The 10 Best Camping Towels (Bought & Tested!)

Absorbency

For absorbency, I measured the total amount of water each towel can absorb (soaked in a bucket, lifted until dripping stopped, then measured what was left), the absorbency ratio, and how well each towel dries you off after a shower — the most absorbent first:

*Absorbency ratio = total water absorbed divided by the towel’s own weight — the figure brands usually market.

• Fluffier = more absorbent: The PackTowl Luxe, REI Multi and Sea to Summit Tek have much higher absorbency than thinner towels

• Even the thinnest towel did okay: The Matador NanoDry still dried me off pretty well during clean-ups
• After a shower, the PackTowl Luxe and Nomadix toweled me off completely dry; the Rainleaf, DryLite and Wise Owl left me about 90% dry — a thin layer of moisture to keep in mind
• How much do you need? After a shower, my towels typically absorb around 1.7 to 2.5 fl oz — total absorbency matters more for cleaning up spills in your tent

Wringing

For wringing — important if you plan to wash your towel often and need it dry fast — I soaked each towel, wrung out as much water as possible, weighed it to calculate the water left, then let it dry both outdoors and indoors — the best wringers first:

*Water left = % of the soaked weight still in the towel after wringing.

• Percentages can mislead: Fluffy towels hold the most water even at a lower percentage — the Tek’s 28% is 10.4 fl oz of water, while the Matador’s 43% is just 2.2 fl oz
• Lightweight towels win: The Matador wrings out well and dries super quickly after; big towels like the Nomadix (a beach towel) take a lot of time

Drying

For drying — arguably the most important test, because you’ll probably be showering every day — I had each towel absorb the same 100mL/3.4 fl oz of water (an average post-shower amount), then dried them outdoors and indoors under the same conditions — fastest first:

• The Matador NanoDry is the clear winner — its ultrathin nanofiber gives it incredible drying abilities

• The fluffier the towel, the longer it takes to dry — very fast drying means sacrificing a little comfort
• My most shocking discovery: The Sea to Summit Tek took even longer to dry than my cotton towel

Odor Resistance

For odor resistance, I ran 3 tests on each towel: soaked in (pretty dirty) seawater and sealed in a plastic bag for 4 days, used once after a shower and sealed for 4 days, and used every day for 7 days without washing — the freshest first:

*The seawater test was the toughest — a towel that comes out of it with no smell can handle pretty much any odor.

• The 3 best: The PackTowl Luxe, PackTowl Personal and Matador NanoDry had no smell at all through all 3 tests
• Antimicrobial treatment is the main factor: The PackTowls’ Polygiene lining and the Matador, Nomadix and Rainleaf’s treatments clearly beat the untreated towels — the REI Multi was almost as bad as cotton
• The exception: The REI Lite is the only untreated towel that did well

Grass and Dirt Repellence

For grass and dirt, I dragged each towel along a stretch of grass and stepped on it, checked what it picked up, then shook it to see what would come off — the most repellent first:

• Thinner towels pick up less: The ultrathin Matador NanoDry picked up nothing at all (except a little moisture)
• The surprise: The super plush PackTowl Luxe picked up only a moderate amount of dirt — and it shook off super easily
• Avoid if you set your towel down often: The REI Lite, Sea to Summit Tek and REI Multi held onto grass and dirt even after shaking

Sand Repellence

For sand, I covered each towel with sand, picked it up to see how much stuck, and shook it — the most sand-repellent first:

• The Matador NanoDry was the clear winner again — the least sand stuck to it
• Most towels did fine — a moderate amount of sand that shook off easily

• For beach towels, avoid the Rainleaf and Sea to Summit Tek — both kept a bit of sand even after shaking

Portability

For portability, I looked at the weight and packed size of each towel without its storage pouch (packed sizes are in the specs table above) — the lightest first:

• If weight and packed size is a priority, the Matador NanoDry is the obvious choice — nanofiber makes it thinner and much lighter than the microfiber towels
• Slightly heavier can still work for backpacking: I know of people who’d choose the PackTowl Personal over the Matador, even on the trail
• Save the heavy ones for car camping: The Sea to Summit Tek, REI Multi, PackTowl Luxe and Nomadix take up far more ounces and space

Comfort

For comfort, I looked at softness, smoothness, fluffiness, sizing, and how sticky each towel feels against the skin — the closer to a regular cotton bath towel, the better:

• None of the camping towels felt exactly like cotton — but the PackTowl Luxe came pretty close, beating every other towel by a good margin

• Best of the non-fluffy towels: The Nomadix and the PackTowl Personal
• The Matador NanoDry came in last — the thinnest towel of them all, and it might take some getting used to

Quality

For quality, I checked the stitching, material and weight of each towel after 4 months of usage, plus bleeding and staining — the highest quality first:

*Bleeding = how many washes the colors kept bleeding for. The Matador’s Rust color stained a little; the DryLite’s Berry color stained its pouch heavily on the first wash.

• The Nomadix is my highest quality towel — incredibly solid stitching, durable material entirely intact, and no bleeding at all, even on the first wash
• Best hanging loop: Also the Nomadix — the best stitched and most secure; the Rainleaf’s feels stiff and a bit cheap
• Best storage pouches: The Matador’s high-quality silicone pouch, then the Tek’s EVA pouch; I prefer the zippered openings on the PackTowl Personal and Wise Owl over the REI towels’ Velcro
• Worst pouch: The Sea to Summit DryLite’s — a massive hole right out of the box, Velcro hooks that drop off, and no hanging loop