You are looking for a suitable gift for travelers? Actually, it’s not that difficult, because there are really a lot of useful travel gifts out there. And as frequent travelers we know the area well! We show you 31 interesting gift ideas for all people with wanderlust.
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Hey! We are Jenny& Basti
We are the founders of 22places, the 22places online photo course and the kameraliebe online store. 22places is your one-stop shop for helpful travel tips and easy-to-understand photography advice – independent and above all: always honest.
We are the founders of 22places – your go-to place for helpful travel tips and easy-to-understand photography advice – independent, authentic and above all: always honest. Learn how to take photos in our online photo course and browse our kameraliebe online shop.
Do you know the problem too? You would like to make a loved one happy and not just give anything as a gift?
You can think of something for some of them, but others are really difficult to give as a present!
That’s why we have written down our travel gift ideas for you here.
Gifts for travelers are not only usually very useful when traveling, but can also quench wanderlust in the comfort of your own home – at least until you’re off on your next trip.
Someone in your family or circle of friends loves to take pictures or is interested in photography?
As we discover new great travel gifts every year, we regularly update this post to include our new favorite gifts for globetrotters.
Our top 7 travel gift ideas
Admittedly, 31 travel gift ideas is quite a selection. That’s why we’re giving you our top 6 picks for gifts for frequent travelers like us right here.
Except for the photo course, which is online, we have all seven items on our trips ourselves!
Our top 6 gifts for frequent travelers (the order is not judgmental):
The most beautiful travel gift ideas for home
Of course, there are not only gifts to take with you on your travels, but also great things for home, with which we can bring great joy to people who love to travel or to those who dream of traveling.
Photo light chain for your vacation photos
A super nice gift idea! What globetrotter doesn’t have umpteen great vacation photos on their hard drive just waiting to be printed out and hung up.
Or maybe you were even on vacation with us and can just give the vacation photos directly with it!
And apart from the fact that the photos come out super nice, a string of lights sweetens the time until the next vacation!
World map to scratch
A scratch map is a great gift for frequent travelers. You can hang the world map on the wall and scratch off every country you have already visited. So the card becomes more and more colorful with time.
A great gift idea. We have given it as a gift many times and it has always been well received! For approx. 18 euros it is also a very inexpensive gift.
Enamel cups with travel motifs
Enamel mugs are not only practical for traveling, but also at home a pretty accessory.
In the online store Draubganger from our blogger colleague Sebastian Canaves there are many great enamel mugs with different travel motifs. In addition to general motifs, there are mugs of different countries, e.g. B. South Africa, New Zealand and Canada.
The perfect gift for anyone who wants to bring home a piece of their favorite travel destination.
Cork globe with pins
A wonderful gift for all travelers.
The cork globe not only looks really cool, you can also mark with pins on it where in the world you have already been or maybe just where you want to go next.
The pins to mark the map are included in the package!
An individual calendar
We make such a calendar every year for Christmas for our parents and grandparents. We used to make them by hand, so we bought a blank calendar, had photos developed and then pasted them in there.
But this can also be done more elegantly by designing your calendar online and then having it printed on high quality paper.
There are countless providers where you can create such calendars. We always order our calendars from Pixum. There we were so far from the quality and from the ordering process always very satisfied.
Photo frame money box
Just giving cash as a gift is kind of stupid. But if we are honest, it is often simply the best gift. So the recipient can really use it wisely.
The solution is simply to wrap it sensibly and beautifully, like z. B. this picture frame, which is also a money box at the same time.
This way you can not only wrap your gift nicely, but the recipient can also continue to use the picture frame as a piggy bank.
Unfortunately, traveling is not free, so it often makes sense to put some money aside on a regular basis.
With such a pretty money box, it makes the same even more fun.
Gifts for travelers who like to take photos
We claim that almost all travelers take pictures on the road. We show you a few really great gifts that make photography on the road even more enjoyable.
