Best Quick-Dry Towels for Travel & Camping of 2025
Camping towels for travel, backpacking, boating, and more
March 27th, 2025
Home > Gear Reviews > Camping
For travel, camping, backpacking, or sweaty hikes, having your own quick-dry towel is convenient, hygienic, and an awesome comfort upgrade. We spent two years testing camping towels and travel towels, using them to dry off after solar showers at campgrounds, swims and boating in lakes and beaches, and cleaning up while traveling and on backpacking trips.
Since camping towels are absorbent and designed with a minimal, packable profile, they're also great for hauling to the gym, yoga, beach, and day hikes. When traveling, having a packable personal towel spares relying on uncomfortable hotel towels, or having to pay for a towel fee at the gym, pool, or hot springs. When road tripping or van-lifing, a lightweight towel means you can dry off quickly after a swim in a river or shower off the side of your car.
We tested 17 of the most popular camping towels in varied sizes, from beach towel size to face towel size. We tested quick-drying camping towels for weight, absorbency, softness, packability, and fun patterns and designs. We also considered microplastics and strategies you can use to reduce the environmental impact of your towel. In the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy says, Douglas Adams wrote, "A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have." These are the best towels for adventure – interstellar or in your backyard.
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Comparison table
| TOWELS | TREELINE AWARD | MSRP* | BEST USE | MATERIAL | WEIGHT | LOOP OR SNAP? | CARRY POUCH? | SIZES AVAILABLE | ABSORPTION RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PackTowl Personal | Best Overall Read why |
$40 | Travel, watersports | 80% polyester/ 20% nylon (50% recycled) | 6.4 oz | Yes | No | Body, beach | 4x its weight |
| Nomadix Original | Most Versatile Read why |
$40 | Watersports, Yoga, Camping | Recycled plastic polyester/ nylon | 1 lb. 3 oz. | Yes | No | 72 x 30 inches | 4x its weight |
| Matador Nanodry Towel | Best for Travel Read why |
$35 | Travel, Camping | Polyester | 5.6 oz | Yes | Yes, silicone/anodized aluminum carabiner | 52 x 24 inches | 2.3x its weight |
| Rainleaf Microfiber | Best Affordable Read why |
$9 - 22 | Travel, camping | Microfiber | Differs by size | Yes | Yes | 6 sizes | 5x its weight |
| REI Coop Multi-Towel Lite | Best for Camping Read why |
$25, $30, $45 | Travel | 85% Polyester 15% Nylon Microfiber (Bluesign Approved) | 2.6 oz / 7 oz/ 11.9 oz | Yes | Yes | 29 x 16" / 50 x 25" / 58 x 39" | 6.5x its weight |
*Reflects MSRP price. Discounts can be found on our Deals Page.
** Absorption rate as stated by brand.
The winners
Best overall quick-dry towel: PackTowl Personal Body
Best use: Travel, watersports
Material: 80% polyester/ 20% nylon (50% recycled)
Sizes available: Body, beach
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 4x its weight
What we liked: Options of designs and colors, many options for sizes, softness, quick dry, value for price
What we didn’t like: Micro plastics shedding
The PackTowl Personal Body towel is the best quick-dry towel for camping, backpacking, the beach, the gym, and travel. It hits all the boxes we're looking for in a camp towel. It's among the softest towels we tested. It comes in the most colors and patterns, so you can individualize what otherwise is a straightforward product that usually doesn't have a lot of room for getting stylish.
While we recommend the personal size, it comes in body, hand, face, and beach sizes, so you can tailor it for your needs. It not only has a hook, but the hook has a clip so you can snap it around tree branches or a clothesline to hang.
While not the least expensive towel, it's reasonably priced and much softer than our budget winner. It also feels pleasant on the hand—neither too thick nor too thin. It's a thin, smooth, no-pile fabric that repels sand and dirt, so can sit on it at the beach or in camp.
