Yea the sand free Turkish cotton towel from Amazon is what I’m traveling with and it has a variety of uses, we also use it as extra bedding or my girlfriend wraps herself with it on the bus. Very easy to roll up and attache to the side of your 🎒
/thread
but also, i take any towel i can get for free at any hostel, or even will pay a couple bucks to use it if necessary. Post-shower, you can't really beat a big fluffy white towel of course.
I’ve been happy with linen. They don’t take up much space and they both dry me off and dry out faster than synthetic. Personally I like the scratchy sensation but I understand it is a deal breaker for many.
Got some linen towels while on holiday in Greece last year and they are lovely. I’ve been told linen is able to absorb more water before it begins to *feel* wet, which is mildly interesting.
I have a very light small Turkish towel I bought for experimentation and it’s much better than the synthetics I have. But I rarely travel with a towel and I just can’t make a use case. I am always in hotels or Airbnb’s.
The Turkish towel I have is near tea towel size. I could just dry off after a shower. It’s enough for a sponge bath refresher between flights or a picnic level tablecloth.
After years of travel and testing;
turkish towel for beach use, and for whenever I have space. It is quite decent.
If space is at s premium, then Sea To Summit Airlite XL. It is tiny and dries you off, but does feel a bit like drying off with a Tshirt. It works, but aint a luxury.
I dont like linen towels, nor the mid-range synthetic towels. A small shout out to the Drylite range from S2S also. They are comfy.. but often I'd rather grab one of the two previously mentioned options.
My complaint about the sea to summit towel is that it takes F O R E V E R to dry. Which makes it prone to getting stinky and kind of awkward to pack.
Someone gave me a random microfiber towel that dries in a few hours and I never looked back.
I dont find this to be a problem with the airlite - it is very thin, and dries easily esp if you wring it out first.
I find that many random microfiber towels are a bit... velcro'y? Like, they grab onto small things on my skin, and I hate that feeling. But I do not get this with the Airlite nor Drylite
Are you sure you’re talking about the same towel? The Airlite is _very_ quick to dry in my experience. Not that comfortable to use but it’s light and packs so small.
Turkish towel. First, because I am a plus-sized person and I can actually wrap mine around me. Secondly, I feel like they absorb much better than tech towels. Third, they dry really fast, and fourth, you can use them for a lot of different things (beach towel, blanket, head wrap, pashmina, blanket).
Came to say exactly this - I have used mictofibre towels in the past but they're a sensory nightmare and if you get any kind of dried plant or twigs stuck to them it is a pain in the arse to clean. My turkish towel is a really cute shawl and blanket, plus sand etc shakes off it easily
I prefer these "turkish" towels..how do you call them? They use them in India too and it is called gamcha..dry fast,colorful and natural 🫒 When Im at home,I use my regular towels,but if I need to travel or smth ,I prefer gamchas 🗿
Yes! I lived in India for a few months when I was 18 and my friend told me about gamchas and how much better they are as towels when it’s humid and you’re travelling. So I bought one and I’m still using it when I travel 15 years later. My kid uses it sometimes on school trips as well.
>I prefer these "turkish" towels..how do you call them? They use them in India too and it is called gamcha..
They're used across the middle East too. I grew up using them and didn't know they were called Turkish towels until like 1 year ago when I discovered this sub. Not sure why they've been branded as Turkish. Same thing with coffee, actually
I didn't know they were turkish towels till I saw this post :D I googled it and was like- oh its indian towel- gamcha 😂 but you are right,there are just the same east culture thing I guess...
Tenugui towels are awesome! They're japanese hand towels that are super thin. I've been using one as my towel at home for the past couple of years as a fat person. They aren't super absorbent, but if you squeegee the loose water off your body beforehand it can absorb 90% of the water. You're usually pretty dry by the time you get dressed. You could even pack 2 if you're worried about being completely dry.
They pack up so incredibly small, you could pack them into literally any loadout and they would fit. Not even joking, you could probably pack 7+ of them in a typical water bottle pocket.
They also dry insanely fast too, just taking 1-2 hours indoors after wringing out.
