How to Pack for Backpacking to South East Asia: Backpacking Essentials and Accessories 2024
Yay! You’re going on a trip to one of the best places in the world. But what are you going to pack for Southeast Asia? We are traveling for eight months, below we share essentials for backpacking Asia and everything we packed in our bags. If you’re only going for 2-4 weeks, you will probably be able to reduce the amount of clothing you bring, but everything else you’ll still need! Here's two photos of basically everything we had in both our bags:
What Backpack is Best for Travelling?
We love Osprey so that is the brand we are recommending. There are other bags out there but we haven't tried them so can't have our say (they might be great). But what we can say is these bags have never let us down and we think they're perfect for what we need.
This allows you to board flights with no checked in luggage meaning you can save on those extra checked-in baggage fees which added up for us in the Philippines. | Farpoint/Fairvew 55L + Front Pack for that bit extra room and a day pack that attaches for easy carrying. If you choose the 40L you'll probably need a separate day pack. |
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What Type Of Traveller Are You?
When picking a backpack, you need to think about what type of traveller you are.
Can You Be A Minimalist?
If so we would recommend going with a 40L back meaning you won’t have to check you bags in for flights. This is also particularly useful if you are planning to visit the Philippines where you may be island hopping and taking lots of internal flights.
Not A Minimalist But Don’t Need A 20kg Suitcase?
We recommend a Farpoint (Male) /Fairview (Female) 55l Osprey bag. These also come with a front day pack which you can unzip. This is great as this becomes your carry-on bag and even your day bag for trips around cities. We choose this bag for our 8-month trip around the Philippines as we already had them and didn’t want to buy new. So far, they have been great we have everything we need including snorkels and have extra room!
Need Bigger?
We wouldn’t suggest going any bigger than the Osprey as remember you will have to carry you bag around. It may be time to start thinking about a suitcase of downsizing what you are packing. Southeast Asia is hot, you don’t need big bulky clothing, leave this behind… and leave any makeup behind you probably won’t wear it anyway.
Everything Needed For a Couple Backpacking
Going as a couple is great as you can spread the load! Share toiletries and other bigger items such as snorkel (we did take two as we plan to do lots of snorkelling, it depends on your trip).
Traveller tip: Spread your clothes between both bags in case one of your bags goes missing. This happened to us, Kate’s bag was left in Singapore, and she had no clothes for 2 days in Cebu City. Luckily it had an Apple Air Tag inside so we could track its location.
Lets Start with Important Documents You'll Need
Passport: this one is obvious! Make sure it has at least 6 months on it as well! Also, it needs to be in good condition if you plan on visiting areas such as Bali.
Spare credit & debit cards: we use both Revolut and Monzo for our day-to-day transactions as they have the best conversion rates for transactions abroad. We also both have a high-street debit card each (such as HSBC) meaning that if for whatever reason we lose a wallet or one of the cards is blocked, we also have a backup. The final card we also take is our AMEX which is great for stacking up airline miles on bigger purchases, be careful with the high transaction fees abroad though, this is best for large online transactions in your own country’s currency.
For more detail on Revolut and Monzo for Low Transaction Fees Abroad
For more detail on using AMEX to Build Airline Miles
Drivers License: this is great as a main form of ID rather than bringing a passport everywhere. For Philippines and Indonesia we got two international drivers licenses from the post office in order to be able to rent a scooter or car abroad. Make sure to check the regulations of the country you’re visiting. We picked up a 1948 and 1968 license.
For more detail on What You Need To Know Before Visiting The Philippines
Cash! We exchanged a couple hundred pounds in Filipino pesos and also brought £50 worth of pounds as a backup. In the Philippines cash is the main way to pay so make sure you have some to get you started.
Visas: Check out what you need before you go based on your route, a lot of the Southeast Asian countries allow for 15 or 30 days visa free (quick and easy eVisa process). They also usually allow visa extensions for each month extra.
Waterproof Travel Document Holder: In order to keep everything safe and dry we made sure to buy a waterproof holder to fit some of our spare cards and passports when they’re not needed.
Travel Insurance: Make sure you don’t travel without this! Whether it’s crashed scooters, broken ankles or lost luggage, something is bound to happen on a multi-month trip to Asia so be prepared.
We recommend SafetyWing, a travel insurance company for digital nomads, created by digital nomads, who are as passionate about adventure as we are. They offer affordable insurance policies covering you worldwide!
Photocopies of our Passports: just in case! We kept these separate from our waterproof travel document holder where we kept our actual passports.
Sun Cream & Bug Repellent
For the bug repellent look for products with a high DEET value to keep the mozzies away. Also pack lots of sun cream. Often sun cream will have added bleaching agents or be at a premium for tourists so make sure to bring enough for the first couple of weeks. Here’s a list of what we took:
Sun Cream
SPF lip balm: This is often forgotten but is also a must to stop those burnt crusty lips.
Bug Protection
Jungle Formula Mosquito Spray: Choose a spray with at least 50 DEET. We also love OFF! which we bought in the Borneo Jungle.
