When looking for gifts for someone going travelling, it’s easy enough to trawl through Amazon to find something good enough. But if you’re looking for unique travel gifts, that’s not going to cut it. You want to find something that is genuinely thrilling and exciting: something they’ll want to wear, take travelling, or mount on the wall with pride and joy.
Unique Travel Gifts
We have selected the very best unique travel gifts for you to choose from (click here for more ideas). We’ve also separated them out a little, to make it easier for you. If you want travel gift ideas for her, you’ll find charms, bracelets, necklaces, and more! Or if you’re looking for travel gift ideas for him, there are wallets, pins, and bags. We’ve also included a few travel gifts for couples!
Engraved Compass
A lot of travel gifts and travel tattoos are compass-inspired. The compass is, after all, the symbol of adventure and exploration. But why not go one step further? One of the most fun and unique travel gifts you could get someone is an actual working compass.
This particular compass can also be custom engraved with whatever you want. A name, a message, a mantra, a book quote – anything at all. You can have the engraving on one side or two. The compass works perfectly, is pocket-sized, and something truly special that would be treasured dearly. Two compasses would also make for some nice travel gifts for couples, too.
Nordgreen Men’s & Women’s Watches
A watch is the most simple, practical, and useful travel gift you can buy for anyone. And yet, somehow, we rarely think of them. It goes to show that you don’t have to think too hard to find the ideal travel gift for someone. Something as simple yet refined and elegant as a beautiful watch can be the perfect travel gift.
If you’re looking for a specific recommendation, we cannot sing the praises of Nordgreen watches highly enough. It’s no secret that we adore the city of Copenhagen.
We’ve lived there and fallen deeply in love with the city’s tattoo culture, incredible food (both local and global dishes), and, of course, Copenhagen’s legendary design philosophy. And Nordgreen watches, with their refined beauty, embody the exquisite style of Danish design better than anything else.
Scratch Off World Map
We’ve seen a lot of scratch off world maps – we even have one of our own – but this particular one is the most beautiful I’ve seen. The pitch-black ocean is a bold choice that really works, and the inclusion of every country’s flag at the bottom is what really makes this one of the most unique travel gifts.
This isn’t one of the best gifts for friends going travelling. Rather, this is something for them to enjoy when they get home. Something to hang in pride of place and slowly scratch off, changing its colour with every journey they take. They’ll love it.
Kindle
A Kindle is the first thing we recommend to anyone and everyone. If you’re looking for Christmas or birthday gifts for someone going travelling, and you don’t mind spoiling them a little bit, get them a Kindle. Even though I take my Kindle everywhere, I still confess to having two or three books in my suitcase. But that’s better than the alternative: thirty books and no clothes.
Something that’s become a daily habit of mine is checking the Daily Kindle Deals on Amazon whenever I’m abroad and stocking up on any of the $1 books just to make sure I never run out of reading material. Having a Kindle eliminates that crippling fear of running out of things to read when you’re on a train, plane, anywhere at all. Seriously, if you love someone dearly and they travel a lot, get them a Kindle.
His & Hers Travel Tags
Here are some fun travel gifts for couples: matching travel tags for bags and suitcases! These tags are genuine leather, come in eight different colours from tan to pink, and are engraved with a charming world map.
The design and the quality of leather make these really unique travel gifts and the ideal travel gifts for couples. They’re simple, yes, but for all the time we travellers spend dragging our suitcases and wearing bags on our backs, it’s wonderful having something to decorate those bags with.
Mapiful Map
Tokyo is our favourite city in the world, and so we recently treated ourselves to a sleek, stylish, and classy black-and-white map of Tokyo to frame at home. If you have a favourite city, the folks at Mapiful can turn it into a stunning decoration for you to frame as well.
City maps are a lot more intimate than globes, world maps, or country maps. They have a real familiarity to them – they’re attached to memories and the fondness we have for our favourite cities. The emotions they stir up are deep and very special. Just pick your favourite city, or that of the person you’re buying for, then go ahead and order one of the most unique travel gifts money can buy.
Sous Chef Bibimbap kit
One of the reasons we travel is to broaden our horizons. This can be in terms of art, language, history, or food. Many of us love to discover the unique cuisines of the countries we visit, and even bring our knowledge home with us so that we can start making sushi or tapas, and cooking curries and biryanis.