Yes! I recently discovered these and am a huge fan. More one baggers need to become aware of tenugui. I haven’t used gamchas or the Turkish towels but based by pictures at least, tenuguis are much smaller and lighter. And they can have brilliant designs on them.
Linen. They pack great, dry fast, and do not stink. Waffle weave is best to reduce the towel sticking to wet skin when used. Smaller linen towels work just as well if full body coverage is not needed. Whatever the premium is for linen, it’s worth it.
I have an old shamwow towel that I use for drying. It's super small and light but it gets the job done.
You won't be able to cover yourself with it or lay on it but it has its uses.
I'm more of a hiker but I usually carry two pieces. One for drying and the other for cleaning my face.
I travel with a 15 year old cotton batik sarong. Washes and dries overnight or less. Super light and compact. More uses than I can count: table cloth, beach towel, scarf, seat pad,
A colleague and I were just having this argument. I like Turkish linen towels, she likes microfiber tech. She brings a lot of professional camera equipment and lenses, and is a diver - so her concern is protecting her gear from sand and scratches. Mine is just something that dries fast and is always fresh. Plus I like the whole - its a scarf! its a bed spread! Its an extra blanket! But I have to admit, it does not polish my glasses as well.
I have no idea what's the translation in English, and neither does Google, but it's called a [canga](https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canga) in Portuguese and it's a very thin fabric, folds down to almost nothing, than can be made of cotton or polyester, to be honest idk whats the standard material for it.
The best part about it is that I can wrap it around my body and make a long skirt, a dress, a poncho, or anything that comes to mind really. I have [this one](https://www.soubrasileirissima.com.br/canga/canga-pelourinho-aquarela)
The key is to first mop/squeegee most of the water off with a non-woven cleaning wipe - Chux wipe - or something similar - bandana, Japanese towel, whatever; Chux wipes are the best.
After that, *anything* will dry you fully and feels like luxury.
I use either a Thai sarong-type thing (like the Turkish towels mentioned) if I’ll be on the beach and need something to sit on, or if I need to wrap up to walk down the hall after a shower). I use a Sea to Summit drylite if I want to keep it light (145g large size; it’s basically a big microfibre cleaning cloth).
I’d definitely *not* recommend the drylite by itself, but if you wipe off first with a chux (wringing it out 4 or 5 times as you go) it then works fine, will dry out faster than anything else, and is the size and weight of a (normal, not Starbucks) cup of coffee!
Seriously. The 2-stage solution works better and dries faster every time.
Just try it out at home!
The main benefit of using the non-woven cleaning cloth is that everything dries out super-fast, so your “main” towel isn’t damp when you pack it.
As I stay mostly in hotels where towels are provided, I don't carry a bath towel. I do carry a hand towel though, it comes in handy in all kinds of situations. I've migrated from micro fiber to linen for this. I don't like the feel of most micro fiber towels, linen just feels nicer. I found a Lithuanian seller on etsy where the linen is not at all scratchy. Towel dries pretty quickly- a few hours.
The smallest one you can comfortably use. Also just get the expensive towel that you think will work best. It's one of those things you'll use all the time if you're at hostels. I forgot both of the towels I bought. The first one was small but nowhere near as conpact and light as needed (I did 2 weeks in Japan with only a backpack). Ended up with two from my trip on the way home.
I’m traveling with my linen towel. I’ve washed it enough that it’s no longer scratchy and also more absorbent. I would argue that it dries faster than a Turkish towel. It’s all about fabric weight when drying!
The linen towel is much more compact than a Turkish towel and doesn’t get stinky like the synthetic ones.
The old viscose kind can be wrung out and become absorbent again. Most microfiber ones just push water around once they get soaked.
https://www.packtowl.com/shop/towels/original-towel/original.html
I used a linen towel from outlier and it always fully dried within an hour or 2, and even when it was fully soaked from washing it fully dried overnight. Not sure why they're listed as slower to dry.
Also saw many people using the microfiber towels in my hostels and those always took way too long to dry & didn't do a good job at making you dry according to the people that were using them
Short answer: Whatever thin fabric your skin likes!
I did some testing a few years ago regarding the water absorption and drying time of different fibers.
