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I never used to be a fan of passport holders and cases. Passports are thin, light, and just the right size to slip into a jeans pocket, or maybe the small front pocket or quick-access compartment of a carry-on backpack.
Then my passport started to get battered, and I took a few international flights where I couldn't use mobile boarding passes and had to carry paper ones. I remembered what a pain it can be to keep track of your passport, boarding pass, and landing cards, plus other notes and documents you might need when you're throwing everything loose into a backpack pocket.
I decided to look into travel wallets and passport covers. My thinking was that it would be easier to streamline everything if I could keep all the travel documents for a given flight in one holder, plus I'd be able to protect my passport. I knew that money belts and travel wallets that go around the neck are popular, but I had no interest in one of those. I wanted a sleek clean wallet.
I spent some time researching different options, trying a handful of different ones, and I'm happy to say that I found my favorite and new go-to: the Bellroy Travel Wallet. I've also found a number of other great travel wallet options if Bellroy's wares aren't for you. Read on to see which of put picks is the best for your travel wallet needs.
Updated on 10/24/2019 by Mara Leighton: Updated pricing, links, and formatting. Added a few related links. We are currently testing new products, so we'll update this guide soon.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.
The Bellroy Travel Wallet keeps your passport, boarding passes, landing cards, and more in a compact, organized package.
If you're a regular reader of Insider Picks Guides, chances are you're already familiar with Bellroy — after all, the company makes our favorite wallets. The young Australian brand has a smart, minimalist and functional design philosophy. It also uses ethically-sourced materials and has a great manufacturing process to produce high-quality gear.
What I love about Bellroy's travel wallet is that it holds everything — It has room for all of the travel documents you might need over the course of a multi-stop international trip, plus cash, credit cards, a SIM card, and even a pen.
At first glance, the wallet looks like an oversized bifold, opening just like an everyday wallet. One side has room for your passport, with a dedicated pocket that takes up that whole side. The other side has credit card slots — either two or four, depending on which edition of the wallet you choose — positioned vertically so you just drop the cards in. The wallet also has an open top pocket like a traditional bill compartment, but it's divided into two sections.
There are a few more "hidden" card slots and a sim card holder within the inner cash compartment, as well as my favorite feature of this wallet: a tiny pen, which is kept tucked away right in the middle so that you can fill out landing cards and jot any quick notes you need.
The wallet is big enough to hold just about any currency, and I like to keep a little bit in one of the sections of the large cash/document pocket. The other section is great for holding boarding passes, custom cards and any other travel documents you might need to have handy. I prefer putting these in the outermost section so that they don't crease when folded. I use the inside part for cash — You can put cash in both sections, using the divider to keep different currencies separated.
In theory, Bellroy intends the travel wallet to be your everyday wallet on the road, something you can carry with your cards, cash, passport and everything else you need for a day of exploring.
I think it's a little big for that. I can certainly fit in in a back pocket or jacket when I'm in the airport, but it's big enough that I would be worried about theft walking around a city with it. It's great to keep everything handy in the airport and during transit, but once I reach my destination, I'd probably carry my daily cash, credit cards and ID in a regular wallet and leave the travel wallet behind in a hotel safe.
The wallet is available in a few different colors, plus, there's a RFID-blocking version and a new "designer's edition." The designer's edition is meant for the luxury market and has a softer leather with a few design tweaks. It also only has two credit card slots on the main part of the wallet, rather than four. Other than that, it's basically the same product as the original. Whether you choose the regular or the designer's edition, you can't go wrong.
Pros: Keeps everything you need handy while traveling, easy to navigate, great organization, includes a pen, small enough to carry in a pocket in the airport
Cons: Too big to use as a daily wallet during trips
The Tumi Alpha Passport Case is stylish, plus it keeps your passport and cards safe — in more ways than one.
Did you know that passports, Global Entry cards, and some credit cards include a small RFID, or radio frequency identification chip, used to help prevent fraud or make it easier to pay for things? A small electronic chip is embedded in the card or document and emits a certain radio signal, which can be interpreted when the chip is near a reader. In the case of a passport, this radio signal verifies all the information on your photo page.
While RFID technology adds to security and convenience, the major downside is that anyone can use a portable scanner and steal information just by walking next to someone with a RFID-equipped passport or credit card. There's some debate about how real of a threat this is, as most credit cards don't include these chips anymore and the information a thief can get by "skimming" a passport is fairly innocuous. However, if you want to reduce the risk of identity theft as much as possible, you may want to keep your passport and credit cards in a RFID-blocking wallet.
The Tumi Alpha Passport Case is one of the best RFID-blocking wallets out there. It can be hard to strike a balance between blocking RFID signals and keeping the wallet slim and stylish, and the Tumi Alpha does it well. The wallet is made from Tumi's signature woven ballistic nylon, with a leather interior and trim. The RFID-blocking material is woven in with the rest of the fabric so that it's virtually unnoticeable. The wallet is also extremely lightweight.
The wallet is a regular bifold, though because it's taller than it is wide it opens along the longer edge, like a book. The passport sleeve is on the left side when the wallet is open and sits upright. There's an ID window right under that, perfect for a driver's license. The right side of the wallet has eight credit card slots. There's also an extra sleeve between the credit card slots, which can hold folded travel documents. The note sleeve is at the top of the wallet and is fairly deep.
The wallet is clean, simple and sharp-looking. The layout is easy and feels natural, like any regular wallet. While the wallet is sized a bit awkwardly and might not be easy to fit in your pocket, it should be comfortable enough in a pocket for quick storage while you're heading through the airport.
