One bag, two weeks: packing to Europe's strictest cabin limits

Two weeks out of one small bag comes down to the box it has to fit. Europe's low-cost airlines let you fly free with one item that fits under the seat in front of you, and Ryanair measures it in a sizer frame at the gate. The boxes are small. The method below is built around the smallest of them, and it rests on three habits: three of everything that touches your skin, a sink wash every evening, and liquids that never exceed 100 ml.

Start with the box, not the bag

These are the figures in our carry-on table for four big low-cost carriers. They come from published summaries, not from airline pages checked on a stated date, so treat every number as a starting point and check the airline when you book.

One row is probably out of date. Ryanair said in July 2025 that its sizers would take a free bag of 40 × 30 × 20 cm, up from the 40 × 20 × 25 cm still quoted in summaries like ours. easyJet's own page says its figure includes wheels and handles.

The law moves on 23 October 2027. From that date Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 entitles you to one free personal item on the flights it covers, which reports on the published text put at 40 × 30 × 15 cm, or anything that fits under the seat in front. A wheeled cabin bag can still cost extra, though airlines will have to show the fare including one from the start of booking. Fifteen centimetres is shallower than the 20 cm that Ryanair, Wizz Air and Vueling accept today.

So choose a soft, frameless bag of about 40 × 30 × 20 cm, which holds roughly 24 litres, and one that squashes to 15 cm deep when it is not crammed. Skip wheels and rigid shells. They cost weight and centimetres you cannot compress. Measure the bag packed, because a full bag bulges, and run its dimensions through our carry-on checker, which uses the same unverified rows. If you would rather not play the centimetre game, a paid cabin bag of 55 × 40 × 20 cm holds about 44 litres, nearly double, and the same method leaves you room to spare.

The capsule

Three of everything that touches skin: one on, one drying, one clean. Two of everything else, in colours that all go together, so any top works with either bottom. Wear the bulkiest things on the plane.

Climate changes this list more than trip length does. In summer everything on it packs small. For a cold-weather fortnight, wear the mid-layer and the rain shell on the plane, add a hat and gloves, and expect to need the paid bag.

The laundry rhythm

The rhythm is what makes three of each enough. Five minutes an evening keeps you ahead.

• Every evening, wash the underwear and socks you took off and the top you wore, in the sink with a squeeze of travel wash. Rinse, wring, roll each piece in a towel and stand on it, then hang it up overnight. Quick-drying fabrics are usually dry by morning; cotton often is not.
• Every fourth or fifth evening, rinse the bottoms you have been living in.
• Around day 7, take everything, mid-layer included, to a laundrette or the hotel's laundry service, and plan a slow morning around it.
• On night 13, do the last sink wash, so you pack clean clothes for the flight home.

If a top has not dried, wear the spare and pin the damp one to the outside of your day bag for an hour. Hostels and guesthouses with a washing line save the most time; ask when you book.

Liquids and the 100 ml rule

The default has not changed. Containers must hold 100 ml or less, even if they are only part full, and they go in one transparent, resealable bag of about 20 × 20 cm that holds no more than a litre. Some airports with new CT scanners now accept containers of up to 2 litres. In January 2026 Euronews counted Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Dublin, Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate among them. Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Athens were still at 100 ml, and Munich and Frankfurt ran the new scanners on only some lanes. GOV.UK's advice is to check the rules at every airport on your trip, including the one you fly home from. Pack for 100 ml every time and the question disappears.

What counts as a liquid is broader than most people expect. The GOV.UK list includes toothpaste, mascara, lip gloss, creams, gels, sprays and contact lens solution. Bar soap, shampoo bars and solid deodorant are not on it. Buy sunscreen when you arrive rather than flying with it.

Electronics and power banks

Keep the electronics to what earns its space. Your phone does duty as camera, map and e-reader, and one charger with several ports replaces three. A laptop only comes if you work.

Power-bank rules tightened in 2026. Power banks always travel in the cabin, never in a checked bag, and EASA says they should be protected against short circuits and not recharged, or used to power a device, on board. Since 27 March 2026 ICAO rules have limited passengers to two power banks each and banned recharging them in flight. IATA's guidance allows banks of 100 to 160 Wh only with the airline's approval. Airlines can go further: easyJet accepts power banks of up to 160 Wh but bans using them on board at all.

To work out your bank's rating, multiply its capacity by the cell voltage. A 10,000 mAh bank at 3.7 V is 37 Wh, and a 20,000 mAh bank is 74 Wh, so both sit comfortably under 100 Wh. If crew take your cabin bag to the hold because the bins are full, take the power bank out first.

What the airline actually checks

At the gate, the bag in the frame is what counts, not the size printed on its label. A bag that bulges past the frame fails, so put soft things at the edges and dense things in the middle. On Ryanair, Wizz Air and Vueling the free item has to fit under the seat in front, which also means it sits at your feet for the whole flight. Keep what you need in flight in an outside pocket.

Weight limits vary. Our table gives Wizz Air's free bag a 10 kg cap, and the paid bags carry their own limits, so weigh the bag at home with a luggage scale or a bathroom scale. One change in the new EU rules helps here too: from October 2027, airlines may not charge you if a permitted cabin bag has to go in the hold for lack of space or a change of aircraft.

The generator below builds a list from your destination's climate, plugs and water advice. Its clothing counts assume a mid-trip wash on a longer stay, so for one bag, cut them to three of each and follow the rhythm above.

What nobody tells you

Shoes are the hardest thing to pack. Two pairs is the limit, and one of them is on your feet.

Leave a tenth of the bag empty on day one. Whatever you buy has to fit on the way home, and the flight home is also where liquids get confiscated, because the return airport sets its own rules.

A laundrette visit takes a couple of hours once you count the walk there and back, so give it a slow morning rather than squeezing it between sights.

Travelling light also means you can walk from the station to your guesthouse and take the stairs without dread.