By the way, these gifts are also good as travel gifts for birthdays, because they cost a little bit more than a little travel gift for in between.
Our online photography course
Learn photography in our online photo course
If you like to take pictures or would like to take better pictures, our 22places online photography course is just the right gift for you.
We explain complicated technical knowledge in our own way, in simple words and with a lot of fun.
In 59 lessons and 40 videos, we take our students into the world of photography. Each student can learn at their own pace and log into our online course at any time from anywhere in the world.
Do you like to take photos yourself and have always wanted to take a photography course?? We are of the opinion that one may also make oneself a joy from time to time. Of course there is also a gift certificate to give away.
A stylish camera bag
Camera bags from hellolulu
Who does not know them, the 30-Euro photo bags from Media-Markt or Saturn rummage table. Everybody who starts taking pictures has to go through this and walks around with an ugly and boring photo bag for the first time.
Everyone who likes to take pictures wants to be creative and especially through photography we can give free rein to our individual creativity. Nevertheless, 90 percent of amateur photographers walk around with the obligatory rummage table camera bag.
If you know someone who loves to take pictures, make him or her happy and give a great individual bag as a present.
Our favorite camera bags and backpacks are from the Hong Kong label hellolulu and since you can’t buy them elsewhere in Germany, we offer them in our online store:
A stylish camera backpack
SAM by hellolulu x kameraliebe
For the photographers whose photo accessories consist of several parts, a camera backpack is worthwhile.
Also available as a real eye-catcher from the Hong Kong label hellolulu. In it fit not only the camera and several lenses, but also a laptop, a water bottle and your personal things, z.B. Wallet and cell phone.
For travel such a backpack is really ideal.
A bonus point is that you can easily remove the compartments from the backpack and use it as a regular daypack as well.
Looking for even more gift ideas for photographers? Then read our detailed article with 25 cool gift ideas for photography enthusiasts:
Useful travel gifts for on the road
Gifts for travelers don’t always have to be useful, though. But it’s not so bad if they are either.
That’s why we start with useful travel items, which we also almost all always have with us on our trips. You can find more ideas on our packing list for Southeast Asia and in our packing list for city trips.
Moleskine City Notebook
You want to give something to someone who is going on a city trip soon? Moleskine offers the very useful City Notebook series for many cities around the world: New York, Amsterdam, Rome, Hong Kong and many more.
This is a kind of combination between travel guide and travel diary. The small notebook contains city maps, street directories and information about transportation and opening hours, as well as space for your own notes.
Also included are twelve stickers, detachable pages and a fold-out, washable film that can be placed over the city map to draw in your own notes. Practical for anyone who likes to plan their travels well in advance!
Interactive travel diary
If you don’t put your personal impressions and feelings about a place on paper, they are quickly forgotten again. To prevent this from happening, every traveler should buy a travel diary. Or at least those who like to write!
The Travelogue travel diary is available in three colors and with eight integrated scratch cards, where the recipient can scratch off the countries he or she has visited. 64 lined pages for ideas and thoughts with dates and locations.
Battery charger for on the road
We use our powerbank almost every day and carry it around with us at all times. If you want to give a gift to someone who can’t live without a full smartphone battery, then a powerbank is the perfect gift idea.
We recommend the external charger Anker PowerCore. With 10.000 mAh you can charge your phone ca. Charge 3-4 times.
But when flying, you should remember not to pack the battery in the check-in luggage, because that is prohibited. But you can take the powerbank in your hand luggage without any problems.
Silicone bottles
Until recently, we threw away the little plastic bottles you can buy at any drugstore after every short trip because they broke down.
During our recent travel planning, we discovered these silicone bottles and dude: are they awesome! Yes, they’re just silicone bottles, but not only do they make traveling easier, they’re also much more sustainable than constantly throwing away plastic bottles.
The things even have plugs, so you can just stick them to the tile wall. If you don’t know anyone you can make happy with it, then just give it to yourself. We would do! Here are the cuties.