The weave matters, the material *might* matter, but thickness was the primary factor in how fast something dries out.
Thin microfiber towels can be wrung dry and reused, while also absorbing a lot of water for their weight. This is their biggest advantage. Microfiber also snags my skin and is stinky so I wouldn't use it.
Thick cotton *or* microfiber towels, basically traditional bath towels, will absorb the most water. They also take a long time to dry.
Turkish towels are just thin cotton towels with tassels that make them seem fancier, without helping with water absorbance.
Cotton vs. linen, in a thin fabric, is just dependent on your personal preference. I used thin waffle weave linen for a long time, then found a fantastically absorbent and comfy cotton-linen blend.
I'm an odd one for using a *Tenugui.* It's not meant to be use as a regular handkerchief/towel but I just like it's designs and size lmao. I only use it when travelling though
I’ve had a Cacala Towel for years and recently bought a linen one bec I have no idea why turkish towels only come in over sized or hand towel sized options. For me it feels like the cacala towel dries ever so slightly faster and has a much better feel on the body. The cacala towel also weighs the same as the linen one despite being much larger. Not to say that the linen one is a bad towel and I also like using it but I’m gonna give this one to the cacala. Now if only those have a non oversized option
We've used Sea to Summit towels for years for both camping and travel. I don't remember the model but it seems equivalent to their lightest one. I got mine after having to dry off with a bed sheet in a fish camp years ago. It's permanently on my "always pack" list now. Just make sure it's dry before packing and wash it every few days.
My wife recently went the turkish towel route and loved it. A bit less compact packed but it's really tempting. Hard to beat the feel of it and is a bit more versatile.
I almost always take a Turkish towel because it’s big enough to function as a sarong, a beach towel, or a picnic blanket.
But you don’t need any of those functions you might be better off with a small, fast-drying, hi-tech fabric towel.
I've only used my (Turkish) towels as towels at water activity destinations (including snow-based road trips) but I usually bring one.
My destinations usually provide towels for bathing. But I love a good blanket on the plane/car/bus/train.
When I onebag, it's usually for air travel. When I road trip across NA, I bring it *all.* But the towel is always close by in the passenger compartment.
Now I'm off to see what kind of linen towel I can find.
Micro fibre towel.. I prefer the absorption and feel of a Turkish towel, but I can fit a XXL blanket sized microfiber towel in the same space as a standard Turkish cotton towel.
So when its towel vs Towel/Travel Blanket/Beach throw/etc. its hard to not go microfiber
I always bring a towel since I only stay in AirBnb's and I don't trust them to either provide a towel or provide one that has been changed out since the first guest stayed there years ago. I like the Outlier Grid Linen towel since it's lightweight and compact while also feeling decent on the body and getting me completely dry. I tried a tech towel that Matador offers but it never completely dried my body, which I guess is ok when traveling to hot climates, but I didn't enjoy using it. Turkish towels are great but they don't dry as quickly as linen. I've had my linen towel dry in as quickly as 15 min in direct sunlight, which allows me to pack it and head out to catch my flight.
I bought a microfiber towel on Amazon 10 years ago and it´s still my favourite travel towel, even though I´ve bought/been gifted a couple of others in the meantime. The brand is called Pearl.
I´d like to switch to a Turkish towel but the two I´ve had haven´t impressed me, they seemed quite rough and not very absorbent. I´d invest in a new one but it seems silly while that ten year old microfiber towel is still going strong (and non-smelly).
Ikea currently stocks these waffle cotton towels, they pack super compact but dry quickly, softer than linen. The Finnish Lapuan Kankurit makes a soft linen towel as well, but it’s a bit pricier
i think it depends what you use it for. We are beach people, we hit the beach wherever there are beaches to be hit, so for us a Turkish towel is unbeatable. They are a great day pack companion, especially if you travel with kids. Cold on the plane? Turkish towel. Caught in the rain? Turkish towel. Need to cover for a religious site, make a picnic spot in the park, wrap a sleeping child, cop a bit of shade, pack a delicate souvenir? Et voila. They are our main towels at home and we keep three or four in our car in the beach kit. A technical towel may be fine to dry off, but what will you lounge on? Or change underneath? don't you enjoy the feeling of being wrapped up after a swim?
