Your traveling kid can safely and securely carry their own stuff
When you think about children and backpacks, the humble, reliable school book bag or gym bag might come to mind. For trips such as weekend outings, that bag you already have can be a good choice. For longer trips, vacations abroad, gap years, or long-term digital nomad travel, proper, sturdier, comfier carry-on travel backpacks for kids and teens can be a much more reliable choice.
The right pack depends on your child’s age, size, and strength. There’s a lot of variety out there too. We’re going to share how our kids use backpacks for our family’s world travels, and the backpacks we use or will upgrade to as our kids grow (and grow…).
Carryon travel backpack recommendation guides
Packing for kids
Digital nomad pack
Guide for adults
Also see:
Looking for adult backpacks for travel? Go here!
What to pack for kids and teens on vacation or long-term travel?
“When you match the pack to the kid you have now, with maybe a little future-proofing for good measure, your kid or teen will be ready to travel the world with their own stuff.”
Our backpack recommendations (plus more options) for kids & teens
Why are backpacks a good choice for traveling with kids and teens?
Backpacks have a wonderful versatility and security that other types of luggage don’t match. Here are 4 reasons we prefer our kids travel with backpacks:
- Wearing a pack uses a child’s strength more efficiently than hand-carrying a bag or pulling a rolling suitcase (more on rollies in a bit)
- From school book bags alone, most kids are already accustomed to wearing a backpack
- Backpacks help you prevent overpacking and encourage kids to be mindful about what they take, since they can only take what they can safely carry
- Most backpacks have loops, straps, or other ways to attach things to the exterior. For us, the kids lash on a long-sleeve layer, and they each have ways of securing their stuffed animals to the outside (which has a side benefit of being really, really cute)
Are rolling suitcases better for kids than backpacks when traveling or going on vacation?
Let’s get this out of the way: Little rolling suitcases for kids are absolutely overstuffed with adorableness.
Rollies can be a great choice for travel… when it’s the right kind of trip. Rolling suitcases work best on flat, even surfaces. They can be easy to maneuver in airports or down a sidewalk.
However, most of the world is not even surfaces, smooth low-pile airport carpet, or immaculately level sidewalks.
Here are 5 reasons why we chose backpacks for our kids instead of rolling suitcases. The last one is the most important for traveling kids.
Backpacks can go wherever the kids are, and the kids can easily access their stuff
Rollies don’t offer easy access to stuff, and generally go in the overhead bin. When we fly, the kids put their backpacks under their seats. That way, they can easily access their stuff while we’re in transit.
This holds up for traveling in a rental car, on a bus, or on a train. However we travel, the kids can easily have their backpack with them. Rollies just don’t have that versatility.
Wearing a backpack is less tiring
Pulling a rolling suitcase behind you is a weird motion, and it can make a person tire out quickly.
Once a backpack is on, a variety of your body’s muscle systems, from torso to legs, work together to support the weight.
It’s easier and less tiring for our kids to wear their backpacks than to pull rolling suitcases around. That’s especially important on a long travel day when we’re exhausted.
Rough surfaces make it hard and exhausting to use a rolling suitcase
In addition to each of us wearing a backpack, we travel with two small rolling suitcases. (They’re necessary for our full-time world travels. However, I will confess to you, right here and now, that in my most secret heart of hearts I dream of not needing the rollies.)
Connor wears a backpack and he pulls one rollie. I wear a backpack and pull the other. The experience can be exhausting. Sometimes we’re walking somewhere, and the surface is really difficult to roll a suitcase over. Or, we have to navigate curbs or other sections of road or sidewalk where we have to pull the rollie vertically straight, lift it over an obstruction, then re-tilt it and start rolling again.
It’s a pain. It’s a pain for my teen, and it’s a pain for me, and I’m in decent shape.
If a wheel breaks, your rolling suitcase no longer rolls
Dealing with uneven surfaces can lead to another problem.
Cobblestone streets, gravel roads, uneven sidewalks, difficult textures: Rough surfaces are real. They also excel at breaking rollie wheels. If a wheel breaks on a rolling suitcase, you have a real dilemma.