Kindle Paperwhite: an ebook reader
Actually we both belong to the eternal paper book readers. But for on the road a Kindle is mega handy.
So in the meantime we both decided to get a Kindle and are really happy about it.
So if you know someone who loves to read and travel, you can wonderfully give them this gift while traveling.
A great personalized Kindle case
But also for those who already own a Kindle, there is a super nice gift for globetrotters: a great Kindle case.
When Jenny bought her Kindle, she fell right in love with these great cases. There is a suitable individual cover for everybody.
Suitcase scale
A luggage scale is a great gift for frequent travelers. Especially for people flying with carry-on luggage, this is a must-have!
Unfortunately, most airlines are now very strict about overweight and so it really pays to weigh his hand luggage beforehand.
It’s not a very nice start to your vacation when you have to repack everything at check-in or even pay money on it.
The digital luggage scale is a super additional gift, z. B. together with a great wrapped gift of money!
Leatherman
A Leatherman is the perfect multifunctional tool for on the road to open bottles and cans, to cut sausage and cheese or even to cut down a tree. We actually always have ours with us and it has already served us very well.
Since we are traveling in Southeast Asia with hand luggage, we had to leave it at home with a heavy heart and have missed it actually very, very often. You can use them not only for traveling but also for everyday situations.
Travel pillow
Travel pillow
Jenny never travels anywhere without it. There’s nothing better, especially for stomach and side sleepers, to lay on your own comfy pillow after a hard day of travel. Absolute must-have for all travelers.
The pillow hardly takes up any space because you can roll it up (see picture), it’s machine washable and dryer safe, so it’s officially perfect for any travel destination.
A gift that will make everyone who travels a lot happy.
To the travel pillow (size S is sufficient)
Knife-fork-spoon for on the go
The spork, as the cutlery combination of a knife, fork and spoon is called, is really a very cool invention and a great gift for travelers.
We use the spork mostly on train rides! It’s a great way to pack a kiwi or spread for sandwiches.
Of course, you could also just pack plastic cutlery every time you travel. Alternatively, you can do something for the environment and simply have a titanium spork at hand, which you can use again and again and above all always have with you.
Really practical and small travel gift for environmentally conscious travelers! Thumbs up!
A hammock to take along
A great gift idea for travelers who are going to warm countries or who spend a lot of time in nature is a hammock to take with them.
It weighs only 500 grams, packs up super small and is really easy to hang up. Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?
A great gift that makes you look forward to the next trip even more!
An instant camera
There are probably not many people who would not like to have an instant camera. Of course, it won’t replace your digital camera on the go, but it’s the perfect complement!
An instant camera is not only a lot of fun, but also an absolute icebreaker in many countries. The Instax from Fuji is definitely a great travel gift and we predict that the first film will be shot on Christmas Eve.
A travel safe
You don’t have to be a security fanatic to want to secure your valuables from theft.
And yet, too few travelers think about how to make sure their valuables are safely packed away.
We’ve been traveling for years now with the 12-liter Pacsafe, a wire-reinforced bag that can be tied to a fixed object with a steel cable and a combination lock.
Most thefts happen out of opportunity and that’s exactly what we don’t provide by storing our laptops, passports, credit cards and even our cash in the Pacsafe.
A great gift for frequent travelers who don’t want to worry about their valuables.
If the recipient does not take any laptops with him or her, the smaller 5 liter version is often sufficient.
Magnetic cable ties
There’s really not much that’s more annoying than knotted headphone cables that are so tangled that you can only get them apart with a lot of effort. And this doesn’t just apply to headphone cables, but to all the others as well.
With a magnetic cable tie you can make a lot of travelers incredibly happy! Because they not only look chic, but are also really practical and versatile.
You can z. B. can also be used as bookmarks or just as normal magnets on the fridge.
If you’re looking for a small travel gift that doesn’t cost much, you can’t go wrong with this.