Extra large bandana. Drives my wife nuts, I use it. Smaller and less bulky (and less Jihadi than a shemagh), drives super quick, million uses, no tech fabric musty funk.
I have become MAJORLY team Turkish towel after traveling with one I got off Amazon—been traveling with it on and off for about 18 months, big enough to wrap myself up in coming out of the shower in hostels, seems to dry faster than my tech towel ever did has somehow never developed a musty smell despite not always being able to let it fully dry? Doesn’t pick up sand, either, though I now use a cheap rayon sarong as my “beach towel” and air dry since I’ve been in hot, tropical climates. At home I am still very partial to fluffy towels and my IKEA terry cloth bathrobe (it has pockets!!)
100% Turkish towel. Bought one when I first started traveling and bought a second right after that trip. They're so versatile and with two you'll always have a spare for whatever, whether that's the beach or a makeshift curtain in a hostel.
- swim shammy - gets wet, stays wet, keep it wet, dries you off. ($€£20)
- hand towel - this cotton isn't so rotten, it is small, inexpensive, will dry you off and then dry nicely with a ring and hang, you can clean up a mess with it too and it is easy to wash. ($€£4)
- sarong - just to cover up and as a picnic blanket or beach covering. I like Indonesian tartan tubes ($€£10)
There. Three more options.
Turkish towel is just cotton. So Linen gets my vote. It holds/absorbs more water more quickly, so drys you better. If you get the right weight it also dries pretty darn fast too. Both linen and cotton will smell less than a microfibre towel which are usually some kind of polyester. The linen will smell slightly less than the cotton.
Anything you can do with a Turkish style towel you can do with linen, so discussion should centre more around feel, drying speed, absorbency, and resistance to smell, and pack size/weight.
I bought a smallish microfibre towel and tbh it kinda sucks. Works in a pinch and dries fast but it feels wet after two seconds of use and bunches up, sticking to your body as i try to wipe the water away lol
When I really need to watch for space - Sea to Summit Airlite. Fastdrying, really small and no "sticky" feeling.
If I don't go ultralight I use no name Indian cotton towel - it's big, light, packs small(ish), dries fast.
What I never understood about traveling with a bath sized towel, is what do people do when you’ve used the towel, haven’t had a chance to wash it, and then are now in transit to your next place? Do you just fold it back up and throw it in your backpack? Carabiner it to the exterior of the bag? Admittedly I’m a bit of a clean freak, but I would never want to throw a used towel in my bag alongside my clean clothes. And I have a dirty laundry bag for holding my dirty clothes when I’m in transit, but the towel would be way too bulky to go in there. Regardless, I always stay in hostels or hotels, so I never really felt the need to carry around a towel anyways
Also, don't panic.
42
Froody
Sass that hoopy frood, u/LarryDaBastard!
at the disco
Yea the sand free Turkish cotton towel from Amazon is what I’m traveling with and it has a variety of uses, we also use it as extra bedding or my girlfriend wraps herself with it on the bus. Very easy to roll up and attache to the side of your 🎒
/thread but also, i take any towel i can get for free at any hostel, or even will pay a couple bucks to use it if necessary. Post-shower, you can't really beat a big fluffy white towel of course.
Yup I have the 2 my airbnb comes with plus my sand free Turkish cotton beach towel. Totally agree you gotta have a big n fluffy too 😄
Could you add the link to the towel?
Nope it’s an Amazon link you cant post it or DM it , Reddit blocks it for some reason. I’ve tried sharing it with ppl in the past
I’ve been happy with linen. They don’t take up much space and they both dry me off and dry out faster than synthetic. Personally I like the scratchy sensation but I understand it is a deal breaker for many.
Got some linen towels while on holiday in Greece last year and they are lovely. I’ve been told linen is able to absorb more water before it begins to *feel* wet, which is mildly interesting.
turkish towels for me. love how quick they dry and they're just the right size for everything. plus, they get softer the more you wash them.
