Travellers, backpackers and people who love to take holidays are not always the easiest to buy for, unless you know what kind of stuff we love.Β
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Post updated in Jan 2024
The most important thing to remember when choosing the best gifts for travellers is this.
We love stuff that is useful to our travels, compact, durable and most importantly, reasonably light to carry.
Here’s a list of some of our favourite things that we use on the road. These best gifts for travellers are ideal for anyone who frequently travels, lives on the road or is simply planning a new holiday or adventure.
Let’s go! 20 Best Gifts for Travellers
Table of Contents
1. Lonely Planet (Travel Guide)
We use Lonely Planet Travel Guides to help us plan most trips.
They’re easy to use, and we find the information really useful. This is always an awesome present to receive when planning on exploring a new destination.
2. Lonely Planet Phrasebook & Dictionary
Why not throw in a language phrase book. There’s nothing better than chatting with the locals to better understand their culture.
3. Frank Green SmartCup β Reusable & Eco-friendly
This one is for all the coffee lovers out there! We love our coffee and we care about this environment too. This will suit all the tea drinkers too!
This Frank Green smart cup ticks all the boxes. It has a clever pop-down lid, so makes travelling a dream.
4. Hanging Toiletry Bag
Travellers love a hanging toiletry bag! Seriously, it’s not cool when there is no hooks to hang your standard toiletry bag.
At least you can hook this one over any door or ledge to save it from getting soaked.
5. MiniPresso GR Espresso Maker
Can you tell we’re huge coffee fans? We own one of these and it’s our favourite travel accessory. Your coffee-loving friend will love you if you surprise them with this little baby!
6. Packing Cubes
These are awesome! It’s sometimes tough to fit your whole life into one backpack, however, these packing cubes make life so much easier.
7. Universal Worldwide Travel Adapter
Covers more than 150 countries. You can charge your phone and other gadgets at the same time with the handy USB ports on the side.
This universal travel adapter is one of the most essential gifts for travellers.
8. Belkin Portable Power Bank
These days, travellers seem to have many electronics that require frequent charging. This power bank is awesome! It’s got a long lasting battery and can fully charge up to 5 Smartphones in one go! We even charge our laptops with it when we need a little extra juice.
Any person who travels appreciates this Belkin Portable Power Bank as one of the best gifts for travellers.
9. Scratch Map of the World
It’s pretty cool when you can scratch off the countries you’ve travelled to and plan for all the ones you haven’t yet seen. We think this is a great present for a loved one too, that way they can track where you are in the world.
The best gifts for travellers are the ones that are useful or create fantastic memories of travel. We love our World scratch map and think this is one of the best gifts for travellers.
10. Kindle Paperwhite E-reader
For all travellers, keeping your backpack as light as possible is the aim of the game. As much as we love to hold and read a real book, they can be heavy. Sometimes it’s really tough in certain countries to find books written in English too. Kindles are the best!
They can store a ridiculous amount of books, they’re lightweight, you can download a book in your own language and the battery life is fantastic. Kindle E-Readers are easily one of the best gifts for travellers.
11. 1TB San Disk External Hard-Drive
Travellers take lots of photos & videos on the road, and having enough storage is important to us. We’ve got a couple of these guys each and we guard them with our lives because most of our travelling memories and important information is stored and backed-up on these compact drives.
The best part about these 1TB San Disk Hard Drives is that they’re tiny and super light.
12. Moleskine Classic Notebook
I always travel with a notebook. These moleskin notebooks are my favourite because they are light and handy to note any new ideas, and important travel info about a fantastic travel experience.
13. Camera Tripod
This tripod is fantastic, especially handy for solo travellers to capture amazing photos.
If your friend is a keen photographer, this is one of the best gifts for travellers – they’ll love it.
14. Bose Portable Bluetooth Speaker
We love music and we love to spend time by the beach or lazing by a pool.
This Bose Micro speaker is perfect because it’s waterproof and it has a great sound to listen to all your fave tunes. Just connect it with Bluetooth from any of your devices and relax.
15. GoPro HERO9 Black
We record heaps of footage on our Go-Pro. What we love most about it is that it takes incredibly clear video, it fits into your pocket when you’re out and about and the battery life is fantastic.
In addition to our Go-Pro Hero, we also use the Go Pro Karma grip to take great footage on our travels. The Karma grip is a stabiliser, which enables much smoother footage, therefore reduces shaky videos. We absolutely love it, one of our best travel accessories for sure.
16. Apple AirPods
We recently upgraded to these from the standard travel headphones (with a cord), and they’re great!
These gifts for travellers are perfect for everyone, but travellers will especially love how small these wireless earbuds are to carry.
17. Silk Liner Sleeping Sheet
This is great when you’re travelling in warm countries or when you’re sometimes forced to sleep in questionable bedding that’s been provided to you. It happens. It’s also really handy for an overnight bus or train journey to keep you snug.
This silk liner also extends the life of your sleeping bag by keeping it clean. It’s lightweight, super compact, washable & colourfast. I always travel with mine, I love it.
18. Microfibre Travel Towel
This ultra-absorbent travel microfibre towel is perfect for travel. It dries up to 4 times faster than a regular towel and packs into a small waterproof bag.
Lightweight and essential for travellers on the move!
19. Travel Gear Organiser
Perfect for travellers who have to carry lots of electronic equipment and accessories. When rolled up, this easily tucks in your backpack.
Great for saving space and keeping you organised.
20. Durable Sunglasses Case
It’s the worst when you smash a good pair of sunglasses. Never again with this durable sunglasses case, these really are the best gifts for travellers.
So there you go, our hand-picked list of the best gifts for travellers and backpackers.
Show your favourite traveller some love and surprise them with a gift they will love.
Travel Planning Resources
βοΈ Flights: We use Skyscanner to book cheap flights worldwide.
π¨ Accommodation: Booking.com is our preferred platform for booking hotels and accommodation.
π₯ Travel Insurance: We recommend Heymondo (Get 5% off Heymondo) & SafetyWing
π Transportation: Trainline is the best website to reserve trains. We use Omio to book transport worldwide. For travel in Asia, we use 12Go.
π Car Rental: We use DiscoverCars to book rental cars worldwide.
π« Group Tours: G Adventures OR compare multi-day tours worldwide with Tourradar.
πΈ Day Tours & Trips: GetYourGuide & Viator are the only two platforms you need.
π Lonely Planet: The Best Range of Travel Guides & Ebooks, and FREE Shipping! (use code RACHELDAVEY10 for a 10% discount)
π Luggage: Osprey Farpoint 40L Backpack or Samsonite Luggage Range.
π What to Pack: Donβt forget your Universal charger and a good power bank. To help you pack the essentials, here is our ULTIMATE Packing List for all Travellers.
πΆ Become a House Sitter: Join Trusted Housesitters and enjoy FREE accommodation worldwide. Use our invite to receive 25% off your new membership.
π° Send Money Anywhere: WISE & Revolut are the best online accounts that let you send money, get paid, and spend money internationally. Both are so easy to use and way cheaper than any bank transfer.
πΆ Stay Connected: Airalo eSIM allows you to get connected the moment you land at your destination, and you can avoid those expensive data roaming charges. We LOVE this product! Use promo code NOMAD15 for 15% off ALL eSIMs (new Airalo users only) OR use NOMAD10 for 10% off ALL eSIMs (for existing Airalo users)
β Check out our Travel Gear and Travel Resources for more valuable tips to save you money!
1 Comment. Leave new
Great list! Packing cubes have changed my traveling life⦠such a fabulous gift idea! Love that all of these are affordable too ???? Thanks so much for the suggestions!