Best Men’s Travel Shorts

They called me “My Pockets”

Seriously, my dress code for warm summer days and warm climates was for years a pair of cargo shorts, likely purchased from Old Navy. There are some advantages to cargo shorts, like great big pockets where I could carry a water bottle or even a guidebook back in the day.

But these shorts also had some big disadvantages. In a suitcase, they take up a lot of room, and if you have to wash them out on the trip, you better have access to a dryer, or they will never get dry again. Also, I don’t know why, but they always seemed to get this creased look, and the pockets themselves looked a bit ratty.

Men’s Convertible Hiking Pants

Convertible Shorts/Pants

For some travelers, the right solution is a pair of convertible travel pants you can wear as shorts and then zip on the legs when you need to wear long pants. The idea is that you can even carry the legs in your day bag so you can make the switch in the middle of the day. 

You head out in the morning, and it’s cold. No problem, wear long pants. It gets hot. No problem, zip off the legs, and you are in shorts.

I have bought at least a few pairs of these, but somehow they have never stuck for me personally. The ones I had just never looked that stylish as pants, which was part of the problem.

Chris wearing Chinese-made shorts on the Great Wall

Cheap Chinese Travel Shorts

My next solution was a pair of very lightweight travel shorts from a Chinese manufacturer. I actually liked these shorts and wore them a lot. They had a cell phone pocket that was closed with Velcro. They still had the look of cargo shorts, but at least they were much lighter weight and took up much less space in the suitcase. They could also be washed in the sink and dried overnight.

What they were not was well-made. Every time I closed the Velcro, some of the fabric unraveled, and eventually the zipper died while I was wearing them in what can only be considered an inopportune time.

Things I am Looking For

My list of attributes I am looking for in a good pair of travel shorts has refined over the years:

• Pack compactly in my suitcase
• Comfortable
• Secure pockets for my stuff, especially my wallet and my cell phone
• Stylish

Kühl Ramblr™ shorts on a bike trip in Germany

Kühl

The fine people at Kühl offered me a couple of pairs of their travel shorts to try, and these days I travel with at least one pair of Kühl shorts. I have also reviewed their travel pants in Best Travel Pants for Men.

I have two different pairs of Kühl shorts:

Ramblr™

• Tough, lightweight, quick-dry shorts with 8 pockets
• color: Gun Metal?
• available in 8″ or 10″ inseam

Kühl Silencr™ shorts

Silencr™ Kargo Short

• Lightweight softshell shorts with stretch
• Color: Nocturnal Blue
• Available in 8″, 10″, or 12″ inseam

For some reason, I found that the Silencr™ shorts ran one size smaller than the other pair and needed to get one size larger than I usually do. 

Kühl also makes more traditional cargo shorts with external pockets like I used to wear, but both of these are a bit more streamlined. I like both of these styles with their low-profile pockets. The front pockets are good, but making quick-access pockets makes them more accessible to me but also to someone who I don’t want in my pockets. 

Both have a thin pocket that would be perfect for a cell phone, but it is on the left-hand side of the shorts, and I am a profoundly right-handed person.

The back pockets have Velcro closures, but I don’t trust anything in a back pocket when I travel. 

Both have a zippered pocket on the right and left sides of the front of the shorts, but the shape is curved, and I haven’t figured out what to do with that yet. It does work for holding small things like my tube of sunscreen.

Quince Clubhouse Golf Shorts

Quince

Quince has been a sponsor of the Amateur Traveler podcast, and I have recently been wearing their golf shorts. I don’t golf, but I find these stretchy shorts to be more comfortable. However, their easy-access pockets seem a bit less secure than the Kühl shorts, so I find that when I wear these shorts while traveling, I am more likely to keep my cell phone in the strap of my day bag.

They are my go-to shorts for lounging around the house. They do have a change pocket, which is a good place for a pair of AirPods. They also have a side zipper pocket on the right side that can technically hold the iPhone, but the zipper is on the long side, and it is a bit fussy to get the cell phone in the pocket.

Clubhouse Golf Shorts – 7.5″

• Color: Deep Navy

Conclusion

I have upgraded my travel shorts to more practical shorts from my days as an Old Navy fashion model, but I would not rule out that I will keep looking for better and better options in the future.