If a rolling suitcase doesn’t roll, then you have to hand carry it. That’s going to tire out your hand, arm, shoulder, and entire body pretty quickly. Plus, you’ll then have to either get your rollie repaired or, most likely, replaced. It’s nice to avoid that hassle.
Stairs
Need I say more?
I hate to state the obvious, but rollies can’t be rolled up staircases. They have to be hand-carried. After a long travel day, that can be too much to ask of a tired kid.
Carrying a rolling suitcase up stairs is going to be hard for a child or teen, or it’s going to mean extra trips for someone else in the group.
If a child is wearing a backpack though, they can typically nip up those stairs just fine.
A backpack can also be much safer on stairs than a rollie. For a child, carrying a suitcase up the stairs can be more awkward than something that’s on their back.
Why you trust should us: Our prior experience with travel backpacks and us as a traveling family
From Malaysia to Mexico to Morocco, our family of four has traveled the world full time since 2022.
As of this writing, our daughter Aster is 10, and she was 7 when we started traveling. Our son Connor is 13, and he was 10 when we started traveling. They have packed their things in backpacks for every destination or mode of transportation, and they have always been responsible for wearing their own pack.
The kids also use their backpacks for short trips in our home country of the USA, hotel stays, camping trips, and more.
So far during our travels, we upgraded and upsized Aster’s backpack, and Connor is just about due.
That’s why in this piece we’ll talk about not only what we’ve done in the past and do currently for our kids, but how we look ahead for when they’re ready to go up in backpack size.
How we choose and size backpacks for our kids
Backpack liter sizing and real families
Backpacks are typically sized in liters. Here’s how that’s broken down so far in our family:
- When Aster was about 7-9 years old, she used a 12-liter pack
- From 9 onward, Aster now uses an 18-liter pack
- From the time Connor was 10 through the present (currently he’s 13), he’s used a 30-liter pack
- Jodie and I sport his and hers Cotopaxi Allpa Travel Backpacks. Each pack is 35L, or 35 liters
We didn’t figure this out based on anything complicated. There’s no magic measuring system you have to master, either.
Rules of thumb to size travel packs for children
There are many ways to choose and size backpacks for kids and teens. Some are more technical. For example, you could go to, say, an outdoors shop and ask for help getting a child sized for a backpack. Personally, we’ve never done that, but it’s a good option to keep in mind.
Here are 3 approaches we’ve used:
- Figured out what our child needed to pack and got a backpack with a corresponding capacity
- Used the rule of thumb that a child should carry no more than 20% of their body weight
- Passed down one of our old backpacks to Connor (which is how he wound up with the 30L pack that we adults used to use)
Other than the dead-simple hand-me-down method, we find that capacity is the easiest way to match pack to kid, combined with knowing what we need to pack.
Growing kids eventually need bigger clothes, so future-proof your child’s pack by upsizing it a little
When we can, we upsize the capacity a little. That way there’s some extra room, but we stay careful about not using that extra room as an excuse to stuff in more stuff for the heck of it.
For example, Aster is growing a lot. Having a slightly larger pack has made it easier to replace her smaller clothes with larger clothes as needed… Though she’s probably soon due for a backpack size upgrade. That kid’s getting tall.
At 13 and growing steadily, Connor’s current 30L pack still serves him well. Over the next couple of years, he may be ready to upgrade, possibly to a 35L like ours. Again, part of that is simply because he will be moving more toward adult-size clothing.
5 other backpack features you might like
Backpack design varies a lot. Here are some other travel backpack features you might keep an eye out for:
Safety whistle built into buckle
Some but not all of our packs have had a built-in safety whistle designed into the buckle. Honestly, we’ve never used these, and would still buy a pack that didn’t have one. You might consider it a more essential safety feature, but we consider it nice to have, but not a must-have.
Chest and waist straps
Chest and waist straps we consider more important. Features like this also set a good travel backpack apart from a standard school book bag.
Chest and waist straps distribute the pack’s weight and load across more of the body’s support structures than shoulder straps alone. That makes it possible for kids to carry their pack longer without tiring, or without putting joints and muscles under undue strain.
Pockets, pockets everywhere
Again, not a must-have, but nifty when you do have it. One of Aster’s packs included little zippered pockets on the padded waist straps. Initially we stowed a seat belt adapter strap in here, since she was just past the point of needing a booster seat in a car.
