Minimalist packing list: how to pack light for a long weekend

For those of us with full-time jobs (but probably for anyone), a city-break is the best way to recharge. Travelling for a long weekend allows to discover a new place, rest and relax, and come back home with fresh energies. Our minimalist packing list for a long weekend will make your trip even more pleasant.

During all these years traveling in Europe, we honed our art of packing light. Minimalist packing helps us save time, money and energies! So we obviously want to help you, dear reader, improve the way you travel with our motivational, quick and easy packing checklist for a city-break.

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Some good reasons to pack light

What can you achieve by packing light for your weekend away? You will feel safer, more comfortable and confident, lighter and cosmopolitan.

Imagine yourself dragging a noisy and clunky suitcase on a romantic cobblestone street, or sweating up the stairs of the metro. Think about the time you waste choosing your clothes in the morning, instead of discovering a new and exciting city. Isn’t that a shame?

Now, instead, picture yourself swooping past airport security, strolling comfortably in the subway, lifting easily your small carry-on with barely 10 kg inside it. You put on quickly a fashionable outfit in the morning and then set off to urban adventures. These are the reasons to embrace minimalist packing for a city break!

• Save time packing at home: no need to experiment with rolling your clothes or using vacuum bags to fit everything in your carry-on. They are so few, they don’t need squeezing!
• Save money on luggage: no extra fees for checked-in bags
• Save time at the airport: with a carry-on you don’t have to check in, you can go straight to security. Life is too short to wait at the baggage claim! 
• Save energy in the city: walk easily with your carry-on on public transport and taxis, and then avoid back and shoulder pain by having just essential items with you when sightseeing
• Save time in the morning: with your chosen outfit, you’ll be ready in no time
• And last but not least, you have space for souvenirs 🙂

Packing light tip: if you’re freaking out because this is your first attempt at minimalist packing, take a breath and close your eyes. Picturing yourself at the destination, light and comfortable with your beloved chosen items, will motivate you to keep going.

Important factors for essential packing

When you consider these factors, you will realize that you don’t actually need to pack a mountain of stuff for just a few days. It’s all about planning!

• How long your city-break is: this determines what outfits to bring (3-4 days/nights). Yes, outfits or clothes that you can mix and match: plan them in advance.
• What you plan to do: urban activities, walking, sightseeing, museums, dinners, or also wellness, hiking?
• What accommodation you chose for your city break: I recommend a hotel or serviced apartment, so you can leave at home a lot of toiletries and towels!
• The climate of your destination: this packing list is valid for any season, but consider the generic climate when you start planning and booking
• The actual weather: start checking 1-2 weeks before departure and plan for the actual sun/rain/wind you will encounter, and then finalize a couple of days before departure when the forecast is more accurate
• Your luggage: packing light means everything will fit in a 10-kg carry-on/backpack and a handbag/daypack. However, each airline has slightly different regulations and some may actually charge to bring the carry-on on board. Write down the size of your carry-on and keep it handy when you browse plane tickets.

Consider these factors together with the minimalist packing list for your city-break.

Packing light tip: practice makes perfect! If your wardrobe is already quite minimalist, packing light will be easier. Likewise, if you enjoy your minimalist wardrobe for a few days, maybe your home wardrobe can also be revised.

How to pack light for a weekend in the city?

Be honest, realistic and ruthless!

These are our best tips to travel light for a city break, tried and tested over the years, and successfully applied on multiple occasions: we travelled to Oslo in Norway for 3 days, to Krakow and Zakopane in Poland for 4 days, to Sicily in Italy for 5 days, to Trieste in Italy for 3 days, to Mantova and Bologna in Italy for 5 days, to Lisbon in Portugal for 4 days. Check our itineraries!

We used to pack clothes for all occasions, and then say “I didn’t even wear this t-shirt” with a sense of defeat when unpacking at home. We carried pointless weight and wasted space! Trial and error is how we developed our method to pack light!

Pack outfits and layers, not clothes

Visualize yourself during your trip: what will you do and what will you wear?

Check the weather, decide the outfits, and pack only those in your carry-on.

