Cover image for the unique gifts for travel lovers, showing 10 of the items on the list for travelers

People who love travel usually can’t get enough of it. That means something travel related makes for a perfect go-to gift for all the travel lovers in your life. Whether you’re shopping for someone during the holiday season, for a special occasion or just because, I compiled this list of unique gifts for travel lovers that are good for all budgets. šŸŽ

10 Most Unique Gifts For Travel Lovers

Hidden Pocket Scrunchies : Best Gifts For Travel Lovers & Solo Female Travelers

Two velvet scrunchies with hidden pockets, which you can see because cash and keys are popping out of them

These hidden pocket scrunchies are a genius way to hide your valuables while traveling. If you’re worried about your keys, cash, etc. being stolen, just tuck them into one of these scrunchies, wear it around your wrist for the day and you’re good to go! They’re also cute and practical – combined hair accessory and wallet! AKA the perfect gift for solo female travelers.

Scratch Off Travel Map

A travel scratch off map with a few of the countries scratched off and a person using a coin to scratch one off to show how to use it, as a travel map is one of the best gifts for travel lovers

Some of the best gifts for travel lovers are the ones that let them track their travel bucket list as they go. This particular scratch off travel map is both attractive for the wall and practical, which is why I chose it for this list. Frequent travelers will love that it’s one of the largest and most up-to-date scratch-off travel maps on the market.

If you want an even more unique gift, especially if the gift recipient is artsy and traveling through the United States, this U.S. watercolor travel map is another super cute choice. I have this one on my wish list.

A watercolor travel map of the United States with a few states filled in

#1 of the Most Unique Gifts For Travel Lovers : Gift A Travel Experience

The Adventure Awaits gift box by Tinggly, which is a gift card style gift and one of the most unique gifts for travel lovers on the market today. There's also an image of a girl going kayaking below the box, to show one of the experiences that can be chosen

If you’re looking for one of the most special and unique gifts for travel lovers and a special person in your life, gifting a travel experience & adventure box by Tinggly is definitely the best gift you can give. (Use my exclusive discount code “Backpacker” during check out for 10% off your order!)

These boxes work sort of like a gift card, but make it much easier to choose and follow through the activity. Basically, the gift recipient gets to choose one experience from over 10,000 handpicked travel experiences in the Tinggly online dashboard, where all expenses will be covered. All are valid for a lifetime, with no expiration.

The recipient can search experiences in whatever location they’re interested in. Some examples of experiences that are included in the $100 box are a Helicopter Tour of Downtown Nashville or Ride with a Drift-Racing Professional in Vegas.

They also offer:

Experience gifts are my favorite to give and receive, so Tinggly gift boxes / gift cards my go-to for all the travel lovers in my life.

Phone Charging Passport Holder

An open passport holder and phone charger showing passport, cash and credit cards, which zips shut

This phone charging passport holder is clutch for anyone traveling to a foreign country. Of all the passport holders out there, this one has got pockets for everything they will need to bring along like travel documents, credit cards, cash and even your phone. Plus, it holds AND charges their phones!

Travel Jewelry, Good Luck Travel Bracelet

A safe travels bracelet with different colored beads that are supposed to bring protection, good luck and courage, along with a gold globe necklace

Travel-themed jewelry is one of the best gifts for travel lovers who like to show off their favorite passion. This travel protection bracelet is super cute and thoughtful to give to someone who is about to set off on a trip, and this globe necklace will match all their outfits. Both are super affordable, so they won’t have to worry about losing them along the way.

Travel Adventure Memories Shadow Box : Unique Gifts For Travel Lovers

One of the most unique gifts for travel lovers, a shadow box with the outline of an abstract map of the world on top, where people can drop things from their travels into to display memories

This travel memories shadow box is definitely one of the most unique gifts for travel lovers I’ve seen out there. It’s cute, not too big and will go perfectly with their other room decor. Give it as a gift before their next trip, so they can bring back all sorts of things to put inside of it once they’re home. OR it can be a box to drop all of their previous travel memories into.

Polaroid Camera, Perfect for Capturing Memories on the Go

The Instax Mini camera with a polaroid coming out of it

The Fujifilm Mini 12 is the best budget polaroid camera out there, which is why I picked it as the ideal gift for travel lovers in your life. The fact that it’s mini makes it a great choice for travel, so it won’t take up too much space. These make great birthday gifts or gifts for a special occasion for all the artsy people in your life.