These pockets are roomier than they look and could fit, say, an earbud case, a couple of small knick knacks, or maybe even a little stash of pocket money.
Organizer pouches and pockets
The right combo of pouches and pockets varies by pack and your needs as a traveler.
Personally, we like having a few overall compartments. We aren’t too fussed about having lots of small pouches, pen slots, or things like that.
Look for what works for how you’ll actually pack. We also use packing clothes for our clothing. That helps us far more than most of the pouches built into a pack.
Hidden security pockets
Connor’s pack has a hidden security pocket, but it just happens to have been part of the design.
Even when I was using this as my pack, I didn’t use it for much. My typical view is something that needs to be secure is something that I store on my person. However, if there is something that you don’t need on your person, a security pocket can give you a good backup that frees up pocket space in your clothes.
If a pack you like has one of these, it might be useful. But especially for a child’s travel backpack, it’s not a make or break feature.
Update backpacks as your kids grow, get stronger, and have different needs
We aim to slightly upsize the children’s backpacks. That gives us some room to swap out smaller clothes for bigger clothes as they grow.
Plus, they gain the latitude to add a few things as we travel and they get something they fancy. That’s why each kid travels with a pair of slippers, not to mention small mementoes they’ve picked up here and there. Our overall rule is as long as they can carry it safely, it’s age appropriate, and it doesn’t cause problems, then we’re fine with them carrying it.
Whatever backpack you choose today, though, is not going to last forever. Kids grow. They’ll need more space, bigger clothes, and will need a larger backpack in time. Plus, what they can safely wear and carry will change as they grow.
When you pick the right pack, consider aiming for a sweet spot of what fits them now and what is likely to work for at least a couple of years. That should help your child get the most out of their pack.
Plus, odds are it can be in good enough condition later to pass down to a younger child.
Kid backpack suggestions… from our kids
After dinner one evening, I told Connor and Aster about this article. I asked if they had any advice for parents who were trying to find the right travel backpack for kids. Here are their insights:
- There should be 2 side pockets, not just one. Two is better for carrying accessories such as water bottles and small cozy friends
- You should be able to strap stuff to the exterior. There should be loops, ties, or straps.
- The interior should have pockets, pouches, and built-in organizers. That way kids have obvious ways to organize their things
- Don’t have too much space and don’t get too big a pack. A pack that’s too big could be more expensive than you need. Plus, things could move very around or get messy if there’s too much loose space.
- The size of the pack matters. Make sure the pack itself isn’t too heavy and isn’t cumbersome so your kid can walk easily.
Travel backpack for ages 4-7
As a 7-year-old world traveler, Aster sported a small 12L backpack. It still had room for her tablet and clothes. Above all, she could lash her cozy friends to the front.
This pack had a good balance of spacious design without feeling like an organized bucket. Plus, while it had some pockets for small-scale organization, there weren’t so many that it was hard for a child to keep track.
The buckled outside pocket came in handy for stuffing in a lightweight long-sleeve layer. We also liked the reflective lash straps on the shoulder straps (great for a dangly cozy friend or water bladder tube).
The pack itself held up to taxis in Mexico, tuk-tuks in Cambodia, and National Parks camping throughout the USA. Before changing up Aster to her new bigger pack (below), we washed up her Tarn 12. It still looks like new, and it’s in such good condition, we’re rehoming it to another family.
REI Kids Tarn 12 Pack
More daypacks and other backpacks for kids at REI
Travel backpack for ages 7-11
As Aster grew, she also outgrew her beloved Tarn 12. REI also has an 18L version, but we actually changed to a different pack that we found on Amazon.
An older and/or bigger kid can take advantage of more organizational features though. For example, a laced elastic cord along the front is great for stashing a jacket (or in Aster’s case, her beloved stuffed otter).
We’ve been impressed at how well each of the three compartments hold gear without getting too bulky in depth. The main compartment also had a tech sleeve, which fits Aster’s tablet just right, and holds it securely against her back.