Pros: Great RFID protection, sleek and stylish
Cons: A little large, travel documents need to be folded, can be hard to pull bills out of the deep pocket
The Mr. Lentz brand is run by one person — Evan Lentz — who makes all of his products by hand in his own workshop. Lentz built the brand with a "modern cowboy" feel, designed to evoke days of hard work on the windswept plains, and his online shops reflect that with old-west images and icons.
Mr. Lentz makes wallets, bags and other accessories using durable, rugged and time-proven materials like full-grain leather, brass, and wood. Lentz's passport wallet is a typical example of this style.
The wallet is simple, much more scaled down than the Bellroy Travel Wallet. A solid piece of leather makes a bifold that opens like a book. The right-side has a pocket for your passport, which is a little tight and only meant to fit the back cover of the passport. That way, the passport can be read without removing it from the wallet. You can just hand the whole package to the customs agent. Once the wallet breaks in a bit, you can fit the whole closed passport in that pocket.
The other side of the wallet has two card slots that can hold 4-6 cards. There's a larger pocket right behind the card slots that is perfect for holding a bit of spare cash. You can also fit travel documents, like boarding passes, in this sleeve.
Aesthetically, the Mr. Lentz Passport Wallet looks rugged and hardy. The thick full-grain leather holds up well and develops a nice patina as you use it and break it in. Solid brass rivets line the outsides of the wallet, holding it together. The wallet also ships with a free tin of proprietary leather conditioner to help keep it soft as it ages and breaks in.
Thin enough to fit in a front pocket, this wallet is a perfect option for those looking for something that will last a long time and hold just the essentials. You can also choose to engrave the wallet, using any of a few different methods.
Pros: Slim, rugged, hand-made and built to last, holds the essentials
Cons: Needs to be broken in, brass rivets may not be everyone's favorite look
The Bellroy and Mr. Lentz passport wallets are great if you want to keep them in your pocket, or maybe in an outside, easy to reach pocket of the bag you're carrying around the airport. But if you're backpacking and carrying a lot, or want to just throw your travel documents in a bag's main compartment, they might not be the best option.
If that sounds like you, you may want to get a more secure passport wallet with a zipper so that when you toss it in a bag with everything else, you don't have to worry about anything falling out or getting lost. Enter the Fjällräven Passport Wallet.
The Fjällräven Passport Wallet is made of a water-resistant waxed canvas. Like most of the other passport wallets you'll find out there, the Fjallraven option is a bifold, but this one has a zipper running along the entire outside.
When opened, the wallet has space to tuck your passport and folded boarding pass on the right side. There's also an interior zippered pocket, perfect for coins, ticket stubs, or other odd bits and ends. The left side of the wallet has six card slots, and there's an open pocket at the top for cash.
Fjallraven also makes a larger version of this wallet called the Travel Wallet, rather than the "Passport Wallet." They're basically the same thing; the main difference is that the Travel Wallet has a few more card slots and a loop to hold a pen, and is designed to fit unfolded boarding passes. It's almost more like a small purse or clutch. The smaller Passport Wallet can also hold a small pen and boarding passes, but there's no loop to keep it the pen in place and boarding passes must be folded.
Personally, I prefer the smaller Passport Wallet — even though you have to fold your boarding passes to fit them, it's just a nicer hand-held size. However, both are great options, especially if you're storing the wallet in a bag.
Pros: Water-resistant, protects your travel documents from the elements and from falling out and getting lost.
Cons: Both sizes are bigger and bulkier than other travel wallets because of the zipper and material
Even though I love traveling, there's no doubt that it can be stressful. The stress is even worse when you're managing logistics for a group, even your own family.
While there's not much to do about it, you can at least make your group's time at the airports a little bit easier with the Lewis N. Clark Travel Wallet. With room for about four passports, plus cash, cards, boarding passes, customs forms, a pen and even a phone, this is more than a travel wallet. It's more like a family travel organizer.
While the Lewis N. Clark is naturally bigger than a one-person travel wallet, it's smaller than you might expect considering how much it holds. That said, this isn't going in anyone's front pocket — think of it more as a folio.
The wallet folds closed like a clamshell and zips shut all the way around. When it's closed, there's still access to a small zip pocket on the front.
When open, there are three pockets on the right side that are for passports. You can fit a few passports in each pocket, according to Amazon reviewers. It has six credit card slots, a zipper compartment for change and cash, and a larger zippered compartment for boarding passes or cash on the left side. In the middle, there's a loop for a pen so you can fill out forms on the plane.
The Travel Wallet is made from nylon that's durable and protective. It also has a RFID-blocking material built in to add an extra layer of protection to your cards and passports. As for downsides, some buyers mention problems with the zipper.
Pros: Keeps the whole family's travel documents organized, has well-positioned pockets and compartments, includes a pen
Cuyana is known for making quality leather goods for very affordable prices. The Insider Picks team recently tested a number of the company's wallets, including the Classic Passport Holder. We loved the wallet so much that we wrote a full review about it.
The simple leather wallet was designed in San Francisco and handmade in Argentina. Measuring 9-inches long, it's longer than most other passport holders, so it can hold a full boarding pass without wrinkling or folding. Cuyana also added a dedicated pocket for your passport, six card slots, and two large slide pockets for travel documents and anything else you need.
The pebbled leather is soft and smooth, and the card slots keep your cards in place securely without being too tight. You can get the passport holder in navy blue, stone gray, red, black, or a shimmery champagne. If you so choose, Cuyana will even monogram your wallet.
Based on our experience, it's the perfect stylish travel wallet for any woman. — Malarie Gokey
Pros: Holds a full boarding pass, six card slots, multiple slide pockets for passports and more, stylish, fun colors, real leather