In short, the PackTowl Personal ticks all the boxes we want on a camping towel: soft, compact, quick-drying, with lots of options for sizes and colors. It's a crowd-pleasing towel worthy of bringing along for your next outdoor trip.
PackTowl Personal Body
The PackTowl Personal has beautiful designs to personalize your towel and reflect the beautiful places where you take it.
I often wish this towel was bigger so I can wrap it around myself for more modesty. However, the PackTowl poncho (made of the same material) has plenty of coverage (see review below). Still, we recommend the Packtowl personal for most camping, swimming, and travel situations because it is more compact and lightweight than the Poncho version, so is more versatile. It's also more affordable.
The author swimming in the Kern River using the PackTowl Personal to dry off.
While not every person may agree this is a benefit, we appreciated that the PackTowl didn't come with a stuff sack, as we found we didn't use the stuff sacks often and they just end up being thrown away.
Most versatile quick-dry towel: Nomadix Original Towel
Best use: Watersports, Yoga, Camping
Material: Recycled plastic polyester/ nylon
Sizes available: 72 x 30 inches
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 4x its weight
What we liked: use for yoga, travel, and camp, hook, design, softer fabric more reminscent of terry-cloth style towels
What we didn’t like: sized for a yoga mat means it is a non-standard towel size, more expensive than other towels, fewer design options
If I had to only choose one camp towel, I'd go with the Nomadix The Towel, which is our winner for most versatile quick-dry towel. It has some of the most square footage of all the towels we tested (and we tried the largest sizes available from all brands). It's got a mid-height pill that feels almost terry-cloth soft and has some of the best absorbency of all the towels we tested.
It has a clip that works with hooks or tree branches. It is even designed to double as a yoga towel, so it fits squarely over a standard size yoga mat and provides grip when sweaty. It also comes in an assortment of fun designs and colors. Were in not for the limited size options and heavier weight, this would have been our best overall camp towel. But if the size works for you and you have a little more room in your bag, the Nomadix The Towel is the camping towel we recommend.
Nomadix Original Towel
Doing some campsite yoga on the Nomadix Towel at a 4-day camping trip in Montana.
The material is soft and absorbent, feeling more like a towel you'd have at home than most travel towels we considered. While not quite spa-towel soft, it is less plasticky-feeling and more pliable than most of the towels we tested.
Using the Nomadix towel with an outdoor camp solar shower.
Still, the Nomadix doesn't have the stretchiness of the other towels designed for an at-home feel, like the PackTowl Luxe. But that style of towel often has a slower dry time.
Since it's shaped to fit a yoga mat, that means it is longer than most towels we tested while not necessarily being wider than other towels. So even though it takes up a larger area, when wrapping it around your body, it doesn't give you added modesty over a PackTowl.
The Nomadix towel is also thicker than most other travel towels. For us, that means it's survived nearly five years of rough use, including using it multiple times a week as a yoga towel.
But that thickness means it weighs more and takes up more space than other travel towels, so keep this in mind if you have limited space in your suitcase, backpack, or camper van.
Nomadix is a member of 1% for the Planet and is Climate Label certified.
Best quick-dry towel for traveling: Matador NanoDry
Best use: Travel, Camping
Material: Polyester
Sizes available: 52 x 24 inches
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? Yes, silicone/anodized aluminum carabiner
Stated absorption rate: 2.3x its weight
What we liked: lightest weight, thin
What we didn’t like: one size, one color, not big or thick enough to provide modestry after a shower
The Matador NanoDry towel is our winner for best camp towel for traveling. It is the lightest towel we tested and is incredibly quick drying. It comes in its own protective silicone case (not plastic!) that clips to the outside of your travel bag when you're really trying to fit everything in. The case also adds an extra level of hygiene when traveling, especially if you're like me and find yourself packing and unpacking luggage in airports and train stations. Many towels come with cases but this one was the best sized and had the best air flow.
The Matador NanoDry Towel is a great towel (even without the case) with excellent absorption and a soft handfeel. While it's simple (only available in grey) it is sleek enough to double as a scarf for the multi-purpose kind of traveler.