Shop Aster’s backpack
NEVO RHINO 25L Water Resistant Lightweight Small Travel Backpack
More daypacks and other child/teen backpacks at Amazon
Slightly smaller: REI Kids Tarn 18 Pack
More daypacks and other backpacks for kids at REI
Also check out this 20L Cotopaxi Allpa Mini Travel Pack
Like we said earlier (and expanded on in our travel backpack for parents guide), we are big fans of Cotopaxi’s well-designed, durable Allpa line of travel backpacks. The next time Aster is changing packs, odds are we’re switching her to the Allpa, just like Mom and Dad.
We prefer the book-opening style to the top-opening bucket style. Especially as our kids get older and can organize their gear better, we find this style packs more in a more compact space. Plus, the Allpa makes it easy to get to anything you need quickly.
20L Cotopaxi Allpa Mini Travel Pack
More Cotopaxi packs
Travel backpack for teens ages 12-16
Quick disclaimer
As I write this, our son is 13. We’re still on the early end of this side of travel backpacks for teens. We’ll continue updating this guide as Connor moves along in his own adolescence and next backpack iteration.
That said, Connor is an example of a teen in a sweet spot.
Later pre-teens and teens have usually grown enough that having a slightly bigger pack is no big deal. That expanded capacity can handle their bigger clothes, and they can still have room for other mementoes, tech, or more.
Features of our teen’s current pack that you might look for
Connor currently uses a 30L backpack that used to be ours. We would use it as a daypack or a weekend bag, and it’s an Eagle Creek model that’s no longer available.
However, here are some features we like about it and that Connor has said he likes about it too. These features can help you and your teen or pre-teen keep an eye out for the right features in your own choice of travel backpack for a teen:
- He loves trying out ways he can lash elastic cords or carabiners to the exterior so he can carry things on the outside of his pack
- A side-zip pocket on the front has held a travel chess set, decks of cards, and other things he’s fancied at various parts of our travels. Currently it comes in handy for storing his hair brush (Connor has very long hair)
- The main cargo compartment holds his clothing packing cube, and zippered mesh and other small storage pockets help him keep smaller items right where he wants them
- A back tech pocket holds his tablet, e-reader, and accessories, and it has a little locking tab for extra security
What our teen’s next pack might be
When Connor is ready for a new backpack, we most likely will upgrade him to a Cotopaxi Allpa. While Jodie and I use the 35L Allpa backpacks as our choice of carryon travel backpack for parents, Connor would most likely go to the 28L version.
On paper, this could look like a downgrade size-wise from his current 30L pack. It’s not.
Instead of the top-down like-filling-a-bucket style of a top-opening pack, the Allpa opens more like a book. Cotopaxi has designed each half of the Allpa to be its own self-contained compartment, enclosed in a zippered mesh cover that holds things where you want them.
Plus, the Allpa still has an excellent exterior top pouch for on-the-go essentials (such as Connor’s earbuds and e-reader), and Connor could securely stash his tablet and laptop in the rear tech compartment.
The Allpa’s comfy straps and breathable back also can make carrying his pack all the more comfortable for Connor, especially when we are traveling in hotter destinations such as Southeast Asia.
The upshot? Connor could move up to a backpack that would likely suit him well into his adulthood. In fact, if I were to consider a packing downsize, I’d move from the 35L Allpa to the 28L Allpa.
Shop the Cotopaxi 28L Allpa Travel Backpack for Kids and Teens
Other teen backpacks to consider
Match the pack to the kid, and they’ll be ready to travel the world with their own stuff
Finding the right carry-on travel backpacks for kids can make all the difference in your trips. In our experience, using backpacks has helped our kids be better travelers who are more conscientious about what they pack (and what they don’t). We also find that, while still tiring, our travel days are less exhausting because we have less to carry, and our backs can handle the load better than pulling or hand-hauling a suitcase.
Kids grow. Needs change (not to mention clothing sizes and shoe sizes). The best thing to do now? When you match the pack to the kid you have now, with maybe a little future-proofing for good measure, your kid or teen will be ready to travel the world with their own stuff.
And you won’t have to carry it for them.
Find the right carryon travel backpack for your child or teen
Ready to find the right carry-on travel backpacks for kids and teens?
The world of travel backpacks is nearly as vast as the range of experiences you can have on your vacation, gap year, or other travels. We’ve noted the choices we’ve made or would make with our kids.
Here’s a recap of all the packs, brands, and shops we recommended in this travel backpack guide for kids and teens:
