Notes

The best beach towels in 2025, tried and tested CNN Underscored
Throw Blanket is super handy for keeping your damp towel away from your other dry items, and can easily clip into a carabiner to keep on the outside of your bag. This towel is lightweight and packable, and even comes with a matching cinch bag to stash it. The Eccosophy Microfiber Beach Towel is an affordable, high performing option for travel, yoga, the gym and of course, the beach. The seams and construction of these towels are well done, crisp and substantial – you can immediately feel the durability of the fabric when you get your hands on it.
A former pick, the Land’s End Dot Beach Towel, didn’t feel as thick and soft as the L.L.Bean towel, and it started dethreading after washing, leading us to believe that it would fall apart more quickly. The Coyuchi towel dries faster than the Brooklinen and L.L.Bean towels, and it’s surprisingly absorbent, considering how light it is. If you’re heading to the beach with a partner or kids, an oversized beach towel could be a great option to ensure there’s enough surface area to share. We like towels that feel soft and inviting to snuggle up in after a cold swim, but that also feel great to lay on and while catching some sun. When you’re done drying off, it folds neatly back into its own carrying pouch, taking up virtually no space in your beach bag. Though it's not as pillowy soft as a cotton towel, there’s a suede-like finish to the fabric that feels comforting and warm.
They’re perfect for sunny, sandy beach days.” The Fence Beach Towel is no exception—its vibrant, graphic design brings major main-character energy to your seaside setup. The newest wave of towels goes far beyond basic terry cloth, blending high design with plush practicality. A beach towel may be the most underrated accessory in your summer arsenal—but that’s about to change.
Microfiber towels are made from a polyester blend, and though they’re not as plush and soft as cotton towels, they’re highly absorbent. We tested out 27 different beach towels, taking them on various beach vacations, local beach days, and lounging by the pool to see how they performed in the real world. We’ve tested dozens of beach towels, and while some may be good for certain travelers, they had minor flaws that we didn’t love. This dual-textured beach towel has a velvety side, ideal for lounging, and a classic cotton side, perfect for drying off. The best beach towels strike the perfect balance between superior softness and portability, and Cozy Earth’s Windowpane Resort Towel does just that. Generally speaking, beach towels will be around ten inches longer than a bath towel and a few inches wider, averaging around 35 inches by 70 inches.
Linen towels for beach use are a different and nice choice. Multi-tasker beach towel designed for lounging on the beach, yoga mat, picnic blanket and much more. Sand Cloud extra large Turkish beach towel with 62″ x 76″ big enough to fit your whole beach buddies.
When you’re packing up, the mat bends into a kind of origami shape, about 10 by 34 inches. And the semirigid sides help to create a decent sand barrier, without being so stiff that someone might get hurt if they fall on one. This lightweight mat is easy to deploy—helpful if you have a young infant or toddler.
This Huckberry towel is also Oeko-Tex–certified, which means it should be free of potentially harmful substances, such as heavy metals, formaldehyde, and plasticizers. It costs less than half the price—sometimes lower when it’s on sale—and it looks a lot more expensive than it is. However, if you don’t follow the laundry instructions, it may pill. If you want the best of the best and are willing to pay more for it, this Coyuchi towel may be for you. It absorbs water very well and remains soft even after multiple washes, and its sewn edge is resistant to fraying. I’ve worked for Wirecutter for nearly a decade in various capacities, writing about everything from travel backpacks to camping stoves to luggage to road-trip gear to car-camping tents.
That and its $98 price make it a less desirable beach towel than the Mark & Graham. If a faster-drying towel is more conducive to your lifestyle, then choose something that takes less time to dry. However, because they’re typically thin and lightweight, they can only absorb so much water before they start to feel sopping wet and need to dry out. But they also tend to catch a lot of sand, dry slower and be too bulky to be travel-friendly.
These towels feel substantial, and all the seamwork appears structurally sound – we expect these towels to last for plenty of summers to come. These towels are thin but mighty, packable yet heavy-duty for outdoors and travel. The Rainleaf Microfiber Towel is a budget-friendly, multipurpose towel that comes in a variety of sizes and colors for your next trip to the beach or the Bikram studio.
Towels, says textile-science instructor Deborah Young, “always start with the fiber.” And if you like fluffy beach towels, that fiber should be cotton. From high fashion to budget-friendly finds, these are the beach towels editors and shoppers alike swear by. These oversized towels offer the perfect blend of softness, absorbency, and style, making them a top choice for customers seeking the ultimate beachside comfort. Make your beach days and poolside more relaxed with the GOLD CASE HOME Extra Large Beach Towel, the best large beach towel pick. If you’re tired of beach towels that underdeliver and over-drama, meet the best beach towels. Created by a couple of beach-loving Australians, the slim-profile towel is made of a quick-drying AbsorbLite material that dries within minutes in the sun.
For that feels-like-home sensation that you can bring to the pool or beach, Brooklinen’s Cabana Stripe beach towel is the perfect option. Keep scrolling for our top picks of the best beach towels from Brooklinen, Cozy Earth, Parachute, and more. Ladies’ beach towels come in a wide range of designs, from fun and festive to sleek and modern. One more critical opinion, beach towels are often more stylish than normal towels Thin towels are easy to carry and compact to put in a beach bag or travel bag.
Made in Portugal from 100 percent organic cotton, the towels come in muted and more colorful striped styles. It’s a striking textile (as well as plush and absorbent) that I am excited to spread out at the beach. Packable towels are useful for hiking to more remote beaches, as he and his wife are often doing. Here’s another, slightly less expensive packable beach towel that comes with a convenient pouch. A convenient option not only for the beach but also for drying kids off at the splash pad.
The Hugo towel features the brand’s signature zigzag motif in saturated hues that instantly elevate your seaside aesthetic. Meg Donohue loves this towel, saying, “I wish I wasn’t such a sucker for this kind of thing, but I totally am. The vintage-inspired prints feel undeniably chic, and the touch and feel of them are unparalleled,” says senior fashion commerce editor Dale Arden Chong.
A sand-resistant towel made of polyester, it can absorb up to four times its weight and dry four times faster than a regular cotton towel. The Nomadix Original Towel is that jack-of-all-trades beach towel when it comes to beach or pool needs. Sand Cloud’s 100% Turkish cotton beach towel has earned itself a cult-following, thanks to its debut on Shark Tank.
Shockingly, it never felt soggy or damp, which you don’t typically see in a cotton towel. From the very first touch, the towel felt plush and gentle against the skin. What immediately stood out to us when we received this towel was the luxurious softness.
Website: https://turkishtowelweaving.etsy.com