How to Pack for a Two-Week Multi-Country Trip in One Cabin Bag
Europe by rail means carrying your bag up station stairs several times a week. Here is how to get two weeks down to seven kilos.
A ten-day European itinerary involves four or five train changes, and European stations are full of stairs and short platform windows. The difference between a 7kg cabin bag and a 23kg suitcase is the difference between a relaxed connection and a sprint.
Work backwards from laundry
Nobody needs fourteen outfits. They need seven days of clothing and one laundry stop. Almost every hotel we book has a laundry service, and European cities have self-service launderettes for about €6 a load. Pack for a week, wash once, halve the bag.
One colour family
If everything works with everything, five tops and two bottoms produce ten outfits. Choose a base — navy, grey, black — and let one or two pieces carry the colour. This is the single biggest saving available.
The list that fits
- 5 tops, 2 bottoms, 1 dress or shirt for a nicer dinner
- 1 layer — a merino sweater or fleece
- 1 packable waterproof jacket, and this is not optional in the Alps
- 7 sets of underwear and socks, quick-dry if possible
- 2 pairs of shoes — one you walk 15km a day in, one you can wear to dinner
- Toiletries decanted to 100ml, in a clear bag
- A universal adapter with USB ports, and one power bank
Three things that earn their space
Packing cubes. They compress, and they mean you unpack a cube rather than the whole bag at each hotel.
A foldable day bag. Your main bag stays at the hotel; the day bag goes up the mountain.
A refillable bottle. Tap water is drinkable across Western Europe and public fountains are everywhere. Rome alone has over two thousand.
What to leave behind
Jeans — heavy, slow to dry. Full-size toiletries — every hotel has shampoo. "Just in case" outfits — you will not wear them. Towels, hairdryers, irons. And do not carry a second pair of formal shoes for one dinner.
The one exception
If your itinerary includes Jungfraujoch, Titlis or Gulmarg, pack real gloves, a warm hat and thermals. It is below freezing at the top year-round, and buying warm clothing at 3,400 metres costs roughly four times what it should.