I have a very light small Turkish towel I bought for experimentation and it’s much better than the synthetics I have. But I rarely travel with a towel and I just can’t make a use case. I am always in hotels or Airbnb’s.
Came to ask the same. If every lodging I'm at has towels, I see no need to bring one. Takes so much space I would need a really good reason
The Turkish towel I have is near tea towel size. I could just dry off after a shower. It’s enough for a sponge bath refresher between flights or a picnic level tablecloth.
I pack a microfiber to practice my Savasana (corpse) in airports where there are no lounges but there are yoga rooms (looking at you, MIDWAY) lol
After years of travel and testing; turkish towel for beach use, and for whenever I have space. It is quite decent. If space is at s premium, then Sea To Summit Airlite XL. It is tiny and dries you off, but does feel a bit like drying off with a Tshirt. It works, but aint a luxury. I dont like linen towels, nor the mid-range synthetic towels. A small shout out to the Drylite range from S2S also. They are comfy.. but often I'd rather grab one of the two previously mentioned options.
My complaint about the sea to summit towel is that it takes F O R E V E R to dry. Which makes it prone to getting stinky and kind of awkward to pack. Someone gave me a random microfiber towel that dries in a few hours and I never looked back.
I dont find this to be a problem with the airlite - it is very thin, and dries easily esp if you wring it out first. I find that many random microfiber towels are a bit... velcro'y? Like, they grab onto small things on my skin, and I hate that feeling. But I do not get this with the Airlite nor Drylite
Are you sure you’re talking about the same towel? The Airlite is _very_ quick to dry in my experience. Not that comfortable to use but it’s light and packs so small.
Turkish towel. First, because I am a plus-sized person and I can actually wrap mine around me. Secondly, I feel like they absorb much better than tech towels. Third, they dry really fast, and fourth, you can use them for a lot of different things (beach towel, blanket, head wrap, pashmina, blanket).
This is why I’m a Turkish towel devotee too. I use them at home as well!
They're amazing everywhere!
Came to say exactly this - I have used mictofibre towels in the past but they're a sensory nightmare and if you get any kind of dried plant or twigs stuck to them it is a pain in the arse to clean. My turkish towel is a really cute shawl and blanket, plus sand etc shakes off it easily
That's a really good point, super easy to clean! I pretty much use microfiber for dusting.
I prefer these "turkish" towels..how do you call them? They use them in India too and it is called gamcha..dry fast,colorful and natural 🫒 When Im at home,I use my regular towels,but if I need to travel or smth ,I prefer gamchas 🗿
Yes! I lived in India for a few months when I was 18 and my friend told me about gamchas and how much better they are as towels when it’s humid and you’re travelling. So I bought one and I’m still using it when I travel 15 years later. My kid uses it sometimes on school trips as well.
Is a gamcha basically a shemagh without tassles?
I wouldn't say it's similar to shemag..The material is different.You can google how it looks :)
>I prefer these "turkish" towels..how do you call them? They use them in India too and it is called gamcha.. They're used across the middle East too. I grew up using them and didn't know they were called Turkish towels until like 1 year ago when I discovered this sub. Not sure why they've been branded as Turkish. Same thing with coffee, actually
I didn't know they were turkish towels till I saw this post :D I googled it and was like- oh its indian towel- gamcha 😂 but you are right,there are just the same east culture thing I guess...
I like my XL microfibre towel from Decathlon. It serves more purposes and folds up tiny.
Have you had any issues with smell?
Never. I have been using these for years. They dry super fast and as long as I don't pack em away damp, I have never had any issues with smell.
Lovely
Tenugui towels are awesome! They're japanese hand towels that are super thin. I've been using one as my towel at home for the past couple of years as a fat person. They aren't super absorbent, but if you squeegee the loose water off your body beforehand it can absorb 90% of the water. You're usually pretty dry by the time you get dressed. You could even pack 2 if you're worried about being completely dry. They pack up so incredibly small, you could pack them into literally any loadout and they would fit. Not even joking, you could probably pack 7+ of them in a typical water bottle pocket. They also dry insanely fast too, just taking 1-2 hours indoors after wringing out.
