The Best Travel Clothing for Men and Women

Published October 10, 2019

Written by:

Shawn Forno

If you want to learn about budget travel, minimalist carry on packing, or how to travel (and even live and...

Laura Lopuch

Laura’s first trip was when she was 3 months old, instilling an insatiable wanderlust. She hasn’t stopped traveling, or writing...

Megan Lee

Megan Lee likes to joke that she majored in study abroad in college. Living in the Bay Area, she earned...

Jessie Beck

Jessie is a writer, editor, and content marketer who covers travel gear and adventure travel. She’s called many places home...

Edited by:

Jenn Sutherland-Miller

Jenn raised 4 children while traveling full-time for more than a decade– it’s called worldschooling and it’s awesome. Jenn has...

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The Tortuga Promise

At Tortuga, our mission is to make travel easier. Our advice and recommendations are based on years of travel experience. We only recommend products that we use on our own travels.

Most people are urban travelers and don’t need a whole separate wardrobe just for traveling. What you really need to travel light and travel well, is a carefully chosen capsule wardrobe of clothing that is versatile, flexible, layers seamlessly, and are good quality. 

Start With Choosing the Right Bag

A capsule wardrobe won’t go far without the right bag to pack it in. Choose a travel backpack that’s carry-on-sized like the Tortuga Travel Backpack. The Travel Backpack fits a week’s worth of clothes, making it ideal for traveling with a capsule wardrobe.

Travel Backpacks
Laptop Backpack
Travel Bags for Women
4.7
4.5
4.7
Travel Backpacks
Laptop Backpack
Travel Bags for Women

Best Travel Clothes To Pack

If you’re looking to build out your travel wardrobe with good quality pieces that will go the distance, here are some of the best picks in each category, tested by travelers and worth the investment.

Tops

Shoes

Bottoms

Winter Travel Clothing

Packing light for winter trips can be harder when you’ll need heavier clothes, more layers, and extra winter accessories. Just because you need a coat and hat doesn’t mean you have to check a bag.

Women’s Travel Clothing

Ladies, when we travel, we need clothes that can do so much more than look good on us. We want pants with four-way stretch for optimal airplane comfort. We want odor-resistant and sweat-wicking fabric for warm-weather adventures in AC-sparse corners of the globe. We want clothes that won’t wrinkle in our luggage, or fall apart on day 10 of a round the world adventure.

Below are our favorite places to find travel clothing for women–whatever your style may be.

Travel Clothing Tips

Why is it that some people bring multiple checked bags while others pack everything in a personal item for the same trip? They probably don’t have different needs they just needs some tips for packing on a trip.

Packing Resources

Travel Water Bottle
Packing Cubes
Travel Water Bottle
Packing Cubes

Shawn Forno

If you want to learn about budget travel, minimalist carry on packing, or how to travel (and even live and work) in dozens of countries all over the world, Shawn is your guy. Shawn is not a New York Times bestselling travel author, but he is a full-time freelance blogger, copywriter, and content manager and is also a published photographer. He likes to rock climb, trek, surf, ride his bike, and read a bunch of sci-fi books.

Read more from Shawn

Laura Lopuch

Laura’s first trip was when she was 3 months old, instilling an insatiable wanderlust. She hasn’t stopped traveling, or writing about it. As an expert in carry on travel, she’s flown on over 100 flights with only a carry on bag. Even on trips with her husband and kids.

She believes travel is the great educator — and vital to our humanity.

Read more from Laura

Megan Lee

Megan Lee likes to joke that she majored in study abroad in college. Living in the Bay Area, she earned her chops as a writer, digital marketer, and urban traveler.

She’s visited 40+ countries, and also writes for numerous travel publications.

Read more from Megan

Jessie Beck

Jessie is a writer, editor, and content marketer who covers travel gear and adventure travel. She’s called many places home and traveled to 45+ countries.

She now lives in San Francisco with her husband where she splits her time between traveling, adventuring outdoors, and cooking (okay, eating).

Read more from Jessie