I personally love polaroid cameras because they make it easy to connect with fellow travelers or friends while travleing. Taking and sharing a polaroid photo with a new friend is priceless.

The Adventure Challenge Travel Edition

The Adventure Challenge travel book, open to one of the scratch off adventures, showing that it's one of the most unique gifts for travel lovers

The Adventure Challenge Travel Edition is a thoughtful gift and travel book you can give to all the travel lovers in your life. This book helps them enhance their travel experience with mystery challenges and adventures, to be used on any and all trips in their future.

An example of 1 of 30 scratch-off adventures is below.

An example of one of the scratch-off examples in the Adventure Challenge book, which shows that the challenge is to collect little mementos throughout your trip and then save them in a time capsule. There's also a section to write notes from your experience and a slot for a photo

You can learn more about the concept of the Adventure Challenge at the Adventure Challenge website, although the notebook itself is usually more expensive on the official site versus Amazon.

Cork Globe For Tracking Travels

This cork globe for tracking travels makes for the perfect gift. It looks chic and comes in multiple sizes, including a small version that will fit anywhere or a larger version which makes it easier to get really specific with where you’ve traveled. Overall a great find for anyone who loves to travel the globe.

Travel Journal

unique gifts for travel lovers

The Traveler’s Playbook, World Edition is one of the most unique gifts for travelers who love to write and document their travel stories. Created by Deanna Didzun, a world traveler herself, she has filled the book with “illustrations and prompts that will jog your memory to help you capture little details and extraordinary experiences”.

10 Most Practical Gifts : Useful & Unique Gifts For Travel Lovers

Portable Charger : #1 Most Practical Gifts For Travel Lovers

Belkin 1000
Belkin 10,000 mAh 20W USB-C Portable Power Bank

This mini Belkin portable power bank is probably my #1 little gadget for travel, which is why it’s first on my list of the most practical & unique gifts for travel lovers. It’s a great size that easily fits into any purse or pocket, and can be a life saver literally, especially if traveling solo.

For a while I was getting the Anker brand portable chargers but certain models kept getting recalls, so I had to pivot. These Belkin portable power banks are a great alternative, which don’t take up too much space and have an attached USB-C charger so you don’t have to worry about buying your own, or it getting lost.

No matter how new my phone is, for example I purchased a brand new phone just a week ago, my phone battery still drains extremely fast when I’m out on an adventure because I’m using it to capture memories & take photos/videos.

This portable charger is definitely up there for the most useful travel gifts for digital nomads or anyone working remote and traveling as well.

Travel Pillow

This FlyHugz Adjustable Travel Pillow is both a practical and thoughtful gift to give for travel lovers. Long-haul flights will be transformed with this pillow. I like this one specifically because it can be adjusted based on your size, which is important to prevent neck injury. I hurt my neck after a flight I took while using a regular sized neck pillow, turns out I needed petite haha.

I even find myself keeping it on when I walk around the airport sometimes because it’s so comfy. šŸ¤£ I also use it on long car rides. Highly recommend for all the travelers in your life!

Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Blue JBL mini speaker with a built-in clip on top which is unclipped to show it works

The JBL Clip 5 Portable Speaker is the PERFECT gift for travelers who also love music (most?!).

For one, they can use it however they choose, whether hooked onto their backpack to use in hotel rooms, as the speaker they keep in their pool bag or even at home. Second, because it’s JBL it’s excellent quality. I have two of these and neither have disappointed me in any way yet. The built-in clip is key.

Reusable Water Bottles : Gifts For Travel Lovers

Two Stanley water bottles with handles and straws that flip in and out, making it one of the most useful and unique gifts for travel lovers that can be chosen in any color

Stanley is one of the most popular reusable water bottle brands on there, and this Stanley Flip Straw Water Bottle is the perfect choice for travel. The straw flips out making it easy to sip out of, but also easy to conceal so that on travel days and road trips, the straw stays clean.

There’s also a great handle for easy carrying, and lots of different colors to choose from so you can personalize it for who you’re giving it to. Because of this, I had to include this specific Stanley water bottle on my list of useful and unique gifts for travel lovers.