Matador NanoDry
The material on the Matador Towel is very thin and it is among the fastest drying towels we tested. It doesn't scream "I'm a towel" like the other quick-dry towels we tested, so you can use it as a multi-purpose item, which is common among minimalist travelers. It also has a skinnier shape than the other towels we tested and I wore it on one trip as a scarf when I needed extra sun protection around my neck. While this means that the design isn't as fun (or loud) as some of the colors and patterns offered on other camp towels, it does mean you'll blend in better if you are traveling in Europe.
Best affordable quick dry towel: RainFiber PackTowel
Best use: Travel, camping
Material: Microfiber
Sizes available: 6 sizes
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? Yes
Stated absorption rate: 5x its weight
What we liked: Value for price, color options, absorbency, speed of drying
What we didn’t like: Colors don't look quite like on the webpage, not as soft as other towels, comes with stuff sack, microplastics
The Rainfiber PackTowel is the best affordable quick-dry towel. An Amazon bestseller, it scored high for absorbency and quick drying in our side-by-side "lab" testing. It's available in the most sizes and colors of any of the models we considered. It isn't as soft against the skin as other towels we tested. It's also a stiffer feeling towel, almost as if it has been starched.
Because their largest size is affordable, the Rainfiber towel nearly won our award for best beach towel and best large towel. However, we think regardless of which size you get (and we tested their largest and their smallest size), the Rainfiber is the best budget towel.
RainFiber PackTowel
While not every person will agree, we didn't like that the Rainfiber PackTowel comes with a stuff sack. My towels at home don't come with a stuff sack so I don't understand why a travel towel would come with one. The included stuff sack doesn't prevent a wet towel from moistening nearby items. And honestly, this towel dries so quickly that the time it stays wet is pretty minimal. It's unnecessary packaging that makes the product look fancier. Ultimately, the stuff sack is another plastic-based item that will end up in the trash.
Lastly, while the Rainfiber has the most color options, the color that showed up on my computer screen wasn't the same shade as what showed up in the mail. The teal was more of a sea foam. The lilac is more of a magenta. This is a minor quibble, but something to keep in mind while ordering.
Best comfortable camping towel: REI Multi-Towel Deluxe
Best use: Travel
Material: 85% Polyester 15% Nylon Microfiber (Bluesign Approved)
Sizes available: 29 x 16" / 50 x 25" / 58 x 39"
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? Yes
Stated absorption rate: 6.5x its weight
What we liked: soft stretchy terry-like softness
What we didn’t like: slower dry time, not quite wide enough to provide much modesty after a shower, microplastics
Compared to backpackers and "one-bag" style travelers, campers value comfort. The most comfortable camp towel we tested was the REI Multi-Towel Deluxe, making it the best option for campers who want that at-home feel in a quick-dry towel. With terry-cloth soft, stretchy material, the REI Deluxe Towel feels, well, luxurious.
REI Multi-Towel Deluxe
Despite its luxury handfeel, the REI Multi-Towel Deluxe still comes with the standards we find in more camp-y looking towels such as a handy snap hook found in our overall winner, the PackTowl Personal.
The REI Multi-Towel Deluxe doesn't dry as quickly as other towels we tested. But we think if you're parked in a campsite for a weekend or a few weeks, you likely can spare the extra half hour of dry time. Reinforced seams along the edges give it durability and a sophisticated look. A light ribbing helps scrub off the grime better and gives some texture.
The REI Multi-Towel Deluxe is similar to the PackTowl Luxe but costs less and has different dimensions. It's 1" shorter but 3" wider, which adds some modesty when wrapping the towel around yourself.
