The 10 Best Camping Towels (2024): I Bought & Tested Them All

This page contains affiliate links, and that means that I may earn a commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. You can find my full disclosure policy here.

For this review, I bought and tested these 10 best camping towels (in no particular order):

1. PackTowl Personal;
2. PackTowl Luxe;
3. Sea to Summit DryLite Towel;
4. Sea to Summit Tek Towel;
5. REI Multi Towel Lite;
6. REI Multi Towel;
7. Matador NanoDry Shower Towel;
8. Nomadix Original Full-Size Towel;
9. Wise Owl Outfitters Camping Towel; and
10. Rainleaf Microfiber Towel.

Here are all the camping towels that I bought, tested and recommend:

If you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel right here:

All the camping towels that I bought and tested:

Camping Towel	Read Full Review	Check Price
PackTowl Personal	Read Review	Amazon, REI Co-Op
Matador NanoDry	Read Review	REI Co-Op
PackTowl Luxe	Read Review	Amazon, REI Co-Op
Nomadix Towel	Read Review	Amazon, REI Co-Op
Wise Owl Towel	Read Review	Amazon
Rainleaf Towel	Read Review	Amazon
REI Lite	Read Review	REI Co-Op
Sea to Summit Drylite	Read Review	Amazon
REI Multi	Read Review	REI Co-Op
Sea to Summit Tek	Read Review	Amazon

*These are my measured specifications, and may differ from the brand’s marketed specifications.

I spent over $200 buying, and 5 months testing and reviewing these 10 best camping towels.

Over 5 months, I used these towels every single day while camping, at the beach and at home. To test them, I dried them both indoors and outdoors, dipped them in seawater, and ran them over grass, dirt and sand, amongst other things.

After all that, here’s how I scored each of the 10 camping towels (10 is the best, 1 is the worst).

Camping Towel	Overall Rating
Matador NanoDry	8.6
PackTowl Personal	8.1
PackTowl Luxe	7.9
Nomadix Towel	7.4
Wise Owl Towel	7.4
Rainleaf Towel	7.2
REI Towel Lite	7.2
Sea to Summit DryLite	7.0
REI Multi Towel	6.1
Cotton (Control)	5.8
Sea to Summit Tek	5.4

Which camping towels are in my Top 5 Picks? Read on to find out!

1. Best Overall: PackTowl Personal

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

Of all the camping towels that I tested, the PackTowl Personal is easily the most consistent towel, doing well in every single test that I threw at it. In particular, it was outstanding in the drying, odor resistance, and dirt repellence tests. It is one of the fastest drying camping towels, has absolutely no smell even when soaked in seawater and stored without drying, and shakes off grass, dirt and sand super easily.

Unlike all the other towels that I tested, the PackTowl Personal does not have obvious disadvantages. But if I were to be nit-picky, I would say that it does not feel like your regular cotton towel at home (although it is still more comfortable than many others), and it also bleeds for the first few washes. These small issues aside, I believe that the PackTowl Personal is a wonderful all-rounder towel with little to no flaws, perfect for not just the first timer, but also for the experienced camper.

Of all the camping towels that I tested, the PackTowl Personal is easily one of my favorites, and is the one that I use the most regularly.

More info on the PackTowl Personal:

2. Best Portability + Fastest Drying: Matador NanoDry

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Matador NanoDry is a camping and backpacking towel marvel. It’s made of nanofiber, making it weigh 5x less than my regular cotton towel, and pack down 10x smaller. It also dries faster than any other towel that I have, never has a smell, and no grass, dirt or sand ever sticks to it.

The primary drawback is that it’s very thin, which doesn’t make it very comfortable. Also, the storage pouch really packs on the ounces, weighing slightly more than the towel itself. However, minus the storage pouch, the Matador NanoDry is an absolute steal for backpackers, hikers, or those who prioritize portability.

More info on the Matador NanoDry:

3. Most Comfortable: PackTowl Luxe

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The PackTowl Luxe is the towel that gives you all the comforts of home. It is fluffy, plush, soft against the skin, has perfect sizing, does not stick to your skin at all, and is, by far, the towel that comes the closest to feeling like your home shower towel.

The extra fluffiness and comfort does come at the expense of portability though – the PackTowl Luxe isn’t the most lightweight and packs down a bit bigger than most other camping towels. However, this is a small price to pay if you’re car camping, glamping, or when portability isn’t much of a concern.

Question: When do you pick the PackTowl Luxe over a cotton towel? Answer: All the time. The PackTowl Luxe trumps a regular cotton towel in every aspect you can think of – absorbency, wringing, drying, odor resistance, dirt repellence, and even portability – all the key ingredients for an awesome camping shower experience.

More info on the PackTowl Luxe:

4. Best Quality and Durability: The Original Nomadix Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Original Nomadix Towel is the durable, trusty companion that will serve you well for many years to come. The quality is mind-blowing; even after months of abuse (including vigorous scrubbing and forceful wringing), there were no signs of loose threads of the material, no fraying of the robust stitching, and the design and colors are still as vibrant as ever. Also, it doesn’t bleed at all, even on the first wash.

In addition, the Nomadix towel has all the key characteristics of an excellent camping towel – it’s fast drying, shakes dirt off easily, has antimicrobial treatment, and is compact for its size.

Of course, the incredible quality comes at a price, and the Nomadix towel is the most expensive towel that I bought. However, for the added durability and quality, it’s a steal for those who prioritize long-lasting gear.

More info on the Nomadix:

5. Best Budget Pick: Wise Owl Outfitters Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Wise Owl Towel is a pleasant surprise, given how little you pay for it. It’s dirt, grass and sand repellent, the quality is pretty good, it weighs less than half the weight of my cotton towel, and packs down 4x smaller. Overall, it has a better than average towel performance.

On the downside, it does pick up slight odors after extended periods of use (although it is still better than a cotton towel in terms of odor resistance), and does stick to your skin quite a bit.

