Best Travel Guitars in 2026: Compact Guitars Worth Taking Anywhere
Swim shorts, sun block, guitar...
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Best Travel Guitars in 2026: Compact Guitars Worth Taking Anywhere · Source: Yuri Arcurs / Alamy Stock Photo
These are some of the best travel guitars that you should think about taking with you on vacation. Because every day is a practice day!
Travel Guitars to Purchase:
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- What makes a good travel guitar? You need something compact, well-made, and something that actually sounds nice and plays well.
- Travel guitars are worth buying if you’re looking to practice whilst on holiday, or your job takes you away from your practice space at home.
- Some travel guitars are so good that they could replace a regular guitar. The build quality and versatility could be everything you need for daily practice and even live performances.
Harley Benton Traveler-Steel
Let’s start off with the cheapest travel guitar available on Thomann. This Harley Benton Traveler-Steel is only *£56 / €65!
It’s a funny-looking instrument, isn’t it? But that’s the whole point: these travel guitars need to be small so that you can actually take them away with you. It looks like the sort of thing medieval peasants would have been playing along with their lutes… Anyway! We’ve got a Sapele body with a Spruce top, accompanied by a Jatoba fingerboard with 18 frets.
Despite a petite 595mm scale length, we do get a proper 42mm nut width, allowing for familiar and easy playability. The only other luxuries are chrome-plated die-cast tuners. For the money, it’s a great way to get acquainted with practice guitars.
Harley Benton TravelMate-E
Secondly, in our pick of the best travel guitars, we’ve got the futuristic-looking *TravelMate-E from Harley Benton. Such guitars have become increasingly popular in recent times. Should you get in on the action too?
This is what we call a smart guitar. Combined with its carbon fibre construction, we also get Bluetooth connectivity! But what if you just want to play guitar? Well, you still can. You get 20 frets on a comfortable arched fingerboard.
This isn’t just a regular acoustic guitar, either. I really like that it has a pickup system that allows you to use the integrated effects such as reverb and delay. Therefore, you don’t even need an amp to play this. Weighing in at 1.7 kg, you’d hardly notice you’d packed it for your next trip away.
Traveler Guitar Ultra Light Electric SW
Bringing some 80s headless vibes to the table, we’re now checking out another alternatively designed guitar. Once again, this *Traveler Guitar is fit for purpose and nothing more. I think that this option would be better for electric guitarists practising with headphone amps.
Thus far, our picks of the best travel guitars have been aimed at acoustic players. Perfect for campfire jams, but what about practising your soloing skills? This neck-thru body guitar could be the answer. With 22 medium frets perfect for string bending, you also get a passive dual-rail humbucking pickup. Ideal for taking on lots of gain.
I also like that you get a removable lap rest, so you can play standing up or sitting down. The tuners are located at the bottom of the instrument and are sealed machine heads with a 14:1 ratio. Included in the purchase is also a deluxe gig bag for those overhead lockers.
Journey Instruments OTT0BD Travel T-Style Style
Onto another electric offering, and something that I have had experience playing and would genuinely invest in if I went on more vacations. Journey Instruments are based in Texas and specialise in travel guitars. They have a few models, but this T-Style is what I’d personally invest in.
Let’s get the main party piece out of the way; these guitars fold into a rucksack! You simply unscrew the backplate at the base of the neck, and then you’ll be able to fit it inside the supplied hand luggage-sized backpack.
Other than the main gimmick, this still looks and plays like a Tele. The action is a little high; however, the maple folding neck is nice to use, and the twin single coils sound as you’d expect from a Telecaster. Moreover, the whole instrument is made from composite materials, meaning it’s not only good to play, but actually does good too.
Although this looks like a YouTube lesson for a Led Zeppelin song, this video shows you how a Journey Instruments guitar folds away. You won’t believe it until you see it…
Epiphone J-45 Express
Concluding our look at the best travel guitars in 2026, we’re finishing with the O.G. of acoustic guitars. Albeit a slightly smaller version. This *Epiphone J-45 Express could be the antidote for your holiday practising needs. Plus, it’s also 12% off RRP over at Thomann right now!
Honey, I shrunk the J-45! This is from Epiphone’s Inspired By Gibson series, so you’re effectively getting a Gibson-quality guitar with the Epiphone headstock. Borrowing heavily from the real thing, we get mother-of-pearl fretboard inlays and a 3-ply binding across the laminated mahogany back and sides.
A familiar C-profile neck houses 19 frets, all of which look great against the dark mahogany finish. Again, another budget-friendly option, making it ideal for travelling or using as your daily acoustic axe.
Videos:
Further Information:
- The Ultimate Retro ’60’s Style Travel Guitar?
- Playing a Festival for the 1st Time
- What Can Guitarists Learn From Bass?
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2 responses to “Best Travel Guitars in 2026: Compact Guitars Worth Taking Anywhere”
i am always amazed when I read these articles on “travel guitars” as they never mention A REAL travel guitar. I have played. and own a Furch Little Jane and two Journey guitars. in contrast to those in the article these guitars have removable necks but when assembled (1 minutes max) they are equal to any parlor size guitar.
Can’t talk about travel guitars without mentioning the line of tough as nails carbon fibre. I swear by my Composite Acoustic travel guitar Cargo.