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The best bath towels for turning your bathroom into a luxury retreat, tried and tested
GQ tests all of the top-rated soft and fluffy bath towels to see which ones will bring a bit of luxury to your bathroom
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
It’s time to ditch the scratchy afterthought. The best bath towels are out there, waiting to deliver cloud-like softness, spa-worthy absorbency, and a touch of luxury to your bathroom experience. We defy anyone to argue against the luxurious feeling of a high-quality, super-plush, organic cotton waffle weave towel to wrap around them post-bath or shower.
Not all bath towels are created equal, however. The key is finding the perfect balance of softness and absorbency to reduce your drying time, whilst providing your body with an ultra-soft, wonderful hug. There’s plenty of choice with Egyptian cotton, Turkish cotton, bamboo towels, Terry cloth towels, waffle bath towels, ring-spun cotton and microfibre towels all having their own benefits. And that’s just naming a few examples.
Feeling a bit lost? Don't worry, we've done the hard work (yes, the irony of calling testing plush bath towels hard work is not lost on us) for you, trying several of the softest, quality towels around to pick our eight favourites. Our top picks of the best bath towels have all been tried and tested by a GQ writer or editor to make sure we're recommending only the best, whatever price point you're in.
In this article: What are the best bath towels to buy in 2024? | How we tested bath towels: GQ's review process | What does GSM stand for and what does it mean for a bath towel? | How often should you wash your bath towels? | How often should you buy new towels? | Are Turkish or Egyptian cotton bath towels better? | How can you tell if a bath towel is good quality? | Which brand makes the best luxury towels? | Shop GQ's tried and tested edit of the best bath towels in 2024…
What are the best bath towels to buy in 2024?
We've tried, tested and reviewed every bath towel within this round up of the best towels so you can read more detail on each of those below, but if you're looking for a quick summary, you can find our picks for best overall bath towels, best Egyptian cotton, best affordable and best bamboo options below.
- Best overall towels: The White Company, from £6 at thewhitecompany.com
- Best affordable towels: Dusk, from £1 at dusk.com
- Best bamboo towels: Panda, from £17 at pandalondon.com
- Best Egyptian cotton towels: John Lewis, from £6 at johnlewis.com
- Best anti-bacterial towels: Marks & Spencer Super Soft Pure Cotton Antibacterial Towel, from £3 at marksandspencer.com
- Best luxury bath towel set: Hampton & Astley 7-Piece Luxury Towel Set, from £88 at hamptonandastley.com
- Best towels with range of sizes: Dunelm Ultimate Towels, from £1 at dunelm.com
How we test bath towels: GQ’s review process
All of GQ’s interiors guides are written by our in-house team of contributing testers and experts, and are edited by Daphne Bugler, British GQ’s Senior Commerce Writer, who has been working at GQ for the past four years and has written extensively about interiors since 2020. Trust us, she knows a good towel when she finds one. The team regularly talks to experts in a variety of interiors categories too in order to better understand the products we write about and what we should be looking for.
To rank the best bath towels, we've put all of the ones included in this guide to the test, assessing how they performed on a range of factors. No one needs a bad towel in their life so when choosing which brands and towels to include, we looked at their absorbency, the quality of the materials, the design, how fluffy they were, their softness, whether they offered a generous size, and how affordable they were.
What does GSM stand for and what does it mean for a bath towel?
GSM stands for grams per square metre. It is usually used to describe the weight and thickness of a towel with the higher numbers typically indicating a more plush and absorbent offering. You'll find the GSM of bath towels vary quite significantly, and normally falls between 300 gsm and 900 gsm, with the 900 gsm figure being that of very luxurious and normally very expensive towels. Most of the options on our list are 500 gsm or above, offering a good balance between thickness, absorbency and value.
How often should you wash your towels?
It's recommended that you wash your towels regularly, with the general suggestion being after around three uses at the most. Washing your towels regularly will help prevent the build up of germs and organisms, which although you can't see, doesn't mean they aren't there. You should follow the washing instructions of your bath towels, but generally it is recommend to wash in hot water to make sure you are killing any bacteria.
It's also recommended that you let your bath towels air between uses rather than banishing them to the bathroom floor because let's face it, no one wants to dry themselves with a damp, musty smelling towel. With that in mind, make sure your bath towels are able to dry completely after you've used them to ensure you benefit from their fluffiness.
How often should you buy new towels?
Buying new towels isn’t like buying a new mattress where there’s a clear time limit on when you should be looking to replace it. Instead, you should really look to replace your towels when you’re starting to see wear and tear, noticing they just aren’t drying quickly enough anymore, or that washing them isn’t quite doing the trick to remove any damp smells or marks.
New towels will always be softer and more absorbent towels, but it can also make your towels last longer to have a few on rotation, rather than just having one that you pop in the wash and use again as soon as it’s marginally dry. Naturally, it also all depends on how often a towel is used. If you’ve got terry cloth or long-staple cotton guest towels that rarely leave your linen closet unless you have visitors, then they won’t need to be replaced as often as, say, washcloths or your fancy supima cotton towel that you use every day. As for things like beach towels, they probably hardly get used enough to warrant a replacement for a good few years at least.
Are Turkish or Egyptian cotton bath towels better?
Ah, the age-old question; Egyptian or Turkish cotton towels? While fundamentally both are considered cotton, the variations in growing conditions between the two regions mean that the cotton fibres themselves have different attributes. For bath towels, we’d recommend opting for Egyptian cotton, which tends to be more absorbent and softer. Nevertheless, cotton grown in Turkey has the perks of being faster-drying and smoother. Honestly, you’ll get a great towel either way. It all depends on your personal preference, and the price tags you’re more comfortable with.
How can you tell if a bath towel is good quality?
While bed sheets are labelled by thread count, bath towels can be compared using gsm, a measure which demonstrates the weight of a towel, highlighting how many grams there are per square metre. Lighter and thinner towels, which are often priced lower and are less absorbent/fluffy will normally have a gsm of less than 400, while thicker, heavier and more luxurious feeling towels will be between the 450 and 600 gsm mark. If you want your towel to last, it's worth investing in the higher gsm options. Other things to watch out for are extras like if a product is OEKO-TEX Certified (a standard which shows that a product has been made with sustainability in mind), and general resistance to things like snags, shrinkage, low-twist and fraying.
Which brand makes the best luxury towels?
From luxury towels to Egyptian cotton towels, there are plenty of towel brands out there, all of which are well worth a browse. But depending on what you're looking for, some are definitely going to be better or more suited to you than others. For affordable bath towels, it's worth exploring Dusk, while the best luxury towels tend to come from Soho Home or The White Company.
If you've figured out which type of cotton you prefer, that will also make a difference as to which brand is right for you. Rise and Fall do some excellent Turkish cotton towels, while John Lewis has some of our favourite Egyptian cotton towels. Fancy extras you might want to look out for are a selection of colour options, and things like hardiness when it comes to throwing them in the washing machine.
Shop GQ’s edit of the best bath towels…
These are our top picks of the best bath towels around, all tried and tested by GQ's editors, writers or testers to make sure they really are lovely to wrap around you when you step out of that steamy shower or bubbly bath.