Best quick-dry towel for backpacking: Sea to Summit Drylite Towel
Best use: Travel, backpacking
Material: 80% recycled polyester, 20% nylon microfiber
Sizes available: 16 x 32" / 20 x 39" / 24 x 47" / 30 x 59" / 34 x 67"
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? Yes, Mesh Faced Storage Pouch
Stated absorption rate: unstated
What we liked: excellent packability, light weight, multiple use, easily attaches to trees and a backpack
What we didn’t like: limited sizing, not as soft as other towels, microplastics
The Sea to Summit Drylite towel is the best quick-dry towel for backpacking due to its light weight, high absorbancy, and minimal profile. Backpackers want a camp towel that can help them dry off while swimming or for wiping condensation from the inside of their tent, but that won't add much extra weight to their pack. The Sea to Summit towel hits all those marks at 3.5 oz for the size medium.
Sea to Summit Drylite Towel
The Sea to Summit Drylite has a long snap hook that we used to attach to tree branches and our backpack's straps to dry it off.
The Drylite is available in many sizes, so you can decide how much towel you need. We found the towel so absorbent that the medium was all we needed to dry off in summer, but you may want larger for modesty.
We also appreciated it is available in many colors, including a bright orange. Search and rescue teams recommend displaying large, brightly colored gear in case of emergencies. While you may opt for stealthier colors for the rest of your backpacking gear, it's not a bad idea to have something like a compact towel that can be opened up and waved to flag down a rescue.
The Sea to Summit towel also comes with a separate minimalist carry case so you can keep your wet towel separate from your other gear. While we disliked the carry cases on other towels, we found it an important addition for a backpacking towel. A carry case is important if you used your towel to wipe down a leaking or condensation-filled tent, for example. The carry case means you can separate your wet towel from gear you want to keep dry, like a sleeping bag. We wish the carry case had a minimalist carabiner included (like on the Matador carry case) but most backpackers are likely to have a carabiner around, so it isn't a dealbreaker.
It's worth noting that if you're a backpacker who values weight above all else, the Matador Dry Light towel is a lighter option that we recommend at 2.4 oz without the carry case. The Lightload Towels are even lighter, but are almost a one-use towel. For most backpackers, though, the Sea to Summit Drylite is a better size and thickness and provides more warmth.
Best eco-friendly quick-dry towel: Lava Linens Travera Ultralight Towel
Best use: Travel, camping, watersports, backpacking
Material: 55% Hemp + 45% TENCEL™ Lyocell
Sizes available: Hand, bath
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: unstated
What we liked: No microfibers, made of sustainable material, looks sophisticated, women-owned company
What we didn’t like: Price, takes a while to get soft
The Lava Linens quick-dry camp towel is our winner for best eco-friendly quick-dry towel. It is made of absorbent flax and is free of microfibers found in every other camp towel we tested.
But there's a lot more to love about this towel than simply being the most eco-friendly. This sounds weird to say about a towel, but this looks like a beautiful piece of handcrafted art. It looks sophisticated, like what you'd see fancy people on vacation on an island in the Mediterranean using. Yet, it's functional and ultralight, weighing only 1.9 oz, getting a nod from the ultralight gram-counting backpackers at Garage Grown Gear.
Lava Linens Travera Ultralight Towel
The Lava Linens towel is recommended by Treeline Review writer Meg Carney in our Best Sustainable Outdoor Gear ideas guide. Meg writes that the flax material "absorb[s] up to 50% more water than microfiber, with strength surpassing cotton by 30%." In our own testing, we found that it performed well, as well as microplastic towels we tested.
The Lava Linens camp towel is not the least expensive towel, but it's one you can feel good about purchasing or gifting for others.
Other quick-dry towels we tested
Lightload Towel
Best use: Backpacking, travel
Material: 100% viscose
Sizes available: 12 x 12"
Loop or snap? No
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 10x its weight
By far the lightest towel we tested, this towel is the size of a silver dollar and expands in contact with water. It's very thin and even at max size, grows only to 12 x 12" dimensions. It's convenient for backpacking trips but isn't designed for multiple uses. One trip in the washer and it is shredded, resembling what happens when you leave a tissue in your pocket.