I would recommend looking for a reef safe sun cream like this one from SafeSea
Toiletries
Here's a simple list of the toiletries we brought with us:
Shampoo bar, Body Wash
Toothbrush & Toothpaste, Floss & TiPis
Deodorant & maybe a small tester perfume
Moisturiser and any skin care products
Nail clippers, small pair of scissors & Tweezers
Menstrual Cup, Tampons (These can be hard to get hold of so its great to bring a backup)
Hairbrush & Hair ties
Mascara, makeup remover & reusable cottons pads (If wanted)
Razor & shaving foam
Eye mask & Earplugs – A must if you plan to stay in hostels or want to sleep on the flight
Technology & Phone Apps
Phones, Sim Cards & Spare Battery Banks: Tip: Buy your SIM in the airport so you can locate your accommodation easily.
GoPro: Perfect for those underwater action shots, southeast Asia is all about snorkelling, diving and everything adventure! A GoPro or similar action camera allows you to document it so that in years to come you’ve got some amazing footage to reminisce on and show family & friends.
Drone: This one might be slightly controversial however we absolutely love seeing a place from the sky. Ever since we bought our drone it has completely changed the way we see places, they’re not cheap however if you’ve got the capacity to bring one then we’d recommend it! Tip: We got ours on Gumtree to save some money!
Multi-USB Travel Adaptor & Charging Cables: A universal travel adaptor with multiple USB ports is something we really wish we had years ago. A lot of the homestays and hostels only have one plug (usually used for a bedside lamp!) so to be able to charge multiple devices at once is nice. Also my iPhone charger broke during our stay and the ones here just aren't good so maybe bring a spare!
Laptop, Mouse & iPad: Unfortunately we have to do some work and keep in touch with everything back home
Headtorches: One of the biggest recommendations we’ve read online due to the number of sunrise & sunset hikes!
Apple Air Tags: Although we’ve read mixed reviews on these we decided to get them before travelling just in case our bags went missing. Hopefully we never have to use them but if we do, we’ll do a review to see if they actually work or not!
Headphones (Wireless & Wired): Most modern phones don’t have the headphone jack needed so either buy the adaptor and bring wired headphones or bring both. Wired come in handy on the plane and don’t need charging all the time.
Phone Apps
Grab: effectively the Uber of Asia, with this app you can order a taxi or some food straight to your door. Although it doesn’t operate on all of the islands and areas, its really handy when it’s nearby
Rome2Rio: In the Philippines, Google Maps doesn’t seem to work so we used Rome2Rio instead for travel planning
Google Translate: This really comes in handy when interacting with the locals, you can speak or type into it and translate it to any language instantly, we downloaded the languages of the countries we knew we were visiting. Another super handy feature is the ability to take a photo of a sign and translate it, life saver!
Currency Converter: really simple and quick, this is an offline app that allows you to type in the foreign currency amount and convert it even without Wi-Fi
Revolut: As soon as you tap a transaction, it will pop up on the Revolut app. So handy for tracking expenses and double checking you haven’t been ripped off
Booking.com, Agoda, HostelWorld, Airbnb: These are the apps we use to book places to stay in. Make sure to check them all even if you’ve found the place you’d like to stay as multiple times we’ve found cheaper prices on one app than another for the exact same room.
Clothes
For all of the men's and women's clothes in our bags we took for a 4 month trip then checkout our printable list here! There's an easy checklist so you can tick off everything as you need it
Shoes
When packing really consider what shoes you are going to wear as they can be heavy and bulky. We went with three pairs but two would be even better. One trainer and one sandal that can be worn in the sea. We went with:
Trainers: For hiking, travel and cities
Sandal: For beach days and casual walks
Water Shoe: For swimming and snorkelling, these are important as there can be urchins or sharp coral on the seabed.
Other/Random/Miscellaneous
Pack of cards: For making friends, if you board or if you’re delayed
Snorkel: If you plan on doing a lot of snorkelling it’s worth making space for your own mask.
Dry Bag: Especially if you plan to go canyoneering at Kawasan falls
Travel Sickness Tablets
Pen and paper
Toilet Roll/Tissues: Most toilets won’t have any tissue so be prepared and pack your own if you would like some.
Leatherman Multi-Tool - If you pack a tool remember to put it in checked baggage to avoid loosing it at the airport. This is super useful when travelling for cutting fruit, fixing things and when Mike goes fishing.
Filtered Water Bottles: This will give you peace of mind when drinking water (we still wouldn’t recommend filling it up at random taps but water fill up stations are good and can be found)
Backpacking Asia Essentials
Now you know what you need to take just remember the essentials are your passport, phone and wallet. With that you're good to go!
We hope we've managed to help you with your packing - it can be really stressful making sure you've got everything you need when planning a long term multi-month trip, just make sure to double check everything and use a checklist so you don't miss anything out. Enjoy your trip and have an amazing time exploring whatever part of the wonderful world you're visiting next!
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