However, at just a fraction of the price of other camping towels, it’s a wonderful pick for someone on a tight budget or the beginner or occasional camper. And here’s the best part – if you need to get more than 1 towel, the Wise Owl towel comes in a pack of 2 (without the storage pouch) with even steeper discounts, which I think is incredible value for money.

More info on the Wise Owl Towel:

6. Rainleaf Microfiber Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Rainleaf towel is known to be one of the most inexpensive microfiber towels on the market, and was almost neck to neck with the Wise Owl Towel (my Best Budget Pick). Unlike the Wise Owl Towel, the Rainleaf towel has anti-bacterial treatment (and thus stronger odor resistance), which is not common in budget towels.

However, the Rainleaf towel’s flaw is that after 4 months of usage, the seams of one of the corners started fraying. While the rest of the towel is still intact, this indicates lower durability and therefore less bang for your buck. The quality of the Rainleaf towel is inferior to the Wise Owl towel’s, despite both of them costing almost the same price. (In fact, if you buy the Wise Owl Towel in a bundle of 2, it costs less than the Rainleaf towel!)

That being said, the Rainleaf towel is still an incredible budget towel, and is worth a shot if the Wise Owl towel isn’t in stock, or if you prioritize odor resistance and anti-bacterial treatment.

More info on the Rainleaf Towel:

7. REI Co-Op Multi Towel Lite

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The REI Multi Towel Lite reminds me a lot of the Packtowl Personal (which is my “Best Overall Top Pick”), because both towels are almost identical in comfort, quality, packed size, and weight (with just a 0.2-ounce difference).

However, apart from comfort, quality and portability, the REI Multi Towel Lite is inferior to the Packtowl Personal in all other aspects – it’s less absorbent, it does not wring out well, it dries slower, is less odor resistant, and is not grass repellent.

The only real advantage the REI Multi Towel Lite has over the Packtowl Personal is that it has pretty good odor resistance, without being chemically treated, which is important to some people.

In fact, it’s the only towel without an antibacterial treatment that did well in the odor resistance test. But if isn’t important to you, I’d go for the Packtowl Personal any day.

More info on the REI Multi Towel Lite:

8. Sea to Summit DryLite Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Sea to Summit Drylite towel has a few key characteristics of a good camping towel – it wrings out easily, dries 38% faster than cotton, is very dirt repellent, and weighs less than half the weight of a regular cotton towel.  

However, it’s severely lacking in quality; my Drylite towel has lost material, fraying seams, and bleeding issues. I even ripped a hole in the storage pouch on the first opening. On top of that, the material is very sticky against my skin.

Particularly because of the quality issues (not to mention that it’s not comfortable), I find it extremely difficult to recommend the Sea to Summit Drylite towel.

More info on the Sea to Summit DryLite:

9. REI Co-Op Multi Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The REI Multi Towel is super absorbent, dries you off well, and is pretty comfortable. And that’s about it for its advantages. Here’s a link to the Deluxe version of the Multi Towel.

As for its disadvantages, it’s one of my slower drying camping towels, it’s just as bad as a cotton towel for odor resistance, it’s not dirt repellent at all, and its threads started to get loose after I used it for only 4 months. (Phew, that was a mouthful.)

While the REI Multi Towel is still marginally better than a cotton towel in terms of overall performance, it pales in comparison to the Packtowl Luxe in every test that I threw at the camping towels. There isn’t a scenario where I would ever recommend the REI Multi Towel over the Packtowl Luxe.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for a fluffy, comfortable towel, I recommend the Packtowl Luxe, not the REI Multi Towel.

More info on the REI Multi Towel:

10. Sea to Summit Tek Towel

Scoring and Key Info

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Sea to Summit Tek towel is the towel that I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. It performed more poorly than my cotton towel, and the cons completely outweigh the pros.

For cons, the Tek towel dries 12% slower than my cotton towel, picked up a lot of dirt, and doesn’t have much odor resistance. On top of that, the Tek towel’s material kept shedding, and the seams are not only loose, but fraying as well.

And the pros? It’s absorbent. That’s all.

More info on the Sea to Summit Tek Towel:

Here’s a summary of all the camping towels that I bought and tested:

Top Picks:

• PackTowl Personal: Best Overall
• Matador NanoDry: Best Portability + Fastest Drying
• PackTowl Luxe: Most Comfortable
• Nomadix Towel: Best Quality and Durability
• Wise Owl Towel: Best Budget Pick

The Others:

• Rainleaf Towel: Budget Pick Runner-Up
• REI Lite: Very similar to the PackTowl Personal, worth a shot if the PackTowl isn’t available.
• Sea to Summit Drylite: Poor quality control, not recommended.
• REI Multi Towel (Deluxe): Only marginally better than cotton, not recommended.
• Sea to Summit Tek: Performs worse than cotton, not recommended.

If you’d like to compare how each of the 10 camping towels performed in each test, here’s a cool graphic where you can do so:

For more information on how I tested each towel and came up with these scores, I’ll explain all of it in detail in the next section. Just keep scrolling.

I put each camping towel through these 9 different tests:

1. Absorbency
2. Wringing
3. Drying
4. Odor Resistance
5. Grass/Dirt Repellence
6. Sand Repellence
7. Portability
8. Comfort
9. Quality

At the end of all the tests, I compiled all the data and came to a decision in the Overall Performance section.

Absorbency

For absorbency, I measured and tested these 3 different things:

1. The total amount of water the camping towel can absorb;
2. The towel’s absorbency ratio; and
3. How well each towel dries you off after a shower.

Based on these 3 absorbency tests, here are the absorbency ratings:

Fluffier towels, like the PackTowl Luxe, REI Multi Towel and the Sea to Summit Tek towel, tend to have a much higher absorbency than thinner towels. But even the thinnest towel on this list, the Matador NanoDry, had an okay absorbency rating. It still dried me off pretty well and I could use it to absorb decent amounts of water during clean-ups.

