The best luggage for kids: kids travel bags and backpacks that worked for us

best kids luggage roundup and buying guide

The best luggage for kids: our top picks for best ride-on luggage for toddlers, best toddler backpacks, kids’ backpacks and children luggage on wheels.

When you travel with kids, one of the most important pieces of gear to get right is luggage, for you and for them.

The best travel bags for kids are strong, spacious and easy to carry but truly hit the jackpot if they tick one more, very impotant box: children approval!

Over the course of the years, we have tried several kids luggage brands and styles and now we have our firm favorites, each for a different age range!

In this post, we are going to look at:

  • Our favorite ride on luggage for toddlers
  • Our favorite backpacks for toddlers and kids
  • Our favorite rolling luggage for kids

We will also try to answer the following questions:

What is the best kids luggage? Is a ride on suitcase for toddlers a good investment? Is kids ride on luggage more or less comfortable than a backpack or a wheelie bag?

We hope you find it useful!

Please note: this post contains affiliate links and, should you make a purchase though them, we might make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Best luggage for kids chart

This quick chart is a summary of our top picks in children travel bags.

Click on the links for prices and specs or scroll down this page for additional info on each.

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Children luggage typeFavorite Brand for kids travel bag
Best ride on luggage for kidsTrunki – #ad click here for specs and price on Amazon
Best toddler backpackKikki Deuter – #ad click here for specs and price on Amazon
Best backpack for primary school kidsOsprey Daylite 16L – #ad Click here for specs and price on Amazon
Best travel backpack for tweens/teensOsprey Daylite 26L expandable
Best children luggage on wheels (pull along)Samsonite spinner – check here for specs and price on Amazon

Below you will find our process and criteria to select the best bags for traveling kids.

The best luggage for kids: what type is best?

Kids ride-on luggage pros and cons of a ride-on suitcase for toddlers

My children adored their ride on luggage, so much so, that my now 11 year old daughter still only half jokingly asks if she can bring her trunks with her!

Of course, a bag as small as a trunk wouldn’t do for older kids but wow it was great for us during the toddler years / up to about age 7!

The one we used and loved is Truki (full review here).

Trunki ride-on suitcase for toddlers pros

  • They are quite spacious inside.You can find exactly how much they contain here
  • Great size for plane travel: they can be brought on board as children carry-on luggage and they just about fit under the seat in front of you
  • They close well and have a key securely attached to the strap
  • The strap makes them fun for the kids to pull: my kids are always  more willing to walk if they have Trunki with them as they can pretend they are their little dog on the leash!
  • They are exceptional for road trips as they stack nicely in the car
  • They double up as a good toy box so storage when not travelling is easy

Trunki ride-on suitcase for toddler cons

They are quite bulky so while they are great if your child cooperates and accepts to pull them, they are uncomfortable if you have to carry both them and your toddler!

It is very tempting to think that trunki could substitute a buggy for older children but, personally, I do not think this is the case.

Trunki works well as a temporary child seat but pulling your child along on it is not recommended by the manufacturer and it is not particularly handy for the parent for more than a couple of minutes.

Riding on it requires some legwork that a tired kid could get grumpy about (majour understatement for: epic meltdown)

Overall evaluation: we findtoddler ride on luggage excellent and we do recommend it as children luggage, especially for road trips and plane journeys that do not require quick airport transfers.

children carry on packing list to fit in trunki luggage
My young children and their Trunkis

Children backpacks pros and cons

I am a fan of rucksacks and for my own travel I choose backpacks whenever I can.

A good quality pack will evenly spread the weight on your back and will keep your hands free, which I find invaluable especially when travelling alone with kids and need to hold two little hands!

I also find them useful for kids, especially for short trips.

Kids backpacks pros

  • They leave your children hands free
  • They are less likely to be left behind as you can easily keep them on while waiting in airports, stations etc (be very careful with the weight of your child backpack, make sure it is light and appropriate in size)
  • They can be easily strapped onto your own if your child gets tired of carrying them
  • Great plane carry-on choice as easily stored under the seats

Kids backpacks cons

  • Usually smaller than suitcases, even a very light packer like me find kids backpacks only useful on very short trips
  • If not chosen with care and packed properly they might hurt your child back – choose good quality ones and be extra careful with how much you put in and how (find important info about this here).
  • Accessing objects at the bottom can be annoying so make sure you pack toys or anything you think your child might want to reach out for on top.

Rolling luggage for kids: are kids suitcases worth it?

Before I had children I thought wheeled bags were the best thing in the world.

I did so many trips with them and found them so handy they were the first thing I bought for my kids when we started travelling with them.

However, they didn’t prove quite as handy for family travel or at least, not in all circumstances.

