The best travel gifts for frequent flyers and armchair travellers

Best: Overall

Rating: 10/10

Whether they’re gearing up for a big hiking trip around the world or a road trip around Britain, a multi-tasking high-quality backpack is the trustiest travel companion. And this 42-litre option from Stubble & Co is the perfect pick. Not only is it lightweight and small enough to tuck away comfortably in the carry-on compartment of a plane, but it also has about 11 brilliant easy-access pockets so they can separate everything from their laptop to their liquids to shoes and water bottles with ease – one of those is a hidden card pocket on the strap for easy access to your money. Another feature we love is the main zip, which opens like a suitcase.

Read more: 8 best travel backpacks for every adventure

Best: Last-minute gift

Rating: 8/10

If they’re the type of traveller who prefers to absorb themselves in a local neighbourhood rather than bed down in a hotel, then Airbnb’s new gift cards are your best choice this year. The customisable e-cards can be purchased in amounts from £25 and £2000 and can be redeemed on any Airbnb service, whether that’s a wooden treehouse stay in West Sussex, a cooking class in Mexico, or an online meditation session with a Japanese Buddhist monk. And the best thing? Your gift arrives instantly via text or email, making it the perfect last-minute Christmas gift.

Best: For road trips

Rating: 8/10

Road trips are having a moment. So if your favourite traveller is hitting the road, why not elevate their drive with a luxury car freshener? This gift set from our go-to candle brand DS & Durga is a far cry from the hanging car trees you may be familiar with – think smoky fragrances like “portable fireplace”, eucalyptus-scented “Big Sur after the rain” and cardamom-infused “holy ficus”.  It doesn’t just need to be a companion to a lengthy drive, either – the hanging cards (which come cased in scratch-and-sniff envelopes) also double as home air fresheners for wardrobes and drawers too.

Read more: 9 best car diffusers to make driving a joy for the senses

Best: For camping

Rating: 9/10

If their campside cooking repertoire doesn’t normally stretch beyond soggy burgers, BioLite’s campstove 2+ is a game-changer. The lightweight, portable cooking system burns sticks and wood scraps or pellets to create a sophisticated smokeless flame perfect for grilling, boiling or cooking – but our favourite feature? The heat from the fire then creates electricity, which can be used to charge your phone via a handy USB port – magic. The stove is easy to pack away and packs down to an impressively small size. Want to take your happy camper’s present up a notch? Choose to add on the tabletop grill (£59.99, Bioliteenergy.com) or a proper tent-side feast or add the kettletop and cafetiere (£12.99, Bioliteenergy.com) for a group who take their morning brew seriously – it can make six cups of coffee at once.

Best: Stocking filler

Rating: 8/10

Travelling in our current times means many hours spent wearing reusable masks. Beyond making sure your traveller has the best face mask possible for lengthy journeys (we rounded up our favourites), Sensori +’s Byron Bay breeze mask sanitiser eliminates bacteria and pairs that with a calming fragrance inspired by Byron Bay’s summer breeze – think peppermint, lime and cedarwood – ideal for long, stressful journeys.  The handy, travel-sized 30ml bottle fits easily in any bum bag or purse. Plus, it’s packed with salicylic acid and soothing aloe vera to banish any maskne woes.

Best: For the heritage tourist

Rating: 9/10

Not all travel begins at an airport or train station – some can start at home with a DNA kit, believe it or not. Enter: heritage travel. Not only are travellers nowadays looking to connect with locals on their trips, but they want to connect to their own family tree. Our favourite geneology kit, 23AndMe, has even go so far as to partner with Airbnb so travellers can find homes and experiences in their native countries immediately.

The kit itself is very slick and makes a great present. On the test front, the results are impressively in-depth and equally as fun to read through. We were told we had 0.1 per cent Korean ancestry, as well as having 5 per cent more Neanderthal DNA than other customers, which may influence our traits, such as having difficulty discarding rarely-used possessions. The rest of the results are similarly fun insights.

Best: For over-packers

Rating: 9.5/10

We’ve droned on about this stylish Mary Poppins-esque fold-up bag for a long time (it was our staycation essential and our best duffle bag). And three years since first using it, it’s just as essential to us in any packing situation, whether it’s a countryside trip in the UK, an international jaunt or, sometimes just to help get the Sainsbury’s weekly shop up the stairs in one go.

What makes it such a perfect pick for the overpacker? Not only is it incredibly lightweight (it’s 453g) and incredibly chic, it somehow fits every souvenir or tchotchkes a traveller could possibly buy. And, best of all, it folds completely flat and zips into a neat little pouch.

Best: For serious coffee lovers

If your giftee is serious about their coffee, then look no further than Handpresso’s manual espresso machine set. The luxurious and lightweight set comes in an easy-to-carry bag along with a pump for E.S.E pods or ground coffee, a thermo-flask, a napkin, and four“unbreakable” clear espresso cups.

There’s no electricity or battery needed to use the pump either, so, as long as they’ve packed the thermos with boiling water they can have a civilised espresso break even if they’re camping in the middle of nowhere.

Read more: 10 best Christmas gifts for coffee connoisseurs

Best: For hands-free exploring

Rating: 8/10

Phone, cards, keys, earbuds, lip balm? If they like to travel light or they like to keep their valuables up close, Dagne Dover’s recycled neoprene phone sling was made for essentials-only carrying. For such a small sling, it packs a punch when it comes to maximising space. There are multiple pockets, card slots, a lip balm holder and a D ring for latching keys onto, meaning they’ll never need to scramble to find their wallet or waste a second reaching for their phone for a picture-perfect moment.