What Size Backpack For Solo Travel?
Most travelers use backpacks. Our guide has the right backpack size for solo travel, whether you want to travel with one carry-on to save hundreds of dollars in baggage fees, keep work items on a plane or train, or something in between.
1. Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L
Pros:
- Compacts to airline carry-on size and expands when you arrive.
- Rugged construction
- The design pays attention to every detail.
Cons:
- Price Side-carry Handles Are Offset In An Awkward Position.
We need help finding a flaw in the Peak Design Travel Backpack 45 L ($300). This redeye-ready clamshell meets the highest standards. It has aluminum hardware and 400-denier nylon canvas, and it meets all our criteria for the best travel backpack. The bag has a main compartment for most of your gear and a front sleeve with five zippered pockets.
Three more pockets and a foam-padded laptop sleeve are in the main pocket. The Travel Backpack’s straps fit easily into the bag, which impressed us on its first leg from Seattle to Anchorage. Two foam panels on the bag’s backflip away to secure them and close magnetically, which is very slick.
The Matador GlobeRider45’s zippered panels vied for our favorite strap-stowage system. Peak Design bags compress small. If your bag gets lost, an ID-size sleeve on the back provides all the information. The zipper pulls threads together to protect your belongings. A collapsible system reduces the bag from 45 to 35 liters.
2. Dakine Campus 33L Backpack
Pros:
- Cheap deal
- Available in many fabric prints
- Unique insulated cooler pocket
Cons:
- Few travel-specific features
- Straps don’t store.
The Dakine Campus 33L Backpack ($75) is an excellent value, even at a regular price. It’s a must-have budget travel backpack, especially on sale for $45. It offers everything you need to organize your travels without being too complicated. This bag protects sunglasses with a fleece-lined top pocket and padded laptop sleeve.
Pens, phones, and other essentials fit in the organizer pocket. We love pockets, and this backpack has many. The insulated cooler pocket keeps snacks fresh on the go, and double side pockets hold drinks. We found the straps comfortable on long trips. For optimal fit, use the sternum strap when carrying heavy loads.
This bag travels well but wasn’t designed for it, so it lacks a compression system and strap storage. We didn’t miss them much, but they were nice sometimes. Try the sleek Timbuk2 Never Check or the customizable Tom Bihn Synapse 25 for similar-sized backpacks with a travel bent. Expect to pay more for them.
3. Osprey Farpoint & Fairview 40 Travel Packs
Pros:
- The supreme suspension provides the best carry of any pack we tested.
- External compression straps effectively control volume.
- Comfortable grab handles.
Cons:
- Lack Of Internal Organization
Osprey, known for its comfortable suspension systems, added features to the Farpoint and Fairview packs ($185), including LightWire frames, load lifters, breathable frame sheets, and suspension straps. We found our Farpoint pack to be the best load carrier and a close second for the best travel backpack.
Unlike other travel packs, the pack lets you adjust the torso length. We can confirm that these updated packs balance backpacks and functional luggage. The 40-liter capacity is ideal for domestic carry-on luggage, and these packs maximize it. The bag could fit a long weekend’s travel essentials with room to spare.
Unlike many other travel packs, the Farpoint and Fairview have a deployable strap cover that neatly seals the suspension for safekeeping when checked. This creates a clean, ready-to-wear profile but requires unclipping straps to tuck them away, making it less convenient than the Peak Design Travel Backpacks’ magnetic panels.
The pack’s sparse interior comprises a zip pocket, a laptop sleeve, and two compression straps. While we prefer more organizational features like those in Matador GlobeRider and Topo Designs Global Travel bags, the Farpoint and Fairview may be ideal for those who pack more than they pack.
4. Timbuk2 Never Check Expandable Backpack
Pros:
- Nice looking.
- Excellent trim, anodized G hooks, and soft webbing.
- It has a cushioned back panel.
Cons:
- Slim exterior expandable water bottle pocket
- Pack straps don’t hide.
When collapsed, fabric accordion folds take up valuable interior space in lesser expandable backpacks, making removal difficult. The TimBuk2 Never Check ($209) improves on a basic backpack shape with premium materials and design, making it a top choice for airline seat storage.
Unlike many of our pure-function rectangular bags, the Never Check is one of the best-looking in our testing, and we’d bring it as a business bag. It looks sharp with rubber-covered zipper pulls, anodized G hooks, and soft webbing. The 27.5-liter bag fits most airline ‘personal item’ requirements and slides under a seat.
The front clamshell zipper is gusseted to hang open while loading the bag to access the main compartment. Our Senior Editor, Nick Belcaster, used the bag on a few national and international flights, and it had enough room for everything. The front pocket has multiple drop and zip pockets for organizing small items like chargers and keys.
The Never Check has a cozy ½ inch foam back panel and padded shoulder straps, creating a comfortable carrying bag. The straps are less useful on a lower-volume pack like this because they don’t stow away. The wide laptop sleeve is our final favorite. This 15” opening fits today’s larger laptops and is suspended from the backpack’s bottom to prevent bruises.
5. Thule Aion 40L
Pros:
- Maxes carry-on compatible space
- A roll-top TPU bag separates clean and dirty laundry.
- The waxed canvas exterior is elegant.
- Comfortable back panel and well-centered side handle.
Cons:
- There is no shoulder strap storage.
- No hipbelt on a 40L is excessive.
Thule is known for its roof boxes and racks, but its addition of intelligent, organized, and comfortable travel packs like the Aion 40L ($200) makes sense. This refined pack is made of high-quality materials for international and domestic travelers.
Like the Patagonia Black Hole MLC pack, the Aion 40L aims for maximum capacity, and at 21.5” x 15” x 8”, it slides in just half an inch less than the 45 linear inches allowed. It’s efficient. It has two main compartments and a laptop sleeve with a full clamshell zip.
The integrated TPU rolltop bag highlights this inner compartment with zippered pockets and compression straps. This sack can separate your “to-do” laundry and liquids for inspection. It resembles the Gregory Border Traveler pack’s ActiveShield compartment, but we like the removable aspect.
The spacer-mesh laptop sleeve, similar to the Evergoods Civic Panel Loader, includes a compartment for tablets, notebooks, or chargers. One of the most luxurious back panels we tested has cushioned shoulder straps.
No shoulder strap-stowage system means you’ll have to wrangle those yourself, and while we like the lack of a hip belt in more miniature travel packs, a 40-liter pack without one is puzzling. Fully loaded, the Aion could use a sling bag, but it costs $50. The Thule Aion 40L, like Peak Designs and Ospreys, excels in style and material, offering 40 liters of space for week-long trips without a roof box.
