Best backpacks for travel

Osprey Farpoint 40 Travel Pack

The pack most one-bag travelers land on first. It borrows a real backpacking harness (adjustable torso length, load-lifting frame, zip-away hipbelt) and wraps it around a 40L compartment that opens flat like a suitcase, so you pack a carry-on rather than dig down a top-loader. At 3.27 lb it is lighter than most of the boutique packs here and $150 less than several of them. Organization is deliberately plain: one big compartment, a toiletry pocket and a 16-inch laptop sleeve, so anyone who wants a wall of admin pockets should look at the Aer or Nomatic instead.

Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack

The lightest full-featured pack in this table at 2 lb 15 oz, and the one that packs most like luggage: the main compartment unzips all the way around and splits into mesh-topped halves, so you can see everything without unpacking it. The shell is a TPU-coated recycled nylon with a water-resistant finish, and Cotopaxi backs it with a lifetime repair warranty. It is also the loudest looking, and at 35L with a 15-inch sleeve it is the smaller, less laptop-friendly choice next to the 40L packs here.

Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L

A pack that changes size with the trip: cinched down it is a 30L daypack, standard it is 35L and carry-on legal, and unzipped it expands to 45L for the trip home. You get into it from the top, both sides, the front and the back, which is why photographers pair it with Peak Design's camera cubes. The trade-off is weight: 4.5 lb empty, near the top of this table, and the expanded 45L setting is bigger than most airlines' carry-on rules allow.

Thule Aion Travel Backpack 40L

The one that does not look like travel gear: a waxed canvas shell over a 40L clamshell, so it reads as a city bag while carrying a week of clothes. It takes the biggest laptop here, 17 inches, and ships with a removable roll-top bag for wet or dirty laundry. At 3.19 lb it is among the lighter picks, and the waxed finish sheds rain, but the harness is simpler than the Osprey or Tortuga, so it is happier on a shoulder-to-gate walk than a mile with 30 lb in it.

Tortuga Pro Backpack 40L

Built to the maximum carry-on box, 22 x 14 x 8 inches, and shaped so the whole 40 liters is usable rectangle rather than a tapered pack. It carries the best of anything here with a full load: a height-adjustable harness, load lifters and a padded hip belt that moves the weight onto your hips. The shell is ECOPAK sailcloth, waterproof and stiff, which is part of why it is the second-heaviest at 4.4 lb and the second most expensive at $350. If you fly with 30-plus pounds on your back, this is the one; for short hops it is more pack than you need.

Aer Travel Pack 4 35L

The business-travel answer: 1680D CORDURA ballistic nylon, lockable zippers, a suspended 16-inch laptop pocket you can reach without opening the bag, and a lay-flat main compartment. It looks like a work backpack rather than a trekking pack, which is the point. At 3.90 lb it is heavy for 35 liters, the hip belt is a separate purchase, and the boxy shape means it is best carried on rather than stuffed under a seat.

Matador Global Travel Pack 45L

The biggest bag here at 45 liters and still under 4 lb, in a waterproof 420D recycled nylon with sealing zippers. The straps and hip belt stow away behind panels so you can hand it over as checked luggage without anything catching, and the laptop sleeve opens from the outside for security lines. Matador does not publish a laptop size for it, and at 23 x 14.5 x 10.5 inches it is over the usual carry-on box, so treat it as a bag you may have to check on strict airlines.

Nomatic Navigator Travel Pack 32L

A 32L pack that unzips to 41L, so it starts inside strict carry-on rules and grows for the trip home. It holds the most tech of anything here, a 17-inch laptop plus a dedicated cord and accessory panel, and the waist straps come off when you do not want them. It is also the heaviest at 5.16 lb and the most expensive at $419.99, and that empty weight eats into what an airline will let you carry.

Eagle Creek Tour Travel Pack 40L

A 40L pack made entirely from recycled fabrics that expands to 44L when you need it, with a padded harness that tucks behind the lumbar pad so the bag can be checked or slid into an overhead. At 3 lb 4 oz it is one of the lighter picks, and Eagle Creek's No Matter What warranty covers defects for the life of the bag. The laptop sleeve tops out at 15 inches, the smallest here apart from the Cotopaxi, so a 16-inch machine is a problem.

tomtoc Navigator-T66 Travel Backpack 40L

The budget entry, and the lightest bag in the table: 40 liters and 1200 g, about 2.6 lb, for under a hundred dollars. It is built to the IATA carry-on box, opens clamshell, and its laptop compartment lies flat at security and swallows a 17.3-inch machine, the biggest here. What you give up is the harness and the fabric story: tomtoc only says the shell is recycled fabric, the suspension is a padded back panel rather than a load-carrying frame, and the warranty is one year, two if you register it.

Patagonia Black Hole MLC Pack 45L

Less backpack than soft suitcase with straps: a 45L box, only 7.6 inches deep, that carries as a shoulder bag most of the time and as a pack when you have stairs or cobblestones. The body, lining and webbing are all recycled, with a recycled TPU laminate that shrugs off weather, and it weighs 3 lb 9.7 oz. Patagonia does not publish a laptop size for the tech compartment, and the straps are a convenience rather than a real harness, so this suits city trips more than a month on the road.

Away Active Convertible Backpack 45L

A 45L bag that works as a duffel or, with the padded straps clipped on, as a backpack, in a light recycled polyester rather than the heavy coated fabrics most packs here use: 3.32 lb for 45 liters. The laptop compartment sits on the outside so it comes out at security, and there is a chest strap for the backpack mode. It is the least structured option in this table, with no hip belt and a drawcord top rather than a full clamshell, which is what keeps it light and what makes it a poorer choice for a heavy load.