We tested nine of the biggest brands to find the best travel mugs for hikes and camping trips.
When you’re hiking in cold weather or driving to a faraway campsite, a warming hot drink can help lift the spirits. Insulated travel mugs keep teas, coffees and hot chocolate warm for hours at a time, but they’re not all equal when it comes to performance and usability.
The best travel mugs are highly insulated, easy to use and – vitally – leakproof. We’ve put nine of the biggest brands to the test to find out which we’d take on our next hike or camping trip.
How we tested the travel mugs
- Filled them with hot water and tested the temperature every hour (it’s worth remembering some heat escaped every time we opened the lid, and bigger cups naturally tend to perform better than smaller ones)
- Shook them to test for leaking
- Judged them on looks, durability and practicality
Best travel mugs for hiking
This graph shows how well the travel mugs kept drinks warm over five hours. While they all started off at almost 90°C, some had dipped below 40°C by the end of the test. The list on the right ranks the cups from best to worst.
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Thermos King Can
Best for long hikes
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Pros: great heat retention, ergonomic shape, feels durable, easy-to-use cap
Cons: twist cap can be stiff with hot drinks
- 7 hours hot, 18 hours cold (according to product spec)
- 360g for 470ml capacity
- Dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
We had high expectations from Thermos’s King Can, and it’s fair to say we weren’t disappointed. The mug topped the charts in our heat retention test, alongside the Yeti Rambler, and its contents were still too hot to drink five hours after filling it with boiling water. We’d recommend getting your favourite beverage to a drinkable temperature before pouring it into the Thermos.
The travel mug feels sturdy in the hand, and has a pleasing ergonomic shape – presumably so the base fits into car cup holders. The lid’s open/close mechanism is different to all the others we tested; just twist the central dial in either direction when you need to take a sip. We found it could be stiff to turn when we filled the cup with a hot drink, but it moves smoothly and doesn’t let any liquid escape when in the ‘closed’ position.
The Thermos King mug comes in some fairly unusual colours, too. We love the understated sage green, but you can also get it in raspberry and copper.
Hydro Flask Coffee with Flex Sip Lid
Best all-rounder
- Buy now from Hydro Flask (£28.95)
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Pros: carry loop, sleek, stylish, great colour options
Cons: we couldn’t find any!
- 289g for 355ml capacity; 335g for 473ml capacity
- Dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
You can’t fail to be impressed by the Hydro Flask’s sleek design and colourful exterior. It comes with a useful silicone handle, which makes it ideal for carrying on hikes or attaching to the outside of your pack using a carabiner.
For a travel mug with a simple twist cap, it’s also impressively leakproof, and doesn’t let any liquid out, even when upside down. We liked the lid, which opens up as you twist it. In the locked position, you can see a bright orange section underneath, so you know when it’s secure.
Hydro Flask’s products certainly have a stylish look, and would be just as suitable for office working as they would for a hike. You can choose from a variety of rich colours; this 12oz cup comes in evocatively named shades like ‘laguna’ (blue), ‘dew’ (blue-green) and ‘lupine’ (lilac).
Yeti Rambler Mug
Best for camping trips with a car
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Pros: great heat retention, feels highly durable, stylish
Cons: heavy, bulky
- 600g for 532ml capacity
- Dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
Placed alongside the other travel mugs on test, the Yeti Rambler stands out as the biggest, bulkiest design. It feels sturdier than most, and it’s heavy, too, weighing 600g for 532ml of capacity. The payoff is the brilliant heat retention, as it was among the top performing in our temperature test. The water inside was still at 69°C after five hours – too hot to drink straight from the mug.
The Yeti’s interchangeable caps also set it apart from other travel mugs we tried. There’s the twisty cap for sipping hot beverages (shown in the picture), and a rigid handled lid for carrying drinks on the move. Either unscrew the whole cap to swig straight from the bottle, or just remove the upper section to drink from the clear ‘chug cap’ with a narrower opening.
Brilliantly, the twist lid allows you to drink from any section on the cap’s circumference, so you don’t have to concentrate on lining up the hole every time you take a sip.