Total Amount of Water Absorbed

For the total amount of water each towel can absorb (the first point), I poured a measured amount of water into a bucket, soaked each towel, lifted the towel above the water and waited until water stopped dripping, put the towel aside, and then measured whatever water was left in the bucket. The water that was originally in the bucket minus the water left will give you the total amount of water absorbed:

Towel	Total (mL)	Total (fl oz)
PackTowl Luxe	1,300	44.0
REI Multi	1,250	42.3
Nomadix	1,150	38.9
Cotton	1,100	37.2
Sea to Summit Tek	1,090	36.9
PackTowl Personal	610	20.6
Wise Owl	450	15.2
Sea to Summit DryLite	450	15.2
REI Lite	450	15.2
Rainleaf	400	13.5
Matador NanoDry	150	5.1

A high total absorbency is important in cases where you need to clean up spillage or water leakage in your tent. What kind of absorbency do you need after a shower? That depends on your body size and hair length. As a 5’3” (160cm) person with slightly longer than shoulder-length hair, my towels typically absorb around 50 to 75 milliliters (or 1.7 to 2.5 fluid ounces) of water.

Absorbency Ratio

For the second point, the absorbency ratio, a little calculation is needed. You can get the ratio by dividing the total amount of water absorbed (in mL) with the weight of the camping towel (in grams).

Towel	Absorbency Ratio
REI Multi	4.8x
PackTowl Luxe	4.3x
Sea to Summit Tek	4.2x
PackTowl Personal	3.3x
Cotton	3.26x
Wise Owl	3.0x
Sea to Summit DryLite	3.0x
Rainleaf	2.6x
Nomadix	2.4x
REI Lite	2.4x
Matador NanoDry	2.2x

This absorbency ratio is usually marketed by the towel companies, and gives you a good indication of the absorbency of each towel’s material.

After Shower Absorbency

Lastly, for the third point on how well each towel dries you off after a shower, here’s a disclaimer right at the outset – this is based on my personal opinion and is quite subjective.

Some towels tend to leave a thin layer of moisture on your skin, and you don’t feel completely dry, which can be unpleasant for some people.

Towel	After Shower Absorbency
Cotton	Excellent
PackTowl Luxe	Almost Excellent
Nomadix	Almost Excellent
REI Multi	Very Good
Sea to Summit Tek	Very Good
PackTowl Personal	Good
REI Lite	Good
Matador NanoDry	Good
Rainleaf	Fair
Sea to Summit DryLite	Fair
Wise Owl	Fair

The PackTowl Luxe and the Nomadix towel were wonderful when it came to after shower absorbency. I could towel off easily, and feel completely dry after. Most of the towels were pretty good at this too, although I needed to spend more time and energy toweling off.

The 3 towels that left me feeling a bit damp were the Rainleaf, Sea to Summit Drylite and the Wise Owl towels. I was probably about 90% dry, and I’m personally not too bothered by this very thin layer of moisture, but it’s just something to keep in mind if it’s important to you.

Wringing

I performed the wringing test and subsequent drying-after-wringing test to simulate a situation where you have to wash your towel and let it dry after. This is important to you if you plan to wash your towel often, and you don’t have a lot of time to dry it.  

Lightweight towels, especially the Matador NanoDry, wring out well and dry super quickly after. On the other hand, I found that bigger towels like the Nomadix towel (this is a beach towel) were difficult to wring out and subsequently took a lot of time to dry.

Water Left after Wringing

As for the wringing test, I soaked each camping towel in water and spent 5-10 minutes wringing out as much water as possible. I didn’t set a time limit on this, I just wringed each towel until no more water could be wringed out. After, I weighed each towel and calculated how much water was left after wringing, in percentage.

Towel	% of Water Left
Sea to Summit Tek	28%
REI Multi	29%
PackTowl Luxe	30%
Sea to Summit Drylite	32%
Wise Owl	36%
PackTowl Personal	37%
Rainleaf	39%
Matador NanoDry	43%
Cotton	46%
REI Lite	48%
Nomadix	57%

Note that although the fluffier towels tend to have a lower percentage of water left after wringing, they still had the largest volumes of water left. For example, the Sea to Summit Tek towel had 28% of water left, which is 308 milliliters or 10.4 fluid ounces. On the other hand, although the Matador Nanodry towel had 43% of water left, this was only 65 milliliters or 2.2 fluid ounces.

Drying after Wringing

After wringing out each towel, I let all of them dry both outdoors and indoors to see how long they would take to dry. At specific time intervals, I would take the towels down to weigh them (while stopping the timer, of course), and put them back up after weighing.

Towel	Outdoors	Indoors
Matador NanoDry	14 mins	1 hour 45 mins
Sea to Summit Drylite	40 mins	6 hours
Rainleaf	43 mins	6 hours
Wise Owl	45 mins	6 hours 30 mins
PackTowl Personal	50 mins	7 hours
REI Lite	55 mins	7 hours 15 mins
PackTowl Luxe	1 hour 30 mins	14 hours
REI Multi	1 hour 35 mins	14 hours
Nomadix	1 hour 45 mins	16 hours
Sea to Summit Tek	1 hour 40 mins	18 hours 30 mins
Cotton	2 hours 15 mins	27 hours

Conditions for my outdoor drying tests:

• Humidity: 60-80%
• Temperature: 28-31°C (82-88°F)
• Wind: Not much

Conditions for my indoor drying tests:

• Humidity: 60-80%
• Temperature: 28-31°C (82-88°F)
• Ventilation: Small window

I couldn’t dry all the towels together because of the lack of space, but I tried to make things fair by checking conditions and drying at the same time every day. There’s probably a small margin of error, but overall, I think I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

Drying

For this drying test, I measured out 100 milliliters (or 3.4 fluid ounces) of water to absorb with each towel, and let all of them dry both outdoors and indoors. At specific time intervals, I would take the towels down to weigh them, and put them back up after weighing. This is to simulate drying your body and hair after taking a shower. This is arguably one of the most important towel tests, because you will probably be showering every day.

