are usually sold small, on the theory that small is the point. Then you climb out of the water and find you're drying an adult with a napkin.
Ours run 60 x 30 in, which is bath-towel length. It wraps, it covers a lounge chair, and it still folds down to something you forget is in your bag.
"This towel is the perfect size for a backpack!" (Lauren Maier, verified review)
Dry time is the whole product
A towel that stays wet gets heavy, then it starts to smell, and then it gets abandoned in a hotel room. Fast drying is what keeps a towel usable on day four.
Ours dry quickly enough to go back in the bag the same morning, and they stay fresh between washes instead of turning a pack into a science experiment.
Weight, and whether you bother packing it
The whole towel weighs 8 oz. At that weight the decision stops being a decision, which is the only reason a towel ever makes it into a carry-on.
"I'm planning on using it in my teardrop camper as I travel since it is super light weight, dries quickly and is easy to pack down small." (Kim Sublett, verified review)
The sand problem
Beach towels bring the beach home with them. Ours shake sand off rather than holding onto it, which matters more on the car ride back than it does at the water.
"Absolutely love this towel! Beautiful design and colors, and works perfectly as a yoga or beach towel!" (Becky Fiorenza, verified review)
Look for a hanging loop
A towel on a hook dries. A towel in a heap does not, and a towel that never dries is laundry you're carrying around on vacation.
Ours have a loop sewn into the middle so the towel hangs open instead of bunched, which is the difference between dry by morning and damp by Thursday.
It stops being a travel towel
Buy one for a trip and it quietly takes over other jobs. Yoga mat towel, picnic blanket, gym bag towel, the thing you throw over a dock before you sit down.
"We bought this to use for yoga (short person!), picnics, towel, what-not on our trip. It takes up very little room in the suitcase and is beautifully printed on both sides with different patterns!" (Woosi, verified review)
The double-sided printing does real work there. Each towel carries a different design on each face, so it reads as something you picked rather than something you packed.
Care, and the habit that ruins a good one
Wash cold on a gentle cycle, then hang it or lay it flat. Skip fabric softener, which leaves a coating behind that makes any towel worse at absorbing water.
Travel towel or kitchen towel?
They're different tools and they don't swap well. A travel towel dries people, while our kitchen towels are built for dishes and countertops.
If you're assembling a kit rather than buying one thing, our car camping checklist and our backpacking pack list both put a towel on the list for a reason.
One towel, one tree
Ours are made from 100% recycled materials, and each towel recovers waste from 10 plastic water bottles. Every sale plants a tree through our 1-for-1 Giveback.
They're covered by our Lifetime Warranty and Happiness Guarantee, so if the towel doesn't earn its spot in your bag, that's on us.
Travel towel questions we get
What size should a travel towel be?
Big enough to dry an adult. Ours are 60 x 30 in, which is bath-towel length, and they still pack down small enough to live in a daypack.
Can a travel towel replace a bath towel at home?
Plenty of people end up doing exactly that. A quick-dry towel takes less closet space and dries out between showers rather than sitting damp on the hook.
How do you stop a travel towel from smelling?
Hang it open so air reaches both sides, wash it cold on gentle, and skip the fabric softener. Towel odor is almost always trapped moisture rather than dirt.
