In a nutshell

  • This checklist covers everything you need to know about what to pack for a city trip — optimized for carry-on only and ideal for the warmer months (you’ll need extra layers in winter).
  • Our favorite carry-on is the Pinqponq backpack. When we go with a suitcase, we bring the Horizn M Trolley.
  • Comfortable shoes and keeping clothing to the essentials are the two most important rules for packing smart on any city break.

Backpack or Suitcase?

For a long time we only traveled with a backpack, but by now we’ve also grown to love our rolling suitcases. Both definitely have their pros and cons — so here’s a quick breakdown to help you decide.

Advantages of a rolling suitcase

  • You can pack in a really organized way.
  • Your back is free — no sweating and no strain.
  • You don’t look like a backpacker.

Disadvantages of a rolling suitcase

  • Trolleys are usually heavier to begin with.
  • On rough terrain, a rolling suitcase is pretty impractical.
  • Your hands aren’t free.
  • A rolling suitcase is easier to steal.

Advantages of a backpack

  • Your hands are free.
  • You always keep it close to you and it can’t be stolen as easily.
  • The base weight is usually super low.
  • No matter how rough the terrain, you can always get comfortably from A to B.

Disadvantages of a backpack

  • Your back gets sweaty when it’s warm.
  • You always look a little like a backpacker, even if you’re not one at all.

A rolling suitcase is the right call if you don’t have to cover long distances on foot. If you’re usually hopping in a taxi from the airport and want to come across as a bit more polished, a trolley is your best bet.

If you know you’ll sometimes need to walk from A to B with your luggage, you like having your hands free, and you don’t mind the backpacker vibe, then a backpack is the way to go.

By now we’ve found the perfect backpack and the perfect rolling suitcase for us, and we always decide spontaneously which one to bring.

Our Backpack: Blok Large by Pinqponq

Carry-on backpack
The Blok Large by Pinqponq is our ideal backpack for a city trip

The Blok Large by Pinqponq holds 40 liters, fits carry-on dimensions, and looks really great too.

Pinqponq is a German backpack brand — and the best part: the bag is largely made from recycled PET bottles.

Of course it’s also super practical, which is ultimately what matters most. You can open the backpack completely from the front, letting you pack everything neatly inside.

We love the Pinqponq and honestly never want to travel without it.

Buy the Pinqponq backpack online

Our Carry-On Trolley: Horizn Model M

Trolleys city trip
Our two trolleys from Horizn

We actually discovered the Horizn Model M by chance while strolling through Berlin. Horizn is a Berlin-based brand, and these suitcases are seriously hard to beat in terms of style and functionality.

They look great and are super functional — especially if you frequently travel with a laptop and other tech. The front laptop compartment is really handy, and best of all: the trolley has a built-in charging station that lets you charge your phone, tablet, or travel camera on the go. Genius!

You can also pop the charger out and toss it in your camera bag or purse while you’re out exploring.

Buy the Horizn M Trolley online

What Documents Should You Pack?

Travel credit card

There are a few documents you should never leave behind, even on a short city break:

  • National ID card (or passport for destinations outside Europe)
  • Health insurance card (within the EU)
  • Proof of international health insurance (digital is fine)
  • Flight tickets
  • Hotel booking confirmation (digital is fine)
  • Other reservations

Our Tips for Your City Trip

We actually don’t carry many printed documents — instead, we keep digital copies of everything in our Google Drive. Simple and it works perfectly.

Our tip: The right credit card can save you a lot of money abroad. We always travel with three cards, so it’s worth doing a bit of research to find the one that works best for you — especially for avoiding foreign transaction fees.

When it comes to international health insurance, we’d strongly recommend sorting this out before any trip abroad. Having solid coverage gives you real peace of mind.

Our international health insurance for 1 year (max. 8 weeks at a time)

Packing List Travel Accessories: Our Favorites

More Useful Gadgets

Packing cubes packing list

Packing Cubes

Packing cubes are a total game-changer for keeping your backpack organized. We each use three packing cubes in different sizes for clothing and pick the right ones depending on the trip.

We also each have two extra pouches — one for shoes and one for worn clothes. It works really well, and the endless rummaging through the bag is finally a thing of the past.

Buy packing cubes online

Travel Pillow

Sleeping on a different pillow every night while traveling can be genuinely exhausting — especially if you’re a stomach sleeper. Either they’re way too thick, too firm, or in the worst case, both.

A good travel pillow is the perfect fix. If sleep comfort on the road matters to you, this one’s worth adding to your city break packing list.

Buy a travel pillow online

Plastic Bags for Documents & Liquids

We used to always bring zip-lock bags for documents and liquids. But since those are really designed for food storage, the seal would break or the bag would tear pretty quickly. Annoying — and not exactly sustainable either.

So we switched to slightly sturdier zip-closure bags. So far, not a single one has given out on us.

