Visiting the Amazon Rainforest is on many people’s bucket list -and for good reason. This South American giant is a vibrant ecosystem and one of the best places in the world to go to spot unique wildlife. However, a trip to the Amazon Rainforest can also be a miserable experience if you’re not properly prepared. There is constant rain, high humidity, bugs and other pesky critters that can really ruin your rainforest experience if you don’t pack properly. That’s where we come in! We’ve spent a week in two different sections of the rainforest and we’ve created this perfect Amazon Rainforest packing list to help you plan your amazing bucket list experience.
The Bag
First, let’s start with what bag you should grab from your closet as you start to pack. Do not grab that full size suitcase. Don’t even grab your rolling carry-on. This is an adventure vacation and it calls for an adventure bag! We love this Backcountry duffle! We’ve had a few duffles over the years and this one is great! It holds up well, it’s water resistant, it counts as a carryon, and – our favorite part – it has an expandable side pouch that practically fills the main pouch. This feature is perfect for the rainforest as it is a great spot to store your wet or dirty clothes.
Next, you’ll also need a daypack. This is what you’ll carry throughout the rainforest on your walks and canoe rides. You should have enough space for your camera and plenty of water. We love this daypack! It’s super expensive but we’ve had ours for about 15 years and it’s like new. Don’t forget a rain cover to keep the rain off your bag.
Lastly, you’ll want a dry bag. We used ours on the river tours to make sure our belongings kept dry. Then we packed all our gross wet clothes in them when we left so our dry clothes didn’t get wet.
Clothing For The Rainforest
Whoever said you can look cute in the rainforest either lied or was miserably hot and itchy on their rainforest trip. The level of internet pictures that show people wearing the short or flowing dresses in the rainforest is incredible misleading. I even saw one picture with someone wearing jean shorts – hard no.
When making your rainforest packing list, you need to keep two things in mind with clothing. First, EVERYTHING should be quick dry. Things will either get wet from the rain or they’ll get wet from your sweat or they’ll just get wet sitting in the humidity. Second, you’ll need to pack in layers. You need to be prepared for a Frio – or cold snap. Our first day in the Amazon Rainforest had air temperatures of 50 ºF and it got even colder at night!
Unisex clothing list for 3 days (expand for longer trips)
- 3 pairs of long lightweight pants: All pants. We didn’t ever wear out shorts
- 3 quick dry t-shirts or tank tops: NO COTTON ALLOWED 😉 Cotton will never be dry in the rainforest.
- 1 lightweight long sleeved shirt: This could be a sun shirt or a lightweight windbreaker jacket. You need long sleeves to protect from the bugs.
- 1 warm long sleeved sweater: I got this awesome bug resistant shirt that was really cool and it kept me from getting cool when it was cold. Don’t forget this – tons of people at our resort did and they were cold during the frio.
- 3 Pajamas: most nights, we wore our clean clothes for the next day to bed instead of packing dedicated pajamas. We didn’t get very sweaty at night.
- Rain jacket: It will rain.
- Gloves: believe it or not it was cold when we were there. We had gloves from our trip to Lake Titicaca and we were sure glad we had them.
- 1 Swimsuit: if you want to swim with the piranhas, we sure did!
- 3+ pairs of Quick Drying Underwear: Your underwear will get sweaty. Make sure it’s moisture wicking and quick drying to keep yourself from getting swampy while in the swamp.
- 5 pairs of Wool Socks: Get high top, hiking style wool socks for keeping your feet dry and keeping bugs away. Fresh and dry socks are glorious on a trip like this.
- Hiking Boots: Water resistant hiking boots – the high ankle kind – are perfect for protecting your feet from the weather and the insects.
- Plastic Sandals: Non-leather slip on sandals are great for lounging at your lodge. I loved my hiking style sandals and Scott just wore flip flops.
