The One Thing You Need to Bring on Your Christmas Markets Trip

You've just discovered the perfect hand-carved nativity set at Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt. Yesterday, it was those gorgeous hand-blown glass ornaments in Vienna. The day before? Six ceramic mugs from different German markets, because each design was too charming to pass up. And now you're standing in your hotel room, staring at your already-full suitcase, wondering how on earth you're going to get everything home.

Here's the thing about Christmas market trips: you'll tend to buy way more than you planned! Between the wooden nutcrackers, knitted mittens, handcrafted ornaments, and those irresistibly cute market mugs (you know, the ones you get your Glühwein in and can keep as a souvenir), your luggage situation can go from manageable to crisis-mode fast.

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The Solution: A Packable Duffel Bag!

After multiple Christmas market trips across Europe, we've found the travel hack that solves this problem completely: bringing along a foldable duffel bag. Specifically, the Lekesky Foldable Travel Duffel Bag (around $25-30 on Amazon) has become as essential to our packing list as our winter coats.

This duffle is a lightweight, packable bag that takes up virtually no space in your luggage on the way there but expands to become your souvenir-hauling hero on the way home. We've tested both the 60L and 80L versions extensively, and honestly, either size is a game-changer for Christmas market shopping.

Before we dive in, here are some size comparison photos for reference.

The tan and black bag is the 80L, and the navy-and-white-striped bag is the 60L.

How It Works in Practice

Here's our system: On the flight to Europe, the duffle lives folded up in the bottom of our backpack, taking up about as much space as a scarf. Throughout the trip, as we accumulate treasures from various markets, we start shifting our worn clothes from our suitcase into the duffel. By the end of the trip, all our dirty laundry goes into the soft duffel (it's getting washed anyway), while our breakable souvenirs, like those precious ornaments, ceramic pieces, and market mugs, get the padded protection of our hard-shell suitcases.

This way, you’re not stressing about having hefty overweight baggage fees because you’re overpacking one suitcase, nor having to worry about whether that hand-painted Christmas pyramid will fit next to your winter boots. You’ll have room to make sure your valuables are packed safely so they stay protected (we have tips for this on this FAQ blog!), and your clothes have a designated space that’s ready for the washer. You've essentially doubled your luggage capacity without bringing two packed suitcases.

How Small Is the Packable Bag?

When your Amazon order first arrives, the package will look shockingly large. It alarmed us at first, but then we remembered how to fold the bag down to the size of its front pocket. Do you see the front pockets of the bag in the photos above this one? The zipper around the exterior pockets lets you fold the duffel into a neat, compact square that easily fits in any suitcase, carry-on, or backpack.

Now, we won’t lie and say this is an enjoyable process. Getting the big bag to fold up to be this small felt a bit like trying to wrangle an alligator into a pillowcase. Or like trying to put a sweater on a cat. Or like trying to fold a fitted sheet that’s full of straps.

There are a lot of little straps and corners that need tucking and holding down just right to get the duffle to submit to the size it needs to be. That said, it didn’t take long to do. It only takes about 2-3 minutes per bag to fold and zip up. It’s not necessarily hard, it’s just not our favorite trip prep activity.

Though there might be better methods out there, our process starts by laying the bag zipper-side down, folding in the edges so the zipper edge is the edge of your shape, then folding the bag in half. Then we start zipping a little as we continue stuffing the straps and the bag into itself. Shove and zip until it’s all zipped up, then voila!

You don’t have to do this process until you’re ready to pack it again. We love that the outside zips are still usable zippers!

While the 60L packed full is a little bigger than a standard carry-on, the 80L rivals checked luggage. Both duffles fold down to be a little bigger than a paperback book. You can tell the size difference in the photo above. The weight is nearly identical.

60L vs 80L: Which Size Do You Really Need?

Though the duffles come in sizes 60L, 80L, 100L, and 150L, we knew the 100L and 150L would be unreasonably large for us, so we only wanted to test the 60L vs 80L. We’ve had the 60L version in black for years now, but wanted to have a proper new comparison of the size differences and what size might be necessary.

The 60L is perfect if you're a moderate shopper or traveling for a week or less. It holds about the same as a carry-on suitcase and easily fits a week's worth of clothes plus a reasonable haul of market finds like a couple of those chunky knit sweaters from the Cologne markets, four to six market gluhwein mugs, several wooden ornaments from Nuremberg, and even a few carved decorations from Tallinn.

Though it’s about the same size as a carry-on, we highly recommend checking the bag on your way home. We have shuffled this loaded-down bag through the Copenhagen airport, and though it’s possible, it’s NOT our idea of a good time. After making that mistake, we swore we’d only check the bag on the way back home because, well, we don’t hate ourselves.

Take it from us! Save your back and shoulders and pay the one-way checked bag fee, so you don't have to tote the tote from one end of the airport to another. It’s worth every dime.

The 80L is for serious market shoppers or longer trips. This beast can hold as much as a large checked suitcase. If you're the type who can't resist buying gifts for everyone back home, who falls in love with larger items like wooden advent calendars or multiple sets of beer steins like those you’ll occasionally find in Munich, or you're traveling for two weeks or more, the extra space is worth it.

Make Sure Your Bag Stays Under Weight Limits

Along with a packable duffel, we always pack a luggage scale on our Christmas market trips! Weighing your luggage at home is only half of the battle. Getting your things back home without coughing up a ridiculous amount of money for your bag being a few pounds overweight is not a great way to end a fantastic trip!

This Portable Digital Hanging Baggage Scale for Travel is about the size of a cell phone and is super light, adding nearly no weight to your luggage once you’ve weighed your bag at home. When you get to Europe and find you need to put your duffel to use, weigh it as you go with this luggage scale so you’ll always know how close you are to your flight home's maximum weight allowance. You can do this by wrapping the strap around your duffel straps and the scale, then lifting to get the correct reading. The scale can show weight in both pounds and kilograms.

Do one final weight check with your duffle before heading to the airport to make sure it’s not overweight!

*Note - the duffle in the picture is full of our couch pillows to show bulk, not weight! Your duffel is not likely to weigh six pounds.

The Best Investment for your Christmas Market Trip

At around $25-30, this duffel costs less than shipping items home or paying for overweight baggage. While you will have to pay for either one or an additional checked bag, it beats leaving coveted treasures behind or paying huge shipping fees to mail heavy packages home! The duffle, on its own, weighs next to nothing, takes up minimal packing space, and eliminates the day-before-departure panic of trying to cram everything into your existing luggage.

Whether you go with the 60L or 80L depends on your shopping tendencies. Light shoppers and short trips? The 60L has you covered. Planning to hit markets in multiple cities or shopping for the whole family? Spring for the 80L. You won't regret the extra room when you spot that perfect vintage German smoker or complete set of hand-painted baubles.

After years of Christmas market hopping, this simple duffel has saved us from countless packing disasters and let us actually enjoy the shopping instead of constantly worrying about luggage space. Because really, half the joy of Christmas markets is bringing home those special pieces that remind you of crisp winter nights, twinkling lights, and the best Glühwein you've ever tasted.

What are we packing? We’re intending to bring the 60L with us and use the 80L for camping and road trips this year.

For more packing tips and essentials for your Christmas market adventure, check out our complete Christmas Market packing guide.