The Best Beach Towels of 2024

The Organic Cotton Towel is dual-sided, with a softer velour side that repels sand relatively well and keeps you warm, along with a looped terry material on the other side that is more absorbent. At 36 x 64 inches, it provides a nice wide spot to lay down on the beach and loads of coverage to wrap yourself up post-surf or swim. After squeezing out of a wetsuit in chilly spring air, the looped terry side of the towel successfully dried off the cold ocean water, and the velour side of the towel provided a welcome relief of warmth as the sun set below the horizon after another evening surf session. 

Tested at Trestles, a well-known Southern California surf break with a one-mile walk to the beach, the Organic Cotton Towel fits in a typical beach backpack alongside a 4/3 millimeter wetsuit, but there’s not much room for anything else. The cotton material is a little thicker, but it’s not so large that it takes up too much space — it’s still practical to pack along with you on hike-in missions to your favorite spots.

While the velour side does resist picking up sand pretty well, it’s still a cotton towel. Sand can find places to hide on the looped side, but a few brushes and shakes can get most of it out. Cotton also dries a bit slower, and it gains a bit of weight when wet. Regardless, we feel the Patagonia Organic Cotton Towel perfectly blends comfort, absorbency, and sand resistance, making it our favorite among the models we tested.

Like many towels before it, Dakine’s Terry Beach Towel knows its audience — surfers. Most in this group aim to keep it simple, and this towel has no frills. With dimensions of 34 x 63 inches, it’s plenty large for lying out on the sand and provides ample coverage for wrapping around yourself once you’re out of the water. The cotton terry material is nice and soft against the skin and absorbs water readily when you need to dry off.

Similar to other cotton terry towels, sand has lots of places to hide and cling to, so it picks more of it up than microfiber options. Still, a good shake helps to dislodge most of it. And, of course, cotton also dries a bit slower too. Thankfully, it has a small loop sewn onto the corner when you need to hang it out to dry.

Straight and to the point, the Dakine Terry Beach Towel may be the perfect stow-away in your bag for a while, but after considerable usage, it might be a good idea to literally throw in the towel. Regardless, the Dakine Terry Beach Towel is an affordable option that’s soft, cozy, and comes in enough prints that you’re sure to find a perfect match for your beach style.

Sand Cloud’s Turkish Towel ($48) captured the best Turkish towel recognition because it is slightly more plush than Slowtide’s Turkish beach towel. At 240-250 GSM, these towels are made from 100% Organic Turkish cotton and absorb water well but are also very quick-drying and highly sand-resistant. While testing at the popular southern California beach of Trestles on a hot summer day, its small packed size and lightweight made it easy to transport on a one-mile walk to and from the beach. A quick shake dislodged virtually all of the sand, helping to leave it at the beach where it belongs. It also lived in the trunk of a car for multiple days without accumulating a stench despite withstanding soaked wetsuits, salt water, and sweaty bodies.

While Sand Cloud’s Turkish Towels are impressively lightweight and pack down nice and small for travel, they are also quite thin. As such, they don’t provide as much warmth as a Terry cotton towel, nor do they offer much in the way of cushioning. It’s great on soft, sandy beaches, but you’ll notice pebbles and shells underneath much more than a thicker, plusher towel.

Sand Cloud is big on collaborations, bringing so many different towel designs to market that you might be overwhelmed by the number of options. From Discovery Channel’s Shark Week to Disney and Looney Toons, many brands have gotten on board to ride the Turkish beach towel wave while contributing to marine conservation. If collecting designs is your thing, be warned: you can quickly become addicted to collecting their towels if style and Turkish cotton are your ideal beach towel combination. It is truly hard to resist a towel with a whale shark, manta ray, or sea turtle to claim a sandy spot by the shore.

And if feel-good vibes are your bag, every time you purchase a Sand Cloud towel or any Sand Cloud product, 10% of all profits are donated toward marine conservation organizations.

It is made from polyester antimicrobial microsuede that repels sand, pet hair, and stains. Even if the towel is wet, it remains relatively lightweight and easy to carry. When its completely soaked through, it dries much faster than cotton. It also has a convenient hang loop for easy and faster drying. 

