Here is a story from our backpacking adventures:
We went to Kampot, Cambodia – such a cool place btw – and just as we were heading for a bus to our next destination, it started bucketing so heavily, EVERYTHING in our backpacks got soaked. 😬
Now, there are two things you need to know about this story:
- You can swap the location for any other destination we visited, because it rains EVERYWHERE we go (and yes, we did get biblical rain in Kampot too)
- Part of that story is a lie
Which part is not true?
The one about our things getting soaked.
We travel smart, and if you want to travel smart too, you’ve come to the right place.
We write about all the travel tips and hacks that will help you solve your travel problems – before they even become problems.
In this post, we’ll tell you about the lifesaver that is a waterproof backpack cover.
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.
Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.
After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆
During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅
And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!
Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!
Who needs a waterproof backpack cover?
If you read our mini story from the intro of this post, and you are thinking: “Well, I am not going backpacking the world, so this is not relevant to me,” we are here to tell you that’s incorrect.
If you ever travel with any sort of a backpack – doesn’t have to be a big one for full-time travels, it can be a small daypack too – you need a waterproof backpack cover.
In fact, even if you don’t travel with a backpack at all (okay, but where do you carry all your things??), but you do carry a backpack in your normal life, at least sometimes, you need a backpack rain cover.
Rain covers saved our butts SO MANY times, in so many situations.
So, who needs a waterproof backpack cover?
EVERYONE!
What is a waterproof backpack cover?
Okay, now that we’ve established that you need one, what the heck is it, actually?
A waterproof backpack cover or a rain cover is basically like a big swimming cap that you pull over your backpack from the front to keep it dry in rain or snow.
It looks like this:
Why do I need a waterproof backpack cover?
Let’s talk about the 3 different groups we mentioned at the start and why each needs this colourful swimming cap-like contraption:
1. Every day backpack users
Answer these 2 questions:
- Do you carry a backpack around the outside world?
- Does it rain where you live?
If you said yes to both, a waterproof backpack cover might be the lifesaver you didn’t know existed.
Before we set off on our full-time travel adventures, we used to live in Scotland. And yes, it’s true that it rains there A LOT.
This is why we each had a rain cover for our work backpacks – and we used them frequently.
That way our paperwork, lunches, laptops etc. were protected as we commuted to work for yet another exciting day in the corporate world (if you are sensing sarcasm, you are correct).
2. Casual traveller
If you travel smart and pack light, you are probably travelling a lot with a daypack. If you don’t pack light and you have no idea why you should, read this. It might change your travels forever.
Unless you always travel only to sunny and dry destinations, it’s a good idea to have a waterproof backpack cover with you. Any time you need to protect the contents of your backpack because they are either valuable (paperwork, tech) or important (all the stuff you need on a holiday), you better have a rain cover with you in case it starts raining a lot.
3. Long-term travellers
If you are a long-term traveller, chances are you are a backpacker.
Lugging a giant backpack with your whole life in it on your shoulders (and hips. In fact, it should be mainly your hips, but that’s a topic for another post).
Actually, chances are you are probably sporting the ridiculous (and sweat-inducing) look of double backpacks: a big one on your back and a small daypack on your front.
Now that’s something we don’t miss about full-time backpacking. Especially since we overpacked big time. These days, it’s packing-light travel only. 😅
If that big-backpack/double-backpack traveller is you (or will be you, if full-time travel is the goal), you better make sure those backpacks and their contents are protected.
A waterproof backpack cover when travelling long-term is an absolute must – unless you want to spend your evenings blow-drying the entire contents of your backpack in your guesthouse room. (Btw. just in case some wet disaster does strike, we carry a paracord with us. If you are thinking: “WTF can that be used for in this case,” read this.)
There is something else you should consider, as a long-term/big backpack traveller. We talk about it below (or click here and skip there right now, if you are feeling cheeky today 😝).
Waterproof backpack cover vs an umbrella
If you are wondering whether you need a waterproof backpack cover if you are carrying an umbrella, consider this:
- Waterproof backpack covers are super light and packable, so you can always have them in your backpack. If rain takes you by surprise and you don’t have an umbrella, your stuff will still stay safe (but your hair won’t, unless you pull the rain cover over your head. We haven’t tried that yet, surprisingly).
- Not sure how about you, but we usually share one small umbrella, and to try and stay dry ourselves, we often end up not covering our backpacks with it. Rain covers are great for this, as you don’t have to worry about backpacks getting soaked.
- If you carry something important/precious/expensive in your backpack, like documents or tech gear, you might feel better if you know it’s double-protected.
- What if an a-hole passes you in a car and a massive tsunami gets splashed up right at your backpack? An umbrella won’t save it. And don’t tell us that’s never happened to you.
How much does a waterproof backpack cover cost?
If you’ve decided that you fancy a swimming cap aka a rain cover for your backpack, too, but are now worried about the cost, don’t be.
