Complete Guide: How to Choose the Ideal Travel Bag (Cabin, Medium, or Large)

🧳 Choosing the right suitcase makes all the difference

Choosing between a cabin bag, a medium suitcase, or a large suitcase depends on the type of trip, duration, and organizational needs.

Brands like Samsonite, American Tourister or Gabol offer solutions designed for every type of traveler, combining durability, security, and smart design. Choosing a quality suitcase makes all the difference in your travel experience, ensuring durability, security, and comfort on every journey.

In this concise guide, we explain the differences between sizes to help you choose the best suitcase for your next trip.

👉 Cabin Bag (55 cm) – Ideal for short trips 

✔ When to choose:

- Trips of 1 to 3 days
- Flights with hand luggage
- Weekend getaways
- Short business trips

✔ Advantages:

- Fits in the airplane cabin (avoids check-in)
- More practical and faster
- Lower risk of loss

✔ Important features:

Samsonite Upscape Cabin Bag | Premium quality

Gabol Brooklyn Cabin Bag | Value for money

 Movom Wood Cabin Bag | More economical

👉 Medium Suitcase (57 to 69cm) – The perfect balance

✔ When to choose:

- Trips of 4 to 7 days
- Short holidays
- Trips as a couple

✔ Advantages:

- Good capacity without being too bulky
- More versatile
- Ideal for checked baggage

✔ Important features:

- Typical dimensions: 69 x 49 x 29 cm
- Average capacity +- 70-80 litres
- Choose a TSA lock system for greater security
- Opt for suitcases with internal dividers for optimized organization

Soundbox Medium Suitcase in polypropylene | Expandable

👉 Large Suitcase (70 to 75cm) – Maximum capacity

✔ When to choose:

- Trips of 1 week or more
- Extended holidays
- Family trips
- Car or train trips; a suitcase of this capacity may exceed the 23kg usually allowed by airlines
- Winter trips; clothes are bulkier and take up a lot of space, but weigh less than summer clothes

✔ Advantages:

- Large capacity, usually 100 liters or more
- Allows you to carry everything you need
- Ideal for long trips

✔ Important features:

- Typical dimensions: 75 x 52 x 31 cm
- Choose highly durable suitcases, for example, made of polypropylene
- Choose a TSA lock system for greater security
- Choose suitcases with 4 multi-directional wheels for easier maneuverability

Samsonite Scure Large Suitcase | Security and robustness

🔏 What a good travel suitcase should have

Regardless of size, always look for:

✔ Durable material (e.g., polypropylene)
✔ TSA lock (essential for international travel)
✔ 360º wheels (total mobility)
✔ Organized interior (fewer wrinkles, more efficiency)
✔ Lightness + durability

⛔ One thing you should never do

In our daily store experience, we noticed that when in doubt about suitcase size, our customers tended to opt for the larger one. Because the price difference between sizes is small, we often heard, "the large suitcase can hold a lot or a little."

However, this logic is unfortunately not the most correct. And it can lead to short-term problems.

One size never invalidates another; all sizes are necessary and applicable to different situations. A large suitcase cannot replace a medium suitcase, and it shouldn't...

The durability of suitcases has a lot to do with how we travel with them. They are supposed to be well-filled, well-packed, which greatly reduces the risk of the material breaking from an impact.

Let's look at a practical example!

You are traveling to a tropical country and want to bring your whole house and the world. You opt for a large travel suitcase because it fits everything, but the airline only allows you to carry 23kg of luggage. Summer clothes, neatly stacked in a suitcase of this capacity, will definitely exceed the permitted weight. Therefore, you will probably end up traveling with a half-full suitcase, which greatly increases the risk of it breaking.

In this situation, a medium suitcase would be the best option.

But if you are going on a winter trip, clothes like thick coats or wool sweaters take up a lot of space, but their weight is much less. In this case, a large suitcase would be your best option.

The ideal is to have a set of suitcases of various sizes to have flexibility for any type of trip.

Still have doubts about the suitcase size for your next trip? Talk to us. We are here to clarify!