Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack Review

The Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack really needs no introduction since we’ve already checked out the original version. It has solid build quality, an eye-catching aesthetic, and enough space and organization to fit all the clothing and gear we needed on the international trips we took it on.

But now, Cotopaxi has introduced an improved version with a few tweaks under the hood. Does it still hold up? Or have they piled on a few more flaws for us to nitpick? Let’s find out.

External Components

We’ll start with the materials since there’s a significant change in the fabrics Cotopaxi uses. The original’s 1680-denier ballistic nylon sides and 1000-denier polyester face were good choices since their thick threads were very abrasion-resistant. We never really had issues with them, yet Cotopaxi’s going with an 840-denier nylon this time. More specifically, it’s a combination of an 840-denier TPU-coated nylon front shell, and an 840-denier ballistic ripstop nylon at the bottom. On paper, the lower denier count makes you think this is a downgrade, but the fabrics honestly don’t feel any thinner, nor did they suffer from any blemishes or damage throughout testing. If anything, the lower denier count only makes the bag lighter, albeit marginally.

Some may have raised an eyebrow or two at seeing “ripstop” used for the bottom fabric. That’s understandable, given how ripstop fabric is typically used for gear focused on lightness. That is to say, ripstop fabric is usually thin, relying on a grid-like pattern to reinforce the entire material. Rest assured, this Allpa 35L’s bottom fabric is still a thick 840-denier fabric; it just has a ripstop pattern to make sure any tear in the fabric is—in theory—isolated to whatever grid it hits.

The choice of materials doesn’t affect how the Allpa 35L looks. That’s quite fortunate since we really like the vibe Cotopaxi brings with each and every one of their bags. They’re all just so colorful and fun to look at. We wish more brands would offer colorways—like the Rusty one we’re sampling—that show an ounce of personality like this, even if black ones never go out of vogue. And while the TPU coating may give the fabric a somewhat rigid and tarp-like appearance, the fabric doesn’t audibly crinkle when you press and push it around, though visible creases remain unavoidable.

On the practical side, you get slanted loops on each corner for attaching accessories. Each loop looks like a large single piece, but they’re all stitched in the middle so that you have two loops per corner. This means you can, in theory, hang eight mini Bluetooth speakers for the ultimate nature-disrupting music-blasting experience on the trail (but please don’t).

We’re digging the fact that the Allpa 35L has handles at the top, left, and bottom for easy handling. This isn’t a small bag by any means, and it can be cumbersome to slide and pull around in certain situations. Some examples include pulling the bag out of a trunk, sliding it into an overhead bin, or even pulling it across a bed while packing.

The right side doesn’t get a handle, because a water bottle pocket is in that space instead. It almost looks too small against the Allpa 35L’s tall side profile. Rest assured, it’s more than enough for a 21-ounce insulated bottle, and even a 32-ounce one should fit just fine. The stretchy mesh in charge of holding your bottle in place strikes a delicate balance of being stretchy enough to be grippy, while not so stretchy that it presses your bottle into robbing space from the main compartment.

The Allpa 35L’s size necessitates a beefy harness system, which we found in both the original version and this one. The shoulder straps are thickly padded for comfort and aggressively curved so that they fit more snuggly to the wearer. There’s also a sliding sternum strap that’s fairly easy to adjust to make sure the straps stay snug.

There’s also a hip belt to take some of the weight off your shoulders. We distinctly remember not being too fond of the original version’s hip belt, so we’ll see in the next section if we feel the same way about this one. Whether we like it or not, it’s permanently attached, but it can be tucked away behind the back panel if we wish to do so.

You can tuck the shoulder straps away in a similar fashion. With the straps out of the way, the Allpa 35L has fewer straps that could potentially snag on fixed points, such as armrests, shrubbery, and expensive museum pieces. This is a typical feature of many travel backpacks, but we’re not taking it for granted and appreciate it.

As with the shoulder straps, the back panel is thickly padded, though it’s not enough to blunt the feeling of the tucked-away hip belt. Is that a big deal, though?