They are super affordable. More on this below.
Where can you buy rain covers?
You can find them in most outdoor and sports shops. Or in the world of the internet.
We got them from Amazon and Decathlon.
The price?
You can get the daypack one (10-20l) for as little as £4.49 in Decathlon.
As always, shop around. But first, make sure your backpack doesn’t already come with a rain cover – we talk more about that here. If you are buying a new backpack for your travel adventures, get the backpack first and then deal with the rain cover if it’s not included.
Also, consider the key things below before buying.
The things to consider when buying a waterproof backpack cover
Size
Size definitely does matter when it comes to waterproof backpack covers, because if you get one that is too small, it won’t cover your backpack, obviously. But if you get one that is too big, it will look ridiculous and most likely also not hold very well on the bag. Try to find rain covers that have sizing in litres, rather than the generic: small, medium etc. and try to match them as closely to your backpack size as possible.
That being said, some rain covers come with quite a range of litres, especially the smaller ones for daypacks. For example, this one from Decathlon fits backpacks between 10 and 20 litres.
Quality
If you are planning on using the rain cover in heavy rain and/or having it protect important things (such as tech gear or your whole life, if you are backpacking full-time), test it out first.
The way we do this is super sophisticated – by putting it over a backpack and showering it. 😂 Simple, but effective. We test all waterproof gear like this, such as the waterproof phone cases that are btw, also a lifesaver if you are ever in or near water.
Another thing is, check the waterproof cover regularly, especially if you are travelling long-term and putting it on and off often. We discovered small holes in our daypack rain covers after some time and had to replace them.
Colour
Many of the rain covers come in quite bright colours. We can think of two reasons why this might be: 1. When it rains, everything is kinda depresso, so the bright colours cheer everyone up. 2. When it rains, it often gets darker outside, and the bright colours make you more visible as you travel through the miserable world.
Consider whether you do want to look like a neon highlighter when travelling/commuting to work/living your best life.
Some rain covers even come with reflective elements, which can be useful if you know you will be cycling or walking along the side of the road (hello Asia and your lack of pavements).
Strap
What’s the mechanism for securing the rain cover to your backpack?
There might not be anything – it’s often just the elastic keeping it in place. That is fine if your waterproof backpack cover matches the size of your backpack. Which, as we mentioned, with daypacks isn’t always the case.
In that case, it’s pretty handy to have a small strap that goes around the back of the rain cover and your backpack, and secures it, so it doesn’t just slide off.
The thing to keep in mind is, you still want your backpack to be pretty accessible, not faffing with some straps as you, for example, need to take out a snack in a downpour.
Tip on storing your waterproof backpack cover
You might be lucky and your rain cover might come with a little bag or a pouch that you can scrunch it up into, so it’s not a mess in your backpack.
We’ve got one like that for one of our daypacks.
For the other one, we just use an organza bag we repurposed from something else.
Any small pouch or a bag will do – remember, you want to squish it, otherwise it will expand and you don’t want it taking up space in your backpack, so go for a small bag.
For our big Osprey backpacks, we carry our rain covers in the top pocket of the backpacks, where they are easily accessible, but also they are not taking up valuable space in the main compartment of the bags.
Since they are in their own pocket with nothing else, we don’t have any extra bag or a pouch for these.
Something else to consider if you travel with a big backpack
If you are travelling long-term or use a big backpack on your holidays and trips, a rain cover is not the only travel hack you need.
There are actually two things you need for your backpack:
- Rain cover
- Backpack cover
We’ve covered rain covers in this post. But what on earth are backpack covers?
They are like an extra, thin bag that goes over your backpack to keep it safe (and clean).
We wrote all about backpack covers here. They are an absolute must if you are going anywhere with your backpack, unless you want it damaged, dirty, wet and robbed. (okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but we want to make sure you get how important backpack covers are.)
If you are now thinking that you will just use your rain cover as your backpack cover, we’ve got to burst your bubble.
We tried that and it doesn’t work.
Rain cover will not stay on your backpack as it gets whacked about by airport staff, for example. Again, we tried and failed.
The solution
Check out our post that explains everything about backpack covers.
Basically, you might get lucky and your backpack might come with an awesome rain cover/backpack cover hybrid. Mirka’s Osprey is like that – what a great travel hack.
Daniel’s Osprey, sadly, despite being amazing, only came with a rain cover, so we had to buy an extra backpack cover for it. Not a big deal as it’s just £20 in Decathlon, but it’s an extra thing to carry and those grams do add up when you carry them on your shoulders.
But again, more details are in this post, which explains why you need either a hybrid rain cover/backpack cover or two separate things. Go read it so you are a pro-level traveller.
We hope that this post showed you why you need to get a waterproof backpack cover too (level up your travels!). If you have any questions, drop them in the comments section below or DM us on our Instagram. And don’t let rain ruin your travel adventures! 🌧️
