5 Ways the Slow Travel Trend Is Changing How We Pack in 2026
Sometimes, a “good holiday” can be exhausting in itself. Between visiting the museums, walking all over the old city and shopping for souvenirs, it’s natural to come home needing a holiday from your holiday. Most of the time, you’ve also only used three of the fourteen outfits you packed. This city-hopping model had a good run - but something is shifting.
Slow travel is the art of staying longer in one place, moving less, actually stopping. It’s also one of the more sustainable ways to travel: fewer flights, longer stays and more money spent in local economies rather than international chains. It's also one of the defining travel trends of 2026. According to HolidayPirates research, 29% of UK adults took at least one trip in the past year without flying, and 23% would prioritise slow travel options if they were more widely available.
What nobody talks about enough is what slow travel does to your bag. It’s not just about packing less. It’s about packing completely differently. Here are five ways this shift is playing out.
1. You Stop Packing Defensively
When you’re moving every one or two nights, every packing decision is defensive. The bag has to go in an overhead locker, onto a train rack, into a boot, out of a boot, up three flights of stairs because the lift is broken. Every extra kilogram is a small punishment repeated six times across a fortnight.
Slow travel means you’ll have to cut a few things. You may have to wear things twice. You’ll tell yourself the hotel will have decent shower gel (it won’t). This carry-on strategy wins by default because it means you won’t be sore from getting your suitcase from point A to point B and then point C, and D.
For that kind of trip, something like our Vacay Underseat Bag is a practical choice. 40cm, lightweight polycarbonate, fits free under the seat on easyJet and Ryanair and it’s also built for constant movement.
But when you’re staying in one place for ten days or two weeks, you may want to visit a different technique. Some slow travellers are not managing transit, they’re settling in. That changes what you'll reach for entirely, and it's usually something with a lot more room. Not sure which size to go for? Our guide covers what size suitcase you need for longer trips.
For many slow travellers the journey itself becomes part of the experience. Overnight trains, ferry crossings and scenic rail routes are as much a part of the trip as the destination.
2. The Things You Normally Leave Behind Finally Make the Trip
Most people have a mental list of items they’d like to bring but talk themselves out of. The comfortable shoes that won’t fit in the carry-on. The second book. The cardigan that takes up half a packing cube on its own but that you actually want to wear in the evenings. The real toiletries, not the miniatures you merely tolerate.
Slow travel packing gives you permission to bring them. You’re unpacking once, into a wardrobe, in a place you’ll be for a while. A bag that reflects that (properly structured, with real space) makes the whole experience feel more settled from day one. If you are still working out which suitcase is right for the trip, our guide to choosing the right suitcase covers the full decision.
The Solo Explorer Medium in Gold is a good example of what slow travel luggage looks like in practice: 66 litres, zip-free aluminium closure, 360° spinner wheels and a dual-compartment interior that rewards organised packing rather than fighting against it. It’s what you check in once and don’t think about again until you’re heading home.
3. You Need a Proper Day Bag
Slow travel creates daily life instead of constant transit. You’re going to the market on Thursday. You’re walking to the beach in the morning and stopping somewhere for lunch on the way back. You’re picking up a bottle of something from the shop around the corner. None of that works well with a suitcase, and a tote bag will be overstuffed by day two.
The Lugg Travel Backpack earns its place here. It has a dedicated wet bag and shoe compartment - more useful than it sounds after a day at the beach, along with two main pockets and a laptop compartment that doubles as a document organiser. This one is cabin-approved too, so it works as hand luggage on the way out if you want to travel light on the flight.
The small stuff matters too, and you’ll need a good bag to travel with those. A good day out needs more than just the right bag – a good neck pillow to avoid discomfort on the plane, a phone pouch to avoid damaging your phone at the beach, etc. The Lugg travel accessories range covers the bits that make the whole system work.
4. You Leave Room to Bring Things Back
One of the quiet pleasures of staying somewhere properly is living like a local rather than a tourist. You’ll go to that morning yoga class, the wine shop around the corner and the bakery you've been meaning to try since day one. When you’re city-hopping, there’s not much space (and time) to bring back meaningful things. When you’re slow travelling, bringing things home is part of the experience.
A large suitcase with an expandable section is worth thinking about before you go. Not as an invitation to overpack, but as a realistic acknowledgement that two weeks somewhere usually produces a bottle of something, a piece of pottery and at least one item of clothing you couldn’t leave behind.
The Air Glide Large in Teal is worth a look if you want something with real capacity and a five-year warranty to back it up. It's 28 inches, polycarbonate hard shell, with compression straps and dividers inside that make the difference between a suitcase that arrives organised and one that arrives as an organised mess.
5. Your Packing List Gets Shorter, Not Longer
This one surprises people. More space and more time in one place doesn’t mean packing more. It usually means packing less, but better. Without the anxiety of constant movement, you stop packing “just in case.” You know where you’re going and roughly what you’ll do there. You’re near a supermarket. You can do laundry. The backup outfit, the formal option you won’t use, the third pair of shoes; these can all stay home.
What slow travel packers leave out
- Multiple "going out" outfits. You'll wear the same thing twice and feel fine about it by day three.
- Travel-size everything. There's a supermarket within ten minutes of wherever you're staying. There always is.
- The backup shoes. You know the ones. They've never once been needed.
What they bring instead
- Walking shoes that are properly broken in.
- A good day bag for the daily rhythm or the occasional hike.
- Something to do on slow afternoons - a book, a sketchpad, whatever it is for you.
- Full-size versions of the things you actually use.
For a full trip-type breakdown, our slow travel packing list covers beach, city break, ski and long-haul in one place.
The Vacay collection is built for exactly this kind of trip: holiday-ready without being overpacked, practical without being spartan.
