These were the best bags we found to get your gear safely to and from the beach. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

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Days at the beach are one of life’s great pleasures. But if you’re going to spend more time than a surf session or a quick dip in the ocean, chances are you’ll want a few accessories and simple pleasures to enhance the stay. A capable beach bag is an easy way to load up and access the gear you need while on the sand. But as we learned for this test, much variety exists in the market for an item whose sole purpose is to haul a bunch of items from point A to point Beach. Are you carrying refreshments you hope to keep cold? Any chance you’ve got a paperback that you’d want not to mingle with your wet wetsuit? Point being: everyone has different practical considerations when shopping for a beach bag.

For this review, we cast an especially wide net to define a beach bag – including totes, backpacks, and even a few hybrid options. After plenty of field testing on and around Southern California beaches, we give you our list of the best beach bags for 2024.

Navigate To: Buyer’s Guide | How We Tested | Comparison Table

Editor’s Note: We updated this article in the fall of 2024 after a summer of testing exciting new products like the Patagonia Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack and KGUARD SoftCube, as well as spending more time with our top picks. In this update, we also trimmed a few options and added more contextual and comparison information throughout the guide to help you make an informed purchasing decision. 

The Best Beach Bags of 2024

Best Overall Beach Bag: Cotopaxi Allpa 60L Gear Hauler Tote
Best Heavy Duty Beach Bag: YETI Camino Carryall
Best Mesh Beach Bag: Kavu Alder Lake Tote
Best Cooler Tote: Hydroflask 26L Day Escape Tote
Best Beach Backpack: Patagonia Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack
Best Bag for Wet/Dry Separation: KGUARD SoftCube

Best Overall Beach Bag

Cotopaxi Allpa 60L Gear Hauler Tote ($110)

Carry Options: Two (handheld, shoulder)
Closure: Cinch, does not fully close
Self-Standing: No
Capacity: 60L
Pros: Unstructured, large opening, inner compartments
Cons: Material on the bottom of the bag isn’t waterproof

With an extra large, 60L capacity that feels bottomless, we find ourselves returning to the Allpa for those family beach days where there’s no way to get around having to carry an overwhelming amount of stuff (shout out to all the parents of young kids out there). Cotopaxi’s Allpa Gear Hauler Tote easily gobbles up four regular-size towels, a small soft cooler, and other essentials. Two inner cinch straps help keep everything contained, and interior stash pockets are perfect for keeping wallets, keys, and other smaller items separated from bigger items in the main compartment.

What we love about the Allpa, too, is that unlike other large totes like Patagonia’s 61L Black Hole Gear Tote the outer straps are the perfect length for shoulder carry. The rectangular opening also makes it easy to open up and grab the exact contents you need without digging through the bag. The two sturdy side grab handles have daisy chains that also allow for clipping anything you may want to the outside — in our case a small Bluetooth speaker that comes with us on beach days.

The only drawbacks of the Allpa are that its flexible construction means it doesn’t stand on its own when empty for easy loading. And, the construction is durable, but not waterproof, so don’t expect it to keep your belongings dry if things get wet. For a tote made of waterproof material that’s equally at home on the beach or at your local pool deck, Yeti’s Camino Carryall series is a great option – the sturdier construction just comes at a higher price tag and weighs quite a bit more. That’s why we awarded Best Overall to the Allpa as it’s sturdy enough to hold up under years of beach missions, fitting the needs of most, without being too heavy duty. It also collapses nicely for easy storage.

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Best Heavy-Duty Beach Bag

YETI Camino Carryall 35L ($150)

Carry Options: Two (handheld, shoulder)
Closure: Hook closure, does not fully close
Self-Standing: Yes
Capacity: 20L, 35L, and 50L options
Pros: Structured, indestructible, long sturdy handles, can be hosed out
Cons: Bulky, not many inner compartments

YETI’s Camino line of carryall totes has received much praise over the years for good reason. Made with a proprietary waterproof, puncture-resistant shell material that YETI calls ThickSkin, the totes keep water out from all sides (except the top opening, obvs), stand on their own for easy loading, and can easily be hosed out after use.

This ultra-durable construction also makes the Caminos we tested the heaviest bags in each category when empty. But for those looking for a do-anything beach bag that’s also perfectly at home at the crag, campsite, or pool deck, the extra weight is likely worth it. All sizes feature deployable dividers that nicely keep gear organized, as well as two zippered pockets to keep smaller items handy.

To call the 50L Camino (YETI’s largest) a bag feels like a gross understatement. “Boat” feels more appropriate. Nominally, the 50L Camino has about 10L less capacity than the Allpa, but in practical use, the capacity felt extremely similar between the two. Honestly, because it’s so stiff and sturdy, looking at them both you’d swear the Camino was bigger. The feel was so heavy duty, in fact, that for outings where it wasn’t packed to capacity, it almost felt like too much bag. For this reason, between YETI’s 50L and 35L options, we’d say that the 35L is a bit more versatile with everyday use in mind.

For heavy-duty totes, we also liked Finisterre’s 35L Drift Tote, because it was quite a bit lighter than Yeti’s 35L Camino, was also made of waterproof materials, and could stand on its own for easy loading.  Still, the straps of the Finisterre Drift weren’t as thick and durable as the Yeti Camino, and Yeti’s MOLLE grid system, which allows you to add other accessories like a bottle opener made the Camino hard to beat.

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Best Mesh Beach Bag

Kavu Alder Lake Tote ($55)

Carry Options: Two (handheld, shoulder)
Closure: None
Self-Standing: No
Capacity: 40L
Pros: Sand easily escapes, tons of pockets, lighter than air
Cons: Contents can get sandy, not the largest capacity

For how heavily romanticized the idea of relaxing in the sand may be, it can be pretty irritating how sand has a nasty habit of stubbornly invading every nook and cranny of even the most well-built beach bag. Enter Kavu’s Alder Lake Tote, which stole our hearts for its ability to leave sand granules behind due to its mesh fabric construction. With a handful of outer pockets that easily fit essentials like a water bottle, or sunscreen, and a generous main section that can fit a towel and a book, we found the Alder was the perfect size for the average person’s day at the beach.

The quick-dry material also easily handles wet towels and wet wetsuits, letting them dry a bit while in the bag. The Alder does feel small, however, for a full family’s worth of towels and gear. For a family of four, a bag like the Cotopaxi Allpa may make more sense. Also, because every pocket is made of mesh material that’s designed to let sand easily sift out, electronics like phones and fancy keys are vulnerable to getting sandy or even wet when tossing the bag around. So, if you’re looking to keep your phone and keys safe from an errant splash or a spilled drink, consider a bag like the Yeti Camino or Finisterre Drift with internal pockets for valuables.

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Best Cooler Tote

Hydroflask 26L Day Escape Tote ($180)

Carry Options: Three (handheld, over the shoulder, cross-body)
Closure: Waterproof zipper
Self-Standing: Yes
Capacity: 26L
Pros: Multiple comfortable carry options, works as a cooler or dedicated tote
Cons: Narrow, heavy on its own

A hot beach day and a cold drink go together like peanut butter and jelly – but the logistics of making that happen often mean managing a cumbersome cooler separate from all other beach essentials to make it a reality. An insulated cooler bag that doubles as a beach tote, like Hydroflask’s Day Escape Tote, simplifies matters. Stick ice packs and items you want to keep cold at the bottom and throw a towel, sunscreen, dry snacks, and other essentials at the top for a perfect do-it-all option.

Obviously, the Day Escape truly shines as a dedicated soft cooler (with a 42-can capacity! What?) and is extremely well-engineered for that purpose with sturdy handheld straps and a shoulder strap with a plush pad that makes for a comfortable carry when fully weighted. But, we found the Day Escape works nicely as a stand-alone tote for gear, too. That said, carrying a fully weighted tote will never be as comfortable as a backpack, and for that reason, we also liked the Icemule R-Jaunt as a better offroad cooler option. However, the Day Escape keeps drinks cooler longer and its additional 6-liter capacity over the R-Jaunt is ideal for a small family’s worth of drinks and food.

Unlike even the most rugged totes on our list (looking at you Yeti Camino), the Hydroflask was the only tote that fully zipped close. This works two ways – to keep melted ice from leaking when used as a cooler, or keeping water out to keep your contents dry. At 26L, however, this definitely doesn’t have the largest cargo capacity. So if that’s your aim, you’ll definitely want to look at an all-rounder like the Cotopaxi Allpa or a heavy-duty option like the Yeti Camino.

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Best Beach Backpack

Patagonia Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack ($99)

Carry Options: Backpack or over-the-shoulder tote
Closure: Zipper compartments and cinch closure
Self-Standing: N/A
Capacity: 27L
Pros: Carries way more than it should, outer water bottle pockets, multiple carry modes
Cons: Doesn’t stand up super well, straps not very padded

While it doesn’t have the beach-specific features of the Kavu Beach Rope Backpack or Ripcurl Burrito Pack, Patagonia’s Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack may be the most versatile backpack on our list. With ample storage for a towel or two, zippered inner and outer pockets for quick access to essentials, and a seemingly bottomless capacity that belies its 27 liters of volume, the pack is a great option for solo strike missions to the sand.

Furthermore, the same features that make it shine at the beach also quickly made it our go-to up-for-anything pack. We have used the thing as a carry-on for quick weekend trips, an everyday work bag, and even as a small daypack for family hikes in the Eastern Sierras. We love that it features two stretchy exterior water bottle pockets that easily fit a 32 oz. wide-mouth Nalgene, which is hard to find in lightweight backpacks. It also can be carried as a backpack or as a tote (with backpack straps that easily stash away when not in use), and it fully packs into itself when you’re not using it. Hard to categorize, infinitely useful, the Ultralight Black Hole Tote impresses. 

Best Bag for Wet/Dry Separation

KGUARD SoftCube ($150)

Carry Options: Three (handheld, over the shoulder, cross-body)
Closure: Zipper
Self-Standing: Yes
Capacity: 60L
Pros: Waterproof and durable design, large carrying capacity, included wet/dry separator/changing mat
Cons: Expensive

The KGUARD SoftCube takes waterproof wetsuit storage to the next level. With a super-durable, very waterproof design, there’s little need to worry about your wetsuit leaking all over your car after a surf. The bag is big enough to change in, but also comes with a wet/dry divider that doubles as a changing mat. After you’ve changed out of your wetsuit, place your soaking wet neoprene at the bottom of the bag, put the divider on top, and then load in all the gear you want to keep dry like your towel, surf poncho, or other sundries. For smaller items, there are exterior pockets to keep items like keys and phones separate from the wet gear.

Reinforced sides keep the bag upright when changing in, or when stashed in the back of your car, ensuring no water escapes. A durable zip closure helps on that score as well. As for downsides? Well, while there’s no doubt that the SoftCube is an incredible answer to the question of: “What do I do with my wet wetsuit after surfing?” and just might be the last wetsuit bag you ever buy, in comparison to the more basic wetsuit changing mats that one might find to fulfill the same purpose, the price tag of $150 is a bit steep. That said, the versatility this bag provides as a carry-all for any type of gear does mean you’re getting more than just a wetsuit changing mat/bag with this option.

Best of the Rest

Best “Waterproof” Tote

Finisterre Drift ($110)

Carry Options: Two (handheld, or shoulder)
Closure: Cinch, does not fully close
Self-Standing: Yes
Capacity: 35L
Pros: Sturdy, waterproof construction without being overly bulky and heavy-duty, can be hosed out
Cons: Tall and deep can mean digging to find gear, not many inner compartments

With a deeply engrained environmental ethos combined with an understanding of the specific needs of surfers, and European sensibilities, Finisterre continues to impress us with its product offerings, and the Drift 35L Waterproof Tote is no different. Made with a 100-percent recycled 600D polyester, the Drift is easily one of the most environmentally friendly bags on our list. Welded seams, the likes of which you’d see in more premium wetsuits, are also a nice touch for added durability. To call any tote waterproof is a bit misleading as the top does not seal shut and could easily let water in. Still, the benefit of having a bag that keeps water out from the bottom and sides, which the Drift does well, makes it ideal for the beach.

The waterproof material also means the inside can be rinsed out, making for easy cleaning. We love that the Drift had two sets of handles for either handheld or shoulder carrying, and an inner cinch strap to keep contents locked in. While the Drift is more flexible than the YETI Camino bags we tested and not as heavy or bulky feeling, it is still sturdy enough to self-stand, which makes for easy loading and fewer instances of tipping over. In a pinch, you can also change out of your wetsuit into the bag, which is pretty handy.

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Runner-Up Best Cooler Bag

Icemule R-Jaunt 20L ($170)

Carry Options: One (backpack)
Closure: Rolltop
Self-Standing: N/A
Capacity: 20L
Pros: Sturdy design, comfortable to carry
Cons: Not many pockets for additional essentials

While there are seemingly endless options of insulated cooler bags out there, we like to think of Ice Mule’s backpack-style R-Jaunt as the all-terrain answer to bulky cooler bags and totes that are either carried over the shoulder or slap your thigh when strapped across the body. We found that, when fully loaded, the Icemule is surprisingly comfortable to carry, and keeps hands free for walking or performing other tasks. And the small but mighty 20-liter capacity can keep drinks cold for hours. An air valve allows you to pump air for extra insulation when needed and release for storage when not in use, which worked like a dream.

We like that the R-Jaunt has a more natural carry on the back compared to the Hydroflask Day Escape Tote, but the capacity does feel quite a bit less than the Day Escape, even though it’s only a difference of 6 liters, which is why we named the Day Escape the Best Cooler Bag. Even though the Icemule is mainly designed to work as a cooler, it also doubles as a drybag in a pinch, and can easily store a wet pair of boardshorts, or a wetsuit. The only issue is that it doesn’t offer a ton of separation between wet and dry items like the Ripcurl Burrito. 

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Best Small Beach Bag

Kavu Beach Rope Backpack ($70)

Carry Options: One (backpack)
Closure: Zipper pockets
Self-Standing: N/A
Capacity: 10L
Pros: Multiple compartments, comfortable to wear, buckle makes for easy on and off
Cons: Contents can get sandy

With 10L of capacity, Kavu’s Beach Rope Backpack is perfect for those who enjoy traveling with the bare minimum (think phone, water bottle, and a book) to sandy environs. Made of the same polyester mesh as the brand’s Alder Lake Tote, sand easily sifts out of the many compartments and pockets the bag has to offer while a hidden interior pocket in the padded back of the bag stashes a phone to keep it safe from sand. The sling-style pack makes for comfortable carrying either on the back or across the body on the front without feeling bulky or like it’s sliding around too much.

Kavu’s Beach Rope Backpack is definitely a fun, practical bag for solo beach missions. But, we found the 10L capacity to be a little limiting outside of these sorts of low-key days. While not as beach-specific a bag, Patagonia’s Ultralight Black Hole Tote has the versatility to be a great backpack for everyday carry as well as being the perfect size for a solo beach day. However, the mesh design of the Beach Rope Backpack takes on a lot less sand. Ripcurl’s Burrito Pack is another option with sand-shedding capabilities, and the added benefit of a dedicated wet/dry compartment, but with a 50L capacity it can definitely be a bit large for a solo trip to the beach with just a few items.

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Runner-Up Best Bag for Wet/Dry Separation

Ripcurl Surf Series Burrito Pack ($70)

Carry Options: One (backpack)
Closure: Zipper compartment and cinch closure
Self-Standing: N/A
Capacity: 50L
Pros: Dedicated wetsuit/cooler compartment, stylish
Cons: Can be awkward to carry depending on contents

A great test of the ultimate beach-day bag is whether you could successfully stash a paperback and a wet wetsuit without resulting in a pulpy mess. Lots of bags do wet or dry well, but few are able to handle wet and dry with aplomb. Ripcurl’s Surf Series 50L Burrito Pack was the only bag we tested that fit the bill.

Featuring an insulated cooler pocket that doubles as wetsuit storage and an upper compartment with mesh paneling for breathability and to ditch sand, Ripcurl’s Burrito pack was clearly designed with the needs of surfers top of mind. And at 50L, this thing can carry A LOT – boasting nearly double the capacity of Patagonia’s Ultralight Black Hole Tote and 5 times as large as Kavu’s Beach Rope Backpack. For other similar wet/dry bags, check out our Best Surf Backpacks article. 

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Another Runner-Up Best Overall Beach Bag

Patagonia Black Hole Gear Tote ($119)

Carry Options: One (handheld)
Closure: 2 cinch straps
Self-Standing: No
Capacity: 61L, 25L ($79)
Pros: Bottomless capacity, indestructible
Cons: Shoulder straps are a bit short for over-the-shoulder carrying

With a name like the Black Hole, you’d expect to be able to shove an endless amount of gear into the void that is this bag and wonder where it all went. Capacity-wise, Patagonia’s Black Hole definitely lives up to its namesake. We love the large opening that makes it easy to find what’s inside, and the super sturdy polyester ripstop fabric that’s built to last a lifetime.