We’ve taken half a point away for the Yeti’s heavy and bulky design, although these factors probably help it outperform other mugs when it comes to heat retention. In fact, the brand’s various Rambler mugs go all the way up to one gallon in size, which could be useful if you’re driving to a destination.
Stanley Trigger Action
Best for short hikes
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Pros: slimline, lightweight, simple design
Cons: can be tricky to twist lid
- 5 hours hot, 6 hours cold, 26 hours iced (according to product spec)
- 280g for 350ml capacity
- Dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
Stanley has a following of loyal fans, so we were interested to see how the brand’s Trigger Action cup stacks up against the others on test.
First impressions: this Stanley is much slimmer than other travel mugs we tried, which could explain why it didn’t keep drinks hot for as long as other big brands such as Yeti, Thermos and Hydro Flask. The contents reached a good drinking temperature around 3-5 hours after we filled it with 90°C water and didn’t leak – even when upside down.
The lid is easy to use; just press the side button to release the lock on the small sipping hole. The somewhat bulky button can make twisting and removing the lid a bit tricky, but we appreciated the simple, fuss-free design.
Other plus points include the pretty colour options, including zingy saffron yellow, and the slimline feel, which makes the cup perfect for slipping into cramped packs.
Contigo West Loop Autoseal Travel Mug
Best for throwing in a bag
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Pros: ergonomic design, easy-twist lid
Cons: slightly complicated lid
- 5 hours hot, 12 hours cold (according to product spec)
- 340g for 470ml capacity
- Not dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
With its robust, silicone-finished lid and lock button, Contigo’s West Loop mug is a safe option for anyone on the search for a leakproof flask.
The lid takes a while to get used to but we liked the locking mechanism, which stops you accidentally pressing the cap’s release button while it’s inside your bag. To drink, click the unlock tab and press down on the lid’s side button. There’s a satisfying hiss when you release the pressure.
This ergonomic travel mug feels robust and has a rubbery coating on the upper section for extra grip and durability. Closing and tightening the lid takes less than half of a full rotation – a neat feature.
As for the insulation, the Contigo finished our temperature test in a middling position, beating Chilly’s but losing out to Thermos, Yeti and Stanley. The contents reached perfect drinking temperature 3-5 hours after we filled the cup with 90°C water – long enough to stretch across an afternoon hike or lengthy car journey.
Opt for this mug and you’ll get a choice of over 12 bold colour options, including ‘raspberry’, ‘iced aqua’ and ‘millennial pink’.
Chilly’s Series 2 Coffee Cup
Best for long drives
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/22/2023/03/Chillys-664b752.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
Pros: sleek, stylish, lightweight, grippy base, customisable design
Cons: lid can be stiff, can’t close with hot drinks
- 4 hours hot (according to product spec)
- 257g for 340ml capacity; 333g for 500ml capacity
- Not dishwasher safe
- Not leakproof
With its sleek design and satisfying ergonomics, Chilly’s Series 2 coffee cup immediately caught the attention of our testers. The 340ml mug we tried is small, like a tall Cola can, while the 500ml version is a great option for couples sharing a drink.
The design includes a grippy rubber base and you can create a customised look by mixing and matching 12 colour options on the body and the two lid sections. Even the recyclable cardboard packaging tube looks smart.
The makers have added a twist lid on this cup, which displays a splash of orange when closed. We felt the upper lid section could have been bigger for extra grip, as it was stiff to twist when we’d filled the cup with a hot drink. It reached perfect drinking temperature 2-3 hours after we added 90°C water, but became fairly cold towards the end of an afternoon ramble.
It’s also not the most practical travel mug for everyday use. The instructions say to avoid filling it with drinks above 90°C and to keep the sip cap open for liquids above 60°C – so you can’t close the lid fully until your drink reaches a palatable temperature (55-65°C).
It’s not fully leakproof or dishwasher safe, and didn’t retain heat as well as larger travel mugs we tested. But we do love the many beautiful colour combinations available. Choose and combine block colours like ‘lichen’ or ‘blush’, or go for one of the limited edition patterned designs.
