Tesalate Beach Towel Review: Towels for Salty, Sandy Travelers
As full-time travelers living out of a backpack, a van, and now a boat, a lot of thought goes into what gets packed and what gets left behind on our journeys. When Tesalate reached out and asked us to do a Tesalate beach towel review, we had to consider for a moment whether we had enough space on board to give it a go.
In the end, of course, there’s always space for a good towel to stow away on a sailboat. It didn’t hurt that Kelli had been eyeing off a Tesalate beach towel for a while.
And so, they sent us a towel in return for our thoughts…
What is the Big Deal About the Tesalate Beach Towel?
A towel is a towel, right?
Well yes and no. While it might seem like there is not much to change or improve on when it comes to designing a rectangular piece of fabric you take with you to the shower, pool, or beach, it turns out there are heaps.
Tesalate makes a few claims about how their towels differ from your daily dryer hanging on the bedroom door.
Namely, the Tesalate beach towel is designed to:
- Repel sand
- Dry rapidly
- Be ultra-absorbent
- Pack down nice and small
- Look great
These features tick a lot of boxes for us.
If you follow our blog you’ll see an inordinate representation of coastal destinations. While we love the mountains, rivers, and forests, the coast is always calling us back. As such, we spend plenty of time on the beach. A towel that promises to repel sand, is something that definitely piques our interest.
We love absorbent towels and hate travel towels that feel like you’re just smearing water (and maybe sunscreen) around your body.
Quick-dry is another feature we are big on and super important when you don’t have a few days and a clothesline up your sleeve to dry your towel. The idea of squishing a wet, sandy, stinky towel into a backpack with all my nice clean clothes gives me a bit of anxiety. For us, being quick-dry is an essential feature of any towel worth its salt.
Our travel towel needs to function as a towel, a picnic rug, and a big ass blanket we can wrap ourselves in during a windy sunset. Given our towel is multi-functional and comes on a lot of adventures it is pretty important that it doesn’t take up to much space or weight in a pack.
Tesalate’s last claim to towel supremacy is that their towels look pretty great, always a bonus when you don’t have lots of room to pack one towel that works and a separate towel for the gram.
Tesalate Beach Towel Review: Pros and Cons
So…does the Tesalate beach towel live up to its claims, we set about putting the Tesalate beach towel through its paces to see if it stacked up. There was one problem, we weren’t near a sandy beach, so our tests were conducted on deck in our little sailboat. Nevertheless, this is what we found.
Tesalate Review Pros
+ The Size
Another tick in the pro column of our Tesalate beach towel review is the size of the towel. The XL towel is just as advertised EXTRA LARGE. The Tesalate XL towel comfortably fits two. For us, this is great because it can double as a picnic rug or blanket.
+ Quick Drying
We found that the Tesalate beach towel lived up to its quick-dry title. The quick-drying capabilities of this towel are exactly what you want for a towel on the go. Campers, hikers, van lifers and liveaboards will all appreciate this feature. In fact, anyone looking for a towel to travel with will probably find this feature appealing.
The Tesalate beach towel dries significantly faster than your average beach towel, a definite pro for life at sea. We put the Tesalate beach towel to the test by dunking one-half of it into the sea. In less than two hours, the towel was dry again.
+ Absorbent
The Tesalate towel is absorbant. After jumping into the sea, the towel quickly wipes away all the drops of water from your body leaving you nice and dry. For us, this is one thing that we don’t always find in packable towels. Oftentimes drying yourself with a travel towel can be a sad and unsatisfying experience. Not so with the Tesalate beach towel.
+ Stylish Designs
Tesalate beach towels definitely have style going for them.
Traditionally, you sacrifice style for practicality when buying a travel towel so it is really nice to have a super practical towel that also looks great.
Tesalate is all about colorful, creative designs. Additionally, with over fifty different designs, you are likely to find one that suits your style.
Tesalate Review CONS
– The Material Isn’t the Softest
The Tesalate beach towel prides itself on its innovative material called Absorblite consisting of 80% polyester + 20% polyamide. Unlike other microfiber towels, the texture of the Tesalate sand-free towel is significantly softer and more comfortable.
This being said, the towel still lacks the warm, soft, and fuzzy feeling you might get from a premium cotton towel.
Ultimately, they are practical by design which means bathrobe level luxury isn’t on the cards, but the towel still gets a leg up in the texture department when compared with other microfiber towels.
– Pricey
One of the biggest drawbacks of the Tesalate sand-free beach towel is the price. With the XL Tesalate sand-free beach towel coming in at $99 USD ($149 AUD), it is a bit on the pricey side when compared to other beach towels.
That being said, if you need a towel that performs then you can justify the price.
For us, who only own two towels on account of our nomadic lifestyle, it makes sense to spend a little more on a feature packed travel towel.
Sand Free?
We aren’t sure. At the time of writing, we are moored off the coast of a small island in Croatia. From all of the other Tesalate beach towel reviews out there, the verdict seems to be that these towels live up to their expectation unless you literally bury them in the sand wet.
As soon as we find a nice sandy beach (and hopefully that is soon), we plan to put our Tesalate beach towel to the test.
SO, Is the Tesalate Sand Free Beach Towel Worth It?
The Tesalate towel is designed with a couple of specific goals in mind. That means while it might not be perfect for every toweling scenario when it is in its element it performs very well.
There’s no getting around the fact that a Tesalate towel costs more than your average towel. And to be honest, we were on the fence about buying our own Tesalate beach towel for quite a while. But after weighing up the pros and cons from our Tesalate review, we believe the Tesalate sand free beach towel is worth its salt.
It has all of the properties that you look for in an on-the-go towel. Lightweight, compact, absorbent, and quick-drying. Plus, the stylish designs are another added bonus (and honestly what’s the point of dropping a dollar on a high-tech towel if it doesn’t turn a few heads. )
So, when isn’t it that great? It isn’t the softest most luxurious towel you’ve ever felt and it is unlikely to take the place of your favorite comfy bathroom towel at home.
Ultimately, if you are looking for a super functional towel for travel, beach, or boating adventures, the Tesealate beach towel does what it says on the box and does it in style.
Happy beach days!
Got a question or a comment about our Tesalate beach towel review? Let us know in the comments below!