No extra shoes if it won’t rain. No fancy top if you’ll eat street food. No heavy book or laptop for evening relaxation if you’ll walk all day and fall asleep when your head hits the pillow.

If you need to play it safe because of the weather or your planned activities, try to pack layers: the same pair of jeans can go hiking with a t-shirt and a hoodie, and then they can go to dinner with a nice top.

Pack clothes that you know and love

Don’t pack clothes that you have never worn.

You don’t know how they will fit, if they will rub and hurt, make you sweat or freeze. New shoes will most probably give you blisters.

Pack and wear trusted and comfortable clothes.

Pack the most important things and leave the “just in case” items

It’s very easy to pack as much as your suitcase or backpack allows. Your stuff seems to expand! Well, guess what, all that stuff will expand even more on the way back, you’ll get nervous and you won’t have any space left for souvenirs. More reasons to pack just the important things.

And anyway, if you are really honest with yourself, you know deep down if you will use all that stuff or not. Will you really play a board game on the plane? Won’t you survive without all your beauty products for just a couple of nights? You are travelling to visit a city for a weekend, after all.

In case you really urgently absolutely need something, you can buy it there.

City break essential packing list

Let’s imagine that you are travelling for 4 days and 3 nights. Here is how to pack light for a long weekend!

Minimalist outfits for a city-break

Prepare your outfits on your bed: this is my proven method for how to decide what to pack for a long weekend.

DAY 1 + 4 = wear the same clothes when you travel, on the first and last day! Make sure it’s a comfortable outfit, with layers for a cold plane or a hot bus. Needless to say, try and wear the bulkier items when you travel.

• Shirt/top/T-shirt/blouse #1
• Trousers/Pants/Skirt #1 (Belt)
• Sweater/Pullover/Jumper/Hoodie #1
• Socks and underwear #1
• Shoes
• Jacket/Coat
• (Scarf/hat if necessary)

DAY 2: sightseeing = pack according to what you are going to do during your city-break, and read up about your destination. Does the museum blast cold air? Will you burn your shoulders on the castle hill? Is it windy on the night cruise? Plan and pack accordingly. Use layers to your advantage.

• Top #2
• Trousers/skirt #2
• Sweater/cardigan/hoodie #2
• Socks and underwear #2
• Same shoes, jacket, accessories of day 1 (unless it’s a totally different climate)

DAY 3: sightseeing = if you will do similar things to day 2, then wear the same clothes! Pack more stuff only for different activities, e.g. a day at the spa or a day hike, or if you know you will sweat a lot during day 2.

• Shirt/top #3 if necessary
• Socks and underwear #3
• Same #2 trousers and sweater
• Same shoes, jacket, accessories of day 1

Carry-on clothes checklist

Ta-daaa! Minimalist packing list for a long week: done! These are the only essential clothes you have to pack in the carry-on!

• 1 pair of trousers
• 1 or 2 tops
• 1 sweater/cardigan/hoodie
• 2 socks, 2 underwear (3 if you have a late flight back)

Isn’t it wonderful? It will take you 5 minutes to get dressed in the morning, because you already made your choices. That means more time in bed or at breakfast!

Extra clothes and miscellaneous

I can hear your brain screaming “what if we decide to go dancing, what if we have dinner at a fancy restaurant, what if I spill wine on myself, what if it’s too hot/too cold, what if we meet the president, aaaaaaaaaaah!”

Well, tell your brain to calm down. You’ve got this. You can allow yourself exceptions:

• A nice top for special dinner (only one! It must match the pants/skirt of another outfit. And be critical about your shoes: you know you will hate those heels after walking all day around the city. So don’t pack them!)
• Swimsuit and flip flops, if planned or extremely likely, stored in a plastic bag (does your hotel have a pool?)
• Extra layer for low temperatures, even though you can always buy a pullover on spot
• Pajamas… or maybe not 🙂

Other useful minimalist travel items and gadgets:

• Umbrella, a tiny one that fits in your purse/daypack
• Small purse to leave at your accommodation with items you don’t use during trip, e.g. home keys, currency, cards and ID. No reason to carry them along all day.
• A combination lock for your suitcase
• A plug adapter or multiple plug
• A bag for dirty clothes, if your luggage doesn’t have a separate compartment

What about tech? Well, I think most minimalist travel tech is important enough to fit in your purse, so you’ll find it below.

