The Cooler You Need for Your Summer Adventures

There’s nothing like claiming a spot on the bare earth by planting down a cooler brimming with ice-cold drinks. Maybe you toss a few frozen grapes in there, sandwiches for nourishment, and some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for after lunch. Wherever you are, it’s better with enough cold drinks to go around.

The wrong cooler is just a hassle, though. Nobody wants to lug the thing all the way to the destination and find a swamp of half-melted ice inside. You need to get at least a full afternoon of preserved ice out of it, and not in some laboratory conditions, either. It needs to perform when the sun is beating down on it on a hot day. We’ve rounded up the best coolers for every need, from backpacks to wheeled behemoths to affordable ones you can squish into a closet or throw out when you’re done with them.

_{Prices are accurate as of May 8, 2026. Subject to change.}

For Vintage Vibes: Igloo Legacy 54 Quart Stainless Steel Cooler

Once I’d gained an apartment with a courtyard, I knew that I’d want to begin throwing parties during the summer. And there’s no way I was going to make people run inside every time they wanted a drink. Vintage steel coolers always held a fascination for me, so I was an easy mark for this stainless steel, 54-quart cooler from Igloo.

The built-in bottle opener mounted to the front of the chest was a big draw for me, because bottle openers always go missing during a party. Its attractive pebbled powder coating (available in four colors) was tough enough to withstand the abuse of 50 friends slamming down the lid, banging it with beer glasses, and sitting on it. The last time I put it to use, I forgot to empty it out for over 24 hours, and there were still whole ice cubes floating in the cool water inside.

The Top Performer: RTIC 52-Quart Cooler

Yeti makes a great cooler, but it comes with a great price, too. The RTIC offers a very similarly built cooler with extreme ice-coddling performance. Three inches of closed-cell foam insulates the contents well enough to keep them chilled for up to seven days. This is the cooler you want if you’re going on a long camping trip and want to make sure there’s plenty of fresh eggs for breakfast and hot dogs for dinner every day of the week.

A Soft-Sided Cooler: Polar Bear 24-Pack Nylon Soft Cooler

Hard-sided coolers may have the edge in cold retention, but a soft-sided cooler is lighter and easier for one person to carry; Polar Bear’s has an adjustable shoulder strap. When you’re not using it, you can squash it down and tuck it away, rather than having a hard cooler taking up a bunch of storage space.

Polar Bear says it’ll keep ice solid for up to 24 hours in 100-degree temperatures. While you may be better served on days-long trips by a hard-sided cooler, this soft-sided model is more than up to the task of keeping your drinks and sandwiches ice cold for a trip to the beach or an impromptu picnic at the park.

Best One-Time Use Cooler: Igloo Recool

Don’t need a cooler for more than a one-off event and don’t want to have it hogging space in your closet? Igloo’s Recool is made in the US out of compostable, 100 percent biodegradable materials that can be thrown out after you’re done with it. The Earth won’t cry much over it, and neither will your wallet, with it costing under $10. While it won’t match the performance of a more solidly built cooler, Igloo says it’ll keep ice frozen for up to 12 hours and hold water for up to five days without leaking. The four cup holders molded into the lid are a nice touch, too.

The Coolest Wheeled Cooler: Igloo Trailmate Journey

At 70 quarts, the Trailmate Journey can pack up to 112 cans of your favorite drink without the need to carry that monstrous weight. Wheeled coolers take the strain off the unlucky person tasked with transporting drinks to the beach or over the roots and rocks to the picnic spot in the park, but too many of them have tiny wheels that struggle over terrain that isn’t perfectly flat. The Trailmate Journey’s 10-inch wheels eat up off-road obstacles so that you spend less time struggling with its telescoping handle.

Like an SUV kitted out for self-sufficiency, the Trailmate Journey also has a few ingenious features I’ve never seen on a cooler before. There’s an exterior pocket for carrying sunscreen, paper towels, snacks, or whatever else you don’t want sharing space with the food and drinks inside the insulated space. And a plastic picnic tray, ordinarily stored against the inside of the lid, can be removed and attached to the outstretched handles as a serving tray or eating tray.

Load Up a Backpack Cooler: Coleman Backroads

Not big on the idea of carrying a cooler around at all? I don’t blame you. You may endeavor to find a cooler that doesn’t weigh much. You know, one of those coolers that brags about being made of ultralight this or that, a real lightweight model. And then you load it up with the drinks, and it ends up weighing almost the same.

Carrying weight on your back can be a more comfortable way to transport the goodies. Out of all the backpack coolers I looked at, Coleman’s Backroads does the best job of appearing to be a regular backpack while still having enough space inside its insulated compartment for 30 cans. It even has side pockets for carrying sunscreen and bug spray, because who’d want to pack them in there with the ice and the drinks?

Feature Image Credit: CandyRetriever/ iStock via Getty Images Plus