Fit Notes

That depends. If you have a smaller frame suited for the Allpa 35L, chances are good that you’ll want to use the hip belt anyway. It’s helpful if you’re looking for a travel backpack suitable for a woman, so we recommend using it. This is a bag that can get heavy once it’s fully loaded, and the hip belt definitely helps distribute that weight more evenly. However, if you’re a taller person with a larger frame, stuffing the hip belt into the back panel might be the way to go since it won’t sit on your hip correctly anyway. In this case, you’ll feel a noticeable unevenness on the back panel, though it’s not uncomfortable by our judgment.

It’s worth noting that the hip belt on the original Allpa 35L is removable, which sounds like a more optimal design. That said, if you do have a larger frame, you may want to skip the Allpa 35L entirely and go for the 42-liter version since that would presumably be a better fit owing to its larger size. Of course, this comes with the caveat of being heavier, so that’s also something to consider.

Inside The Pack

The first compartment we’ll check out is the rear laptop compartment. It is absolutely huge, as you’d expect on a 35-liter travel backpack, and it easily accommodates productivity monsters like 16-inch MacBook Pros. Conversely, something reasonably sized like a 13-inch MacBook Air gets simply swallowed, so much so that it even fits in the sleeve meant for a tablet and documents. It is a sideways-opening compartment, and there’s no strap to hold devices in place, so we have to be extra careful to open it while the bag is on its side.

Otherwise, protection was superb regardless of whether we traveled with a MacBook Pro or Air. There’s padding on both sides of the compartment, with a sizable false bottom beneath the bottom edge to prevent direct impacts with hard surfaces. Additionally, the padding on the back panel side is thick enough that we can’t really tell whether a laptop is inside or not. By contrast, there are backpacks out there whose laptop compartments are so thinly padded that the computer inside is almost structurally part of the bag—a very expensive one at that.

The pocket you’ll arguably use the most on this bag is the one at the top. As with most backpacks, pockets like this one handle all the everyday carry accessories you don’t want to carry on your person but still want convenient access to. The one on the Allpa 35L is roomy enough to accommodate a mid-sized power bank, a pair of AirPods, and a travel wallet.

For anything chunkier, there’s a front compartment with an admin panel for better organization. It’s not so deep that something like a toiletry bag will sink straight to an unreachable depth. It’s more like halfway down the entire bag’s height, plus there’s also a zippered mesh pocket for other small accessories you don’t want scattered around. There’s even a key leash so you can remember where you put your house keys by the time your trip ends.

The main compartment opens clamshell-style. Given the Allpa 35L’s size, we’re pleased with how smoothly the lockable YKK zippers glide along all three sides without a hitch. It’s easy to take for granted, but we certainly won’t, especially in cases where TSA flags something when we go through airport security and we have to take it out of the main compartment.

Fortunately, the interior is well organized, so finding that item won’t take very long. On the left side are two zippered pockets. The top one being smaller and can act as a makeshift toiletry pouch in case you don’t have one (we think you should, though) or have too few toiletries to justify having one. Its location makes it relatively easy to reach, which is handy since toiletries are the most likely to be flagged by TSA agents. Interestingly, the original Allpa 35L had this pocket split, presumably for more minute organization. It’s not a huge difference if you use a toiletry pouch anyway, but it is worth noting.

The lower pocket is notably deeper since no adjacent pocket shares space with it (the top one sits next to the front pocket from earlier). It’s spacious enough that we can fit the relatively bulkier members of the wardrobe, like a hoodie, layer, and bottoms, and a dress or two.

Like the lower pocket, the main bucket space on the right is covered in stretchy mesh. These covers help keep your clothing in place, particularly if you’re not (yet) invested in a set of packing cubes. Furthermore, this also lets you overpack quite a bit since the mesh can stretch and accommodate more clothing, so long as you’re willing to put some elbow grease into closing the zipper afterward. Of course, it’s not like the Allpa 35L’s bucket space is short on space in the first place.

A pair of shoes stack snuggly at the base, while rolls of clothing stack neatly above it. Of course, you’ll want to wrap those shoes in a bag or pouch to keep them from soiling the rest of your gear. Otherwise, you should have no issue packing out the Allpa 35L’s main compartment for a week’s worth of gear.