Minimalist toiletries for travel

Now, how to pack a light toiletry bag? Simple:

• Don’t bring anything that you will find at your accommodation
• Do some maintenance grooming before you travel

Shower gel, shampoo, body lotion, towels: part of the excitement of travel is to try on new products, smell a different fragrance on your skin… and perhaps, bring those cute bottles home with you! How can you do it if your toiletries bag is already exploding with your stuff?

Also, make sure you cut your nails, shape your eyebrows, shave anything that needs shaving, and all other maintenance in advance, so you can leave a bunch of tools at home.

Pack only these items and in travel size (max 100 ml bottles! Don’t be that person at security):

• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Contact lenses stuff
• Necessary medication: hormones, pill, heart medication, etc.
• Very likely medication: allergy pills for hay fever/pollens, headache, diarrhea, etc. (BUT bring a couple of pills, not the whole box or bottle!)
• Jewelry and accessories: only if planned with your outfits (dangling earrings and big scarf don’t match, neither does your pearl necklace and street food!)
• Make-up (just the essentials) or beard razor
• Foldable hairbrush
• Sunscreen/bug spray (a tiny bottle and only if necessary)
• Earplugs and sleeping mask

Packing light tip: don’t even use a toiletry bag! Just put the few items into a plastic transparent ziplock bag!

What to pack in your minimalist travel handbag

Now, visualize yourself at the airport, and out and about in the city for those 2-3 days.

What do you have in your handbag or daypack for a city-break? What is absolutely necessary?

• Phone and charger (all tickets and confirmations are neatly stored in your phone, right?)
• Power bank and charger
• Wallet with cash and a selection of strictly necessary cards and ID (like our favourite travel card, the Wise multi-currency card! Instead, leave at home the Ikea card)
• Home keys with a selection of necessary ones (leave the keychain at home)
• Paper tissues
• Hand sanitiser and face mask
• Important medication and plasters (don’t let blisters stop you!)
• Emergency snacks (just a couple for the trip, so you can discover new ones in the supermarkets at your destination)
• Glasses/sunglasses
• Water bottle (be honest: will you really drink from it? Or can you wait for lunchtime and drink then?)

Packing light tip: use purses and pouches to organize chargers, medication and small items, like in my picture below!

See? It’s easy to pack light! You don’t need an emergency change of clothes in your handbag, because your carry-on is with you at all times. You will leave the home items (keys, home currency, etc.) at your accommodation. You have only the most essential items with you.

Excellent job! You packed a light carry-on suitcase, and your handbag contains only the strictly necessary items.

Do-not-bring list

How do you feel? Are you still struggling with your brain? Remember, your brain is trying to protect you, to keep you on safe and comfortable routines. Instead, you are stepping outside of your comfort zone and practicing a new skill!

If your brain needs more convincing about not packing your whole house, these are the reasons not to bring all this stuff:

• A book: you’ll be too tired after sightseeing
• A giant heavy guidebook: look for the digital version or take pictures of the pages you need
• Your laptop: you won’t get any work done (maybe bring a tablet)
• Common drugs and medication: you can buy them on spot
• Make-up and jewellery: deep down you know you won’t use it
• Another pair of shoes “just in case”: there are no “cases” because you planned well
• Work-out clothes: sightseeing is your work-out
• Multiple bras: one is enough for 3 days
• A bottle of water: you know you will hate carrying the weight/it doesn’t fit in your handbag
• Anything “just in case”: for real emergencies, you will buy what you need on spot.

Final thoughts on minimalist packing for a city break

Congratulations, you are ready to go! Thanks to the minimalist packing list for a long weekend, you learned in just a few minutes what took us years of trial and error to achieve 🙂

Seriously now. I can confidently say, after multiple city breaks and long weekends in European cities, that packing light dramatically improved our mindset and approach to the trip, let alone the actual practicality of travel. Just like the suitcase feels light, our souls feel lighter too! Packing for a million possibilities, instead, becomes overwhelming and exhausting.

Were these tips useful? What else do you do to pack light? Let us know in the comments!