Above, I mentioned that how much water your camping towel absorbs after a shower depends on your body size and hair length. My towels typically absorb around 50 to 75 milliliters (or 1.7 to 2.5 fluid ounces) of water (as a 5’3” (160cm) person with slightly longer than shoulder-length hair). Yours could be more or less, and could range from less than 50 milliliters (1.7 fluid ounces) to more than 200 milliliters (6.8 fluid ounces) of water. I chose 100 milliliters (or 3.4 fluid ounces) as an average gauge.

And here are the results of the 100 milliliters (3.4 fluid ounces) drying test:

The higher the score, the faster the towel dried. The best towel, by far, was the Matador NanoDry, because its ultrathin nanofiber gives it incredible drying abilities. The PackTowl Personal also did pretty well, but took slightly longer because it’s less thin and made of microfiber. My most shocking discovery in this test was how slowly the Sea to Summit Tek towel took to dry; it took even longer to dry than my cotton towel.

The general trend here is that the fluffier the towel is, the longer it’ll take to dry. So, if you want very fast drying abilities, you might need to sacrifice a little on comfort.

Following these same conditions from the previous drying test, here’s how long each towel actually took to dry.

• Humidity: 60-80%
• Temperature: 28-31°C (82-88°F)
• Wind (Outdoors): Not much
• Ventilation (Indoors): Small window

Towel	Outdoors	Indoors
Matador NanoDry	20 mins	2 hours 30 mins
PackTowl Personal	24 mins	3 hours
Nomadix	26 mins	3 hours
Rainleaf	28 mins	4 hours
Wise Owl	29 mins	4 hours
REI Lite	29 mins	4 hours
Sea to Summit DryLite	29 mins	4 hours 15 mins
PackTowl Luxe	30 mins	4 hours
REI Multi	35 mins	5 hours
Cotton	40 mins	7 hours
Sea to Summit Tek	45 mins	7 hours 30 mins

And since the conditions that you’ll be drying your camping towel is likely to differ from mine, I decided to come up with this chart that compared each towel against my control cotton towel (based only on outdoor drying times):

Towel	Drying (vs. Cotton) Outdoors
Matador NanoDry	100% Faster than Cotton
PackTowl Personal	67% Faster than Cotton
Nomadix	54% Faster than Cotton
Rainleaf	43% Faster than Cotton
Wise Owl	38% Faster than Cotton
REI Lite	38% Faster than Cotton
Sea to Summit DryLite	38% Faster than Cotton
PackTowl Luxe	33% Faster than Cotton
REI Multi	14% Faster than Cotton
Sea to Summit Tek	(12%) Slower than Cotton

Odor Resistance

For odor resistance, I conducted these 3 different tests on each towel:

1. Seawater test (4 days);
2. Shower test (4 days); and
3. Continuous use test (7 days).

Based on these 3 odor resistance tests, here are the odor resistance ratings. A score of 10 means perfect odor resistance with no smells, while lower scores indicating more foul, unpleasant smells.

The 3 best towels were the PackTowl Luxe, the PackTowl Personal, and the Matador NanoDry. They had no smell at all through all 3 tests, and continued smelling fresh. In contrast, some of the other towels didn’t fare so well.

The main factor that affects odor resistance is the antimicrobial treatment of each towel; some towels are treated, while others aren’t. The PackTowl Luxe and PackTowl Personal towels are lined with Polygiene odor control. The Matador NanoDry, Nomadix, and Rainleaf towels have some form of antimicrobial or antibacterial treatment. And the REI Multi Towel Lite, REI Multi Towel, Sea to Summit Drylite, Sea to Summit Tek and Wise Owl towels don’t seem to have any such treatment.

As you can see, those with treatment tend to do a lot better than those without; in fact, the REI Multi towel was almost as bad as a regular cotton towel. Also, some treatments are superior to others (hint: PackTowl treated with Polygiene = no smell at all).

Seawater Odor Test

For my first odor resistance test, I soaked each camping towel in seawater, wringed it out as best as I could and sealed it in a plastic bag for 4 full days (or 96 hours). After 4 days, here’s what each towel smelled like, starting from the best:

Towel	Seawater Odor Test
PackTowl Luxe	No Smell
PackTowl Personal	No Smell
Matador NanoDry	No Smell
Nomadix	Damp Sea Smell
Rainleaf	Damp Sea Smell
REI Lite	Damp Sea Smell
Sea to Summit DryLite	Musky Smell
Wise Owl	Sour Smell
Sea to Summit Tek	Sour Smell
REI Multi	Strong Sour/Bad Food
Cotton	Strong Sour/Bad Food

Some smells were more unpleasant (sour smells or the smell of food going bad = yuck) than others (sea smell or musky smell = not the worst). A little subjective, I know.

Also, this seawater test was the toughest odor resistance test (the seawater was pretty dirty). If the camping towel could come out of this test with no smell (PackTowl Luxe, PackTowl Personal, Matador NanoDry), it could pretty much handle most, if not all, odors.

Shower Odor Test

For my second odor resistance test, I took a shower and dried off with each camping towel once (the towels were freshly laundered for this test). After, I sealed it into a plastic bag immediately, also for 4 days (or 96 hours). After 4 days, here’s what each towel smelled like, starting from the best:

Towel	Shower Odor Test
PackTowl Luxe	No Smell
PackTowl Personal	No Smell
Matador NanoDry	No Smell
Nomadix	No Smell
Rainleaf	Very Faint Smell
REI Lite	Very Faint Smell
Sea to Summit DryLite	Faint Musky Smell
Wise Owl	Faint Musky Smell
Sea to Summit Tek	Faint Musky Smell
REI Multi	(Heavier) Musky Smell
Cotton	(Heavier) Musky Smell

Continuous Use Odor Test

For the third and last odor resistance test, I used each camping towel every single day for 7 days without washing it. In between each use, I would hang the towel up on a rack indoors. Each towel was never fully dry because I actually shower multiple times a day, and used the towel even after just washing my hands (which is pretty frequent). After 10 weeks of using the 10 camping towels (one towel for 7 days/1 week), here’s what each towel smelled like:

Towel	Continuous Use Odor Test
PackTowl Luxe	No Smell
PackTowl Personal	No Smell
Matador NanoDry	No Smell
Nomadix	No Smell
Rainleaf	No Smell
REI Lite	No Smell
Sea to Summit DryLite	No Smell
Wise Owl	No Smell
Sea to Summit Tek	Very Faint Smell
REI Multi	Faint Musky Smell
Cotton	Musky Smell

I stopped this test after 7 days because well, no need to be unhygienic. But I do believe that most towels could go for longer than 7 days without any smells.

