Everything you need for long-term travel — lightweight, versatile, and built for moving fast. The complete guide to packing a 40–50L bag for weeks or months.
Backpacking packing is a discipline. The goal is to carry everything you need for weeks or months in a bag you can lift into an overhead locker. This means ruthless editing, quality over quantity, and choosing items that serve multiple purposes. The reward for getting it right is complete freedom — no checked baggage fees, no waiting at carousels, no being tied to hotels with storage. This checklist is built around that philosophy.
The things experienced backpacking trip travellers wish someone had told them before their first trip.
1 hat. 2 shoes. 3 bottoms. 4 tops. 5 socks and underwear. Everything fits in a 40L pack. If it doesn't fit within this framework, you don't need it.
Merino wool t-shirts and underwear cost more than synthetic alternatives, but they genuinely don't smell after multiple wears, they regulate temperature in both heat and cold, and they dry quickly. Three merino t-shirts serve a backpacker better than six cotton ones.
International roaming is expensive. In almost every country, a local SIM card costs €5–15 and gives you far better data than roaming. Buy one at the airport on arrival and save the money.
Any hostel with lockers requires your own padlock. Without one, your valuables sit unsecured in a shared dorm. A small combination padlock weighs almost nothing and costs €5–10.
The full backpacking trip packing list, broken into categories. Use our free interactive tool to check items off, add your own, and export to any format.
The most frequently asked questions about packing for a backpacking trip.
We are working on a beautifully designed printable version of the Backpacking packing list. Backpacking PDF
Roamers List has personalised packing lists for all 9 trip types.