After a surf session, the Everywhere Towel is great for absorbing water and drying off. However, sand tends to stick to the material once it is wet, making it difficult to enjoy your activity. If you are chilly after a surf session, consider bringing another layer or one of Rumpl’s puffy blankets to wear after toweling off. The Everywhere Towel absorbs water really well, but the thin material will not be a good source of warmth if you need it post-surf. 

The Rumpl Everywhere towel features colorful designs, with a few featuring iconic scenery from Yosemite National Park and Zion National Park. If you are surfing past the breakers, it is easy to spot from the line-up. Cool designs aside, this towel’s light weight and packability make it a great option for bringing with you wherever your adventures take you.

Tested on Southern California beaches, this towel is ideal for warmer, sunnier weather if you’re looking to keep sand out of your bag. Made from microfiber sourced from post-consumer plastic waste, it isn’t as plush as cotton, but it doesn’t provide much for sand to cling to, packs down small, and is easily portable. But if you need to stay warm, you might consider a different product because this towel works best to dry you off and repel sand to keep it out of your car and home.

Our tester used this towel to change out of a wet wetsuit, which involved very sandy, wet feet standing on top of it. The fun didn’t stop there — she dried her salty hair and then stuffed it at the bottom of her surf backpack to catch any extra water from the wetsuit while walking the half-mile trail back to the car. It then sat in the car for a few days, and miraculously, there was no gross wet towel smell! Incredible. Notorious for their cars carrying a damp towel stench, surfers’ towels, and wetsuits often perma-stink a car if not immediately removed. Not so with the Eccosophy Eco-Friendly Towel.

Additionally, the microfiber material dries very fast, whether it’s lying on the beach in the sun or hanging on a line at home. A convenient drying loop makes it easy to hang next to your outdoor shower or by the rinse station at the beach. The Eco-Friendly Towel also comes in a variety of vibrantly colored prints, including the Amalfi we tested, so you can choose the option that suits you best.

Stretchy and sand-resistant, this oversized 90 x 90-inch towel is soft and offers unique looks, so your friends will easily know where to find the beach party. Made from 100% Turkish cotton, the Party Blanket is not as plush as Terry cotton but quite stretchy and can fit three or four people. However, sand tends to hide in the crevices of the stretchy Turkish cotton fabric. Even after shaking it out, the amount of sand it retained surprised us, mainly because the blanket is so large.

One does not simply dry off on the Sand Cloud Party Blanket. Since it is so large and meant to be shared with others, you’ll likely need to air dry because using the blanket to dry yourself off can be a chore. That also includes folding the blanket. Big surprise — it’s a two-person job. Despite rolling this towel down, the Party Blanket is still quite bulky and may require its own bag to carry around. However, due to the lower 225 GSM weight of the material, it weighs a mere 1.3 pounds.

The blanket also soaks up water readily but does not dry as quickly as other Sand Cloud towels we’ve tried in the past. And, because the Party Blanket is a four-layered gauze jacquard weave made from 100% Turkish cotton, it is not dryer-friendly and must be air-dried to preserve the fabric best.

Though it may not be the most practical for a person heading down to the beach solo, the Sand Cloud Party Blanket is the perfect lounging or picnic blanket for a couple or a few friends. At $158, it isn’t exactly cheap, but it comes in a vast assortment of colors and patterns to match your personal aesthetic and can double as a throw blanket in the home.

Serving as a perfect multi-purpose solution for surfers and outdoor folks alike, the Nomadix Poncho Towel will help you dry off, keep you decently warm, serve as a beach blanket, and protect you from unwanted wardrobe malfunctions. Unlike many changing ponchos, Nomadix made this one with versatility in mind, and it can be used in all those ways.

Made from 90% post-consumer recycled materials and Nomadix’s MicroTerry Technology, each beach poncho towel is equivalent to 66 plastic bottles. In addition to being environmentally friendly, it is highly absorbent and dries you off quickly, including soaking wet hair. It is also surprisingly odor-resistant, which we confirmed after leaving it in the trunk of our tester’s car for a few days, resulting in no smelly stench.

Tested during a post-surf session on an overcast day in Southern California, the Beach Poncho Towel provided plenty of room for our tester’s 5’3” frame to change into dry clothes while also impersonating a flying squirrel. And when you’re looking to warm up a bit after getting out of the water, it has a front kangaroo pocket and hood to cover your hands and head. The material isn’t the warmest, but it takes the edge off the wind and doesn’t pick up much sand.

