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Let’s get something out of the way: Travel yoga mats will never compare to your ride-or-die everyday mat. No one would ever choose to practice with a travel yoga mat on a regular basis, except perhaps masochists. But in all fairness, it’s not the fault of the travel yoga mats. Their lot in life is dictated by their purpose—to be an easily packed, portable, lightweight, and foldable or rollable yoga solution that keeps you practicing while away from your beloved mat of choice.
To achieve those objectives, most travel yoga mats are barely thicker than a tortilla, which can spell torture for knees, and tend to be made from less durable materials, presumably because consumers are less likely to shell out big bucks for something they’ll use 1/73rd as often as their ride-and-die mat.
But unless you’re willing to lug your unwieldy 5-pounder as your overhead carry-on, pay to check it, or rent a questionable studio mat potentially infested with cooties, you’ll need a travel yoga mat.
Not unlike vegan cheese and online dating apps, they’ve come a long way in the last decade with improved designs, more sustainable footprints, better grip, and less slip. We recently crammed them into carry-ons and backpacks and unfolded them for Cat-Cows in cramped hotel rooms. We even spritzed them with water to see if they went full Slip N’ Slide the moment they were exposed to a sweat. Here are seven standouts to consider packing for your next adventure.
Tip
Although some travel yoga mats can fit in a carry-on when rolled, most are also foldable, some to a flatter degree than others. They should be rolled when stored at home and folded only when traveling to prevent permanent creases.
All mats in this guide were tested. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people on their mats. Learn more.
6 Best Travel Yoga Mats for Any Adventure
Most Likely to Be Mistaken for a Standard Mat
Manduka eKO Superlite
Weight: 2 pounds
Thickness: 1.5 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ Moisture- and bacteria-wicking surface
⊕ Durable
⊗ Different feel than other Manduka mats
Several YJ editors and countless teachers we know swear by this workhorse made from sustainably harvested, non-Amazon, biodegradable tree rubber in an energy-efficient warehouse. The smell is strong when opened but fades significantly within a few days. The closed-cell, orange peel-like top repels bacteria and causes sweat and water to puddle. This means three things: it will last through many Sun Salutations and moon phases, it will stay cleaner, and it will smell better.
Although it’s fairly sticky, the nonabsorbent nature makes it a more ideal choice for folks who aren’t prone to heavy perspiration or steer clear of hot yoga. If you’re hellbent on bringing the heat, just know you’ll probably need a towel.
Boasting some of the most vibrant color choices on the market, the Superlite is Manduka’s lightest travel yoga mat to date and folds fairly flat without leaving creases or bumps. The claim that you can toss it in a purse seems a little exaggerated. But a crossbody or bucket bag big enough for laptops? Sure.
Easiest to Pack
Jade Voyager
$47 at Jade Yoga $47 at Amazon
Weight: 1.5 pounds
Thickness: 1.6 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ Lean mean foldable machine
⊕ Grip
⊗ Bunches on carpet
Voyager was on shelves long before the other travel mats and it has earned its elder statesman status for a reason. It checks all the boxes—crazy thin and lightweight, folds fairly flat (or rolls into a diameter smaller than a Stanley Quencher), and it’s made of eco-friendly rubber with no trace of PVC, phthalates, or heavy metals.
Also, its open-cell composition provides an intense amount of sweat absorption and traction despite its absurd thinness. Old reliable will not let you fall on its watch but be aware that being good at sucking in perspiration has a dark side. It can also trap odors and bacteria requiring more frequent cleaning and longer drying times. Also, don’t expect to throw this mat down on your ick hotel carpeting as it bunched and slid for one of our testers. Stick with a hardwood or cement floor.
Bonus: Jade plants a tree for every mat sold.
Most Likely to Be Seen With an A-Lister
Alo Air Mat
Weight: 3.5 pounds
Thickness: 2 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ Sleek looks
⊕ Cushioning
⊗ Price
⊗ Heft
Alo is the yoga brand of choice for everyone who is anyone in the celeb world, including Kendall Jenner, Gisele, Jennifer Lopez, Shawn Mendes, and Victoria Beckham. It’s easy to see why this sleek matte beauty, the LBD of travel yoga mats, has Hollywood’s attention.
But rest assured, it’s more than just a pretty face. The travel-friendly version of Alo’s Warrior Mat weighs in at 4.5 pounds lighter and 3 mm thinner than the classic but features the same wicking top layer and natural rubber backing and promises the same dynamic performance. It stays in place when you move around vigorously or quickly, has a little more cushioning for pushing through demanding floor poses than other mats in the travel category, and its tendency to stay-put means it also works well for cardio workouts, barre, and resistance training.
