Travel is all about experiences, and the memories you’ll have of them afterwards. And if you can capture those memories, then all the better to look back on them for many years to come.
However, you’re not going to want to lug a heavy bag of camera equipment with you on your journey. The best travel cameras need to be easily portable, offer plenty of versatility, and not leave you trying to change lenses in an environment that might be detrimental to both lens and camera body, such as the beach.
Having interchangeable lenses can be helpful, though, as not all cameras can capture the wide vistas of mountain landscapes before zooming in to photograph an eagle soaring over the peaks.
Your choice of travel camera needs to suit the journey you’re going on, and all the cameras here have something to recommend them. They’re all digital, and all are capable of shooting video alongside still images.
Wherever you’re travelling, there’s a camera here that’s perfect for taking with you. From premium compacts that offer everything you need in a single package, to system cameras that require you to think about the lens you want to use and even phones and action cameras, there’s something on this list that will enable you to create a permanent record of where you went, and what you did when you got there.
Just remember to pick up a good bag - perhaps one of the best cross body bags - to keep it in, and maybe look into some travel insurance too.
See below for the best travel cameras for holidays and adventures
Best travel cameras at a glance:
- Best for extreme convenience: Nikon Coolpix P1000 - £1,049, Amazon
- Best for good value travel photography: Panasonic Lumix TZ200D - £720, Amazon
- Best for slipping in your pocket: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra - £978, Amazon
- Best for getting wet with: Olympus Tough TG-6 - £449, Amazon
- Best for street photography: Fujifilm X100V - £1,349, Amazon
- Best for a full travel photography system: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV - £699, Amazon
- Best for videoing your exploits: GoPro Hero 11 Black - £399, Amazon
- Best for full-frame thrills: Sony A7C - £1,899, Amazon
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Nikon Coolpix P1000
Best for: extreme convenience
The widest zoom range available on a fixed-lens camera belongs to the P1000. It can go from a 24mm-equivalent wide angle view to an incredible 3000mm - a 125x difference.
That makes it ideal for travel. You can carry it with you wherever you go knowing that you’ll never need to change the lens. In fact, you can’t - this may look like a DSLR or MILC, but the lens is fixed in place making it more of a bridge camera.
The size and weight are a disadvantage for travel - you really could take a DSLR and a single lens and not notice the difference - and the small (barely larger than those in phone cameras) 16MP sensor isn’t the greatest once the light begins to fade, but for sheer convenience it’s hard to beat.
Buy now £1049.00, Amazon
Panasonic Lumix TZ200D
Best for: good value travel photography
Compact cameras are dead, right? Overtaken by phones from the bottom and cheap MILC systems from above? Not so fast. If it’s a dedicated camera you can slip in your pocket without breaking the bank, then this model from Panasonic is worth a look.
There’s a 20MP one-inch sensor inside, meaning you’ll get much better images out of this camera than you will from models with smaller chips. The lens zooms from a wide 24mm equivalent to a much tighter 360mm, which is a good range for travel, and there’s a nice three-inch tilting screen on the back. There’s a traditional viewfinder too, though it’s a little small, and you’re able to shoot raw image files and take full manual control of the camera if you fancy getting more advanced.
Buy now £720.00, Amazon
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Best for: slipping in your pocket
Compact cameras are dead, right? Overtaken by phones from the bottom and... apologies for repeating ourselves, but the S23 Ultra has one of the best camera packages currently available in the smartphone market, and it can easily take the place of a compact camera when you’re travelling light.
There’s a 200MP sensor behind its main (24mm equivalent) camera, which produces wonderfully detailed 12MP files, and three other lenses too. You get a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a pair of 10MP telephoto lenses, one of which has a periscope zoom which will give you the equivalent of a 230mm lens. This is rather slow though, and doesn’t hold up well in low light, so is best used when the sun is out.
Being a phone, you’ve got built-in storage, so no need for a memory card, and you can share your photos easily too. There’s Android’s photo processing for editing, and the whole package is a tempting one for anyone slipping away for the weekend and not wanting to take too much luggage.