When you’re ready to lounge, unsnap the sides, and it opens up into a large — 60 x 80-inch — beach towel. Fun fact: the hood doubles as a beach umbrella hole, so you can have it made in the shade, and it’s large enough for two people to lie down. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for changing, drying, and hanging at the beach, check out the versatile Nomadix Beach Poncho Towel.

When brand new, the material of the Slowtide Turkish towel has a unique feel. It is initially so water resistant that beads of ocean water hovered on top of the towel when tested post-surf session. Water resistance isn’t exactly a desirable trait in a product that is meant to dry you off, but our tester had fun playing with the water beads on this towel and waiting for them to succumb to the material. In Slowtide’s defense, they claim that their Turkish towels are designed to get softer and more absorbent with each wash, so absorbency should improve with time and use.

Like other Turkish towels, the Slowtide is sand-resistant. Sand barely sticks to it, and what little does cling to the towel is easily shaken off. In case you manage to soak the towel, there is a handy drawcord loop for convenient drying. An additional plus about the Slowtide Turkish beach towel is that, unlike most other Turkish beach towels, it can go in the dryer on low.

The Slowtide is a great towel for vegging out by the pool or on the sand, so long as you aren’t relying on it for warmth or a cushy barrier between you and a pebbly beach. The thin nature of this and other Turkish towels simply isn’t as plush as thicker Terry cotton options. If you do decide to hit the waves, Slowtide’s Turkish towel will help dry you off, but with less than half the cushyness of their Wonderland Woven towel. With oversized dimensions of 38 inches wide by 73 inches long, this is a big towel, and it provides ample space to lie down and great coverage when you need to wrap yourself up.

And, if you’re interested in sustainability, Slowtide is transparent about ethically sourcing its materials and allows you to donate one percent of your purchase to a charity of your choice.

Made from 100% sustainably sourced cotton, the Wonderland features a plush 500 GSM with a velour cotton side for comfort and a looped terry side for absorption. The unique whimsical designs are available in several patterns and feature a convenient loop for hanging the towel to dry. 

Despite its plushness, the Wonderland Woven beach towel doesn’t take up an excessive amount of space in a backpack. A full wetsuit and a few other standard beach gear items, such as hats, sunscreen, water, and snacks, could easily fit alongside this towel. Still, at 30 by 60 inches, it’s a relatively standard size that should work for most users either for lying down or drying off.

When drying off, the Slowtide Wonderland Woven Towel has good absorption and offers a welcome amount of softness and warmth after a chilly springtime surf. However, like other cotton towels, it is not the fastest to dry and can get heavy once wet. Sand also tends to stick within its terry fibers and is slightly more difficult to dislodge compared to other materials. 

Still, we’d recommend the Slowtide Wonderland Woven Towel to anyone seeking a quality, plush beach towel. And if you’re looking for something different, Slowtide makes a huge range of beach towels, including Turkish, quick-drying, and changing poncho models, in an array of fun prints to choose from.

Made from 100% cotton, this is one of the most comfortable and plush towels we tested, making it a favorite among our fellow beach-going friends thus far. The sheared cotton terry side is great for relaxing in the sand, while the reverse side’s looped cotton is highly absorptive for drying off. For an extra $10, you can even personalize your towel by adding a monogram or embroidery.

Like most larger towels — especially those with looped cotton— the Pendleton will trap sand easily within its fibers, helping you bring the beach home with you. A few good shakes can dislodge most of the sand. However, it tends to stick a bit more if the towel is damp, which makes it more challenging to keep your car and belongings sand-free.

Given its 62 x 70-inch dimensions and plush cotton material, it’s not surprising that the Pendleton Towel for Two is the heaviest we tested at three pounds. It’s also a little bulkier and not the easiest to stash in a backpack with your other things. Fortunately, it comes with a nylon carrying strap. When you roll and strap the towel correctly, it makes carrying this two-person towel a one-person job.

If you’re looking for a large, soft cotton beach towel for a couple or family, the Pendleton Towel for Two should be on your shortlist. It also comes in several great prints so you can spread out or wrap yourself up in style.