Packing Cubes & Toiletry Bags

Blue packing cubes set, complete with a shoe holder and two waterproof pouches

On a list of gift ideas for frequent travelers, I simply couldn’t leave out packing cubes. They are ESSENTIAL for world travelers, as they make it much easier to find what you’re looking for when living out of a suitcase. The only thing that could stop these from being the perfect gift is if your gift recipient already has enough of them. But, I did choose these because they have lasted me the longest and come with the best waterproof pouches I’ve been able to find.

Bluetooth Headphones or Ear Buds

Sound cancelling bluetooth ear buds and wireless over the ear headphones by Anker, which are some of the best gifts for travel lovers to block out the noise during long travel days and nights

Sound cancelling headphones are a game changer during a long travel day, or even a long night spent in a hostel bed. These can get super pricy, like the Apple airpods for example, but they can also be really reasonable in price. Having more affordable soundproof headphones makes travel less stressful as compared to bringing your Airpods because if you lose them it’s no big deal. This is why they make the perfect gift!

The Anker Soundcore ear buds are cheaper than the over-the-ear headphones and at an excellent price. Keep in mind these can be a little big, so they may not fit tiny ears.

The Soundcore Life Q30 over ear headphones are very very good at cancelling out sound, and my #1 choice of travel gift ideas when it comes to headphones. The extra cost is totally worth it! Your personwill love them.

Smartphone Tripod

A combined cell phone tripod and selfie stick with remote, which has a cell phone on top to show you how it is used

A tripod or selfie stick is often one of the best ways to capture travel memories while traveling, especially if you don’t want to go through the hassle of having strangers take your photos, and then have them coming out terribly. Lol! This happens to me all the time.

I have multiple of the TONEOF Cell Phone Tripod & Selfie Stick which I have in my travel bag, my parent’s house and our house for capturing memories. It folds into a small, lightweight gadget and it’s truly one of the best gifts for travel lovers.

Memory Foam Face Mask : Unique Gifts For Travel Lovers Who Need A Little Wellness

A blue cushioned face mask that can be used for better sleep on long travel days

Prioritizing sleep on long flights (or even short ones) is the easiest way to stay as healthy as possible while traveling. My favorite way to ensure I sleep well is a cushiony blackout sleep mask, which is both comfy and filters the light out so I can easily fall asleep anywhere really. I also like that when I have it on, it’s an obvious sign to not talk to me. šŸ¤£

They also are super helpful at home, either for myself or for guests who sleep over. I personally have four!

Travel Blanket

A blue quick-dry towel, which is one of the most unique gifts for travel lovers because it doubles as a towel and blanket, and comes in lots of different fun travel prints

This TuaMel Quick-Dry Towel is not just a towel. I brought one of these with me to my first long solo trip to Bali and I used it multiple times per day because it was both a towel, something clean to sit on wherever I went, and a blanket! I love this specific one because it’s a great size that will easily fit into any backpack (a lot of these are too large to travel with easily) and comes in lots of fun prints.

During the day it served as a beach towel or something to dry off with. While I was hanging out at the hostel or in bed at night, I used it as a blanket. I ALSO used it as a sort of wash cloth if I ever needed to. Truly the most versatile thing in my suitcase, and now I bring one everywhere I go.

This makes it a thoughtful gift for the travelers in your life – especially solo travelers, as they could probably use a little extra comfort on their trip. šŸ™‚

Travel Backpack

Purple travel backpacker opened and closed, with lots of space for your laptop, shoes and all your things, making it one of the best gifts for travel lovers

Last but not least, the coowoz Travel Backpack with Laptop & Shoe compartments is one of the absolutebest travel backpacks for women and travelers of all kinds – especially those that want to fit a lot on their back without having a huge, bulky backpack. It also helps that it is super cheap for how well it holds up, making it one of the most useful gifts out there.

You can use this backpack as carry-on luggage or just as your personal item, and it comes in a variety of sizes and colors for every traveler on your list. I have two and one of them every time I travel!

Pinterest pin advertising the Unique Gifts for Travel Lovers blog by Inspired Backpacker, with photos of the items

Profile photo of Lauren Edmondson in Uluwatu, Bali
Lauren Kessel
hello@inspiredbackpacker.com

Lauren Kessel is the author of this blog post and the creator of the Inspired Backpacker travel blog. She is a passionate digital nomad, with the mission to make slow travel a more accessible way of life for everyone. Lauren believes travel is an important means of education and more importantly, a way for people of different cultures to come together and understand each other better. She has a BS in Tourism and has planned countless domestic and international trips for herself, her family and friends, having visited over 12 countries and 30 states so far.