Unique & Sustainable Travel Gift Ideas for Female Travel Lovers in 2024

Are you looking for the perfect travel-themed Christmas present or birthday sustainable travel gift for your female partner or friend, but want to make sure it aligns with her eco-conscious values? Is your best mate about to embark on a backpacking adventure, and you want to get a useful gift that she can take with her?

Or maybe your pal is a digital nomad who is super hard to buy for, since everything she owns she has to carry with her at all times.

This list of unique and eco travel gifts will help you pick out the perfect eco friendly present for any travel lover!

Things to look for in an eco-friendly travel gift:

• Does the product packaging come in plastic? Ideally, the packaging itself would be sustainable too! Many items come in paper, rather than plastic, these days.
• Concentrate on finding practical products that can be used again and again, rather than one-off goodies. (Unless it’s edible presents, of course!)
• Check that the product was made ethically and everyone who worked on making the product was paid fairly. (If a company is ethical, who made their items is usually easy to find on their website.)
• Look for the B-certified logo or other 3rd party sustainability brands, who often verify when a company is truly eco-conscious.
• Wrap gifts in reused gift bags, newspapers, or find creative ways to reuse old packaging that would otherwise be thrown away.
• Lookout for local and small businesses with inclusive business practises.

Sustainable Travel Gift Ideas for Female Travel Lovers

A reusable, filter water bottle

This has to be one of THE most important items in every female travellers backpack! To avoid using plastic bottles in Southeast Asia, I used a Water To Go bottle.

The filters used in their BPA-free water bottles are free of single use plastics.

Water to go bottles are created based on technology originally developed for the NASA space programme. These bottles provide safe water from any non-salt water source in the world! And from my research, are the most eco-friendly you can find.

Read more on the Water to go website and use the code HAG15 to get 15% off.
Water to go Europe
Water to go USA
Water to go AUS/NZ

Book a Mystery Picnic

If your female bestie or partner doesn’t have any trips planned but needs to scratch her travel itch, then booking a Mystery Picnic is an ideal activity to enjoy together. These run all around the world!

Together, you’ll untangle riddles that will help you discover hidden gems in your local area or chosen destination! In each area, you’ll pick up a yummy picnic item that supports local and bespoke sellers.

Finally, you’ll end up at a stunning final destination to enjoy your picnic!

You can choose a flexible gift card if you don’t have a destination in mind. And, best of all, these cards are valid for three years – so there’s no rush to book your Mystery Picnic. Family options are also available!

Book a Mystery Picnic or gift card here!

A local tour is the perfect gift for explorers!

Yep, the most eco friendly gift for travellers is often the one that we can’t see!

But that doesn’t mean that invisible presents have to be boring. Why not get your friend a tour or excursion, booked with a family local to the area they’re travelling? Or join them in a cooking class to learn how to whip up recipes from their favourite cuisine? You can even purchase virtual cooking classes from around the world!

Thinking creatively can lead to unique and unforgettable gift-giving.

Best Travel Experience Gifts: Book local tours in areas around the world using Klook, Viator, or my personal favourite for fantastic tours, GetYourGuide.

Best Tours for Foodies: I definitely recommend checking out EatWith to gift fun and local foodie travel experiences.

Best Membership for Frequent Travellers: If your mate is a frequent traveller, help them save money on flights, hotel bookings, and experiences with WayAway. Alternatively, if they’re a travelling animal lovers, then they might be interesting in petsitting to access free accommodations worldwide. Personally, I use TrustedHousesitters!

Not sure if WayAway is worth it? Check out my WayAway review here.

TIP: If it’s your friend’s dream to travel long-term or work abroad, why not help them achieve their dreams by gifting them a TEFL course? This way, they can get certified to teach English online as a digital nomad or in countries around the world!

Get a 20% discount off any TEFL.ie course with the discount code UPSKILL20.

The Travelling Vegan Cookbook

Looking for the perfect eco friendly gifts for female travellers who aren’t currently planning a trip? The Travelling Vegan Cookbook is the perfect way to celebrate plant-based recipes from around the world.

Travelling as a vegan has it’s ups and downs, but once you know what to do, trying the vegan food of different cultures is an amazing experience. If you or your friend needs some tips on vegan travel, Lonely Planet has you sorted with this in-depth guide.

Check the book out here: The Travelling Vegan Cookbook

Looking for the perfect gift for a book lover? Check out this list of inclusive travel books that every traveller should read! Or if sustainability is their foremost passion, check out this list of sustainability books.

Sustainable Clothing for Travellers

Best eco-activewear for adventurers: Have you heard of Boody yet? I ADORE this clothing company, who specialise in comfortable clothing made of bamboo. And when I say comfortable, I MEAN comfortable. hile they also have amazing underwear and nightwear in their online store, the activewear section would be perfect for any outdoors-loving female hiker. 

Best sustainable sneakers: When I’m exploring a lot, it’s essential my feet are comfy! That’s why I LOVE Allbirds. Some people know them as the most comfortable footwear in the world, but I got to know them for their truly fantastic eco ethos. With plenty of styles and options to choose from (I own both a pair of waterproof shoes for walking around cities and some sneakers made of trees for more active explorers), discover which Allbirds will make the perfect gift here.