Grass and Dirt Repellence

For this grass and dirt test, I dragged each camping towel along a stretch of grass and stepped on them. Then, I checked to see how much each towel picked up. If there was any grass, leaves or dirt picked up, I shook the towel to see how easily the grass or dirt will shake off.

Here are the ratings, with higher scores going to towels with better grass and dirt repellence:

The trend here is that fluffier towels tend to pick up more dirt and grass than thinner towels. The ultrathin Matador NanoDry picked up nothing at all (except for a little moisture). The Sea to Summit Drylite picked up 1 speck of dirt, the PackTowl Personal picked up 2 specks of dirt, the Wise Owl, Rainleaf and Nomadix towels picked up a few specks of dirt, but all these towels were clean after shaking.

The most surprising towel here was the PackTowl Luxe. It’s a super plush, fluffy and comfortable towel, but it picked up only a moderate amount of dirt, which shook off super easily (pictured above).

In contrast, those scoring 5 and below had grass, leaves or dirt that could not be shaken off. These towels are the REI Multi Towel Lite (a few specks of dirt), the Sea to Summit Tek towel (large amount of dirt) and the REI Multi towel (crazy large amount of dirt). So, preferably avoid those towels if dirt repellence is important to you, and you plan to set your towel down on the ground often.

Here are the results from the best to the worst, and the amount of grass, leaves and dirt picked up by each towel, before and after shaking:

Towel	Before Shaking	After Shaking
Matador NanoDry	Nothing	Nothing
Sea to Summit DryLite	Minimal	Nothing
PackTowl Personal	Minimal	Nothing
Wise Owl	Minimal	Nothing
Rainleaf	Minimal	Nothing
Nomadix	Minimal	Nothing
PackTowl Luxe	Moderate	Nothing
REI Lite	Minimal	Minimal
Cotton	Minimal	Minimal
Sea to Summit Tek	Heavy	Moderate
REI Multi	Very Heavy	Heavy

Sand Repellence

For the sand test, I covered each camping towel with sand and then picked it up to see how much sand would stick to it. If there was sand stuck to it, I shook each towel to see whether it could be shaken off easily.

Here are the ratings, with higher scores going to camping towels with better sand repellence:

Most of the camping towels actually did pretty well in the sand test, and it was really easy to shake the sand off most of these towels. Again, the Matador NanoDry was the clear winner, because the least amount of sand stuck to it.

Most of the towels picked up a moderate amount of sand, which also could be shaken off easily. These are the PackTowl Luxe, the PackTowl Personal, the Nomadix towel, the Sea to Summit DryLite towel, the Wise Owl towel, the REI Multi towel, the REI Multi Towel Lite, and the cotton bath towel.

On the other extreme, the Rainleaf and Sea to Summit Tek towels had a bit of sand stuck to it even after shaking. So, if you need beach towels, preferably avoid these.

Here are the results from the best to the worst, the amount of sand picked up by each camping towel, before and after shaking:

Towel	Before Shaking	After Shaking
Matador NanoDry	Minimal	Nothing
PackTowl Luxe	Moderate	Nothing
PackTowl Personal	Moderate	Nothing
Nomadix	Moderate	Nothing
Sea to Summit DryLite	Moderate	Nothing
Wise Owl	Moderate	Nothing
REI Multi	Moderate	Nothing
REI Lite	Moderate	Nothing
Cotton	Moderate	Nothing
Rainleaf	Moderate	Minimal
Sea to Summit Tek	Moderate	Minimal

Portability

For portability, I looked at the weight and the packed size of each camping towel, without the storage pouch. Towels with higher portability (more lightweight and more compact) received higher scores, and vice versa.

Weight

Here’s the weight of each camping towel starting from the lightest, in both ounces and grams.

Towel	Weight (Ounces)	Weight (Grams)
Matador NanoDry	2.4oz	68g
Wise Owl	5.3oz	149g
Sea to Summit DryLite	5.3oz	151g
Rainleaf	5.5oz	156g
PackTowl Personal	6.5oz	185g
REI Lite	6.7oz	189g
Sea to Summit Tek	9.2oz	260g
REI Multi	9.3oz	263g
PackTowl Luxe	10.8oz	305g
Cotton	11.9oz	337g
Nomadix	17.2oz	488g

For some activities (like backpacking and hiking), you will be constrained by weight. If weight and packed size is a priority, the Matador NanoDry is the obvious choice. It’s made of nanofiber, which makes it thinner and much lighter than the other camping towels, which are made of microfiber.

However, you could also take slightly heavier microfiber towels backpacking, if you prioritise comfort and absorbency. I know of people who would choose the PackTowl Personal over the Matador NanoDry, even for backpacking.

You might want to avoid fluffy or larger towels when portability is a priority though, like the Sea to Summit Tek towel, the REI Multi towel, the PackTowl Luxe and the Nomadix towels. These are significantly heavier and will take up far more ounces. They are great picks for car camping, glamping, or when weight and space isn’t a concern.

Packed Size

Here’s the packed size of each towel from the side, and also from the top. The weight of the camping towels (in the table above) is quite proportional to the packed size (in the pictures below).

Features

There are also a few other factors that you might be important to portability, such as:

1. Does the camping towel come with a hanging loop?
2. Does the camping towel come with a storage pouch?
3. Does the storage pouch have a hanging loop?

In short, all of the 10 chosen camping towels have hanging loops. Only the Nomadix doesn’t come with a storage pouch. And lastly, all the storage pouches, except for the Sea to Summit Drylite’s, come with hanging loops.