Buy now £1199.00, Amazon
Olympus Tough TG-6
Best for: getting wet with
There’s an interesting sensor inside the TG-6. It may only capture 12MP, but its backside-illuminated nature means it’s better at gathering light, leading to brighter, more saturated, better quality images. You’ll need that light-gathering ability too, as this is a camera that’s built for going places where light might be at a premium, such as underwater.
Waterproof (to 15m), drop-proof (from 2.1m), freeze-proof (to -10°C) and dust-proof, this is the camera to take if you’re going diving, ice fishing, or are likely to be stuck in a dusty truck crossing the desert for any length of time. It’s chunky, thanks to all the extra rubber armour and seals, and has a 25-100mm equivalent lens, plus the ability to shoot extreme close-ups of interesting things you find along the way.
Buy now £449.00, Amazon
Fujifilm X100V
Best for: street photography
This premium compact model from Fujifilm has a fixed lens of 35mm equivalent with an F/2 aperture, and despite the APS-C 26MP digital sensor inside, is as close as you’re going to find to using a classic film camera in 2023.
It’s small but beautifully formed, with Fujifilm’s trademark retro styling and analogue dials setting it apart from other brands. Image quality is excellent, the fixed lens packed with exotic glass technology to increase its sharpness, and the autofocus with face detection snapping into action to lock onto the subjects of your photos.
There’s a ‘weather resistant’ upgrade kit available too, which adds a filter to the front of the lens to protect it against the elements. It’s not as well armoured as the Olympus camera above, but you’ll be fine if you’re caught in a shower.
Buy now £1349.00, Amazon
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV
Best for: a full travel photography system
Olympus, AKA OM System, has been making its Micro Four Thirds system cameras for a long time now. The M10 family sits at the ‘enthusiast’ end of the spectrum, so lacks features compared to its M5 or M1 siblings, but for travel it’s got it where it counts.
The M10 is light, compact, and when paired with the right lens extremely portable. You can attach it to something like the 14-24mm (28-48mm equivalent) EZ lens, which is available as a kit with the camera body, and still be able to slip the combo in a small bag. Later, if you’re birdwatching or stalking wildlife, you can fit something like the OM System ED 150-400mm (300-800mm equivalent) lens for serious magnification. Superzoom lenses such as the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-200mm (24-400mm equivalent) are perfect for travel too.
Autofocus is snappy, there’s a burst speed of 8.7fps, internal image stabilisation, and the 20MP sensor produces excellent images.
Buy now £699.00, Amazon
GoPro Hero 11 Black
Best for: videoing your exploits
GoPro’s range of action cameras are tiny little things with wide-angle lenses that are made to be attached to things like surfboards, dirt bikes or the top of your head, and produce video of the whole thing.
The Hero 11 Black steps things up a notch. It can give you 27MP stills, but its 5.3K 60fps video is the main event. The sensor inside is almost square, with an 8:7 aspect ratio, which means you can crop it on a suitable computer or tablet and export it as tailor-made files for video sharing sites such as TikTok or Instagram, or plain old 16:9 widescreen for YouTube.
There are all sorts of digital video tricks on offer too, such as digital image stabilisation, time lapses, slow motion, or Horizon Lock. There’s a long-lasting battery, an accompanying phone app, and an easy mode baked into the camera’s menus, in case all the options become too much.
Buy now £399.00, Amazon
Sony A7C
Best for: full-frame thrills
Sony’s A7C is a shrunken version of its popular A7III mirrorless camera. It’s smaller, but no less capable, with a 24MP full-frame sensor in a body that’s barely larger than that of the Fujifilm X100V above.
Paired with a suitable lens - there are compact prime lenses available from the likes of Sony, Sigma and Samyang or a superzoom such as the Sony 24-240mm or Tamron 28-200 - it’s the ideal camera to keep in a bag when you travel, knowing you’ll have the ability to create shallow depth of field if you need it, and shoot images as the sun goes down without having them dissolve into a soup of digital noise.
You also get the benefit of Sony’s excellent 693-point hybrid autofocus system, with face and eye detection for both humans and animals, as well as object tracking and a 10fps burst rate. Though it’s worth noting it lacks any sort of built-in flash.
Buy now £1899.00, Amazon
