Best suitcase for travel whatever the destination

Wherever you're planning on heading off on your next trip, you're going to need the best suitcase for travel to fit all of your fabulous clothes and must-have make-up and toiletries. Whether you're jetting off for two weeks in the sunshine, a week full of exploring local gems in a far-flung destination or an action-packed walking holiday, ensuring you have a good quality suitcase will make sure your belongings get from A to B safely and securely.

It doesn't matter whether it's a resort you've been to before or you're exploring a new destination, planning and booking a trip away is always exciting. However, packing for a trip is nobody's favourite job and it can be quite stressful even thinking about where to begin with getting your belongings organised for your holiday. The very first step should be to think about your suitcase and ensure it has enough room for everything you want to take with you. Whether you're in need of a new suitcase because you need more space for packing or your old suitcase has seen better days, we're here to help you decide on a new one.

Best suitcase for travel at a glance:

• Best overall: Away Travel The Large – view on Away Travel
• Best expandable suitcase: Antler Clifton – Large – view on Antler
• Best lightweight suitcase: it Luggage World's Lightest Large 8 Wheel Soft Suitcase – view on Argos

There are two main types of suitcases you can buy and which one you choose will all depend on your personal preferences. Your best suitcase for travel might be a hard shell suitcase or it might be a soft shell one. Hard shell suitcases are more robust but they're heavier to begin with than a soft shell. If you opt for one of those you'll be able to take more with you on your trip, depending on your airline's luggage allowance, so you'll have plenty of room for all your different outfits, shoe options, and ajam-packed toiletry bag with every personal care item you need amongst other things. Other features to consider are the number of wheels they have, locking systems, whether they're expandable, the different handles they have, and of course, the overall dimensions and packing capacity.

To help you pick the right luggage for your next adventure, we've searched the web for all the best suitcases for travel, making sure to list the dimensions, weight, packing capacity, and warranty available, as well as all the colours they are available in, to help you make the choice of which one will be the best for your packing and holiday requirements.

Best suitcase for travel

If you're travelling with hand luggage only and are looking for a carry-on bag you can take onto the plane with you or in need of a bag for weekends away in the UK, take a look at our round-up of the best cabin bags.

FAQs

Where can I buy the best suitcase for travel?

If you'd prefer to browse for your own luggage, we've listed some of our favourite retailers where you can buy suitcases from different brands in many different sizes and styles so you can find the best suitcase for your travelling needs.

• Very luggage and suitcases
• John Lewis suitcases and luggage
• Matalan suitcases and luggage
• Argos bags, luggage and travel
• Luggage Superstore suitcases and travel bags

How much luggage can I take on a plane?

How much luggage you can take on your plane journey will all depend on what you selected at the time of booking. Not all airlines include checked baggage in their fares so, most of the time, you have to add this on separately, unless you've booked a package holiday, of course.

The standard is you can usually have one checked suitcase that goes into the hold of the plane, but the maximum weight will depend on your chosen airline. We've rounded up the common maximum weights for some of the UK's most popular airlines, but as they all offer different options, we would always recommend checking with them directly before you fly.

• Ryanair hold luggage - 20kg
• EasyJet standard hold luggage- 23kg
• Jet2 hold luggage - 22kg
• TUI Airways standard hold luggage - 20kg
• British Airways hold luggage - 23kg
• Virgin Atlantic hold luggage - 23kg

Most airlines may also offer you the option of buying additional KGs for your luggage, but no single suitcase can weigh more than 32kg across all airlines for the safety of baggage handlers.

What is the best way to pack a suitcase?

Packing a suitcase is a pretty straightforward job. However, when it feels like you've got a million and one things to do before heading off on your holiday, it can be quite a daunting prospect for remembering everything you need to take and how you're going to pack it all in.

That's why we've got some top tips on how to pack a suitcase with little things you can do that will help you maximise the space available and help you organise the packing process.

Before you pack

• Write a list of everything you need so that when it comes to packing you can tick things off as you go.

• If you're someone that has a tendency to overpack, lay out everything you intend to take and then reduce at least two outfits from it.

• Speaking of outfits, work out what you're going to wear day by day, and evening by evening if required. Can you re-wear items again to create new outfits?

• Take things like shampoo, body wash and moisturiser out of their large containers and decant them into smaller, travel-size bottles and containers so you're only taking what you need.

• Use a jewellery roll or small travel box for your necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings to stop them from getting tangled together.

While packing

• Instead of folding all your clothes, you could try rolling them to save space and they shouldn't end up creased either.

• Store underwear or small items inside shoes.

• Use packing cubes or pouches to help you find things more easily once you reach your destination. You can pack each cube with different outfits to save time deciding what you're going to wear each day. You can also use them to put your laundry in on the way home.

• Keep essential items such as phone chargers and travel adaptors in a bag at the top of your suitcase so you can find them more easily, or better yet, pack those in your hand luggage.

Rosie Floyd is a Pets, Homes and Garden Product Writer for Yours, specialising in home appliances, décor and furnishings, as well as all things dogs. After completing her Journalism & Media degree from Coventry University back in 2015, she started her career writing about must-visit holiday destinations, moving on to creating content around outdoor living and garden buildings, before joining the team at Bauer.