Buy plastic zip-closure bags online

Packing List Safety & Security

What You Can Do to Stay Safe While Traveling

We’re not security fanatics by any means, but a certain baseline of protection is really important to us.

Our most beloved piece of kit is our travel safe, which comes with us everywhere. Many accommodations have no in-room safe at all, or only a tiny one. But with laptops, cameras, passports, credit cards, and cash, we do carry quite a few valuables.

The travel safe is great for deterring opportunistic theft — which is by far the most common type.

Buy a Pacsafe online

Another really smart move is checking whether your home contents insurance includes off-premises coverage. This means items normally kept in your insured home are also covered while you’re traveling.

So if someone steals your camera from a locked hotel room, you may be covered for the loss. It’s worth digging out your policy documents to see whether you have this kind of coverage and what the terms are.

Packing List Clothing for City Trips

Basti’s clothing for 5 days
1 x light jacket

1 x long pants

1 x belt

1 x shorts

1 x sweater

1 x long-sleeve shirt

5 x T-shirts

1 x button-down shirt

5 x underwear

5 x socks
Jenny’s clothing for 5 days
1 x light jacket

1 x jeans

1 x thick leggings

2 x tights

2 x long top

1 x long dress

1 x shorts

2 x sweater

4 x T-shirts

5 x underwear

2 x bra

5 x ankle socks

2 x long socks

1 x thick wool socks from grandma

Tips for Packing Clothes: Quality Over Quantity

Packing light means only bringing the clothes you actually need. Anything you want to pack “just in case” stays home. Give it a try — it’s actually quite liberating not to have a huge pile of clothes weighing you down.

We always pack clothing for about one week, regardless of whether we’re traveling for a week, a month, or half a year. All over the world you’ll find either a laundry service, a self-service laundromat, or at worst a sink and some travel laundry soap.

What you pack matters a lot here. Try to choose pieces that you can mix and match. For Jenny, that means a dress she can also wear over warmer tights. For Basti, two sweaters of different weights that he can layer on top of each other.

Especially important for a great city trip in Europe: a good jacket. Jenny goes for a lightweight but wind- and water-resistant option from Fjällräven.

What Shoes Should Go on the Packing List for a City Trip?

City trip shoes

First rule of what to bring on a city trip: comfortable shoes. Full stop. A city break with uncomfortable shoes is a recipe for misery.

Which shoes are right depends a bit on the temperatures where you’re planning your city trip. In Asia we usually get around in flip-flops, while on a city trip in Europe we tend to wear proper shoes.

Jenny swears by her Nike Free — not only super comfortable but also really lightweight and breathable. Whenever she can, though, she skips the closed-toe shoes and slips into her Birkenstocks.

But heads up: Birkenstocks are the most comfortable sandals once they’re broken in, but please don’t make the mistake of bringing brand-new, unbroken-in Birkenstocks on a city trip. That’s a guaranteed recipe for blisters and pain.

If you’d rather not walk around your hotel or hostel barefoot — or if you’re staying somewhere with shared showers — we also recommend packing flip-flops for the shower.

Packing List Tech Gear for City Trips

Tech gear on the packing list

Our tech packing list is certainly not typical — we really do bring a lot of gear. If you don’t need to work on your city break, you probably won’t need most of it.

Our Tips on Tech Gear for City Trips

We both resisted the Kindle for a long time — we’re a bit old-school. Basti is still holding out and prefers a real paper book. Jenny has now converted for space reasons and hasn’t looked back.

Buy the Kindle Paperwhite online

Another seriously handy item is a multi-port USB charger. We used to find it so annoying carrying four different chargers. With our multi-port charger, we can now charge five devices at once — and it’s super fast too.

Buy a 5-port USB charger online

Packing List Camera Gear: Our Equipment for City Trips

Our travel photography gear takes up quite a bit of space. You can definitely get by with much less — but here’s what we bring:

What Camera Gear Do You Need?

As travel photographers, our camera gear is super important to us. But even as a casual vacation shooter, it’s worth thinking through your equipment. We’d recommend making your own camera gear checklist so you don’t accidentally leave behind your memory card or battery.

If you’re still looking for the right camera, check out our Camera Buying Guide. And if you’re in the market for a lens, our Lens Buying Guide is a great place to start.

Also read:

Camera buying guide: Which camera is right for you?

Lens buying guide: How to find the right lens for you

7 tips for better travel photos

Lens filters: How filter photography works

Packing List Toiletries: The Hygiene Items We Pack

Packing list bathroom items

Honestly, this is an area where most people overpack. We’ve cut our toiletries right down to the essentials:

Packing List Travel Medical Kit: What We Pack

You definitely don’t need a huge travel medical kit for a city trip — pharmacies are pretty much everywhere. Still, we always throw in a few basics: