The Ultimate Packing Guide For Your Beach Vacation

When the everyday humdrum of all work and no play starts to take a toll, there's nothing like a healthy dose of beach therapy to get you feeling right as rain again. Whether your idea of a day at the beach means splashing around for hours on end or kicking back with a favorite podcast and then watching the sunset over the horizon, there's something purifying about connecting with the water.

When it comes to maximizing your fun in the sun and minimizing your beach day stress levels, having the best beachside setup is essential. And with a little careful planning and special attention to packing the right gear, your day at the beach can be a real walk in the park. From sand-free, comfy beachside lounging to ensuring everyone in your crew stays safe, we've put together the ultimate packing guide for your next beach vacation. The only thing left to worry about is what to add to your playlist!

After a long day of fun in the sun, it's time to shake off the sand and pack it in for the day. But what do you do with all of those damp towels or wet swimsuits? Sure, you can wring them out and carry them around until you arrive back at the hotel room, but what if you spot someplace cool to stop for a snow cone along the way?

This is why you need a wet bag and a handful of extra carabiners for everyone in your group. Originally designed for handling cloth diapers, wet bags can be incredibly useful for vacations, particularly for stashing soiled laundry or wet swimwear and towels. Purchase one you can hook on with a carabiner and then clip it to your backpack as you're on your way post-beach day. And the great thing about carabiners is that they can instantly expand the storage capacity of your backpack.

If you're the kind of person who likes to impress your friends and loved ones with next-level hacks, you'll absolutely need to throw a fitted sheet into your beach bag. Once you've chosen your perfect beach spot, get someone to help you stretch your fitted sheet out as far as possible, depositing something heavy like a beach bag in each corner to hold it in place and pulling up the corner around it. 

This creates a smooth surface that's free of sand, so you don't have to worry about getting the stuff all over your beach towel when you're stretching out to get some much-needed Vitamin D. It also creates a sand-free play space for any kiddos in your party with specific sensory sensitivities. TikTokker Skyler Adams also recommends bringing a water bowl and towel mat to rinse your feet off and keep things extra clean.

No afternoon on the beach is complete without the perfect summer playlist. But whether you prefer Taylor Swift or The Dillinger Escape Plan, if you plan on using your phone to kick up some tunes at your beach site, you'll need to pack a portable Bluetooth speaker. Even if you're traveling alone, listening to your audiobook or tunes on a speaker is safer than keeping your earbuds in and closing yourself off to the sounds around you.

You don't need anything big or fancy — just something small enough to easily fit in your bag and loud enough to hear outside. You can pick up waterproof speakers, but if you're planning to keep them at your beach site, you're probably fine without this extra feature. Just be sure to make sure your speaker is fully charged before heading out to the beach. And don't crank the volume too high — you are in a public space, after all.

Your phone might be your best friend on the beach, but the beach can be pretty rough on a phone if you're not careful. Tiny sand particles get everywhere while you're on the beach, and they can even get into your charger or headphone ports. Once inside your ports, it can cause corrosion and seriously damage your phone. And we all know that water is the enemy of phones.

But that doesn't mean you need to leave it in your car where it can get overheated. To keep your phone free of water and sand, be sure to pack a waterproof phone protector with a clear cover. In a pinch, Mobile Tech Addicts say an airtight Ziploc-style baggie will work, and you should still be able to operate the touch screen. Just be careful that the seal is completely closed when using it with wet hands.

It's not always feasible to take a large, hard-side cooler with you when you're beachbound, particularly if you're flying to your destination. And even if you did, it's just another thing to lug around on top of your beach bags and anything else you might want to bring along. At the same time, you don't want to get stuck out in the summer sun without your favorite ice-cold, refreshing beverages. 

An insulated cooler is much more compact. Even better, an insulated tote like the one you use to buy frozen foods at the grocery store is collapsible and makes a fine alternative when you're just looking for a spot to stash a few water bottles and Gatorades. If you pack the right one, you can fold it inside your luggage for the flight and fill it with ice at your hotel's ice dispenser before heading out for the afternoon.

Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends reapplying sunscreen every two hours when you're hanging out in the sun. If you're doing much sweating or you've spent any amount of time in the water, you'll need to reapply even more often. But if the idea of reaching for a sunscreen bottle that's been sitting in full sun for hours and heating up to a nice, warm massage oil temperature seems pretty unappealing on a warm beach day, try stashing it in your cooler or a small insulated bag. Throw in an ice pack, and you've got a nice, cool lotion to help bring down the temperature. 

If you find yourself with a touch of sunburn, you'll be glad you did. A thermal bag or cooler is also an excellent place to stash your chapstick to keep it from melting in the summer heat.

If you don't already carry a pocket-sized hand sanitizer everywhere you go, it's a must-have addition to your beach bag. Even though the salt in briny seawater has a few natural antibacterial properties, saltwater will not kill all of the bacteria you encounter while you're in the ocean. And if we learned nothing else in the pandemic, it's that it's never a bad idea to do a little preventative sanitizer spritz.

Choosing a foaming sanitizer to pop into your small insulation pouch can make freshening up your hands even fresher. And if all that sticky salt and sand make you feel like something that crawled out of Davy Jones' locker, a lovely scented sanitizer can help cut out some of the ick factor. A small, travel-sized pack of hand sanitizer wipes can also make a delightful alternative — especially if you've got kiddos in your beach party.

Whether your day at the beach was all about beachcombing, sunbathing, or sandcastle building, there's a good chance you're going to end up with sand all over you — in your hair, on your skin, and all over your belongings. According to Popular Science, that's because sand is naturally hydrophilic, meaning it likes water, and water likes it. Since even the air near the ocean can be a little wet, you can pretty much bet you'll end up covered in the stuff. But with just a little silicate-free baby powder and a spare sock, you can avoid dragging loads of microscopic souvenirs back to your hotel room.

Baby powder has an absorbent property to soak up that moisture, causing sand to lose its stickiness and fall to the ground. YouTuber Lauren Clutter recommends filling a sock with powder and brushing it over any sandy skin to leave your skin free of sand and ready for the next big adventure.