The 15 Best Backpack Coolers Perfect For Every Budget And Every Need

Best Backpack Coolers

Backpack coolers are a simple, yet ingenious, answer to one of life’s most enduring problems: what do you do when you want to carry, uh, refreshments, but also want to keep your hands free? It’s kind of amazing that no one thought of this sooner, especially when you consider that backpacks also blend into more environments than a giant cooler. You can take a backpack cooler just about anywhere with you.

Of course, you don’t want to end up with a cheap piece of crap that is just going to leak everywhere and spoil all your treats so I’ve made sure to collect only the good ones for you. So find the one you like, click on through and let one of these 15 awesome backpack coolers be yours.

OAGear Backpack Cooler

This backpack has a heat-sealed no-leak liner, which means you don’t have to worry about drippage. Perhaps more importantly, it holds up to 20 cans with room left over for ice. And the padded straps make sure that near case of beer you’re carrying around won’t dig into your back and shoulders.

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Arctic Zone Ultra

This bag boasts 10 different storage areas, which gives you options when it comes to how you want to organize things. After all, sometimes you don’t want your beer and ice sweating all over your phone, you know? But fear not, as this bag still has a storage capacity of 24 cans.

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Picnic Time Zuma

This bag is a little different in that it’s really two bags in one. On top, you have a traditional backpack. On the bottom, a detachable cooler which holds up to 13 cans. A great bag for when you want the best of both worlds.

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Coleman Soft Backpack Cooler

This Coleman backpack is one of Amazon’s top-selling cooler backpacks, which makes sense given that it holds up to 28 cans and has a large zippered front pocket that is separate from the cooler section so all your important gear can stay safe and dry. You can’t go wrong here.

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North Coyote Hiking Backpack Cooler

This bag was designed with thirsty hikers in mind with several dedicated storage compartments to serve all your needs. 42L in total space gives you a lot of options with one 17L compartment dedicated completely to your cooling needs. And that compartment? It’s collapsible, meaning that when you don’t need it, you can just collapse it, fold it up and put it in one of the smaller pockets. This is a bag that works for you.

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Igloo Realtree Hardtop Backpack Cooler

This backpack cooler is designed for one purpose: hunting. Or more specifically, holding all your refreshments during that massive downtime in between game sightings, and anyone who’s been hunting knows that downtime is most of the time. This bag blends in with the surroundings and holds up to 18 cans. Uh, the lawyers are telling me please don’t drink and use firearms together. (I won’t tell if you don’t.)

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Picnic Time Turismo

This great little bag is built with the tourist in mind. Take it with you for a day spent exploring and have enough room for all the goodies you need to keep chilled. Meanwhile, just open up that front pocket for easy access to all the things you need to help you explore, all right at hand and well organized, which helps once you’ve downed everything in the cooler section.

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AO Coolers Backpack Soft Cooler

This backpack cuts out all the bullshit and gets at what’s important: it can store 18 cans and 7lbs of ice for up to 24 hours in 120-degree weather. That’s, uh, that’s pretty hot, which means this is the perfect backpack cooler for a day at the beach. Or Death Valley. Whichever is more relaxing for you.

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Coleman Soft Cooler

Okay, this is more of a straight cooler than backpack, but it has a shoulder strap so you can carry it hands free, so I’ll allow it. It has room for 16 cans plus ice, and a hard inner-lining so that you don’t lose shape. But, that lining is also removable in case you really want to pack stuff in there and don’t mind a little bulge. Meanwhile, zippered side pockets keep things like your wallet and your phone safe and dry.

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Igloo Daytripper

Two main top compartments are specially designed to carry more than one bottle of wine so they aren’t clanking together. That top compartment gives you plenty of room for all your beverages, but there’s also a separate bottom cooler department designed to carry just your food (or, you know, more “beverages”) which is a nice little touch. It also has “extra dry” storage compartments on the side for your phone/wallet/etc. and it comes with a goddamn bamboo cutting board in one of the front pockets. This is a bag that means business. I mean, it has a bottle opener attached to one of the straps. This bag gets you.

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IceMule Classic Coolers

No frills, no uncomfortable edges… this bag is designed for one thing and one thing only: loading it up with quality drinkables and carrying it on your back. It can hold 6 bottles of wine, plus ice that it promises will stay cold for up to 24 hours. Meanwhile, its waterproof welded seams and no zipper design makes sure you won’t leak a drop. It even floats, which is handy when you want to just lay in the pool all day without having to get out every time you need another beer. And when you’re done, just roll it up like a sleeping bag and call it a day.

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TOURIT Backpack Cooler

The cool thing about this backpack is that it actually looks like a backpack you’d want to wear anywhere. It doesn’t have that clunky cooler look. The really cool thing about this backpack, though, is that it can hold 28 cans plus ice. That’s one way to get through class.

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Scuddles Picnic Backpack Cooler

That’s right, it’s a picnic backpack, which is another way of saying that it’s an insulated cooler you wear on your back. What I’m getting at is that you can use it for more than just picnicking. But, if the picnic game is what you’re into, check this list of goodies that come with the bag: a cheese knife set, anti-shatter cups, washable napkins, plates, a bottle opener and even a goddamn cheese cutting board. This is almost an entire kitchen in a single backpack.

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Leopard Outdoor Vinyl Backpack Cooler

Here’s all you really need to know about this bag: it carries 30 (!) cans and 5lbs of ice without a problem. The vinyl is a unique look/build and it has a sort of flashy panache that sets both it and you apart from the crowd, but really, it’s all about those 30 cans, bro.

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Polar Bear Eclipse

Okay, so this bag is by far the most expensive bag we’ll talk about, but there’s a reason for that. It can keep ice cold for more than three days. That’s ridiculous and puts all other bags to shame. One reviewer claims he took it to the Indy 500 along with three cases of beer and during the ride home after an entire weekend of partying, he still had ice in the bag. These are huge, bold claims, and with a full two-year warranty, this bag promises to back them up.

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