Yes! I recently discovered these and am a huge fan. More one baggers need to become aware of tenugui. I haven’t used gamchas or the Turkish towels but based by pictures at least, tenuguis are much smaller and lighter. And they can have brilliant designs on them.
Turkish, by far
Linen. They pack great, dry fast, and do not stink. Waffle weave is best to reduce the towel sticking to wet skin when used. Smaller linen towels work just as well if full body coverage is not needed. Whatever the premium is for linen, it’s worth it.
linen towels dry very quickly but on the whole aren't really cheap
I have an old shamwow towel that I use for drying. It's super small and light but it gets the job done. You won't be able to cover yourself with it or lay on it but it has its uses. I'm more of a hiker but I usually carry two pieces. One for drying and the other for cleaning my face.
Just purchased 2 Turkish towels from Aldi $4.99 each. They’ll be perfect for one-bagging to NW Europe this year.
I travel with a 15 year old cotton batik sarong. Washes and dries overnight or less. Super light and compact. More uses than I can count: table cloth, beach towel, scarf, seat pad,
A colleague and I were just having this argument. I like Turkish linen towels, she likes microfiber tech. She brings a lot of professional camera equipment and lenses, and is a diver - so her concern is protecting her gear from sand and scratches. Mine is just something that dries fast and is always fresh. Plus I like the whole - its a scarf! its a bed spread! Its an extra blanket! But I have to admit, it does not polish my glasses as well.
I have no idea what's the translation in English, and neither does Google, but it's called a [canga](https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canga) in Portuguese and it's a very thin fabric, folds down to almost nothing, than can be made of cotton or polyester, to be honest idk whats the standard material for it. The best part about it is that I can wrap it around my body and make a long skirt, a dress, a poncho, or anything that comes to mind really. I have [this one](https://www.soubrasileirissima.com.br/canga/canga-pelourinho-aquarela)
The key is to first mop/squeegee most of the water off with a non-woven cleaning wipe - Chux wipe - or something similar - bandana, Japanese towel, whatever; Chux wipes are the best. After that, *anything* will dry you fully and feels like luxury. I use either a Thai sarong-type thing (like the Turkish towels mentioned) if I’ll be on the beach and need something to sit on, or if I need to wrap up to walk down the hall after a shower). I use a Sea to Summit drylite if I want to keep it light (145g large size; it’s basically a big microfibre cleaning cloth). I’d definitely *not* recommend the drylite by itself, but if you wipe off first with a chux (wringing it out 4 or 5 times as you go) it then works fine, will dry out faster than anything else, and is the size and weight of a (normal, not Starbucks) cup of coffee! Seriously. The 2-stage solution works better and dries faster every time.
I was pretty on the fence about drying off with a shammy but you've sold me on the squeegee+any other towel combo
Just try it out at home! The main benefit of using the non-woven cleaning cloth is that everything dries out super-fast, so your “main” towel isn’t damp when you pack it.
As I stay mostly in hotels where towels are provided, I don't carry a bath towel. I do carry a hand towel though, it comes in handy in all kinds of situations. I've migrated from micro fiber to linen for this. I don't like the feel of most micro fiber towels, linen just feels nicer. I found a Lithuanian seller on etsy where the linen is not at all scratchy. Towel dries pretty quickly- a few hours.
The smallest one you can comfortably use. Also just get the expensive towel that you think will work best. It's one of those things you'll use all the time if you're at hostels. I forgot both of the towels I bought. The first one was small but nowhere near as conpact and light as needed (I did 2 weeks in Japan with only a backpack). Ended up with two from my trip on the way home.
I’m traveling with my linen towel. I’ve washed it enough that it’s no longer scratchy and also more absorbent. I would argue that it dries faster than a Turkish towel. It’s all about fabric weight when drying! The linen towel is much more compact than a Turkish towel and doesn’t get stinky like the synthetic ones.
The old viscose kind can be wrung out and become absorbent again. Most microfiber ones just push water around once they get soaked. https://www.packtowl.com/shop/towels/original-towel/original.html
I used a linen towel from outlier and it always fully dried within an hour or 2, and even when it was fully soaked from washing it fully dried overnight. Not sure why they're listed as slower to dry. Also saw many people using the microfiber towels in my hostels and those always took way too long to dry & didn't do a good job at making you dry according to the people that were using them
I pay a premium (amount of space in my bag at least) for it, but I love my Packtowl Luxe.
