20 of the Best Travel Gifts Under $20

These travel gift ideas under $20 include practical and pretty items to take on vacation.

Looking for unique travel gifts for the globetrotter in your life? You don’t have to have a jet setter’s budget to find the perfect goody to put under the tree. These travel gifts under $20 make an ideal present for someone going traveling.

They include gadgets for aspiring adventurers, packing gear for the casual vacationer, and a few style items that are both practical and pretty. Whether you’re looking for travel stocking stuffers or need a gift for your favorite travel buddy, these ideas will get you started.

Visit our travel gift shop for even more ideas! We also love this list of gifts for road trippers.

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Beauty Bars

Eco-friendly Ethique beauty bars are perfect for travel since they don’t count against the TSA liquid restriction for carry-ons and won't make a big mess in checked luggage. The plant-based products are available in shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face cleanser varieties that work much like a bar of soap — add water to lather up and rinse.

Each shampoo bar holds the washing power of three bottles, while conditioners save about five bottles, cutting back drastically on plastic waste. Plus, they’re cruelty-free, vegan and compostable. Varieties cover different hair needs like frizz control, volume, or dry or oily scalp.

The mini bars in the sampler variety boxes are ideal for light packers and for gifting, shaped into sweet little hearts. The hair set includes both shampoo and conditioner, while face and body options have bars for cleansing and moisturizing.

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Packing Cubes

Who doesn't love a good set of packing cubes? They help keep suitcases neat and organized, compress the mess, and look pretty!

This set of six is a great starter kit, with bags in three different sizes and one shaped perfectly for storing shoes. They're lightweight and water resistant with sturdy, two-way zippers.

A few different color choices and patterns are available, as well as other matching packing accessories like a toiletry bag and passport holder.

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Mini Travel Bottles and Jars

Every light packer knows you don’t need 3 ounces of every product you use for one-week vacations. Not to mention, the quart-sized clear bag limit for your carry-on could only handle a handful of bottles in the max size. That’s why mini containers that hold 1 to 2-ounces are super convenient to have on hand.

This starter kit in a clear bag makes a great gift and includes different sized containers, jars and spray bottles.

If you'd rather stock up on a particular small size, these travel bottles come in colorful sets of four, while these travel jars can store anything from beauty products to pills to jewelry.

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Contoured Sleep Mask

Any traveler that doesn't already own a pillowed eye mask needs one for their next red-eye flight. These cushy sleep masks are designed to fit around the eye and nose to block out all the light without putting pressure against the face. Plus, they're made with memory foam for maximum comfort.

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Travel Towel

Travel towels come in handy for beach trips, camping, hostel stays, backpacking adventures — you name it! Made of microfiber, these compact towels are super absorbent but also dry quickly, making them easy to wash out and reuse. They also pack down small, and many come with a carry case or bag to store them tightly.

This one by Youphoria Outdoors comes in three different sizes and several solid colors and claims to dry about 10 times faster than a cotton towel, while the fun patterns of this beachy option are just plain pretty, which always makes for a winning gift.

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Dry Bag

Perfect for beach trips, boat rides, water sports, or even heavy rainfall, dry bags keep your stuff from getting ruined when you’re out adventuring. You can find premium options at outdoor retailers, but plenty of budget-friendly ones are available, too.

This dry bag is designed to float and is available in bright colors easy to spot if it tumbles overboard. The durable design should combat any rough use. It comes in five sizes that can be worn in different ways, including cross-body or backpack style.

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LifeStraw

Many campers and hikers swear by the LifeStraw, a super-portable water filter that doesn’t use batteries or chemicals and weighs just 2 ounces. Each unit purifies more than 250 gallons of water of bacteria and parasites and can be used directly at the source or attached to a bottle.

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Refillable Water Bottle

Cutting back on plastic waste is a hot (and necessary) topic lately, which makes carrying around your own bottle to fill a must for every traveler. These collapsible water bottles are perfect to fill for outings and flatten when needed to save space. They're made of silicone and can be frozen, too.

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Universal Plug Adapter

Every international traveler needs a good plug adapter, and even if they already have one, they’ll inevitably leave it behind at a hotel and need a backup at some point.

This this all-in-one option is said to work in 150-plus countries, with parts that flip in and out for different configurations. It's even labeled so you can easily spot the progs needed for Europe, the UK and so on. You can charge up to three devices at once since it has a socket and two USB ports.

