Hostels, overnight buses, street food and a backpack that never quite closes: backpacking is where a lot of the best travel stories start. Whether you are on a gap year, a working holiday or a month of hostel hopping, these captions are made for the photos you take along the way.
Here are over 120 backpacking captions for Instagram: short ones, funny ones, hostel captions, working holiday captions, budget travel captions and a few for the long-term travellers.
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Short backpacking captions
- Backpack and go.
- Life in a backpack.
- Have backpack, will travel.
- Packed light, dreaming big.
- Backpacker life.
- Wandering on a budget.
- All I need is in this bag.
- Off the beaten path.
- Hostel hopping.
- Born to backpack.
- Map in hand, bag on back.
- Next stop: wherever.
- Travelling light.
- Adventure is calling.
- Gap year glow.
- Free spirit, heavy bag.
- Living out of a 40-litre bag.
- Roaming the world.
- Lost and loving it.
- Backpack full of memories.
Funny backpacking captions
- My backpack weighs more than I do.
- Packed 10 T-shirts. Wore 2.
- Showers are optional, adventures are not.
- Instant noodles: the official backpacker food.
- My bank account is crying, but my soul is happy.
- Professional bunk bed climber.
- I smell like sunscreen and bus seats.
- Washing clothes in the sink like a pro.
- Flip-flops: my only shoes for three months.
- I’ve slept in airports more than hotels.
- Living on two-dollar meals and big dreams.
- Lost my sock, found myself.
- Backpacker chic: everything I own, layered.
- Budget breakfast: hostel toast, again.
- The only thing heavier than my backpack is my camera roll.
Hostel captions
- Bunk bed views.
- Hostel family.
- Top bunk, top memories.
- Strangers yesterday, friends today.
- Hostel kitchen chef.
- Free breakfast is the best breakfast.
- Rooftop bar at the hostel, sorted.
- Dorm life.
- Earplugs: essential.
- Every hostel has a story.
Budget travel captions
For saving money abroad, see our international money transfer guide.
- Champagne dreams, backpacker budget.
- Travel more, spend less.
- Street food is the best food (and the cheapest).
- Budget travel, priceless memories.
- Cheap flights, rich experiences.
- Every cent spent on memories.
- Rich in stories, not in money.
- Spent my savings on sunsets.
- Ballin’ on a budget.
- Free walking tours are my love language.
Working holiday captions
Planning one? Start with our Australia working holiday guide or Canada working holiday guide.
- Work hard, travel harder.
- Working holiday, living fully.
- New country, new job, new me.
- Earning and exploring.
- Visa approved, adventure unlocked.
- Farm work tan, no regrets.
- From the office to the outback.
- One year visa, a lifetime of memories.
- Saving for the next adventure.
- Day job, dream life.
- Clocked out, heading for the beach.
- Picking fruit and picking destinations.
- Ski season worker, mountain lover.
- Living abroad, one paycheque at a time.
- My CV now includes ‘backpacker’.
Bus, train and overnight journey captions
- Overnight bus, sunrise arrival.
- Window seat, endless views.
- Twelve hours on a bus and worth every minute.
- Sleeper train dreams.
- Night bus survivor.
- Tuk-tuk, chaos and big smiles.
- Slow travel, fast heartbeat.
- The journey is the destination.
- Ferry hopping between islands.
- Hitch of a lifetime (legally, of course).
- Scenic route only.
- Getting there is half the fun.
Long-term travel captions
- Home is wherever I drop my backpack.
- One month became six.
- No return ticket.
- Somewhere between leaving and arriving.
- Not lost, just on a long detour.
- Collecting countries and stories.
- The world is my classroom.
- Months on the road, a lifetime of lessons.
- I left to see the world, I found myself instead.
- My passport is running out of pages.
- Every day is a new address.
- Time is the real luxury.
Travel friends captions
- Met in a hostel, friends for life.
- Travel buddies make the best stories.
- Strangers in the dorm, family by checkout.
- Same backpack, different countries.
- Partners in wanderlust.
- Friends from every corner of the globe.
- Squad goals: one bunk bed at a time.
- Travelling solo but never alone.
- Best mates, worst bus seats.
- We came for the views, stayed for each other.
Backpacking captions with emojis
- 🎒✈️🌍 Off we go.
- Hostel life 🛏️🌙
- Budget bites 🍜💸
- Backpack on, worries off 🎒😎
- Bus to nowhere 🚌🌄
- Sunsets and hostels 🌅🛏️
- Island hopping 🏝️⛴️
- Mountains are calling ⛰️🎒
- Street food tour 🌮🥟🍢
- Passport stamped again 🛂✨
Backpacking hashtags
#backpacking #backpacker #backpackerlife #hostellife #budgettravel #gapyear #workingholiday #solotravel #travelgram #wanderlust #longtermtravel #slowtravel #backpackingtrip #travelcheap #lifeonthego
Backpacking essentials
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