If you need more information on how each towel hanging loop works, how the storage pouch hanging loop works, how heavy the storage pouch is, or more, I have all this information in my individual products reviews, that I will link to right here:

• PackTowl Personal Towel
• Matador NanoDry Towel
• PackTowl Luxe Towel
• Nomadix Original Towel
• Wise Owl Outfitters Towel
• Rainleaf Microfiber Towel
• REI Multi Towel Lite
• REI Multi Towel
• Sea to Summit DryLite Towel
• Sea to Summit Tek Towel

Comfort

To test for comfort, I looked at two main areas – the first was general comfort, involving softness, smoothness, fluffiness, thickness or thin-ness, and sizing. The second was how sticky each camping towel was against the skin. For me, the closer it came to feeling like a regular cotton bath towel, the higher it was rated, and here are the ratings with higher scores going to more comfortable towels:

To be completely transparent, none of the camping towels felt exactly like a cotton towel, though the PackTowl Luxe came pretty close, and beat all the other camping towels by a good margin, including other fluffy towels like the REI Multi towel and the Sea to Summit Tek towel.

For the non-fluffy towels, the Nomadix towel and the PackTowl Personal led the pack, and the Matador NanoDry (the thinnest towel on this list) came in last. As a general trend, fluffier towels usually feel more comfortable than non-fluffy towels.

General Comfort

Towel	Soft or Smooth?	Fluffy?	Good Sizing?
Cotton	Yes	Yes	Yes
PackTowl Luxe	Yes	Yes	Yes
REI Multi	X (Staticky)	Yes	Yes
Sea to Summit Tek	Yes	Yes	X (Small)
Nomadix	Yes	X (Thin)	Yes
PackTowl PErsonal	Yes	X (Thin)	Yes
REI Lite	Yes	X (Thin)	Yes
Rainleaf	Yes	X (Thin)	X (Small)
Sea to Summit DryLite	Yes	X (Thin)	X (Small)
Wise Owl	Yes	X (Thin)	X (Small)
Matador NanoDry	Yes	X (Very thin)	X (Small)

The above table shows the factors that I looked at for general comfort. Only the PackTowl Luxe had all the features of a comfortable and luxurious camping towel.

The rest of the camping towels, however, have flaws.

• The REI Multi Towel feels a bit staticky.
• The Sea to Summit Tek towel is smaller than a regular shower towel.
• The Nomadix towel, the PackTowl Personal and the REI Lite are quite a bit thinner than a cotton towel.
• The Rainleaf, Sea to Summit DryLite and the Wise Owl towels are even thinner, and also have smaller sizing.
• The Matador NanoDry is the thinnest of them all, and also has a smaller size. Based on all the above factors, this was the least comfortable, and might take some getting used to.

Towel Stickiness

The second area I looked at is the “stickiness” of each camping towel against the skin, and here’s my personal opinion from the least to the most sticky towels:

Towel	Stickiness
Cotton	The least sticky
Nomadix	Not sticky
PackTowl Luxe	Not sticky
REI Multi	Not that sticky
Sea to Summit Tek	Not that sticky
PackTowl Personal	A bit sticky
REI Lite	A bit sticky
Matador NanoDry	Quite sticky
Rainleaf	Quite sticky
Sea to Summit DryLite	Very sticky
Wise Owl	The stickiest

The cotton towel is the least sticky and nothing beats it, though the Nomadix towel and the PackTowl Luxe come quite close. And in last place, we have the stickiest towel, which is the Wise Owl Towel.

Quality

For quality, I paid attention to the stitching around the towel, the overall material, and the weight of the towel after 4 months of usage. I also took note of bleeding issues, the quality of the hanging loop and the quality of the storage pouch.

Based on all the factors above, here are my ratings for quality, with the highest score going to the highest quality camping towel:

The Nomadix towel comes in first place, with excellent quality stitching, super durable material, and a brilliant design that doesn’t fade or bleed. Of all my camping towels, I believe the Nomadix towel has the highest quality and durability, will last the longest.

In last place, we have the Sea to Summit DryLite towel, which has fraying stitching, a 1.3% loss of weight after 4 months of light usage, pretty severe bleeding issues, and a defective storage pouch out of the box.

Let’s go through all the above factors in detail right now.

Stitching, Material, Material Loss

After 4 months, for stitching, material and weight change, here’s my list of camping towels starting from the highest quality:

Towel	Stitching	Material	Weight
Nomadix	Excellent	Excellent	No Change
PackTowl Luxe	Good	Good	No Change
PackTowl Personal	Good	Good	No Change
Matador NanoDry	Good	Good	No Change
REI Lite	Good	Good	No Change
Wise Owl	Good	Good	No Change
Rainleaf	Fraying	Good	No Change
REI Multi	Good	Loose Threads	0.8% Loss
Sea to Summit Tek	Fraying, Loose	Sheds	0.8% Loss
Sea to Summit DryLite	Fraying	Thinning	1.3% Loss

My highest quality towel is the Nomadix towel, because of its incredibly solid stitching. The material is also very durable and entirely intact, with no loss in weight after 4 months of usage.

Next, we have the PackTowl Luxe, PackTowl Personal, Matador NanoDry, REI Lite and Wise Owl towels. They all have good stitching and material, with also no loss in weight. However, I felt that the stitching was not as solid as the Nomadix towel’s.

After, we have the Rainleaf towel, which has lower quality stitching, and one of the corners started fraying a bit. The material and weight was fine though.

The 3 lowest quality towels that I have are the REI Multi Towel, the Sea to Summit Tek towel and the Sea to Summit DryLite towel.

The REI Multi Towel has loose threads and a 0.8% loss in weight.

The Sea to Summit Tek towel has fraying and loose stitching, material that sheds, and also a 0.8% loss in weight.

And lastly, the Sea to Summit Drylite towel has fraying stitching and a 1.3% loss in weight.