Lightload Towel
Best use: Travel, camping, water sports
Material: 95% polyester, 5% spandex
Sizes available: 29.5 x 72”
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: unstated
The Rumpl Everywhere Towel has some of the prettiest designs out there, similar to the PackTowl Personal. However, in our tests, it has some of the lowest absorbency rates. It also isn't as soft as other towels we tested.
Rumpl Everywhere Towel
Best use: Camping, van life, surfing
Material: Recycled polyester/nylon
Sizes available: S/M, M/L
Loop or snap? No
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 4x its weight
Made of the same material as our winner for best versatile camping towel, the Nomadix Poncho is a wearable towel that can be used for changing in and out of a swimsuit or for extra warmth.
It unfolds into a large double towel for sitting at the beach or using as a picnic blanket. Plus, it has a hood with a drawstring for warmth. It thoughtfully has magnets to hang it to the side of a camper van as well as hooks for hanging on more conventional surfaces.
As much as we liked this poncho, it was the heaviest and bulkiest towel we tested, making it inconvenient to pack for travel or even trips to the gym. While we appreciate the ability to open up the poncho up to lie flat on the beach, the design meant we often found ourselves showing off too much side when changing.
Nomadix Poncho
Best use: Vanlife, water sports
Material: French Linen (flax)
Sizes available: Oversized hand
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 50% more absorbent than microfiber
We tested both the Lava Linens Ultralight model and the Lava Linens Midweight Everything Towel. Ultimately, we found the Ultralight model to be more versatile of a size for camping and traveling, so that is the one we recommend. But if you want something more durable with plenty of absorption power, the Lava Linens Midweight Eveything Towel will get the job done in style.
Lava Linens Midweight Everything Towels
Best use: Camping, boating, gym
Material: 80% polyester, 20% nylon microfiber
Sizes available: 16 x 32" / 20 x 40" / 24 x 48" / 30 x 60"
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? Zippered storage pouch
Stated absorption rate: unstated
The Sea to Summit Tek Towel is a quick-drying microfiber towel that feels terry-cloth soft. Seriously, this is a very comfortable towel against the face. It comes with a quick attach loop that snaps onto hooks and tree branches. The Tek Towel fits into a silicone carry case with a water-resistant zipper and one side has openings to facilitate faster drying, similar to the Matador towel. However, the Tek Towel was slower to dry than other towels and other high-pill towels were available in more sizes and colors.
Sea to Summit Tek Towel
Best use: Camp kitchen, wiping up things
Material: Rayon
Sizes available: Regular and mini
Loop or snap? No
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 10 x
A favorite of TV infomercials, the Shamwow is a lightweight and extremely absorbent towel that is surprisingly soft. While not sold by an outdoor brand, we had to test it just to see how it matched up.
The Shamwow is a great utility towel. It can mop up spills in camp or wipe off condensation from a tent. It's durable enough to last a decade.
But this isn't a nice-looking towel. It doesn't dry flat. The corners curl up, giving it a less than rectangular shape. It lacks the refinement and design of almost all the other towels we tested. It's a great alternative to reusable paper towels for camp chores, but otherwise, we wouldn't recommend it.
Shamwow
Best use: Camping, van life, surfing
Material: 85% polyester/15% nylon
Sizes available: S/M, M/L
Loop or snap? Yes
Carry pouch? No
Stated absorption rate: 3x its weight
This doesn't look like a traditional beach towel or even camping towel. It's a poncho made of quick-dry camping towel material. That means you can easily change into or out of your swim suit at the beach. It means you can cover up your body from the sun after some time in the water without having to put on your clothes and get them sandy. We've even used it for modesty to change out of hiking clothes after a long trip. We also used it at the gym for changing in the locker room after taking a shower. While it's lighter weight and easier to pack than the Nomadix poncho towel, ultimately, we decided poncho towels as a genre are too specialized to recommend to most people.
