Travel beach towels?

[Clarabellawilliamson]

Are those travel/ microfibres beach towels worth it to save space/ weight when holidaying abroad?
Taking the kids away to Majorca for our first Time flying and not sure if it's worth it? Have they improved since those chamois leather blue ones of my backpacking days?!

We loveee the dock and bay ones now. 100% necessity for the beach with kid/s. I used to hate them but there are only so many times I can try wringing sand/water out of a sopping wet hotel towel 😂

The Best Packable Travel Towels of 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)

I still have my weird blue one (and use it!). But honestly, somewhere hot, I use sarongs instead.

Turkish towels are great and can also be used as sarongs, etc.

I just use a sarong in a hot country and in Mallorca this year bought a giant cotton throw, which fits a few people on, as well.

What's a Turkish towel?

I have a dock and bay one but I'm so so about it. It's small and light, Sand doesn't stick to it on the beach, but it gets saturated very quickly and takes quite long to dry. I prefer a Turkish hammam towel which are also generally light and fold up small.

I wouldn’t be without these -
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/microfibre-swimming-towel-size-xl-110-x-175-cm/_/R-p-158653

The Decathlon ones are brilliant.

Decathlon do them, no different to the Dock & Bay ones except they are overlocked rather than hemmed.

Turkish towels definitely win aesthetically

Of the microfibre type ones, I like the Mountain Warehouse micro towelling ones, they actually feel like a real towel unlike the smooth microfibre ones.

Another vote for the decathlon ones. I bought 2 for my honeymoon as we were off to Oz and I only took hand luggage. They dry quickly and sand doesn't stick to them. 14 years later we still use them and have 3 others for the children. The originals still look new, not tatty or even faded. Our normal house towels have been replaced 2 or 3 times... Thinking of it maybe I'll replace them all with decathlon ones

I like the Hamman ones as well. Good to tie round you after swimming too. Dry really quickly and you can wash them out easily and dry too.

We have the decathlon ones too, they're great.

We bought Turkish/hammam ones (from Etsy) after getting fed up with the microfibre ones that just feel like you’re spreading water around your skin rather than drying yourself.

Get the lightest weight Turkish ones as they’ll take up the least space in your suitcase

I'd go for Turkish towels too. They feel much nicer, look better if you use them as a sarong, and dry really quickly. There are lots of them on Amazon.

I bought these recently - they are fantastic. Pack up really small even though you can get really big sizes, they dry in no time and are the cheapest I’ve found.

amzn.eu/d/1zItTS6

It's a cotton and/or linen rectangle like a sarong and absorbent like a terry towelling towel - widely available online and in Homesense, etc. I've seen them on sale in Spain and Greece in tourist areas. They're great for travel because they're multi purpose, fold or roll up small and dry quickly.

We bought a few, not dock and bay but similar kind of thing, for a recent swimming holiday via plane travel. Really liked them. We got a few flat ones, and one each of the hoodie coverup ones (loads of sellers on Amazon, basically all the same). Kids liked putting them on after swimming or for getting changed under if in public.

We also had some thin cotton ones from Greece in nice woven lightweight fabrics, but we tended to sit on those and dry off with microfibre.

The pack-small hiking towels of my youth had that horrible texture where they sort of stick or cling to you - these don’t do that. Had no problem drying ourselves with them!

We have these ones too, they are great, so lightweight and small to pack.
Love the colours too.

I loathe the microfibre towels. They feel awful, and they just spread the water around.

I agree with those recommending the Hammam towels. Work well, and roll up small.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utopia-Towels-Turkish-Beach-Towel/dp/B09T365D2K/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1HA0N2W5VXAG4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AhxDmQyFmHauBoe7ei_ZL5xiM-kqOUgO5ihi7x5Jd6u_eVArhOq7iZCtZjl_xb6OsLO6nZyomh_43zIuH0Nkka5pXOvzMr9f5X799tiZtr7-iD0mq9mXCCfmjK0R3jKv1aPcpPDWYQIaodDT1Aaug-IKzywO0E_WdUygeqQumaVU5Pd90s-a-8IjUm_4ahQuJ7ewrwZD0ZYPe8d1DQhK9d6rkpxPHI9koTfw9wAhmGpr5ZCGmGlrvVUW2UsOesRP3WT4oItSoE7DP86ffSoqhXLa29I6zwknmkGYbQjwrqY.RozIXxY9TXK6v7KAAQrAda9IYb4Nboj2FdSyFH21uws&dib_tag=se&keywords=hammam+towel&qid=1725902607&sprefix=hammam+%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

They are good as towels but not for sitting a sun lounger.
so we normally use the hotel towel for the lounger and the dock and bay one to dry off

if we self cater we take thicker proper towels with us

I don’t like the microfibre ones, they never feel like they’re drying your body although they are very lightweight.
I replaced ours with the Turkish hamman ones which are really light, roll down tiny and dry so quickly. mine have tassels on which I find annoying but they are a nice stripy design which I do like 😂

Wow- I wasn't expecting so many responses! Thanks everyone, I think I might try the hammam towels.

Like the idea of hamman towels, really don't want tassels/fringes

Are there any that don't have them? Or what would happen if I cut them off - would the whole thing unravel?

I think you could hem the edges instead.