Bleeding

As for bleeding of colors, here’s the list of camping towels from the least to the most severe bleeding:

Towel	Bleeding
Nomadix	None
REI Lite	None
REI Multi	Slight (1 wash)
Sea to Summit Tek	Slight (1 wash)
PackTowl Luxe	Yes (1 wash)
Rainleaf	Yes (1 wash)
PackTowl Personal	Yes (3 washes)
Wise Owl	Yes (4 washes)
Matador NanoDry	Yes (5 washes)
Sea to Summit DryLite	Yes (>5 washes)

The Nomadix towel and the REI Lite had no bleeding at all, even on the first wash.

The REI Multi Towel and the Sea to Summit Tek towel had a bit of bleeding on the first wash, and none after. The PackTowl Luxe and Rainleaf towel bled quite a bit on the first wash, but none after.

The PackTowl Personal bled for about 3 washes, the Wise Owl Towel for 4 washes, the Matador NanoDry for 5 washes, and the Sea to Summit DryLite towel is still bleeding after 5 washes.

Most of my camping towels did not have any staining issues, but my Matador NanoDry’s Rust color stained a little bit, while the Sea to Summit DryLite’s Berry color had some heavy staining on the first wash.

Towel	Staining
Nomadix	None
REI Lite	None
REI Multi	None
Sea to Summit Tek	None
PackTowl Luxe	None
Rainleaf	None
PackTowl Personal	None
Wise Owl	None
Matador NanoDry	Light
Sea to Summit DryLite	Heavy

Quality of Hanging Loop

All the camping towels have good quality loops that are still functional after 4 months, but with small differences in quality.

I feel that the hanging loop on the Nomadix towel is the best stitched and the most secure.

The PackTowl Luxe, PackTowl Personal, the Sea to Summit Tek and the Sea to Summit Drylite towels have good quality hanging loops. The Matador NanoDry’s hanging loop feels slightly less secure, while the Wise Owl Towel’s hanging loop feels slightly lower quality.

The hanging loops of the REI Multi Towel and the REI Lite feel a bit stiff, and the Rainleaf Towel’s hanging loop feels stiff and a bit cheap, but still not too bad overall. 

Quality of Storage Pouch

And lastly, for the quality of the storage pouches, the Matador NanoDry comes in first with a high quality and cool-looking silicone storage pouch, followed by the Sea to Summit Tek towel with an EVA storage pouch.

The PackTowl Personal, Wise Owl, REI Multi and REI Lite towels all have good quality and lightweight storage pouches, though there’s a slight difference in quality between the openings. The PackTowl Personal and Wise Owl Towel have zippered openings, which I prefer. The PackTowl Personal’s zippers feel smoother than the Wise Owl Towel’s zippers. As for the REI Multi and the REI Lite storage pouches, they have Velcro openings, which I don’t prefer (but still pretty good quality).

The pouch of the PackTowl Luxe has a bit of fraying and loose threads.

The Rainleaf Towel’s storage pouch also has fraying and loose threads, and it does not have a zippered or Velcro opening, and I don’t like that my towel sticks out a little when I stuff it into the pouch without folding.

The Sea to Summit DryLite Towel’s storage pouch comes in dead last with a massive hole in the pouch and Velcro hooks that drop off.

Overall Performance

Based on all 9 tests above (absorbency, wringing, drying, odor resistance, grass and dirt repellence, sand repellence, portability, comfort and quality) and the scoring in the bar charts provided, here’s all the scores side by side for easier comparison:

The overall performance scores are in the last column. I got to these scores by weighing each test equally (equal weightage).

Here’s a cleaner graphic showing only the overall performance scores (without the individual test scores from absorbency to quality):

And in case you want to see it in the form of bar charts, here you go:

In the Performance and Test Results section above, we talked about all the key characteristics of a good camping towel – absorbency, wringing, drying, odor resistance, grass and dirt repellence, sand repellence, portability, comfort and quality.

But apart from these important features, what else could you consider before buying a camping towel for yourself?

Size

What will you be using the towel for?

If you’re buying a towel for wiping sweat off while hiking, you can go for a small face towel.

For showering, a towel with dimensions of around 54 by 25 inches would be good, like those from PackTowl. Some brands do run a bit smaller (around 46 by 23 inches), so do take note of the dimensions before buying.

For beach use or for those that like extra-large shower towels, some brands like Nomadix have towels that come in 71 by 30 inches.

I personally prefer towels with dimensions of around 54 by 25 inches; anything smaller wouldn’t be able to cover me up, while anything larger packs on unnecessary ounces.

Color

Having different colored towels can be important when you need multiple towels for multiple purposes. For example, you may have different towels for showering, for lounging at the beach, for drying your pets off, etc.

Some brands also tend to have colors that bleed more than others.

If color is important to you, I highly recommend towels from Nomadix. My Nomadix Original Towel is beautifully designed with vibrant colors. When I washed it for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no bleeding, at all. And after months of using and washing it, the color never faded.

The above picture also shows the difference between a shower size of 54 by 25 inches (left) and a beach size of 71 by 30 inches (right).

Features

There are 3 main features of a typical camping towel:

1. The towel hanging loop;
2. The towel storage pouch; and
3. The storage pouch hanging loop.

Having a hanging loop on the towel itself is important if you need to dry your towel on the go. You can simply clip the towel to your pack while you’re hiking, etc.

The towel storage pouch is important for keeping your towel separate from the rest of your pack. Alternatively, if your storage pouch comes with a hanging loop, you can clip the pouch outside of your pack to save space.

For more information on these features, I have a full guide to picking the best camping towel for yourself right here.

Price

It’s also important to buy a camping towel that fits within your budget. The price of each camping towel can vary quite a bit. I paid as little as US$10 for a camping towel, while my most expensive towel cost US$40.

If you don’t plan to camp or use the towel often, I’d recommend going for something more affordable. My Best Budget Pick is the Wise Owl Outfitters Towel.

If you plan to use the towel more often (whether camping or at home), I’d spend a little more to get a camping towel with better performance, like the PackTowl Personal, which is my Best Overall Camping Towel.