Stylish Sustainable Clothes for Gorgeous Travel Photos: I adore the beautiful clothing from Sondeflor – sustainable, easy to track who made it, and stunning designs. Perfect for Autumn/Winter destinations but they’re classic linen dresses are great for warmer months too.

Shampoo Bars

Shampoo bars are a fantastic and easy to reduce plastic. And better yet, they can help us save space in our luggage. One bar lasts weeks longer than a normal bottle!

The best brand I’ve used so far is Ethique. Personally, I use this eco-friendly shampoo for sensitive skin. But they have a huge variety of options with some lush scents too, and for different skin types.

Check out the fab selection of shampoo bars and beauty bars from Ethique

Their products are vegan, sustainable, 100% compostable and plastic-free. They also sell plastic-free deodorants, cleansers, and body lotions within their range!

Reusable Coffee Cups

A must-have for tea and coffee drinkers, especially if they’re travelling in cooler weather, is travel mugs – which double as a great way to fight the billions of coffee cups disposed of every year. They’re recyclable, BPA-free, and perfect for storing in your luggage. They even look fairly stylish.

Reusable Makeup Wipes

Although I didn’t wear makeup very often on my backpacking adventure, these would have still come in handy for the rare occasion that I did. (And much kinder on the skin than my threadbare travel towel!)

I recommend these ones as they come in a very giftable cute eco packaging – Makeup Remover Pads with a Washable Laundry Bag and Round Box for Storage

These pads are made entirely of bamboo and come with a mesh storage bag to keep tidy in your backpack. Another fantastic zero waste gift that comes with the additional advantage of keeping us from having to look for beauty products on the road.

An Eco-friendly Travel Towel

For beach goers or budget backpackers, a travel towel is a must. They’re lightweight, shake off sand easily, and dry quick – so they’re an essential item, truly.

However, most microfibre towels are not very good for the environment!

That’s why I was thrilled to find these sustainable travel towels from Dock and Bay! It’s 100% recycled and the company give 5% off their profits to charity. I like the extra large one since I use them after showering, not just beach days. It’s cuter than the other microfibre towels I’ve used before, too.

This Travel towel with pouch is top of my own Christmas wish list this year!

Reusable Period Products

Full disclosure: our menstrual cycles are super personal, and we all have different needs and comfort levels. Check with the gift recipient if they’re excited to try out – or – before buying them.

Personally, I can’t get over the comfort of period underwear from Modibodi. Honestly, I’d go as far as saying it’s been life-changing. I never knew I could actually feel comfortable during the most uncomfortable time of the month!

However, I know other women who swear by menstrual cups!

These are great for female travellers. They don’t take up much space in our backpacks, and we no longer have to worry about finding menstrual products on the road.

Bamboo Knife and Fork

This is a great gift, in particular for budget backpackers who may be more likely to eat at night markets and street food stalls, which often don’t provide reusable cutlery.

I’m a big fan of this complete bamboo utensil set. It’s super cute and looks more giftable than some of the other options – while still being just as practical and eco-friendly!

I initially didn’t think I’d ever need it… but after living out of a hotel in Malaysia for three months, I had food delivered without cutlery and needed it pretty much everyday!

For someone who tends to cook on their travels, take picnic, or carry leftovers, these Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps – 4 Pack with Produce Bag and 2 Beeswax Bars are a great option for food storage on the road.

Bamboo Toothbrush with Portable Case

I am actually buying this for myself this Christmas! I know it’s not the sexiest gift, but it really is a must-have gift for eco-conscious travel lovers!

I’ve been using bamboo toothbrushes for a while, but I find it hard to keep them clean on the road. This one comes with a cute bamboo stand and bamboo cover, so I can’t wait to switch to this one!

I had a hunt and this one was the top reviewed portable eco toothbrush, and it’s climate pledge friendly, too.

Bamboo Toothbrush with Travel Case

Reef-Safe Sunscreen

If your female friend is planning on swimming in the ocean, chances are that she needs reef-safe sunscreen. Why? Regular sunscreen is harmful to the very ocean we wish to explore. 

This is an essential for eco-conscious travellers, yet it often gets missed. Plus, sunscreen is a MUST on the road and not always easy to find for good value in some countries.

This SPF50 eco sunscreen is reef safe compliant

A Backpack Designed for Women

While there is a huge array of fantastic backpacks available, the tried-and-tested Osprey Fairview 40L (Carry On – also available in larger sizes) remains popular with seasoned backpackers for a reason. The Fairview is specifically designed to fit a woman’s body and includes unique features such as a hidden emergency whistle on the strap. It’s also a remarkably light backpack con

And, yes, this is the backpack I travelled around Asia, New Zealand, The Balkans, and Australia with, and still have ready in my closet for the next adventure. That means it’s still going strong after 5 and a half years of travel – and my Osprey backpack is showing no sign of breaking anytime soon!

Admittedly, Osprey is not THE most sustainable company on this list. But they create vegan, durable and long-lasting products, and aim to repair products over replacing them.

Women’s backpack from Osprey – highly recommended