The tradeoff is the Alo Air is heavier and doesn’t fold down as neatly as other travel yoga mats. And, as with anything TikTok-trendy or beloved by influential celebrities, it comes with a hefty price tag.
Most Suede-Like Surface
Yune Yoga Foldable Travel Mat
$60 at Yune Yoga $40 at Amazon
Weight: 1 pound
Thickness: 2 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ Chamois-like surface
⊕ Super lightweight
⊗ Surface is easily marked
Stepping atop Yune’s for a few Happy Babies or Child’s Poses might be the closest you’ll come to finding out what it would be like to practice on a super-sized chamois cloth. Its upper is made of a super soft synthetic suede free of phthalate, latex, and heavy metals. At first glance, it seemed like it might tear if you made full contact with all of your digits and pushed the mat away with all your might to get the ultimate stretch. But we were proved wrong as the material, despite being seriously lightweight, is surprisingly hearty and dense. Like suede shoes and microsuede couches, the mat’s susceptible to marks and imprints where body parts were placed or dragged. Unlike those products, these mats are easy to clean. We’d recommend a sponge bath with soapy water but Yune’s website claims it is machine washable too. The wavy ridges across the bottom make it stay put during dynamic movement.
One of our testers reported back that she “had such an amazing practice” on the Yune and was impressed by its overall grippiness and just how “great” it felt on her knees. While it wasn’t the stickiest of the bunch, the amount of grip grew with the introduction of a little water/sweat. Although it’s designed to be folded for packing, it can be rolled fairly tightly and placed along the wall of a larger rollerboard.
Printed using UV-cured inks, the foldable yoga mat is available in three striking patterns: Apollo (a pink and orange ombre watercolor), Ataraxy (blue and white tie dye), and Leopard (for those in their #mobwifeaesthetic era). Note that these are manufactured in China in case that’s a personal red flag.
Best Cork
Yoloha Nomad Air
$59 at Yoloha $59 at LivingFit
Weight: 2.5 pounds
Thickness: 1.55 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ Sustainable
⊕ Grippy
⊗ Lack of cushioning
In retrospect, the brand name—a portmanteau of yoga and aloha, Hawaiian for love—should have been a clue about how much we’d heart this cork gem. The shorter and slimmer adaptation of Yoloha’s best-selling Nomad is a foldable or rollable option that’s an extremely durable, environmentally sound choice.
With its cork surface layer and plant foam underside, the mat is constructed from 70 percent renewable materials. It provides stellar traction, even with sweaty extremities, which allows for superior stability. In fact, it becomes even grippier when wet and rising temperatures cue the antimicrobial, hypoallergenic material to loosen. The foamy underside assures minimal mat movement or bunching up.
A longer (+ 8 inches) and wider (+ 2 inches) option is available for our tall friends. Even at that size, the mat folds up flat enough to slip into the back pocket of a backpack or the front compartment of most wheeled carry-ons.
The main drawback is its exceptionally thin profile. For that, there’s a clever hack unwittingly created by Yoloha’s try-before-you-buy program. For $10, you can order test strips of their everyday mat types and strategically position them underneath the travel mat for sensitive knees and wrists. The strips can be rolled tightly and transported in the water bottle pocket of weekenders and backpacks.
Most Ingenious Totability
Yogo Ultralight 4.0
Weight: 2.7 pounds
Thickness: 1.7 mm
Pros and Cons
⊕ handy built-in carrying strap system
⊕ compact
⊗ price
Fourth time’s a charm for the latest incarnation of this ultra-packable, cleverly designed entry from a woman-owned company. Released in January, the newest version improves on the previous iterations in several key ways. First, it’s a wee bit thicker. Second, the new formula provides greater grip on both sides, thanks to plant-based rubber that’s responsibly sourced from fair-wage farms certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Third and most importantly, gone are the clunky buckles.
Smartly, Yogo didn’t mess with the multi-tasking straps, which are now made from recycled water bottles, as they provide a handle for easy lugging (and erase the need for a sling or bag), a loop to hang the mat during washing and drying, and a way to compress the mat into a rectangle the size of the Sunday New York Times (and keep it there). Very easy to throw in a backpack to hike it up a cliff for alfresco asanas or down to the beach where it can also be a pretty good blanket. Note that the way it folds means the dirty bottom never touches the performance top.
It also comes in Ultra Long ($94), which measures in at 79 inches long, two inches wider, and only .8 pounds heavier.