Given that Korean food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world today, and it really is as wonderful as it is popular, here’s one of the best unique travel gifts for any loved one who adores Korean kooking. This set allows you to make your own home-cooking bibimbap. It gives you the right tools and ingredients to make traditional Korean bibimbap!
Read More: Tattoo Ideas for Travel Lovers
Travel Gift Ideas for Her
Compass Necklace
Dedicated world travellers, explorers, and adventurers may want to carve their love for travel onto their skin by getting a travel tattoo. But for those who don’t want to go that far, one of the best travel gift ideas for her is an elegant, discreet but every so charming compass necklace.
This handmade necklace is made from Tibetan silver and makes for one of the most sweet and fun travel gifts for the nomad who loves to wear her love for travel as close to her heart as possible.
Wanderlust Bracelet
If the woman in your life prefers bracelets to necklaces, another of the best travel gift ideas for her is this wanderlust bracelet. This is something to remind her that, even while she’s not travelling – even while she’s at home plotting her next trip and dreaming of the wild outback and steep mountain slopes – she’ll be back on the road soon enough.
What makes this simple and charming bracelet special amongst other gift ideas for her is that it represents something even bigger than itself. It shows her that you understand that deep-seated need for exploration she feels at every moment of every day. That’s what makes this one of the most unique travel gifts.
Travel Charm
Perhaps the woman you’re buying a few unique travel gifts for doesn’t enjoy jewellery at all. In that case, how about a travel keychain? This can be used exactly as intended or as an accessory for her backpack.
This is a cheap travel gift, ideal if you’re shopping on a tight budget, but it’s also something that shows you’ve put some real thought into your present. You know that she love travel, but you don’t have the money for a plane ticket or expensive jewellery. This is enough; this is special.
Personalised Country Print
Okay so this might be a gift that could be for anyone at all – in fact, it would make for one of the more original travel gifts for couples. Whatever the case, this is a present that any travel-loving woman would love to own.
This is a print that is fully customisable. You tell them your three favourite countries, write a unique message to have written on the print, and select from a range of colours. Much like the city map, this is one of those unique travel gifts that’s intimate and something to cherish; something to celebrate the three countries that mean the most to you.
Cityscape Ring
Look at these rings! Just look at them! How pretty; how clever; how very, very charming. One of the best travel gift ideas for her that I’ve ever seen. These rings come in a huge range of options and are so reasonably priced that you could actually buy a few!
These cityscape rings come in a range, with almost every major US city as well as a huge selection of skylines across Europe and Asia. If the woman in your life has a favourite city or two, their skylines are probably on this list. What unique travel gifts these rings are!
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Travel Gift Ideas for Him
Personalised Toiletry Bag
Men love toiletry bags, don’t they? I mean, I’m a man; I should know. And, well, I certainly don’t love them but they are practical. Mine’s ugly as hell so I’d certainly appreciate a fancy toiletry bag like this one!
Toiletry bags are not unique travel gifts on their own, but thinking to get your man a personalised toiletry bag is certainly one of the more original travel gift ideas for him! If you’re looking specifically for gifts for someone going travelling, this would be it.
Leather Passport Wallet
Speaking of specific gifts for someone going travelling, this is one of the most practical and, frankly, beautiful presents you could buy. Combining all the function of both a wallet and a passport holder in a gorgeous leather aesthetic is absolutely one of the best travel gift ideas for him!
Travel Lapel Pins
While I’d be the last person to say that women wear jewellery and men wear lapel pins (quick reminder that gender is a social construct), going by sheer numbers it’s more likely that these stunning lapel pins would be more attractive to men.
As such, these make for fun travel gifts for the man in your life. Simple, delicate, detailed, classy, and a small celebration of his love for travel and discovery! When he’s at work, at the office, he can always remind himself of the journeys to come ahead of him.
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Wooden Luggage Tag
This is another gift that might be just as suitable for her but, whatever the case, it’s still one of the simplest yet most thoughtful and unique travel gifts. Luggage tags are common enough, but a wooden one? That’s special! It’s romantic; it’s bold; it’s stylish.
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