The 26 Best Gifts for Travelers

Looking for the best gifts for travelers? We are sharing our personal favorites, with most under $50!

As full time travelers, we prioritize experiences over material possessions (especially since moving into a van with limited space!), so when holidays and birthdays come around, we tend to be a bit trickier to shop for. We love gifts that will enhance our travel experience, whether it’s something that’ll entertain us on a long flight, make our lives a bit easier, or inspire us to see more of the world.

If you’re stumped while trying to think of what to get the traveler in your life, or for yourself (treat yo self!), we’ve put together a list of the 26 best gifts for travelers! 

This list ranges from fun, thoughtful, and useful gift ideas sorted by cost, with most items being under $50, so you can easily choose an item based on your budget. A huge chunk of the items on this list are things we own, love, and make our experiences even better–so they get our stamp of approval! And the others are all that we would love to get (hint hint)!

We hope this list helps you find the perfect gift. Happy shopping!

Under $50

National Park Map

Know someone that loves the US National Parks? Get them a map to keep track of the ones they have been to! This is one of our favorite things in our van! We have this map from Etsy, as well as this map from Mappinners!

Yeti Rambler Bottle

We use our YETI water bottle all of the time to save money (and the environment) by not having to buy plastic bottles. It keeps drinks super cold, or hot, for a very long time! We also like the style of lid, which makes it easy to hook it onto something.

Ox & Pine luggage tag

These leather luggage tags are beautiful, customizable, and will make your suitcase extra stylish. We love ours!

ALOHA Pouch

We saw these in Hawaii and have wanted one since! It’s waterproof and perfect to store your wet swimsuit, carry toiletries, organize your chargers, or whatever else your heart desires! They also donate 5% of profits annually to Hawaii conservation.

PacSafe Camera Strap

We will be the first to admit it’s not the most stylish camera strap out there, but it’s supposed to be anti-theft/pickpocket proof. We bought this for Europe trips and have kept it on our camera since!

Packing Cubes

We never really understood the appeal of packing cubes until we used them ourselves! We now love to travel and organize our van drawers with these!

State Stickers

We love these state stickers from the super talented Rachel Alvarez, who hand paints all designs! Each sticker has a beautiful painted image of a spot from that state.

Headphone splitter

There have been so many times that we want to watch a movie together on the plane, but don’t want to only have one ear bud or be stuck to one TV. A headphone splitter makes it so easy to enjoy together!

Foldable Daypack

Our friend gave us one of these and we love using it to explore cities and for day hikes while backpacking! It can fit quite a bit for its size and the best part is that you can fold it up and store it in a larger bag when you’re not using it.

Pop socket

This gift is helpful for anyone, but especially to prop up your phone to watch movies on a plane or to hook up to your dash in the car to use the GPS (you’ll need this attachment for the car!). You can also make custom ones with logos or photos on them!

Roaming America

Roaming America, a book by Renee and Matthew Hahnel not only shares beautiful photos of the National Parks, but helpful information about them! This is another great gift for the National Park lover in your life!

Microfiber Towel

Between the beach, campground showers, swimming, or whatever else you need a towel for, this microfiber towel is super compact and dries quick!

National Park Candles

Send someone the smell of their favorite National Park! We love these candles because they have wood wicks and are a local Seattle business!

$50-$100

Coffee Subscription

It’s no secret that we love coffee and for the coffee and travel lovers in your life, sign them up for a coffee subscription where they can try coffees from all around the world!

Airbnb Giftcard

Yes, gift cards can be considered a not super thoughtful gift, but we LOVE getting free money to travel!

Camera Clip

For the photographers in your life, gift them a camera clip, which makes it much easier to carry your camera around, especially for hiking or visiting cities! We have one these and love it!

America the Beautiful Pass

For $80/year, you can get unlimited access to all National Parks, National Monuments, and National Forests. If you visit 2 National Parks a year, plus hike in National Forest, this pass more than pays for itself!

Rumpl Blanket

For cold sunrises and sunsets, to camping, to picnics, this Rumpl blanket will keep you nice and warm!

Portable Charger

We cannot even count how much this thing has saved us during long sightseeing or travel days or on backpacking trips!

$100-$200

AirPods

Bluetooth headphones make life so much easier while traveling! We love our AirPods for how easy they are to carry around and because they work so well with our iPhones and MacBooks.

Tinggly Gift Box

Give the gift of an experience to someone! They are able to choose which experience they want and have 5 years to redeem it. Some of the experiences to choose from are sky diving, wine tours, zip lining, boat cruises, hot air balloons, just to name a few!

$200+

Garmin inReach Mini

We have wanted one of these for years and one of Santa’s helpers told us that we will be getting one this year. The Garmin InReach Mini is a satellite device that allows you to send messages to loved ones back home, get help if needed with the SOS button, and also have folks track your location. It’s a great safety tool for exploring the outdoors!

Wandrd Backpack

This is by far our favorite backpack we have ever owned! It’s huge and not only perfect for photographers (our 31L can fit two cameras, two extra lenses, our microphone, 2 laptops, and tons of chargers in it), but its size and storage compartments makes it a great fit for anyone who has a lot to carry around in their backpack. We also love that it opens in the back and has a hidden passport spot, which makes it feel safer against pickpockets!

Away Suitcase

We own two of their “Carry-On” sizes and LOVE them! They fit so much inside, are very sturdy, have a built in lock, and also have a portable charger so you never have to scramble to find somewhere to charge your phone at the airport.

Sony Mirrorless Camera

We use a Sony mirrorless camera (A6500) to vlog our adventures and we love how much lighter and less bulky it is than a traditional DSLR. It is super easy to carry around while traveling! The Sony A6000 is a slightly more budget friendly option to check out. We also just upgraded our photography camera to a Sony A7iii, which is a full frame camera, so it’s a tad bulkier, but still less clunky than our old Nikon D750.

World Map

This is one of our favorite things we own! After every trip, we put a pin on the map so we can see everywhere we have been. It’s staying safe at Kathryn’s parent’s house for now, but we cannot wait to add pins from our van adventures!

Looking for a gift for a traveler in your life?

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