One of the major downsides of this bag, though, is we found the straps felt very short for over-the-shoulder carrying making it impractical to carry over the shoulder when fully loaded. This is why we recommend the Cotopaxi Allpa or Yeti Camino as our top picks for their versatility. Patagonia also makes a 25L version of this bag, and in testing, we found it to be more practical for everyday use than the larger version, and a great all-around daily carry tote bag. 

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REI Co-Op Trailgate 45 Tote ($70)

Carry Options: Three (handheld, over-the-shoulder, shoulder strap)
Closure: Deployable top cover with drawstring and compression strap
Self-Standing: Yes
Capacity: 45L
Pros: Reasonable price point, deployable cover protects contents
Cons: Not exactly stylish, no special features

REI’s Trailgate Tote feels and looks more like something you’d bring on an airplane or pack for an overnight trip than something you’d bring to the beach. That said, with a deployable top cover with a drawstring closure, the Trailgate Tote is one of the few larger totes that has the ability to close to keep sand out. We love the two side pockets that easily fit larger water bottles, and the longer handheld straps and optional shoulder strap make it easy to carry either by hand, over the shoulder, or across the body.

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The Cotopaxi Allpa is our top-pick gear hauler for its large capacity and easy carrying. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Best Beach Bags Comparison Table

Testing tote-style beach bags on SoCal beaches. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

How We Tested The Best Beach Bags

To put the best beach bags to the test, our first stop, of course, was the beach. Specifically North Orange County, California, beaches known for having abundant long stretches of fine sand that, while part of their charm, can feel like trudging across the Sahara when trying to park it for the day just above the tide line.

To get a feel for each bag’s capacity, we shoved all sorts of beach essentials including towels, blankets, sunscreen, water bottles, snacks, and other provisions inside. We tested each bag’s ability to organize contents with internal pockets, whether bags were able to close completely to keep out sand and dust (and water, in some cases), and did our best to test each bag at full capacity to see how it felt when carrying fully weighted. For good measure, and to test the versatility of each bag, we also brought the bags along on camping trips, flights, swim lessons, and soccer practices. After testing nearly 20 different beach bag options, we narrowed our list down to the 11 you see here today. 

Our lead bag tester, Dylan Heyden, grew up spending countless days in the sand in and around Orange County. Now a dad of two, he is intimately familiar with how much gear, snacks, and beverages two little monsters require to be equipped for a few hours in the sun. He’s crammed towels, books, wetsuits, sand toys, drinks, snacks, and more into each bag, unpacking and repacking to get a sense of how each bag holds up over time, how each feels in different positions when being carried fully weighted, and figuring out the max carrying capacity.

Stuff goes in, sand falls out. The Kavu Alder Lake Tote was our pick for those who want as little sand as possible inside the bag. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Best Beach Bags Buyer’s Guide

Shoot down to your local beach and ask 100 people what makes the perfect beach bag… and you’re likely to get 100 different answers. That’s because the ideal bag depends primarily on three essential questions that need answering: 1) what you plan to carry, 2) how much you plan to carry, and 3) the most comfortable way to carry. Once you’ve gotten these figured out, additional elements like materials and construction come into play. Here are the key considerations for choosing your perfect beach bag as we see them:

Contents

First things first, what do you plan to carry? Towels and a cell phone? A six-pack you’d like to keep cold for several hours? All of the above?

Thinking through your typical beach day cargo is essential when trying to narrow down the ideal bag because you’ll need to ask yourself what you want the bag to be able to do. Do you want to keep sand out of your car or home at all costs? Go with the Kavu Alder Lake Tote. Will your day be ruined without cold drinks? Prioritize an insulated bag like the Hydroflask Day Escape or Icemule R-Jaunt. Want to keep a wet wetsuit or board shorts separate from your paperback? Consider a bag with a dedicated place to stash wet items like Ripcurl’s Surf Burrito or the KGUARD SoftCube.

Once you narrow down what you’ll be carrying most of the time, you can move on to the next question: how much?

Self-standing bags make for easy loading. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Capacity

Unlike less tangible considerations such as style, the capacity of a bag is a simple math problem. Still, as we quickly realized in our test, while liters may be the industry standard when defining a bag’s size and capacity, that measurement alone doesn’t do a great job of explaining how the volume is distributed – whether height, width, length, etc. Plus, who knows the literage for everyday items like an average beach towel off the top of their head?

To put things in layman’s terms, we found that bags in the 50 to 60-liter range could do about four beach towels comfortably, occasionally with room to spare. 40L bags could handle two similarly sized towels well, with some extra room, and 25L or less could maybe handle a single towel and a few other items.

