In this article, we share the best car seats for travel, looking at seats suitable for infants all the way to toddler and older children.
Keeping your kids safe on the road is a priority at home and stays one when traveling. Choosing a great child seat for travel, however, is no easy fit, second only to the minefield that is picking a great travel stroller.
The search for the perfect car seat was hard enough when picking one for everyday use, but the reality of travel needs adds stress to the whole process.
When choosing a car seat for when we are away, we need not just to make sure it is safe, but also consider practical elements such as how portable it is, how heavy and how resistant to the inevitable bumps it will get while going from plane, to car to taxi and hotel.
We know the stress of travel well and we put in a lot of research to come up with a good list of portable car seats.
This is our selection of car seats best buys.
The Best Travel Car Seats for 2022
Chicco Keyfit 30: best for infants
We open this guide with a car seat we like for many reasons, including its portability.
While the weight of a car seat is something you may not need to consider at home, when the seat stays in the car most of the time, this becomes priority when traveling by plane or taxi, when you want to make sure you can move swiftly while keeping you back safe.
One of the best lightweight car seats for infants is the Chicco Keyfit 30, which is an excellent rear facing car seats for babies. The seat weighs 17 lbs, but meets all safety standard and is therefore an item we recommend to families on the go.
The maximum weigh the seat can hols is 30 lbs, which means you are likely to get good use of of this seat if traveling often.
Another element that makes the Chicco Keyfit and excellent car seat for travel is that is is FAA approved for on board use. This means that if you are flying with a toddler, you can have them safely on board with you, securely strapped in their car seat and not have to worry about sending the seat as checked luggage.
Cosco Scenera: best convertible car seat
If you are looking for a versatile car seat that can accompany you on many trips, you may want to consider a convertible style such as the Cosco Scenera.
This car seats starts off having your baby facing backwards and then converts to a forward facing seat as their age and size allows.
Like the Chicco seat above, this is a lightweight car seat as it weights only 11lb, while having a capacity to hold a baby up to 40lbs in weight.
Evenflo Chase: best seat to booster option
The safety needs of children change as they grow and if the Evenflo Chase car seat caters exceptionally well with growing children as it starts off as a car seat (up to 40lbs) but can then be used a booster seat too (up to 100 lbs)
This is an excellent choice of travel car seat as it is versatile enough to last you a long time and can also easily be used at home
Mifold Travel Booster seat
One your kids are old enough to use booster seats you can move onto much smaller items that you can carry on your travels without extra bulk or weight.
One booster seat that scores really high in terms of portability is the Mifold travel booster, an item so small it actually fits in your handbag!
The Mifold falls under the category of booster seats but it is not really a booster in the common sense of the word. Rather than lifting your child up on the seat and giving them a boost in height, the Mifold works as an adapter for standard car seat belts, making them fit around the small frame of a child body.
This is an excellent travel products and one that families with older children can easily carry on all travel, no matter how light you pack.
Bubble Bum inflatable booster seat
If your child still needs a little bit of a boost in height to look out of the car window on long car journeys, then you may want to look in a ore traditional car seat such as the bubble bum.
This is a super portable item that older kids can use in the car with standard seat belts and is excellent for travel as it is super lightweight and compact.
This booster seat is inflatable, so it weights very little and folds up super flat when deflated!
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