9 Cool (and Unique) Travel Souvenir Ideas

When traveling, collecting souvenirs is a wonderful way to capture memories and experiences from your adventures. Souvenirs are tangible reminders of the places you've visited and the stories you've gathered along the way. They can spark joy as you reminisce about your travels and be a fun way to share your adventures with friends and family.

In this post, we’re sharing 9 unique travel souvenir ideas that are both fun and functional. These souvenirs range from memories you make along the way to decorative items that add a touch of your travels to your home. Here are nine of our favorite travel souvenir ideas!

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1. Polaroid Cameras

Create travel souvenirs as you go and capture spontaneous moments along your journey with a Polaroid camera. These instant photos create tangible mementos of your in-the-moment experiences. Consider a classic like the Fujifilm Instax Mini Camera, which is compact and user-friendly. Or, for a more retro touch and larger prints, check out the Polaroid Now.

2. GoPro or Action Camera

Another way to create your own souvenirs is to document your travels with a GoPro or action camera. These versatile devices can be attached to your car, helmet, or even worn on your body, allowing you to capture everything from scenic drives to thrilling adventures.

The GoPro HERO10 and Insta360 X3 are popular choices that deliver stunning visuals. Or, attach a camera like the Rove Dash Cam to the hood of your car to capture the sights on your roadtrip.

Consider a Go Pro Stabilizer to make on-the-go videos smoother, and use a video editing company after your trip to help you compile the footage into an awesome travel montage.

3. Framed Map of Your Route

Create a visual representation of your journey with a framed map highlighting your travel route. Websites like Etsy offer customizable map prints that can be personalized with your starting point, destination, and memorable stops along the way.

This travel souvenir idea is especially great for road trips… We’ve created a map for our last four travel season road trips and love seeing all the places we’ve been highlighted on our wall.

These maps were created with Atlas.co, who are unfortuntely no longer creating route maps. For our 2024 map, we’ll be looking at the many amazing options on Etsy.

4. Christmas Ornaments

Bring a piece of your travels home with a Christmas ornament representing each destination. These festive decorations serve as a reminder of your adventures during the holiday season. Check out Etsy for unique handmade ornaments that capture the spirit of each location you visit.

Christmas ornaments are a favorite travel souvenir for my family especially! It’s always fun to look back on travels when decorating our Christmas tree each year as it brings back memories and often sparks conversations of “Remember when…?” or “That was so fun…” and “I still can’t believe we actually went there!”

5. Postcards in an Album

Another fun travel souvenir idea is to collect postcards from the places you visit and store them in a dedicated postcard album, like this or this.

A postcard album not only keeps your memories organized but also allows you to showcase your travels in one place. This is a great souvenir idea that doesn’t take up more space the more you travel, and allows you to quickly reflect on all of the amazing places you’ve been.

6. Mixtile Photo Frames

Instead of traditional photo frames, consider a company like Mixtiles, which allows you to easily create a collage or gallery wall of your favorite travel moments and move around images as you collect more memories.

These frames are ideal for showcasing a timeline of your adventures and are one of our favorite ways to display our travels! We especially love being able to move the photos around easily when we’re ready to add more… but heads up: You probably only want to move these two or three times before you can expect the stickiness to start fading.

7. Keepsake Box for Tickets and Mementos

A keepsake box like this one or this one is perfect for storing tickets, brochures, and other small items from your travels. This can be as simple as a decorative box you find at a local store (such as Hobby Lobby) or a more personalized option from Amazon or Etsy that reflects your travel aesthetic.

We have a travel keepsake box, a wedding keepsake box… even one from school years! Keepsake boxes are a great way to keep moments from a specific chapter of life in one place.

The keepsake box on the bottom is what we use for our travel souvenirs!

8. Travel Stickers for Your Computer or Vehicle

If you work from the road or own an RV, stickers can be a fun way to remember all the places you’ve been by collecting stickers from each destination and adorning your laptop or vehicle with them. Check out sites like Sticker Mule or Redbubble for high-quality, unique designs.

This is one thing I wish I’d been doing since we started working from the road in 2019… Stickers would be such a fun and easy way to remember all the places we’ve worked from!

9. National Park Maps or Activity Guides

Another travel souvenir idea is to collect physical maps or activity guides from places you’ve been or excursions you’ve enjoyed. We do this for national parks and generally keep a lot of special welcome pamphlets or informational guides from our favorite places. These currently live in either our travel keepsake box or a dedicated drawer in one of our bookshelves.

Happy travels!

Souvenirs like t-shirts, socks, mugs, shot glasses, and magnets can also be great travel mementos, but if you’re looking for unique souvenir ideas, we hope you love these!

If you want to save these ideas on Pinterest for later, hover over the image below and click on the red “Save” button that pops up in the upper lefthand corner of the image. (If you’re on mobile, you might have to tap the image first to see the red ‘Save’ button.)