What kind of bag you should buy depends on what you want to put in it. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

An additional note on capacity: bigger is not always better. It really depends on the cargo. A single 50 or 60L bag may sound great until it’s stuffed to the gills with heavy items and you’ve got two straps digging into your shoulder. A larger bag may also be great when carrying an entire family’s worth of gear to and from the sand but have less practical use for day-to-day.

We found this to be true of Yeti’s Camino line, especially. While the 50L bag has bottomless capacity for big beach days, we find we use it less frequently than the 35L version because it is just too much bag for most occasions. 

YETI’s Camino bags have both a well-positioned carry handle and a shoulder strap. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Tote vs. Backpack

After determining what and how much you plan to carry, the final piece of the pie is how you want to carry. In short: tote or backpack? A tote will always be more awkward to carry than a backpack – you throw it over one shoulder and things feel a bit… lopsided? But larger totes especially have the benefit of a large, open, central compartment where contents can be easily seen and accessed quickly. Totes come in larger sizes (up to 65L, like Cotopaxi’s Allpa) and can be nice for bulkier items like towels that may not fit so easily in a backpack.

Patagonia’s Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack packs down small when not in use. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Backpacks, on the other hand, generally have less carry capacity but are more natural to haul, making them great for more adventurous outings or for solo missions. Even when full, Kavu’s Beach Rope Backpack is so light you can almost forget you are wearing it.

Backpacks can also be a quiver-killer option. Patagonia’s Ultralight Black Hole Tote, for example, became a go-to not just for beach days but for light hikes, as well as a great carry-on when flying, and a whole host of other uses.

This was just the top layer, with towels underneath – the Cotopaxi Allpa 60L Gear Hauler has plenty of room for kid’s beach toys, water bottle, swim fins, camera, and more, and can be cinched up to transport it all. Photo: Steve Andrews//The Inertia

Other Considerations

Construction

Thinking through the contents you plan to carry and the capacity lends itself to thinking about the ideal construction of a go-to beach bag. Obviously a bag full of towels will weigh less than a bag full of aluminum cans, and more weight would require more durably constructed straps and seams to ensure the bag lasts.

The tradeoff of a sturdier bag is the increased bulk. For example, if we were to fill a bag to capacity with rocks every day, YETI’s Camino might be our pick because its straps felt bulletproof. But, if we’re packing a pair of trunks, a few towels, a water bottle, and some sunscreen, we might go with Kavu’s Alder Lake Tote due to how light it is.

The Icemule R-Jaunt makes a great waterproof/floating backpack cooler, while the Kavu Beach Rope Backpack helps keep sand at the beach. Different strokes for different folks. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Waterproofing

Will the bag keep water out? Can it be hosed out? These features may come at a premium, but if the bag lasts the equivalent of 10 lesser bags’ lives, it may be worth it in the end. The Finisterre Drift is a good waterproof option that’s also fairly light, while bags like the KGUARD SoftCube and YETI Camino is much more heavy-duty.

Having some means of internal organization is a game-changer. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Internal Organization

It goes without saying, but having a system to keep your gear organized can make it easier to access what you need without having to dig. Keys, wallet, cell phone – these are all essential items that also have a tendency to play hide-and-seek at the bottom of a large open compartment.

Mesh drop-in pockets (like the ones that line the Cotopaxi Allpa), zippered pockets, or other organization systems keep what you need close at hand. If you’re looking to keep wet things wet and dry things dry, you may also want to consider either a dry bag or a bag with separation for wet stuff like the KGUARD SoftCube. 

Closure system on the Cotopaxi Allpa. Photo: Dylan Heyden//The Inertia

Closure Systems

While tote bags generally don’t feature closure systems – one of the draws of a big open compartment being you can see and grab what you need quickly – many totes these days do feature buckles or clips to latch gear down so it doesn’t spill out. In our comparison table above, we do our best to call out these closure systems because they do make a pretty big difference in keeping contents secure. As you’d expect, the backpacks on our list all fully close to keep out sand and debris, which can be ideal for solo beach missions.

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Editor’s Note: For other gear-hauling options, check out The Best Beach Wagons, and The Best Surf Backpacks. If you need some sun protection while at the beach, here are our guides to The Best Beach Canopies and The Best Beach Umbrellas. Going surfing? Here’s The Best Board Shorts. For more gear reviews and features on The Inertia, click here.

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