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Portable Charger

Nothing kills a day out sightseeing faster than a dead phone battery, and if you’re using your device to take photos, check maps and translate coffee orders, you’re likely to drain through it pretty fast. That’s why every savvy traveler should keep a backup charging device on hand to power up and keep moving.

There are endless options to pick from in the $20 to $30 range, but I've been using this portable power bank for a few years now. It holds enough juice for about two phone power-ups, depending on which model you have. It's about the size of a smartphone, too, so it won't take up too much extra space in your daypack.

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Mini Tripod

Anyone who doesn’t want to be that annoying tourist wielding a selfie stick but also lives by the motto “pics or it didn’t happen” can find a happy medium with a mini tripod. It actually produce better photos than a stick since you can set it up further than an arm’s length away, and the bendy kind can even wrap around trees, poles, benches and so on.

This mini flexible tripod comes with a remote that works up to 30 feet away and can support anything from a compact GoPro to a DSLR camera (and of course your phone as well).

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Luggage Scale

It’s that handy little gadget that every traveler needs at some point, but most never remember to buy until they’re scrambling out the door with an overstuffed suitcase — the luggage scale. It's small, it's portable, and it can save you big on those giant fees if your bag clocks in just a little too heavy, especially with so many airlines offering budget deals with luggage limits these days.

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Sun Hat

Sun protection, style, hiding unwashed hair — all excellent reasons for travelers to bring along a wide brimmed hat on vacation. This stylish fedora rolls up to pack small and has an adjustable circumference for a comfy fit. It also comes in several shades with different band colors and styles to pick from.

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Pashmina Scarf

When traveling, a multipurpose scarf can transform into a warm wrap on a chilly airplane, a modesty cover for the shoulders or head, a sarong dress over a swimsuit, a pashmina to fancy up a plain outfit, a towel for laying on the sand, and so much more.

These silky-looking scarves are pretty enough for gifting but cheap and practical enough for traveling, and they come in tons of colors.

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Hidden Pocket Scarf

An infinity scarf may not be as multi-pupose as a regular wrap, but this hidden pocket scarf has a bonus use in hidding your valuables. A little zipper pouch is concealed within the folds to tuck away your phone, cash, credit cards, or whatever other valuables you want to camouflage.

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Sarong

The multipurpose scarf for a warm climate, sarongs are a great gift for beach lovers and light packers. Their obvious function is as a swimsuit coverup, but they can serve double duty as a head cover, lightweight shoulder wrap or colorful scarf for a playful outfit.

These long sarongs are large enough to be wrapped into a dress or skirt and come in vibrant colors perfect for tropical vacations, while these ultra light chiffon wraps weigh next to nothing and pack up small.

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Travel Jewelry

Pretty accessories keep the travel spirit alive even when stuck at home and make the perfect gift. These stylish cuff bracelets are imprinted with inspirational sayings like "with brave wings she flies" and "follow your arrow."

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Travel Journal

A keepsake travel journal can store everything from sketches and scribbled thoughts on the go to mementos and postcards to look back on at home. This elegant leather option has blank pages for journaling, planning or drawing, while this illustrated book includes prompts and planning pages.

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Language Phrase Book

Help your favorite traveler prep for their next big trip with a foreign language phrase book. Sure, they could turn on Google translate in a bind, but there’s something retro and nostalgic about riffling through a pocket-sized dictionary to order a coffee or poring over the pages on a train ride studying greetings and pronunciations.

The Rick Steves books are great for multi-country trips through Europe, as some lump multiple languages into one compact book, like this French, Italian and German guide. The Lonely Planet phrase books cover languages from Asia, South America, Europe and beyond.

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Inspirational Travel Book

As if that travel bucket list weren't long enough already, Lonely Planet's "Best in Travel" series is here to make it endless. The annual book lays out must-see destinations to help you plan and daydream for the next year.

Not to be outdone, National Geographic's photo-heavy books like "Destinations of a Lifetime" will pretty up the coffee table and offer some jaw-dropping inspiration.

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Vacation Fund

And finally, what every traveler truly wants and needs...seed money for that next trip. In the form of a travel gift card, tucked into a pretty vacation fund piggy bank, or stuffed into a sock — it all counts.

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