The 10 Best Travel Accessories Under $50
2025-02-28 · 5 min read
Travel accessories occupy a spectrum from genuinely useful to airport-shop impulse buys that end up in a drawer. These 10 items have been tested across multiple trips and each one solves a real problem for under $50 — no gimmicks, no novelty, just functional gear that earns its space in your bag.
Anker PowerCore 10000 portable charger ($26) is the industry standard for a reason: 10,000 mAh charges most phones twice, it weighs 6.3 ounces, and it's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. The 20,000 mAh version exists for heavier users, but the 10K hits the sweet spot for weekend trips and full travel days.
S1 Nalgene or Vapur collapsible water bottle ($12-15) packs flat in your bag, fills up after security, and eliminates the $5 airport water bottle tax. The Vapur rolls up to the size of a marker, while the Nalgene Wide Mouth is the more durable option if you don't need the space savings.
Matador FreeRain24 2.0 packable daypack ($40) is 24 liters of capacity that stuffs into its own pocket the size of a fist. Use it as a day bag on excursions, a grocery bag, or overflow luggage. The waterproof fabric handles rain better than most non-packable packs. See more picks at https://www.wirecutter.com/reviews/best-packable-daypack.
Eagle Creek Pack-It compression cubes ($20-35 for a set) are the single most transformative packing accessory. They compress air out of clothing, separate clean from dirty, and make unpacking and repacking a 2-minute task. The medium cube holds 5-6 T-shirts compressed flat.
Loop earplugs ($25-35) reduce noise without blocking it entirely — they're designed for sleeping on planes, noisy hostels, and loud bars where you want to hear conversation but not the bass. They're more comfortable than foam plugs and more discreet than noise-canceling headphones.
Rounding out the list: a universal power adapter with USB-C ports ($18, get one from Epicka or Ceptics), a TSA-approved luggage scale ($10, prevents overweight bag fees), a quick-dry travel towel from PackTowl ($20), and a Sea to Summit RFID-blocking neck wallet ($25) for carrying passport and cards in pickpocket-heavy cities.
