Think a 35-litre backpack wouldn’t be big enough for a six-day trip? Well, this one is
5/11/2026
Translation: Katherine Martin
Pictures: Oliver Fischer
Six days, two cities, multiple train journeys. You’d need a proper suitcase for a trip like that, right? Not necessarily. Not if you have a sturdy, well-designed backpack with a 35-litre capacity instead. With this in mind, I tested out Matador’s Global Travel Pack on my trip. Long story short, I’d do it again.
When I go on a trip lasting between two and five days, be it for business or pleasure, I usually take my Italian leather shoulder bag. Or, as some might call it, my weekender. I bought it about 15 years ago from a little shop in a tiny alley in a Tuscan village. The leatherworker who owned it made the bags by hand. Mine cost several hundred euros.
During the autumn break, I spent six days in Salzburg and Vienna with my family. We took two trains to get there, then made the return journey on a sleeper train overnight. That’d usually be enough to push my leather bag to its limits. This time, however, I decided to take an even smaller piece of luggage. My boss Martin Jungfer gave me a Matador Global Travel Pack to test out. According to the manufacturer, it’s suitable for anyone looking for a reliable travel backpack for air travel, business trips and extended adventures. I got the 35-litre version in Juniper (dark green).
Six-day material
Looking at my backpack the day before we set off, I wonder if it’ll have enough room for all the things I’m planning on packing. When I spread them all out next to the bag, there are:
- 1 pair of jeans
- 1 sweater
- 6 pairs of socks
- 6 pairs of underpants
- 6 T-shirts
- 1 shirt
- 1 toilet bag
- 1 case for an electric toothbrush
- 2 power banks
- 2 power adapters for charging cables
- 4 charging cables
- 4 books
- 1 travel journal
- 1 Sony A7 V R camera with a Sony FE 24-240 mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS lens
- 1 charging station with 2 camera batteries
As it turns out, everything fits pretty comfortably into the compartments of the Matador backpack.
And there are certainly a fair few of them. Even before you consider the large main compartment where I pack my clothes, toiletries and toothbrush. The front flap (the whole of which opens up like a suitcase) has several shallow compartments and two deeper ones on both the outside and the inside. The shallow outer compartment easily holds all four of my books, so I can grab something to read at any point in our train journey. My plethora of power adapters and charging cables, as well as my journal and power banks, fit neatly into the inside compartments. However, since I can access the compartment with the power banks from the outside by using a zip, I don’t need to open the flap to reach anything in there.
There’s a flat pocket on the back of the bag for tablets or laptops. Since I’m not bringing either of those things on this trip, I decide to stash our various paper train tickets in there. There are two fairly deep pockets made of stretchy fabric on either side of the backpack. They’re perfect for holding items such as a water bottle or an umbrella. Inside, I also find two little separate pockets: one for a bar of soap and one for keys, a wallet or a card holder, which can be attached to other pockets with Velcro fasteners. I guess the first pocket was probably designed with those «extended adventures» somewhere in the wilderness in mind.
10-kilogramme material
Either way, I manage to fit everything I need for a week in two cities and on Austrian trains quite comfortably into the 35-litre Matador. Fully packed, it weighs just under ten kilogrammes. It feels fairly heavy on my back, but not so much that I’ll need to worry about walking with it for long distances.
My experience backs up this assumption time and time again; the backpack is a compact, carry-on size and fits easily into all kinds of nooks and crannies on the train. Even when we’re switching trains at crowded stations, crammed into a metro carriage or the hotel lift or travelling on the overnight train, I have no trouble at all finding a spot for my luggage. Plus, the weight never causes me any issues.
One feature I end up never using is the pocket behind the back padding. You can use it to tuck away the bag’s straps – which, by the way, are really wide and well cushioned – and hip belt, essentially turning the backpack into a carry bag. This could come in handy on trains with narrow overhead luggage racks above the seats or on planes, as it allows you to make the Global Travel Pack even more compact.
Despite all its many advantages, the Matador doesn’t come with a rain cover that you can pull over the whole bag. According to the manufacturer, the material is «weatherproof» and the zips are sealed. I’m not quite sure what Matador means by weatherproof, but the significance of the sealing zips is immediately obvious. Although the heavens never truly opened during our week-long holiday, we did take a short drizzly walk while we were in Salzburg. The fabric and zips passed that «stress test» with flying colours.
The missing element
After one week, three trains, two hotels, multiple metro carriages and several journeys on foot, here’s what I can confirm to you. The Matador Global Travel Pack is a really good piece of luggage for one person and trips lasting two to six days. Mind you, six days is definitely the bag’s absolute limit. And it really depends on what kind of trip you’re taking. Where are you going? What time of year is it? What’s the weather going to be like at your destination? These questions are key to determining whether you’ll manage to get by with a 35-litre bag. If you’re going to need spare outfits for dinners in fancy restaurants and nights on the town, such a compact piece of luggage will definitely be out of the question for you.
However, the backpack is also available in a 45-litre version, which would give you some more packing space. There’s also a 30-litre version, which would really only be enough for a long weekend.
Now, it’s time I addressed the Global Travel Pack’s real (and only) drawback. The bag is too big to use as a daypack when you’re out exploring your destination. But it’s too small to accommodate a second, smaller backpack for during the day – the kind you’d pack for a backpacking trip. If you tend not to walk around with a bag or daypack when you’re on holiday, this might not matter to you. Personally, though, I find it a bit of a pain. I usually carry around a pretty bulky wallet, my keys, my phone, tissues, Fisherman’s Friendsand a water bottle. And when I’m on holiday, a camera. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stuff all of that into my trouser- and jacket pockets. Having one piece of luggage that isn’t too big – one I can carry around with me every day, wherever I go – is a non-negotiable for me.
Bum bags and man bags would solve this issue, but they’re not really my thing. I reckon that on shorter trips lasting two to four days, the backpack would still have enough room for a shoulder bag or a small daypack. That way I’d have an everyday bag with me once I got to my destination. However, whether this advice is of any relevance to you will depend on how much clothing you pack for trips and whether you’re actually bothered about bringing a smaller daypack at all.
In a nutshell
A high-quality backpack for short trips
The Matador Global Travel Pack is a really good backpack. It’s high quality, made of decent materials, has numerous compartments to give you easy access to all sorts of items and boasts a main compartment with enough storage space for a trip lasting five or six days. The bag’s generous padding makes it comfortable to carry, even when it’s packed to the gills. It also sports nifty details, including little extra pockets, waterproof sealing zips, stowable straps and a compartment that’s fully accessible from the front.
The backpack’s well suited to weekend getaways – provided you’re after something practical and sturdy instead of something stylish. Although the Travel Pack really deserves five stars, I’m deducting one for the fact it doesn’t suit me as a daypack. I’ll definitely be using it again for our family Advent weekend in Montreux at the end of November.
Pro
- Water-repellent zips
- Durable, water-repellent material
- Numerous compartments
- Comfortable to carry
- Large capacity
Contra
- On the pricey side
- Too big to use as a daypack
Header image: Oliver Fischer
Oliver Fischer
Teamleader Editorial
Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chGlobetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.
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