Cable organizer
The practical cable organizer also falls into the category of small travel gifts.
For travelers who love order, a cable organizer is a super gift idea. Because with it you can not only tie single cables together, like with the magnetic cable ties, but you have all cables sorted in one place.
It’s more fun to pick out the right cables when you don’t have to pull them all out of your backpack at once.
With this you will make everyone happy who is order-loving and also likes to have everything in order when traveling.
A new stylish backpack
Our backpack from pinqponq
You can always use a backpack, after all. That’s when it’s super handy to have a backpack that’s suitable for everyday use, day or weekend trips, and also for traveling.
We have chosen the Blok Large from the pinqponq brand as our new favorite backpack. With 40 liters, it’s also allowed in the cabin when flying.
The great thing is that it is expandable through the duffel style top and only then reaches its full size. This makes it not look so bulky and you can also use it super as an everyday backpack.
What’s even cooler is that the backpack is made from recycled PET bottles. Great, or?
The backpack will definitely please anyone who likes to travel in style. By the way, you can only order the backpack on the pinqponq site.
Learning photography has never been so much fun! In our online photography course, we’ll show you how to take beautiful photos with ease. Want more info?
Books for travelers
A great book is actually always a nice gift. If you can dream yourself away to foreign lands through a book, it’s an even better gift. A book is also suitable as a practical gift, which can be given when traveling, for example to bridge waiting times.
We present you here our top gift recommendations.
If that’s not enough for you, we also have a very detailed article in which we introduce you to a whole 51 travel books, all of which are of course super suitable as gifts for globetrotters:
Travel hunger
Food blogger Nicole travels the world, always on the lookout for the most exciting markets, the most distinctive smells and the best dishes to try.
The best dishes against wanderlust she has in her recipe book Reisehunger: The best recipes between the USA and Singapore written down.
The great thing about the book is that the recipes are really easy to follow and you can make them with the same ingredients you can buy in our country.
The cookbook definitely belongs in the kitchen of every globetrotter. Of course, the cookbook is also available as a Kindle version.
To the book at Amazon / at Thalia
Germany in winter
We love travel, we love beautiful books and we love beautiful design and that’s why we love the books published with so much love by Reisegepeschen-Verlag.
The publishing house is a project of two successful travel bloggers who have made it their mission to make the world of travel books a little better and nicer, and they’re succeeding with flying colors.
There is one book in particular that we like very much and that makes an excellent gift. If you want to support them, you can order it directly from the publisher. Of course, this is also free of shipping costs and takes hardly longer than at Amazon.
So, now on to the book:
"Germany in Winter" is the perfect Christmas gift. For all regions of Germany exciting activities are presented, which one can undertake in the winter and there are really quite a lot of surprises there.
We have also stocked up several times with this book as gifts. But one thing we keep for ourselves. Hihi.
The underrated cities in Germany
Berlin, Hamburg and Munich are the standard destinations for a city trip in Germany. But that’s it? No way!
In between there are many small pearls, which are just as worth seeing. This book is about exactly these travel destinations.
Between medieval alleys, pretty museums and interesting sights, little towns like Trier, Lubeck and Erfurt have enough material for a sightseeing weekend off the beaten track.
Especially at times when you can travel less far, a super gift!
To the book at Amazon / at Thalia
Europe without a plane
You don’t have to fly for hours for a beach vacation – you can definitely do it sustainably too! This book from Lonely Planet shows you 80 itineraries from Germany that allow you to reach interesting landscapes and cities within a few hours train ride.
For example by train through Norway or island hopping in Croatia. Or a trip to Rome with a stopover at Lake Garda, Milan and Venice.
You will also get information about travel times, travel costs and tips on the spot. Hmm, there already smooth ideas for the next vacation come up, or?
To the book at Amazon / at Thalia
Even more travel gifts?
Do you have another great gift idea for travelers? What gift would you be most excited about? Tell us in the comments.