Can You Travel Hand Luggage Only For A Family Holiday? What Works And How To Do It
We travel with our kids a lot. But even now, travelling with kids often feels like a logistical exercise in bringing everything you own. I’m always tempted to pack extra shoes “just in case”, bulky coats, and the kids want to bring half the toy cupboard. It all adds up quickly.
So, is it actually possible to travel hand luggage only as a family? And why might you want to try it anyway?
The short answer: Yes. But you have to think very carefully about what you’re packing and what you’re actually going to need.
We’ve now done multiple family trips with just cabin bags, including longer city breaks and even week-long summer holiday on the beach. So I’m going to share my tried-and-tested tips for packing with hand luggage only with kids. It’s not about packing less for the sake of it. It’s actually about packing better.
Here’s what genuinely works, what doesn’t, and how to decide if hand luggage only is right for your family holiday. Let’s dive straight in:
Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
Is Hand Luggage Only Travel Realistic With Kids?
Travelling with nothing more than a backpack is easy when you’re young and fancy-free. But when you’ve got a couple of kids in tow, things get a little more complicated. Travelling hand luggage only won’t work best for every family or for every trip. But it’s something you can consider if:
- You’re staying in one place or visiting several places that have the same climate
- You have access to laundry if you’re staying longer than a week
- You don’t mind planning your outfits carefully
- You’re travelling for experiences, not outfits
- Your kids can carry their own bag
It’s much harder (but not impossible) if:
- You need bulky items (ski gear, pushchairs, cots)
- You’re travelling with babies
- You’re packing for multiple climates in one trip
- You’re attached to “just in case” items and can’t imagine leaving those bulky pieces behind
That said, for city breaks, theme park trips, European holidays and even longer stays, hand luggage only can be a game-changer.
Why We Choose Hand Luggage Only as a Family
We regularly travel hand luggage only as a family, and what started as a move of financial neccessity quickly became a conscious decision that makes some of our travel experiences so much easier:
💸 Often cheaper
This is the most obvious reason to choose a hand luggage only holiday. Avoiding checked baggage fees (especially on low-cost airlines) adds up fast for a family. When travelling on a quick winter weekend in the sunshine thats only costing £150pp, adding an extra £50pp to take your suitcases just seems like a massive waste of money to us!
✈Faster airport experience
This is such a big factor if you’re planning a short break or extreme day trip. No bag drop queues. No waiting at baggage reclaim. Longer to explore in the city or relax by the pool! This alone is worth travelling a little lighter than you might like.
🧳No lost luggage stress
We packed everything we needed into one suitcase for a trip to Majorca: we arrived in Majorca, but our suitcase didn’t. Meaning we stood by a pool with kids, but without swimsuits. And noone could start their holiday until I’d gone shopping! When you travel hand luggage only you don’t have to think about lost luggage stress. Everything you need is with you. Always.
👟Easier movement
Another practical reason to travel hand luggage only because getting around will be so much easier. Trains, taxis, small hotel rooms, narrow pavements…fewer bags make everything less stressful and more straightforward.
The Bags That Make It Possible
The bags that you choose when travelling hand luggage only matters more than people realise. For hand luggage only travel with kids, you need a backpack (not a small and needlessly hard to carry wheely suitcase) that is:
- Lightweight
- Fits maximum cabin dimensions
- Comfortable to carry
- Offers simple internal organisation
We use CabinZero backpacks for this exact reason. These clever rectangular bags look boxy because they’re designed to fit airline cabin limits while maximising internal space. Not a single cm of your luggage allowance is wasted. And crucially, they’re easy for kids to manage themselves. We were gifted 2 of these bags for a review, and we liked them so much we got 2 more so that we all had one!
Each child carries:
- One CabinZero backpack
- Their own clothes, toiletries, entertainment
This alone changes the dynamic of family travel, and makes our hand luggage only travel easier. The boys are responsible for their things, and packing becomes a shared process of us working together to decide what they really do and don’t need (although Daddy often ends up carrying two backpacks as our youngest often can’t carry his all day!)
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What to Pack (and What to Leave at Home)
Clothes: Less Than You Think
The bulkiest thing you’re going to need to pack is clothes, but you can get away with much less than you think! And because children’s clothes tend to be smaller than adults, they are also able to pack a little more than we do. For each child, we typically pack:
- 4–5 tops
- 2–3 bottoms
- 1 jumper or hoodie
- Swimwear
- Sleepwear
- Underwear & socks for 5–6 days
- Sandals/flip flips/crocs (whichever your children prefer)
Travel in a pair of jeans and a light jacket in case of rain or cooler days. It makes sense to travel in your bulkiest clothes, including your heavy trainers. This lightens the load of what you’re going to carry.
TIP: Consider packing cubes to keep your clothes stored and separate from your toiletries and other packing essentials. Compression cubes can also help you to fit more in your backpack.
Toiletries: The Make-or-Break Category
This is where families usually overpack, but think carefully about this. If it’s going to cost you £50 to bring a suitcase and you can’t live without that special shampoo, it’s probably still cheaper to buy a bottle when you get there!
We make use of the toiletries offered in the hotel, we pack travel-sized toiletries, and we choose products that we can all share:
- Travel sized toothpaste and tooth brushes for everyone
- Shared body wash, shampoo and conditioner (travel sized, and only if your hotel won’t provide these)
- Travel sized hairbrush
- Small family-sized first aid kit
- I bring my smaller ‘travel’ make up kit (tinted moisturiser, brow gel, spf lip balm)
- SPF 50 sun screen (suitable for the whole family)
Entertainment: Keep It Small
It doesn’t matter how light we’re packing, we never go away without some small bits and pieces for the boys to play with Each child gets:
- One book
- One note book or activity book and some pens/crayons
- One card game (we never go anywhere without a pack of UNO cards)
- A few Lego figures/fidget toys (my boys love small figure play, but we never take more than will fit in their hands)
- Tablet or other electronic device
No bulky toys. No “emergency” entertainment stash. Airports, trains and cities are stimulating enough.
When Hand Luggage Only Doesn’t Work
There are some trips where checked bags are the right call. We don’t always travel hand luggage only and we wouldn’t want to. They occasions where you’re probably going to want to take a suitcase include:
- Package holidays (like with TUI or On The Beach) where your luggage is built into the cost
- Winter ski holidays
- Trips with baby equipment that you can buy or borrow when you arrive
- Multi-climate itineraries
- Very long stays without laundry access
And that’s fine.
Final Thought
If you’ve ever thought “hand luggage only just isn’t possible with children”, I promise you, it can be. And it’s so much easier than you think!
You don’t need to do it for every trip. You just need the right mindset, the right bag, and a willingness to let go of ‘just in case’. And once you’ve done it once, it’s very hard to go back.
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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