The Chilly’s Series 2 earns top marks for style and ergonomics, but we’d say this coffee cup is better suited to commutes and car journeys with cup holders, as opposed to hikes and camping trips. A great option if you want to keep drinks hot or cold for a few hours – and look stylish in the process.
Lifeventure Thermal Mug
Best for a budget-friendly choice
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Pros: lightweight, sleek, pressure release feature, outperforms more stylish mugs
Cons: have to remove lid to drink, not as stylish as other mugs
- 6 hours hot, 12 hours cold (according to product spec)
- 262g for 300ml capacity
- Not dishwasher safe
- Leakproof
If you’re after a slimline, cost-effective travel mug, try this one from Lifeventure. It may not have the sleek styling and pretty colour combinations associated with other brands, but it’s lightweight and streamlined. The shape makes it ideal for slipping into rucksack side pockets for easy accessibility.
The unique element on this travel mug is its pressure-release cap. The top section unscrews to release excess steam from the main flask before you unscrew the lid. Given some travel mugs can spit hot liquid at you when you open them, this is a useful feature.
There’s no drinking hole on this cup; you have to remove the entire lid to take a sip, which means you’ll have to stop walking if you don’t want to risk spilling your drink down yourself.
Our verdict: an inexpensive but effective travel mug with a leakproof, no-frills design.
Super Sparrow Travel Mug
Best for lightweight packing
- Buy now from Super Sparrow (£23.70)
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Pros: lightweight, built-in carry hoop, complementary cleaning brush
Cons: confusing lid
- 6 hours hot, 12 hours cold (according to product spec)
- 270g for 500ml capacity
- Dishwasher safe
- Not leakproof
The Super Sparrow’s technical-looking design and extra shiny interior set our expectations high from the start, so we were surprised to see this mug rank near the bottom of our temperature test. Just two mugs lost heat quicker than the Super Sparrow, both of which were smaller (and probably had less insulation).
The disparity in heat retention could be down to Super Sparrow’s ‘swivel thinning technology’ in the inner wall, which makes this mug 26% lighter than previous versions. It is impressively lightweight: 270g for 500ml of capacity, compared to Chilly’s 500ml cup at 333g and Yeti’s 532ml mug at 600g.
Despite being beaten by other brands in our temperature test, the Super Sparrow still keeps drinks warm for hours – we found 90°C water reached drinking temperature 3-5 hours after we filled the cup.
The technical lid could be a pro or a con, depending on your preference. Some might like the mechanical look, but taking a sip involves a few steps (unlock the slider, open the cap cover and hold down the button opposite to drink). The lid also comes with a built-in carry loop made of rigid plastic as opposed to the flexible silicone you’ll find on Hydro Flasks.
Additional benefits of the Super Sparrow’s include the complementary cleaning brush and the selection of rich colours, including cobalt and hot pink. Although our test mug looks blue in the imagery, it’s actually a deep turquoise-green colour.
Vango Magma Mug
Best for short drives
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Pros: lightweight, grippy, easy-to-use lid
Cons: best for cup holders, less stylish than other mugs
- 247g for 240ml capacity; 305g for 380ml capacity
- Potentially leakproof!
Rather than dual-wall insulation, the Vango Magma’s design uses copper-coated stainless steel, so it’s no surprise it struggled to keep drinks hot for as long as others we used. The makers say it can keep its contents warm for up to six hours, but it had dropped below 40°C by the end of our five-hour test.
This travel mug has a flip-top cap covering the drinking hole, and although it clicks tightly into place and didn’t leak water when we shook the cup, we wouldn’t trust it loose in a hiking pack. You’d quickly end up with a soggy bag if the cap became dislodged, so you’d have to store it in a mesh side pocket.
This mug may not be ideal for long hikes, but it’s a good budget-friendly choice for commuting and keeping in car cup holders. Most of the body has a rubbery coating, so it’s also extremely grippy and unlikely to budge when you’re on the move.
Looking for more flasks and food storage options?
See our guides to the best hiking water bottles, the best camping mugs and the best food flasks for hiking, picnicking and commuting.