Why do you need a quick-dry towel
Testing camp towels side-by-side at a camp in the Eastern Sierra. From left to right: Nomadix The Towel, Eagle Creek towel (now discontinued), Rumpl Everywhere Towel.
A quick dry towel can make a camping trip, road trip, beach day, boating trip, or international travel more pleasant by providing you with the ability to clean up and dry off wherever you are. Here are some real world examples of situations where we've found having a camp towel or travel towel to be useful—and why we keep packing these towels on trips.
Convenience
If you're swimming, fishing, or boating, you're going to get wet. It's handy to have something on hand to dry off and camping towels are the quickest drying and most compact solution (compared to a traditional beach towel). You can easily fit them in your beach bag, dry bag to take on a Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP), or in carry-on baggage for trips farther from home.
Hygiene
If you are unsure about sharing rental towels at the pool, spa, hostel, or gym (or at your friends' house…), bringing your own towel can provide some peace of mind.
Reduced weight and more compact
Camp towels weigh less than traditional towels, which means they are easier to pack in luggage, a beach bag, or gym bag. I've taken to only using travel towels for showering at the gym because they take up less room.
Fast and efficient packing and unpacking
Since travel towels take less room in luggage than terry-cloth towels, they make organization easier when you're packing a lot of stuff.
Versatility
Camp and travel towels can be used in all sorts of away-from-home situations. We've used our camp towels to dry off pets. We use them after a solar camp shower. We use camp towels to clean up spills. We throw them down as a picnic and beach blanket when we don't have a dedicated camping blanket. We use them to keep ourselves warm when we forget our camp blanket for use around a campfire. And as mentioned above, we use it as a yoga mat and even as a scarf for extra sun protection.
Comfort
It's no fun being cold after a swim or hiking on a rainy day. Having a camp towel in the car can help you dry off before driving home.
Durability
Camping towels are often more durable and stain-resistant than traditional terry-cloth towels. This means they can withstand dirt, sand, and getting tossed around outside better than other towels.
Easy maintenance
Because camping towels are more durable and easily washed and dried, they are lower maintenance than traditional towels.
Eco-friendliness
Using a reusable towel for washing hands or cleaning up spills for camp chores will create less waste than using single-use paper towels.
What can you use quick-dry towels for
Using the Rumpl Everywhere Towel at a camp shower at a campground in Montana.
Camping: Quick-dry towels don't take up much room in your car on the way to the campsite and dry quickly, so you won't pack up wet towels for the drive home. You can use them for swimming or using showers at the campsite, even wiping off hands and feet or dog paws. It's handy to keep a few older ones around for spills, especially to minimize the need for paper towels.
Travel: Many hostels around the world require you to pay extra for a towel. Some hotels won't let you take their indoor towels to the beach. As far as travel gear goes, having your own towel saves you some money, saves you from wondering who used the towel before you, and means you can take the towel where you want.
Hiking: While hiking in Japan, I discovered that most people hike with towels around their neck. The reason is that the climate is humid in summer and having a towel means you can wick sweat and wipe off. Sweaty hikers and people who hike in moist climates sometimes hike with bandanas, but I find the camp towel is much more absorbent.
Beach trips: If you have any sort of walk from your car to the beach, you know the pain of having to haul all the cooler, camp chairs, and all the towels with you. Quick-dry camp towels are packable and take up less space in the beach bag.
Thick, indoor towels seem like they'd be great at the beach, but grains of sand get stuck in between the cotton or terry cloth and take a lot of washing to get out—usually getting sand all over the inside of your house and car in the process. Most camp towels are absorbent without the individual fibers found on indoor towels, which means less sand all over the space.
Swimming: Ditto for swimming. If you have to walk to a swim competition, public pool, or lake, the more packable your stuff, the better.
Gym workouts: Many gym go-ers love to have a towel to wipe off sweat and keep it off the machines. A quick dry towel is more absorbent than most towels and also takes up less real estate on the machine's handlebars, so you can bring a bigger, less thick towel.