Rolling bags and wheeled suitcases for kids pros

  • Easy to pull for your child and easy to stack on top of yours if needed
  • Wide range of options, prices and sizes
  • Easier to pack than a backpack especially if you have odd shaped objects (toys)
  • Easy access (especially if compared with a traditional backpack)

Rolling bags and wheeled suitcases for kids cons

  • Depending on size, they might not fit under plane seats, forcing you to get up every time your child needs anything from it (if your children are like mines, about 10 times per minute!).
  • Unless you have priority boarding you might be forced to check them in last minute – with kids, under seat storage is by far the best, I believe
  • Handles and wheels can break easily and it is worth investing in a good quality bag that you can use over and over again.  

Overall evaluation: I believe rolling suitcases are a great choice for older kids or if you don’t like or cannot use backpacks.

The best luggage for kids: kids travel bags top picks

Our kids with their Kikki backpack

Best Toddler and Preschool backpack: Kikki Deuter Toddler day bag

Our family’s favorite toddler backpack is the Kikki Deuter, which is a great quality, cute, comfortable backpack perfect for small kids.

With a Kikki Deuter you get:

  • Perfect as a day pack and weekends away
  • 2 shoulder straps and a chest strap to evenly distribute weight
  • Good size to sit on children back
  • Several compartments to distribute weight
  • Several colours available
  • Versatile for travel, school and hiking.

Best backpacks for primary school kids: Osprey Daylite 16L children backpack

I am a fan of Osprey backpacks and the one that is working best for our kids is the Osprey Daylite.

This is an excellent day pack for children and works perfectly on weekends away too, thanks to its good size and sturdy materials.

My daughter uses the smaller one, which is super handy for school, while my son has ‘graduated’ to the 18K one.

They are both excellent: the large padded shoulder straps sit nicely on theor shoulders and the chest strap makes the backpack sit securly on their backs.

Both models have good quality zips and great pockets – the 18K one also comes with a backpack cover which is super handy.

Best travel backpack for tweens and teens

now that my kids are a little bigger we found Osprey to have an amazing backpack for them: the Daylite Travel Backpack 26L expandable.

The backpack is a great size for an average built tween /teen, as it sits well on their back without hanging too low, and it has a great advantage: it opens horizontally.

inside of Osprey travel backpack 26L

The horizontal open is typical of a travel backpack (as opposed to the hiking ones) and it is brilliant as it means you don’t have to ever fish out stuff from the bottom.

In the case of the Dailite 26L, you also have a nice internal zipped pocket and a laptop compartment: I like it so much, I am seriously considering getting one myself, I haven’t done it only because it comes in one color only and I would prefer variety but the quality is top!

Best kids luggage on wheels: Samsonite spinner

I know that spending good money on a brand spinner for a child may seem excessive; however, I find small spinner bags great for children and a versatile choice for the rest of the family as you can also easily used them for yourself as carry on luggage when traveling alone.

A small, good quality spinner like the ones by Samsonite are great for durability, means the handle doesn’t get stuck when your child inevitably pushes it it up and down just because and and the choice is colors is so wide, it will please kids even if without cartoon characters and the like.

My favorite of all is Samsonite Stackd – we have a pink one and will soon get a darker one as well as we like it so much!

I hope you my picks for the best kids luggage handy. Happy shopping!

9 thoughts on “The best luggage for kids: kids travel bags and backpacks that worked for us

  1. Jurga - Full Suitcase says:

    Hi Marta, a great article and lost of choices indeed. We’ve tried them all, but now we always take Trunki BoostAPak for each of our kids. It’s a practical solution – a backpack and a car seat booster in one. We have three of them for each of our kids and it’s the best investment we ever made when it comes to kids’ luggage – it has saved us hundreds of dollars in children car seat rental fees over the years. If we don’t rent a car overseas we usually just take one small wheeled suitcase for all three our kids. Trying to travel as light as possible.
    Cheers, Jurga

  2. sewa says:

    just discover this site from somewhere. great sharing story & experiences. i will recommend this site to my friends out there.

  3. JetKids says:

    Very nice blog, thanks for sharing kids travel luggage bags. All collection is very nice.

  4. Katrin says:

    Hi! I had actually never heard of Trunki. It does seem a bit bulky, and as you actually quite often have to carry both the bag and the child, like you say, I don’t think I would go for it.

    • Marta - Learningescapes says:

      Thank you for letting me know about the link, I’ll fix it! Trunki is definitley not for everyone: I know people who love it an others who find it really annoying. For my kids, it seems to work – I haven’t had to carry it too often! Thanks for your link, it’s good to know of other good products

  5. Sophie says:

    Love the trunki suitcases, they are bully though and not the best use of space, but that is the compromise for keeping the kids happy and occupied I guess!

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