The Best Packing Cubes to Help You Survive Holiday Travel

Updated November 15, 2024 10:30AM

Once you’ve experienced the magic of packing cubes you just cannot go back to throwing your clothes naked into a suitcase. I mean, how many pieces of gear both double your ability to bring stuff along with you and help you stay tidy? I know there are some fancy numbers we could probably crunch at the Outside Gear Lab to quantify just how much more capacity cubes let you squeeze into a carry-on. But I’m going to shoot from the hip here and say I can likely double my packing capacity when I use cubes. As a dad who travels with a six-year-old often, every centimeter of that carry-on is precious space. You better bet I make the most of it.

Not all are cubes created equal, though. To help you invest in the right ones for you, I tested 23 different packing cubes and identified the six best systems on the market. Do yourself a solid, get a few, and take some of the stress out of holiday travel this season.

At a Glance

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Best Utility Player

Thule Compression Cube Set

I have come to expect Thule products to be cleverly designed, simple to use—and expensive. Fortunately, only the best two of those three attributes proved true for this cube set. Performance-wise, the two cubes did everything I could have asked for—they provided solid compression for the two jean jackets and three pairs of jeans my daughter wanted to take on our trip. They also boast a nice, simple, clean look and a lightweight weigh-in: the two clock in at just over seven ounces put together. The 100-denier nylon was plenty hearty for our stress-testing, as were the large zippers with solid, straightforward pulls. The nylon was also water-resistant, which made these cubes a fine place to stash slightly damp bathing suits. While the semi-transparent material made it easier to spot key pieces of clothing (namely—all of Josie’s denim), it wasn’t transparent enough to pick out small items like a floating toothbrush. Still a great option for the price, particularly for someone who travels alone a lot and needs just two straightforward cubes.

Best for Families

NOMATIC Compression Packing Cubes

Dimensions: Small (7.75 x 7.75 x 5 in.); Medium (11.5 x 7.75 x 5 in.); Large (11.5 x 11.5 x 5 in.)

This set of three extremely durable cubes was perfect for organizing a carry-on bag for a family trip. A swath of mesh in the front of each one makes it easy to see what’s in them, while the rest of the compartment is made of a heavy-duty nylon. The result was a cube that could really withstand some squashing. I was able to cash in on the breathability of the mesh without worrying about these things feeling fragile. The big zippers and paracord zipper pulls also felt hearty. While all of this bodes well for a long life, it did result in a weight penalty: each was nearly a pound. That wasn’t noticeable when I was walking them from parking lot to hotel, but it would be too much weight to bear if I was trying to travel light on a big trip or absorb one of the cubes into my backcountry ski kit.

Best for Big Trips

Eagle Creek Isolate Carry On Set

I audibly giggled with satisfaction when I realized how perfectly this set of cubes absorbed my daughter’s and my necessary gear. The four straightforward and thoughtfully built cubes not only fit all of our clothes and toiletries volume-wise, but they were also sufficiently water-resistant to keep wet bathing suits and sweaty running socks contained. The compression zippers were strong enough to squeeze piles of gear to half their original size when I brutally overpacked the cubes, and the lightweight nylon construction made it tempting to turn one of them into a first aid kit for my next backpacking trip. It’s definitely the most expensive set on this list, but it also has the most cubes, which does ease the sticker shock a bit. Plus, nine ounces for four cubes is pretty hard to beat.

Best for Wet Gear

Sea to Summit Hydraulic Packing Cube Set

Dimensions: Extra-small ( 5.7 x 3.7 x 2.4 in.); Small (8.3 x 4.3 x 2.8 in.); Medium (10.4 x 5.5 x 3.9 in.)