Yoga: I use camp towels exclusively as my yoga towel for hot yoga sessions. Between my mat, yoga towel, change of clothes, shower towel, toiletries, and water bottle, I feel like I need a mountaineering pack just to take a yoga session. Using packable towels has reduced the volume of the items I bring to the yoga studio with me. However, not all towels are equally grippy for yoga, so note which models are best suited for yoga and consider getting a dedicated yoga towel instead.
Backpacking: Jumping in alpine lakes? Thru-hiking and taking advantage of showers at campsites along the way? Hiking along a cooling creek? It's surprising how even the smallest of towels can dry off an entire body.
I also use quick-dry camp towels to wipe off condensation from my ultralight tent.
Picnics: Camp towels can double as picnic blankets. Due to low-pile height, some models can even be better than traditional picnic blankets at not accumulating sand or dirt.
Sports activities: Camp towels can be great at sports events. After a super sweaty running event, for example, runners can get chilled easily. A packable towel doesn't take up a lot of space in your bag and can help the athlete warm up. We also recommend a towel as one of the items to keep in your drop bag in our How to Pace and Crew an Ultramarathon. It can also help wipe you down after an event.
Road trips: Whether you're swimming, camping, or van-dwelling, packable towels take up little room in the car and dry quickly, so you don't have a sopping wet towel getting everything else wet.
The author kayaking in the Eastern Sierra. She’s got the Matador Nanodry towel around her neck to wipe off after getting in the water.
Boating: If you're kayaking, packrafting, canoeing, or rafting, you'll want a towel with you that doesn't take up a lot of space in the boat. Even if you aren't bringing it on the boat, you're like bringing a lot of other gear so something lightweight and packable can minimize the volume of stuff you're carrying to the water. And, as mentioned above, travel towels often capture less sand than terry-cloth towels, so if you encounter sand while boating, they're less likely to make a mess.
Spa visits: Skip the towel fee and bring your own packable travel towel.
Home use for quick clean-ups or spills: I'm trying to move more towards reusable towels in my home life. While most of my camp towels are too nice for cleaning up spills, I keep around some older ones, like my Shamwow in my camp kit and also under the sink at home for spills and clean up.
What to look for in quick-dry towels
Testing quick dry towels in the Southern Sierra. From left to right: Rainleaf, Eagle Creek (discontinued), PackTowl Personal, PackTowl Body.
Material
We were surprised at the difference between camp towel materials. Some are soft and thin and others are plasticky, stiff, and thick or high-pile. We prefer materials with a nice feel on the hand, that dry quickly, and ideally, are made of eco-friendly materials.
Absorbency
For the most part, a towel's job is to absorb moisture. Whether it's helping you dry off after a swim or camp shower or cleaning up a spill in the camp kitchen, a towel should soak in as much water as possible. The exception would be if you're planning to use your camp towel as a picnic blanket. We think a waterproof camping blanket is a better bet, but we often use camp towels as picnic blankets. Just watch out if you're using a travel towel on wet grass!
Drying Time
Testing the PackTowl Luxe towel after swimming on the Kern River.
Drying time is a major difference between a camping towel and a terry cloth or beach towel like you'd use at home. The bath towel we tested side-by-side with quick-dry towels took hours to dry, and came out feeling stiff after time on the laundry line (this often happens when I use too much laundry detergent for the load). Camping towels take as little as 15 minutes to dry and feel soft after a wash, even when I use too much detergent.
Size and weight
We prefer when brands have a variety of sizes of the same towel to give you options. Large towels can be used at the beach or as picnic blankets. The smallest towels can be used to wipe away sweat on a hiking trip or as a face or washcloth, as well as to clean up small spills in a camp kitchen.
Larger towels will weigh more, so if you are backpacking or looking to reduce the weight of your luggage, opt for the smallest size travel towel that will get the job done for you.
Durability
We were impressed by the durability of the camp towels we tested. Over two summers, we shared the models we tested with teenagers at a summer camp. Not one of the models managed to get a hole or fray.