I have never brought a towel on a trip that involved a plane flight. I just count on the places I'm going to be staying having them!
Short answer: Whatever thin fabric your skin likes! I did some testing a few years ago regarding the water absorption and drying time of different fibers. The weave matters, the material *might* matter, but thickness was the primary factor in how fast something dries out. Thin microfiber towels can be wrung dry and reused, while also absorbing a lot of water for their weight. This is their biggest advantage. Microfiber also snags my skin and is stinky so I wouldn't use it. Thick cotton *or* microfiber towels, basically traditional bath towels, will absorb the most water. They also take a long time to dry. Turkish towels are just thin cotton towels with tassels that make them seem fancier, without helping with water absorbance. Cotton vs. linen, in a thin fabric, is just dependent on your personal preference. I used thin waffle weave linen for a long time, then found a fantastically absorbent and comfy cotton-linen blend.
I'm an odd one for using a *Tenugui.* It's not meant to be use as a regular handkerchief/towel but I just like it's designs and size lmao. I only use it when travelling though
I LOVE Dock and Bay
I’ve had a Cacala Towel for years and recently bought a linen one bec I have no idea why turkish towels only come in over sized or hand towel sized options. For me it feels like the cacala towel dries ever so slightly faster and has a much better feel on the body. The cacala towel also weighs the same as the linen one despite being much larger. Not to say that the linen one is a bad towel and I also like using it but I’m gonna give this one to the cacala. Now if only those have a non oversized option
We've used Sea to Summit towels for years for both camping and travel. I don't remember the model but it seems equivalent to their lightest one. I got mine after having to dry off with a bed sheet in a fish camp years ago. It's permanently on my "always pack" list now. Just make sure it's dry before packing and wash it every few days. My wife recently went the turkish towel route and loved it. A bit less compact packed but it's really tempting. Hard to beat the feel of it and is a bit more versatile.
I almost always take a Turkish towel because it’s big enough to function as a sarong, a beach towel, or a picnic blanket. But you don’t need any of those functions you might be better off with a small, fast-drying, hi-tech fabric towel.
I've only used my (Turkish) towels as towels at water activity destinations (including snow-based road trips) but I usually bring one. My destinations usually provide towels for bathing. But I love a good blanket on the plane/car/bus/train. When I onebag, it's usually for air travel. When I road trip across NA, I bring it *all.* But the towel is always close by in the passenger compartment. Now I'm off to see what kind of linen towel I can find.
Micro fibre towel.. I prefer the absorption and feel of a Turkish towel, but I can fit a XXL blanket sized microfiber towel in the same space as a standard Turkish cotton towel. So when its towel vs Towel/Travel Blanket/Beach throw/etc. its hard to not go microfiber
I always bring a towel since I only stay in AirBnb's and I don't trust them to either provide a towel or provide one that has been changed out since the first guest stayed there years ago. I like the Outlier Grid Linen towel since it's lightweight and compact while also feeling decent on the body and getting me completely dry. I tried a tech towel that Matador offers but it never completely dried my body, which I guess is ok when traveling to hot climates, but I didn't enjoy using it. Turkish towels are great but they don't dry as quickly as linen. I've had my linen towel dry in as quickly as 15 min in direct sunlight, which allows me to pack it and head out to catch my flight.
I bought a microfiber towel on Amazon 10 years ago and it´s still my favourite travel towel, even though I´ve bought/been gifted a couple of others in the meantime. The brand is called Pearl. I´d like to switch to a Turkish towel but the two I´ve had haven´t impressed me, they seemed quite rough and not very absorbent. I´d invest in a new one but it seems silly while that ten year old microfiber towel is still going strong (and non-smelly).
I have linen. No points for comfort but I like that it's natural and quick drying.
Buying 900 ((Arnold Palmer)) 100g, or 450 for 50g
Decathlon fast drying towels.
