Most stag weekends abroad are two or three nights, so a cabin bag is all you need. The trick is packing for three very different situations: an activity in the daytime, a club door that's fussy about shoes, and a Sunday morning when you can barely remember your own name.
Here's the list. Tick it off the night before, not on the way to the airport.
Documents and money
- ☐ Passport. Check it now: for most of Europe it has to have been issued less than ten years before you arrive and be valid for three months after you leave. Our guide to the rules abroad explains.
- ☐ A second photo ID, like a driving licence, kept separately. Handy if the passport stays in the hotel safe.
- ☐ Boarding pass on your phone and as a screenshot.
- ☐ GHIC card and your travel insurance details.
- ☐ A card with no foreign fees, plus a backup card in a different pocket.
- ☐ Some local cash. Prague in particular still has cash-only bars and clubs. Use a bank cash machine, not an exchange kiosk.
- ☐ The plan: accommodation address, transfer details and the group's emergency contacts, saved offline.
Clothes
Pack for the strictest door you'll meet, not the most relaxed. At Amsterdam's clubs, Lisbon's bigger clubs and Barcelona's beach clubs, doors turn away sportswear, and some refuse shorts, football shirts, caps or flip-flops too.
- ☐ One smart outfit for the big night: a shirt or polo, chinos or dark jeans.
- ☐ Proper shoes. Clean, closed, not trainers if you can manage it, and never flip-flops on a night out. Lisbon's hills and Prague's cobbles are hard work in the wrong shoes.
- ☐ A daytime outfit you don't mind getting muddy or paint-splattered.
- ☐ Swimwear, if there's a beach, pool or boat. Wear it on the beach only; Barcelona and Albufeira fine people for wandering around town in it.
- ☐ A light jacket. Even summer evenings by the water get cold at 3am.
- ☐ Enough underwear and socks, plus one spare of each.
- ☐ The group T-shirt, if there is one. Daytime only. Matching shirts after dark get groups turned away.
Activity kit
- ☐ Trainers for karting, paintball or bubble football.
- ☐ Sun cream and sunglasses for anything outdoors in Spain or Portugal.
- ☐ A change of clothes for a water activity or a boat.
- ☐ Your passport on the day of a shooting range. Prague's ranges won't let you shoot without it.
Health and the morning after
- ☐ Any prescription medicine, in its original packaging, with enough for an extra day.
- ☐ Painkillers and rehydration sachets. Future you will be grateful.
- ☐ Plasters and blister plasters. Cobbles plus new shoes equals blisters.
- ☐ Earplugs and an eye mask if you're sharing a room.
- ☐ A refillable water bottle.
Tech
- ☐ Phone charger and a power bank. A dead phone at 2am is how people get lost.
- ☐ A travel adaptor. Europe uses two-pin plugs.
- ☐ Check your roaming. Some UK contracts now charge for roaming in Europe. Find out before you land.
- ☐ Offline maps of the city, with the accommodation pinned.
The best man's bag
Everything above, plus:
- ☐ The groom's outfit or forfeits, if there are any, checked with someone who knows what he'll put up with.
- ☐ A printed copy of the plan and everyone's phone numbers, in case phones die.
- ☐ A spare charger for whoever forgets theirs. Someone always does.
- ☐ The kitty, if you're running one, split between two people.
- ☐ Our contact details and the transfer pickup point.
If the groom doesn't know where he's going, pack his bag with him or tell him only what he needs: "passport, smart shoes, swimwear". It keeps the surprise without him turning up in the wrong clothes.
Leave at home
- ☒ Inflatables and rude costumes. Barcelona bans anything that depicts genitals, and most club doors won't let them in.
- ☒ Drums and loudspeakers. Albufeira bans non-electronic drums without permission, and Amsterdam's boats ban amplified music.
- ☒ Anything you'd hate to lose. Pickpockets work the busy streets of Barcelona, Prague and Lisbon.
- ☒ Anything sharp or banned in hand luggage. Check your airline and airport's rules, including on liquids, before you pack.
Packing for a UK stag instead
Going to Newcastle or Cardiff rather than Prague? Most of the list still applies. You won't need a passport to travel, but bring photo ID such as a driving licence (UK club doors ask, and some won't accept a photo on your phone). Leave the adaptor and the euros at home, and pack a proper coat: a 3am taxi queue in a British city in March is colder than anywhere in Spain.
Hand-luggage tips
- Wear your bulkiest shoes and jacket on the plane.
- Roll, don't fold, and pack the smart shirt last so it comes out first.
- Share the heavy stuff. One person brings the speaker charger, one brings the first-aid kit, not everyone.
One more thing
Put the accommodation address and the meeting point in the group chat before you fly, and pin it. It's the single most useful thing on anyone's phone by Saturday night.
Still choosing where to go? See the best European cities for a stag do, or tell us about your group and we'll send a full plan within 24 hours. We arrange the stay, the activities and the airport transfers on most trips; flights are booked by the group.