Antimicrobial properties
Wet towel stink is the worst! Many of the quick-dry towels we tested come with anti-microbial anti-odor treatments. In general, however, the fact that quick-dry towels, well, dry quickly means there is less time for bacteria to grow in a moist environment than happens on terry-cloth cotton towels.
Portability
All travel towels are portable, but some are more compact. Additionally, many towels come with hooks or hanging loops. Some quick-dry towels come with travel cases or bags.
Packability (comes with a carrying bag or strap)
I find camp towels to be more packable than cloth towels for use at the gym or if I'm slapping together gear in my trunk for a car camping trip. I usually just throw towels into my car in a ball, or sometimes I'll flatten them out.
Other people, especially vanlifers who are traveling, value the packability offered by the straps and carrying bags that come with some of the bags we tested. In general, I feel like the carrying bags are unnecessary packaging. But if you know you want a carrying case, look for ones that come with a stuff sack included.
Comfort
As mentioned above, not all material on camp towels is the same. Some are just plain softer and plusher against the skin. We're biased towards the softer towels.
Ease of maintenance
Because they are quick-drying, camping towels are much easier to maintain than bath towels. That's one reason I started using my outdoor towels for use at the gym. They just don't get as stinky as regular towels.
Quick-dry towels care and maintenance tips
As with towels, if they get wet, hang them up to dry. Don't ball them up or forget them in a bag if they are wet. Moisture can house bacteria, which can lead to odors and mold. Gross!
Most quick-dry towels can be washed in a laundry machine with regular detergent. If they start to get extra funky smelling, consider using a sport detergent.
Take care if you're using a quick-dry towel near a campfire, as most are made of materials that can melt and maybe aren't fire-resistant.
Testing camp towels side-by-side at a summer camp in the Eastern Sierra.
How we researched and tested
We spent two years testing quick-dry towels. We used them while kayaking, swimming, fly fishing, and visiting the hot springs in the eastern Sierra, Montana, and Idaho. We used them as beach towels and to dry off at rivers, lakes, and the ocean. We handed them out to teenagers at a summer camp to use with their solar outdoor camp showers. We also used them daily to wash faces and dry off hands after going to the bathroom (instead of using home towels).
To test their utility for camp chores, we used them in the camp kitchen to dry off dishes and clean up spills.
I brought them in my carry-on luggage on more than 20 flights for use during travel.
In the off-season, I used them almost daily for showers at the gym and as a yoga towel and for drying off sweat at a hot yoga studio.
Confirming and Testing Specs
For "lab" testing, I washed all the towels together and measured dry time in the same conditions, temperature, sun exposure, and humidity. I tested absorbency by weighing towels before and after exposure to water, allowing each towel to soak up as much water as possible.
In many cases, the amount of water sponged up was different from manufacturers' claims. However, for all practical real-world use case cases except cleaning up spills or repeated use while drying dishes, we found absorbency to be a less important criteria.
Why you should trust us / About the author
Liz Thomas is an award-winning Los Angeles-based writer and Editor-in-Chief of Treeline Review. A former Fastest Known Time (FKT) record holder on the Appalachian Trail, Liz came to Treeline Review from New York Times/Wirecutter, the New York Times’ product review site, where she was a staff writer on the outdoor team.
She was a guest editor at Backpacker Magazine, where she is currently the columnist of “Ask a Thru-hiker” and instructor of their online class, Thru-hiking 101.
Her first book is Long Trails: Mastering the Art of the Thru-hike. The book was the recipient of the National Outdoor Book Award for Best Instructional Book, and was deemed by judges as destined to become the “Bible of the Sport.”
She represented the sport of hiking at President Obama’s Great American Outdoors Initiative.
Liz’s keynote speaking engagements have included colleges and universities including Yale and MIT and on Capitol Hill, the Trust for Public Land, American Hiking Society, and BikeTexas.
You can read more about Liz at her website or on her wikipedia page. All her Treeline Review articles are on her author page.
