Best Coolers for Camping, Road Trips, and Beach Days
I get asked constantly which cooler I’d actually buy, so here’s the honest rundown. No sponsored fluff, just the three I’d hand you if you showed up at my door asking. One’s a splurge, one’s a steal, and one rolls right along behind you so your back doesn’t have to argue about it. One quick note before we dive in: the cooler matters less than how you pack it, so read that guide first →
All three of these have earned a permanent spot in my rotation, and I picked them for different reasons rather than crowning one champion. Price, durability, and how much hassle you’re willing to carry all factor in, so here’s where each one fits and why.
Jump to:
- Best Overall, Best Hard Cooler, and Best for Camping: RTIC 65 Quart Cooler Ice Chest
- Best Budget: Coleman Chiller Series 16 Quart Insulated Portable Cooler
- Best Wheeled Cooler, Best for Tailgating, and Best for Road Trips: Coleman Xtreme 50 Quart Rolling Cooler
Best Overall, Best Hard Cooler, and Best for Camping: RTIC 65 Quart Cooler Ice Chest
RTIC 65 Quart Cooler Ice Chest
If I had to own exactly one cooler, this is it. It’s a hard-sided cooler built for punishment, and it keeps ice frozen for days rather than hours. Yes, it’s heavy and it eats into your interior space with all that insulation, but that’s the tradeoff for a cooler that shows up for camping trips, tailgates, and everything in between without complaint.
It earns best overall because it does nearly everything well without an obvious weak spot, but it’s worth calling out on its own for two other reasons. If you want a cooler that’s essentially indestructible and don’t mind the weight, it’s also my pick for best hard cooler. And for a multi-day camping trip away from a store, it’s the one I’d send you off with too. Pair it with block ice from my packing guide and you can go several days without needing to restock.
Best Budget: Coleman Chiller Series 16 Quart Insulated Portable Cooler
Coleman Chiller Series 16 Quart Insulated Portable Cooler
This is the one I recommend to anyone who doesn’t need a heavy-duty setup and just wants something reliable for picnics, park days, and quick beach trips. It holds up to 11 cans with 8 pounds of ice, has a sturdy grip handle, and is made in the USA. It won’t survive a multi-day camping trip in July, but for the price, nothing else comes close.
Best Wheeled Cooler, Best for Tailgating, and Best for Road Trips: Coleman Xtreme 50 Quart Rolling Cooler
Coleman Xtreme 50 Quart Rolling Cooler
Once a cooler gets much past 40 quarts, carrying it stops being fun. This one solves that with wheels and a pull handle, and it’s rated to keep ice for up to five days.
It’s the cooler I reach for on weekend trips, car camping, tailgating, or as a backup in case the power goes out and the fridge stops helping, which is really just another way of saying it earns best for tailgating and best for road trips right alongside best wheeled cooler. Wheels make all the difference in a parking lot, especially when you’re also hauling chairs, a grill, and a folding table. And for a road trip, you get enough capacity for a family’s worth of snacks and drinks, wheels for gas station parking lots, and a price that won’t make you wince if it gets scuffed up being loaded and unloaded a dozen times over a week. Versatile enough to earn a spot in the garage year-round.
Best Backpack Cooler
I’ll be straight with you here: I haven’t found one I’m ready to put my name behind yet. If you’re shopping this category, look for welded (not sewn) seams, a wide-mouth main compartment, and at least 24 hours of claimed ice retention. I’ll update this section once I’ve tested one I actually trust.
Question: Got a cooler you swear by that isn’t on this list? Tell me about it in the comments; I’m always looking for the next one to put through its paces.
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RTIC cooler also comes with wheels. Our son had two of them and we went ahead and broke down and got one. Best cooler we have ever had in our 42 years of marriage. We used it on a vacation, put the perishables in a frig and left the drinks in the cooler in the garage. Kept the drinks cold for 5 days. It is heavy if you were to carry it, however, the wheels make it so much nicer.
igloo 70 qt. two wheels on one end, handle on the other. it wheels, but not like the coleman you showed. i have two of them and they were a godsend during the weekend’s power failure [july 4-6]. at least the power failure happened after the heat wave, not during. i’ve had them for about 40 years and they are amazing. i remember one year during a power failure in march, i put a layer of snow on the bottom, put our perishables in them and shoveled snow on top of it all. when power was restored eight days later, i took out the food but left the snow. it was still there in april! full, not half melted. too bad i dumped it out because we had another power failure for a week in may.