Full Guide

The above is just a short guide on what to look out for when buying a camping towel for yourself. If you’re interested in every single factor to consider when buying a camping towel, complete with:

• A YouTube video, so you can watch instead of reading; and
• More information, like the different types of hanging loops and storage pouches, along with other factors to consider,

check out my “Full Guide to Choosing the Best Camping Towel for Yourself” on this page right here.

Or, if you’d like to see how I rated these camping towels, you can check out this post here.

What is a camping towel?

A camping towel is usually made of specialized synthetic materials, such as microfiber. Microfiber is a blend of polyester and polyamide (polyamide = nylon). They have fast-drying abilities, pack down small, and are lightweight.

Why do you need a camping towel?

Microfiber camping towels are far superior to your regular cotton towel at home in terms of drying time, odor resistance, dirt repellence and portability.

When camping, you may not always have the luxury of time to dry your towel, much less wash it. Also, when you’re outdoors, your towel is more susceptible to picking up dirt. In addition, you may need something incredibly lightweight when hiking or doing other activities. That’s why your camping microfiber towel needs to have certain characteristics that your regular cotton towel would not have.

Are there different types of camping towels?

After I bought and tested all the 10 towels featured in this post, I realized that there were 3 main types of camping towels – the fluffy ones, the non-fluffy ones, and the ultra-lightweight ones. This may be an artificial distinction, but can be useful for those who know exactly what they want in a camping towel.

The fluffy camping towels are the most absorbent and most comfortable of the lot. However, they tend to dry much more slowly, are less dirt repellent, and aren’t as portable.

The non-fluffy camping towels are thinner and less comfortable than your regular bath towel at home, but dry much faster, are more dirt repellent, and pack down at least 4x smaller.

The ultra-lightweight camping towels are those that you use for backpacking or hiking. They are super thin, and can feel super strange to those who are using it for the first time. However, they’re the fastest drying, most dirt repellent, and most portable.

What are the benefits of using a camping towel?

Camping towels are superior to regular cotton towels in several ways. They:

• Dry more quickly;
• Are more odor resistant;
• Are more dirt repellent;
• Don’t need to be washed as often;
• Are lighter;
• Are more compact;
• Wring out more easily; and
• Are sometimes more absorbent.

How do I maintain and care for my camping towel?

Camping towels have natural anti-bacterial properties, and some are even treated with antimicrobial coatings for additional protection. As such, there’s no need for frequent washing. In fact, some camping towel brands recommend washing only when dirty, to preserve the material as much as possible.

A good tip here is to follow the instructions on the towel tag.

I had no problems machine washing all my camping towels, and I also had no problems with tumbling them dry. However, some towels are more susceptible to heat and can melt or break down when exposed to high heat. As such, if you can do so, air drying your towels will definitely be better for them in the long run. They are pretty fast drying, after all.

What are the best towels for camping?

What are the best towels for camping?

After buying and testing 10 of the best and most reputable camping towels on the market, here are my top picks:

• PackTowl Personal (Best Overall)
• Matador NanoDry (Best Portability and Fastest Drying)
• PackTowl Luxe (Most Comfortable)
• Nomadix Towel (Highest Quality and Best Durability)
• Wise Owl Towel (Best Budget Pick)

What are the best brands for camping towels?

PackTowl, Matador and Nomadix are 3 of the best brands in the market for camping towels. They are known for their superb quality and materials, and are of course, slightly more expensive than others.

For budget picks, Wise Owl and Rainleaf make awesome and affordable camping towels.

As for brands that I was a little disappointed with, these are Sea to Summit and REI Co-Op. Their camping towels just weren’t up to par, and I wouldn’t pay for their towels.

What are the highest quality camping towels?

Towels from PackTowl, Matador and Nomadix are known for their quality. Of the 3, I find that my Nomadix towel has the highest quality, with excellent stitching, durable material, ever-vibrant design and doesn’t bleed at all.

Which towels dry the fastest?

The Matador NanoDry is by far the fastest drying camping towel that I have, and the PackTowl Personal and Nomadix Towel aren’t too shabby either.

How do you dry towels when camping?

All the camping towels that I bought come with hanging loops so you can hang your towel easily while drying. This can be on a clothesline, on a hook, or even on your pack while you’re hiking.

You can also just hang your towel without the loop for drying. The more surface area is exposed to the environment, the faster it’ll dry.

Alternatively, you could put your towel in your storage pouch to dry, especially if your storage pouch has ventilation (some of them do). However, if your camping towel doesn’t have strong enough odor resistance, it could smell musky or even sour, so I wouldn’t say that I would recommend this.

More questions?

If there’s anything I didn’t address in this blog post that you would like answered, shoot me an email at campingguidance@gmail.com.

I spent over $200 buying, and hundreds of hours testing and reviewing 10 of the best camping towels on the market. I don’t accept free products from manufacturers, and don’t sponsored posts or YouTube videos. Each and every product is bought by me with my savings, and all opinions are my own, from months of real-world testing and usage.

Over 5 months, I used these towels every single day while camping, at the beach and at home. To test them, I dried them both indoors and outdoors, dipped them in seawater, and ran them over grass, dirt and sand, amongst other things.

I looked at and examined every important aspect of each camping towel, including but not limited to absorbency, drying, odor resistance, dirt repellence, portability, comfort and quality. I also cover all features, specifications and even unboxings. Hopefully this comprehensive review has helped you to find the best camping towel that suits your needs.

Ultimately, of all the 10 best camping towels that I bought and tested, I think there’s one that will best suit your needs, and here’s quick summary of all of them:

Top Picks:

• PackTowl Personal: Best Overall
• Matador NanoDry: Best Portability + Fastest Drying
• PackTowl Luxe: Most Comfortable
• Nomadix Towel: Best Quality and Durability
• Wise Owl Towel: Best Budget Pick

The Others:

• Rainleaf Towel: Budget Pick Runner-Up
• REI Multi Towel Lite: To consider only if you need a budget version of the PackTowl Personal.
• Sea to Summit DryLite: Not recommended.
• REI Multi Towel (Deluxe): Not recommended.
• Sea to Summit Tek: Not recommended.