How to Choose the Best Reusable Water Bottle for Every Adventure

It goes without saying that proper hydration is absolutely essential.

Whenever you hit the trail, no matter the time of the year or the duration of your hike, and that a good water bottle should be one of the most important things in your gear load-out. 

Still, there are an endless number of brands and models to choose from, so today we’ll be going through the essentials to look for when buying the best reusable water bottle for travel and hiking, as well as the pros and cons of the water bottles that we love to bring with us on our trips. 

Let’s get started!

What is your bottle made of?

The majority of reusable water bottles are made of either stainless steel, plastic or aluminium, and each material gives different characteristics that influence how practical they are to bring on your hikes.

Stainless steel bottles (link Klean Kanteen or Hydro Flask), for example, are super popular due to their unmatched durability and their ability to be insulated to keep your drink at a constant temperature. Stainless steel bottles are also very corrosion-resistant, so you can fill them with whatever you want, from coffee to soda and juice. With that said, stainless steel bottles are also heavy and have a reduced content capacity when insulated. 

Plastic, on the other hand, is a bit of an umbrella term, since there are various types with different specs that are used to make reusable water bottles.

• One of the most popular plastics is tritan, an ultra-tough material made popular by big brands such as Nalgene and Sigg that is impact, heat and chemical-resistant, in addition to being lightweight and very affordable.
• Our go-to choice, however, is TPU collapsible water bottles (link Hydrapak), as they are durable, ultra-light, extremely compact when empty and overall great to travel with.

Both types of plastic are also BPA and phthalates-free, making them perfectly safe to store any kind of cold or hot water. They do tend to retain flavours, so washing your bottle regularly is really important. 

Finally, aluminium bottles strike a bit of a balance between the other two types. They are lighter than stainless steel bottles but slightly heavier than plastic, although generally more durable. However, since aluminium is much more heat-conductive than both steel and plastic you’ll really need to shelter your bottle from extreme temperatures, otherwise it will risk freezing and cracking in the cold or quickly turn your drink into soup in the heat.

Aluminium is also a very reactive element, reason for which manufacturers cover the inside of the bottles with a thin layer of plastic. If the lining is damaged the aluminium can start leaching into your drink and mess with the taste, or even be toxic in high concentrations.  

Which is better, insulated or non-insulated?

As we mentioned before, stainless steel bottles can be insulated to allow them to maintain your drink at a near constant temperature for some time.

The way this is done is by adding a secondary wall inside the bottle and a vacuum between the two layers, which minimises the transfer of heat between the outside and the interior of the bottle. This characteristic makes insulated bottles the ideal choice for environments with extreme temperatures, and a great tool to have in winter or during those hot summer hikes. 

The only major disadvantage is that the secondary wall adds a lot of weight and takes up space from the bottle’s interior, reducing its overall capacity. That’s why we usually pair an insulated bottle with a non-insulated steel canteen, a collapsible plastic flask or a water bladder to increase the volume of water we’re able can carry with us. 

Choosing the right lid is just super important

It used to be that pretty much every reusable bottle would have a simple screw cap.

Now there are tumbler coffee lids, sport caps, flip-up straws and more, making the whole choosing process just a little more complicated.

To keep it simple, when shopping for your new water bottle remember that any lid other than a screw cap will never be 100% leak-proof, not matter what the manufacturer writes on the bottle.

Sport caps and the like are great for sipping on the go since you don’t risk spilling your drink all over yourself, but need to always be stored upright or will eventually start leaking their content in your bag. What’s great, however, is that most brands make bottles are compatible with multiple kinds of lids, allowing you to easily adapt your water bottle to your needs!

Our favourite reusable water bottles

Here are a few of our favourite hiking, travel and backpacking water bottles that we love to bring with us. We’ll break down the specs of each and list their pros and cons to help you narrow down your choice.

Hydrapak Flux

• Capacity: 1 litre / 32 fluid ounces
• Weight: 102 grams / 3.6 ounces
• Made of: BPA and phthalates-free soft TPU
• Insulated: No
• Lid: Twist-drink nozzle with dust cover

For ultralight-packing travellers and hikers a collapsible reusable water bottle is the way to go, and the Hydrapak Flux might just top the list as the best soft flask we’ve ever had.

It’s made of a soft TPU plastic that can be squished and rolled to about a fifth of the original size, making it super easy for ultralight travellers to store in a backpack or luggage without taking up valuable packing space. 