For clothing colors, you’ll want earth tones that will blend in with the surroundings. This will help you to spot more animals as brightly colored clothes can scare them off. Additionally, I’ve heard that bugs love both light colored clothes and dark colored clothes – depending on the bug. So go for mid-saturation clothing colors to reduce bugs… Maybe????
Additionally, we were able to do washing in the sink with the hotel soap and hang our clothes in our room. They took over one day to dry but they did dry! If you think you’ll need to do laundry, pack a retractable clothesline.
Accessories
This is the part of the list that I always forget. I barely remember to pack underwear sometimes let along sunglasses. So pay careful attention here 😉
- Hat: We bought these matching hats as a joke because they were cheap and wore them a ton in the rainforest. Highly recommended, despite their less than cool look.
- Sunglasses: When it isn’t raining, it gets pretty bright on the river.
- Water bottle or water bladder: We love these collapsible water bottles! Most lodges have water fill stations for you before you head into the rainforest.
- Headlamp or flashlight: perfect for nighttime walks through the rainforest
- Head bug net: We wore these bug nets at night so that we could confidently walk through the rainforest without fear of death.
- Binoculars: You’re likely paying lots of money for this trip. Buy a $80 pair of binoculars – one for each person – so that you can actually see the things you’re paying to see.
- Book: there’s lots of downtime with no electricity. I read two books!
- Earplugs: If you’re a light sleeper, you may want earplugs to block out the loud rainforest sounds
Toiletries
Because you’ll be lucky to have toilets in the rainforest, the toiletries on your Amazon rainforest packing list will be very different from the toiletries you normally take on vacation.
- Hairbrush/comb: That’s all you need for your hair. No hot tools – you likely won’t have power enough to use them anyways. If you have long hair toss in some hair ties and headbands to keep your damp hair off of your face.
- Sunscreen: always reef safe
- DEET insect repellent: When your guide laughs when someone says they have all natural insect repellant, you should probably add the strong stuff to your Amazon rainforest packing list. We like these because they are carryon approved.
- Itch relief cream: for when you inevitably get bit by a bug
- Hand sanitizer: sometimes you don’t have running water and want clean hands
- First aid: specifically bandages are great for small cuts and also great to protect yourself from blisters
- Malaria medication: Check the CDC’s yellow book to see if you need malaria medication for your destination. If you do, make sure to consult with your doctor about the right medication for you.
- Quick dry towel: the quick dry part is something we preferred to resort provided towels
- Personal perceptions
- OTC pain meds
- OTC anti-diarrheal and stool softener: you’ll be eating different food and you don’t know how that’ll affect you. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Tech
You’ll have limited access to power in the rainforest. Most rainforest lodges run on a combination of solar power and generators. The lodges we’ve stayed at have rotating blackouts. So plan to limit your power consumption while in the rainforest. However, there are a few tech related items that you’ll want to pack.
- Camera with good zoom lenses
- Smartphone with waterproof case
- GoPro: only if you think you’ll be doing lots of water activities. If not, your camera with waterproof case should work.
- Fully charged power bank
- Travel adaptor: This is our favorite because it has all the adaptors built into one
Essentials
- Passport + photocopy of passport
- Travel insurance info
- Cash: there are no ATMs in the rainforest – I’m gonna say it because sadly people don’t know this.
Don’t Pack These Things
Don’t under any circumstances pack these things. They are a waste of time and space. Additionally, you may ruin them in the humid weather.
- Hot hair tools: they won’t work and, if they did, your hair will still be constantly damp
- Makeup: the humidity may actually ruin it and you won’t wear it
- Anything cotton or jean: they hold too much water and will be constantly damp
- Your own soaps: most rainforest lodges are on their own septic systems. They will provide you with soap that they know will work with their septic systems.
We hope this has helped you create your own Amazon Rainforest packing list to prepare for your trip. The rainforest is amazing and we hope you are super prepared so you can enjoy it to its fullest! If you have any questions or packing items you brought to the rainforest that I forgot, please leave them in the comments section below.