These cubes are bonafide multitaskers: they’re at once highly water resistant and extremely packable while also still maintaining a very light weight. I came up in the outdoor world as a raft guide and then an editor for a kayaking magazine, so I gravitate toward water-compatible gear. These three cubes were the best for keeping the wettest and grossest pieces of clothing separate from clean, dry, clothes. That’s thanks to a TPU-laminate, 70-denier ripstop material that packed down small but repelled water like a light-duty drybag when full of completely soggy bathing suits. I would add any (or all three) of these cubes to a rafting, expedition kayaking, or backcountry ski kit without a second thought due to the incredibly light weight and fantastic water resistance. The only downside: they did not feature compression zippers like most of the cubes in this test, so it took some manual squeezing to compress them down to size. That definitely didn’t allow for as much volume add in my carry-on.

Best Value

GoRuck Packing Cubes

These heavy-duty packing cubes come in at a killer price ($15 for the 5-liter and $20 for the 10-liter) and definitely deliver in terms of packability and durability. The full-mesh front was a bonus in some ways—like making tiny socks easy to find quickly—but did not make these cubes a great option for my stinky run shorts or soggy swim trunks. The 200-denier nylon backers were nearly as thick as the fabric on the NOMATIC cubes, and the hearty zippers took all our abuse with aplomb. If you are looking for something simple, well-built, and at a very reasonable price, these cubes will serve you well.

Lightest

Peak Design Ultralight Packing Cubes 3-Pack

Dimensions: XX-Small (7 x 3 x 2.3 in.); Extra-small (9 x 4.3 x 3.5 in.); Small: (11.8 x 6.7 x 5 in.)

Like pretty much every Peak Design product I’ve ever tested, these cubes are so damn smart. They were the lightest on the list and still were fantastic at dealing with moisture thanks to their internally taped seams, which made the cubes borderline waterproof. The durable #5 zippers were a huge bonus, but the stretchy zipper pulls were pretty stressful to watch Josie work over during the stress test. I have a very hard time faulting these cubes for that too hard because they are so incredibly light. I would use these to organize any number of things in my backpacking kit. The only downside to the featherweight construction: the 40-denier nylon was the least abrasion-resistant material in the test.

How I Tested

At first glance, it seemed like everyone who makes bags makes packing cubes. To help work through the myriad options available, I researched packing cubes online and picked the ones with the most compelling designs and materials. I reached out to the brands with the most positively reviewed packing cubes and received 23 packing cubes to test. I weighed all of the cubes together as a set on a kitchen scale to double check manufacturers’ numbers. It is also worth noting that the GoRuck cubes don’t come in a set, but I tested the two size options as one for congruence with the rest of these sets.

Packability

I then crammed tons of stuff in the cubes to test their packability. I packed every cube in this test 15 times with laundry in my house and fake-packed my Sea to Summit 65-Liter Duffel, which has been my go-to carry-on since I dragged it behind a car for a duffel test in 2016. The consistent repeatability of this experiment allowed me to zero in on the nuances of each cube and sniff out the smartest design details.

Real-World Use

For a real-world test, I took these packing cubes on a family road trip to Eugene and Portland, Oregon, that we had planned in celebration of my daughter Josie turning seven. This was a gear- and outfit-heavy trip since my daughter’s new favorite hobby is fashion, my wife and I prioritize getting exercise on these trips, and Josie and I are serious hotel pool enthusiasts. We brought three different carry-on-sized bags that I filled with cubes. We packed and unpacked them a full four times over the course of the trip with everything from toys to dirty clothes to wet bathing suits.

Durability

I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking of amusing ways to destroy these cubes. I was tempted to drag them behind my truck or create a wild pulley system in my garage to tear them apart. While those tests would have been fun for me, they really wouldn’t have given you much useful information, so in the end I stuck with a pretty vanilla but very realistic stress test. I overpacked each one and zipped it up 25 times when overpacked (a common cause of zipper failure). That was meant to mimic the most real-world stress test these would face. I also encouraged my six-year-old daughter to beat the living hell out of them because it was fun, cute, and a real-world way to test the durability of things like handles, zipper pulls, and tie-down spots.