What’s more, despite being made of soft plastic, this is a surprisingly rugged bottle. After almost a year of travelling and constant use both at home, outdoors and on the road, ours doesn’t seem to be showing any sign of being anywhere close to cracking or ripping. With that said, we still recommend being careful when backpacking in wooded areas where thorns or sharp branches could potentially pierce it. 

Something else that we absolute love about the Hydrapak Flux is the lid. The twist nozzle provides a great water flow and is completely watertight, ensuring it won’t leak even if the bottle is stored sideways or upside down. It also comes with an additional flip cover that keeps dirt and dust away. The lid can also be replaced with any 42mm threaded water filter, such as the ones from Katadyn, LifeStraw or simply from Hydrapak, creating a practical all-in-one filtration unit that can be used to provide clean drinking water on the go. 

If we had any criticism it would be that the initial plastic taste when the bottle is new is quite awful, and takes a few days. The Flux also tends to hold on strongly to flavours, so it’s best to fill it with water only. That aside, we absolutely recommend this rugged and versatile reusable water bottle for travel and hiking!

Pros and cons

Hydro Flask Lightweight 32oz Wide Mouth Trail

• Capacity: 946 ml / 32 fluid ounces
• Weight: 340 grams / 12.16 ounces
• Made of: Stainless steel
• Insulated: Yes
• Lid: Screw lid

Insulated stainless steel bottles are known for being bulky and heavy, but the Hydro Flask Lightweight Wide Mouth Trail somehow manages to do away with all of that.

With almost a capacity of almost a litre and weighing only 340 grams, the 32 oz Wide Mouth Trail is considerably lighter and than any other insulated reusable water bottle with a similar content volume that we’ve tested so far, by a big margin. For comparison, a 1 litre Rambler from Yeti weighs 700 grams (24 ounces). 

Now, when you reduce the weight of gear there is always a compromise to be made and, while the Yeti might weigh double as much as the Wide Mouth Trail, it’s also a lot more durable. Hydro Flask definitely sacrifices durability in favour of cutting weight when it comes to the Wide Mouth Trail, and it will probably accumulate a decent amount of scratches and dents over its lifespan. 

That aside, this is a great, lightweight travel water bottle to bring when hitting the trails, and the large capacity and reduced weight make it a perfect choice for ultralight packers and travellers. It’s also insulated, allowing it to keep drinks cool for up to 24 and hot for 12 hours. The actual time you’ll get out of the insulation depends on a variety of factors, such as the temperature of the drink, the quantity and how often you open the bottle, but we found the times mentioned by Hydro Flask to be pretty much in line with what we experienced during our own use. 

All in all, this is a great reusable water bottle for hiking, despite the compromise on durability. If you’re searching for an ultralight insulated water bottle you really can’t do much better than the Hydro Flask Lightweight 32 oz Wide Mouth Trail.

Pros and cons

Nalgene Wide Mouth

• Capacity: 946 ml / 32 fluid ounces
• Weight: 177 grams / 6.25 ounces
• Made of: Tritan plastic
• Insulated: No
• Lid: Screw lid

The Nalgene Wide Mouth has endured as one of the most popular backpacking bottles ever made, and it’s easy to understand why.

Since it’s made of tritan, an exceptionally tough impact-resistant plastic, this reusable water bottle is incredibly durable and can survive falls, bumps and probably whatever else you can do to it, making it is perfect to carry when trekking over rough trails. Plus, it’s practical to refill and clean on the trail due to the large opening, which can also easily be fitted with a water filter to make collecting water on the go safer. On top of being extremely tough, the Nalgene Wide Mouth is incredibly light and another great choice for ultralight packers.

Another feature that we love from Nalgene is that tritan reusable water bottles do not retain or impart flavours, and can therefore be filled with whatever type of beverage you wish. They are also heat resistant, so you can even brew yourself a coffee or a cup of tea on the road or use your bottle as a nice feet warmer on cold nights under the stars.

We wracked our head trying to find anything wrong with the Nalgene Wide Mouth, but honestly couldn’t come up with anything to criticise. It’s simple, durable, lightweight and affordable, and absolutely deserves its spot as one of the best water bottles you can get.

And there you have it!

These are a few things to look out for when shopping for your next reusable travel bottle to bring with you when on a trip or when hitting the trail.

What about you, what is your go-to travel and backpacking reusable water bottle?