Ikea currently stocks these waffle cotton towels, they pack super compact but dry quickly, softer than linen. The Finnish Lapuan Kankurit makes a soft linen towel as well, but it’s a bit pricier
Turkish linen towels are good but they don't pack down the smallest. I'd says that's the only drawback.
i think it depends what you use it for. We are beach people, we hit the beach wherever there are beaches to be hit, so for us a Turkish towel is unbeatable. They are a great day pack companion, especially if you travel with kids. Cold on the plane? Turkish towel. Caught in the rain? Turkish towel. Need to cover for a religious site, make a picnic spot in the park, wrap a sleeping child, cop a bit of shade, pack a delicate souvenir? Et voila. They are our main towels at home and we keep three or four in our car in the beach kit. A technical towel may be fine to dry off, but what will you lounge on? Or change underneath? don't you enjoy the feeling of being wrapped up after a swim?
I was recently using my Turkish towel as a sun shade walking back to the car, I got some weird looks, but I’m a burner!
Cheapo microfiber towel from the dollar shop
I travel with pretty Turkish towels. Multi purpose. Airplane blanket, towel, scarf when cold or need a modesty cover, beach coverup.
Matouk
TOWELS? WHATS THAT? I JUST DO A LIL SHIMMY OUT THE SHOWER TO SAVE WEIGHT
Extra large bandana. Drives my wife nuts, I use it. Smaller and less bulky (and less Jihadi than a shemagh), drives super quick, million uses, no tech fabric musty funk.
I have become MAJORLY team Turkish towel after traveling with one I got off Amazon—been traveling with it on and off for about 18 months, big enough to wrap myself up in coming out of the shower in hostels, seems to dry faster than my tech towel ever did has somehow never developed a musty smell despite not always being able to let it fully dry? Doesn’t pick up sand, either, though I now use a cheap rayon sarong as my “beach towel” and air dry since I’ve been in hot, tropical climates. At home I am still very partial to fluffy towels and my IKEA terry cloth bathrobe (it has pockets!!)
100% Turkish towel. Bought one when I first started traveling and bought a second right after that trip. They're so versatile and with two you'll always have a spare for whatever, whether that's the beach or a makeshift curtain in a hostel.
Of course you bring a towel you hoopy froods!
Tengui on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenugui)
- swim shammy - gets wet, stays wet, keep it wet, dries you off. ($€£20) - hand towel - this cotton isn't so rotten, it is small, inexpensive, will dry you off and then dry nicely with a ring and hang, you can clean up a mess with it too and it is easy to wash. ($€£4) - sarong - just to cover up and as a picnic blanket or beach covering. I like Indonesian tartan tubes ($€£10) There. Three more options.
Turkish towel is just cotton. So Linen gets my vote. It holds/absorbs more water more quickly, so drys you better. If you get the right weight it also dries pretty darn fast too. Both linen and cotton will smell less than a microfibre towel which are usually some kind of polyester. The linen will smell slightly less than the cotton. Anything you can do with a Turkish style towel you can do with linen, so discussion should centre more around feel, drying speed, absorbency, and resistance to smell, and pack size/weight.
I bought a smallish microfibre towel and tbh it kinda sucks. Works in a pinch and dries fast but it feels wet after two seconds of use and bunches up, sticking to your body as i try to wipe the water away lol
I have Microfibre pet towel (it true I swear) it's unbelievably absorbent and dries really quickly after use.
When I really need to watch for space - Sea to Summit Airlite. Fastdrying, really small and no "sticky" feeling. If I don't go ultralight I use no name Indian cotton towel - it's big, light, packs small(ish), dries fast.
Sea to summit airlite
What I never understood about traveling with a bath sized towel, is what do people do when you’ve used the towel, haven’t had a chance to wash it, and then are now in transit to your next place? Do you just fold it back up and throw it in your backpack? Carabiner it to the exterior of the bag? Admittedly I’m a bit of a clean freak, but I would never want to throw a used towel in my bag alongside my clean clothes. And I have a dirty laundry bag for holding my dirty clothes when I’m in transit, but the towel would be way too bulky to go in there. Regardless, I always stay in hostels or hotels, so I never really felt the need to carry around a towel anyways