Seven gym towels compared on size, fibre, GSM and pack count, from 40 x 80cm microfibre multipacks to a 118cm bench towel with a zip pocket and a dense 570 GSM cotton option.
A gym towel is the cheapest thing in your gym bag and the one you notice most. Get it wrong and it smears sweat around instead of soaking it up, and by week three it has that sour cupboard smell no softener fixes. Get it right and you never think about it again.
This guide covers sweat towels from about 40 x 80cm up to 100 x 50cm, in microfibre and cotton, including zip pocket and hooded versions. It is not about bath or beach towels. Every pick was in stock on Amazon Australia when this guide was written and checked against its own listing for size, fibre, pack count and washing instructions. Prices move weekly, so the cards carry the numbers and the words carry the reasoning.
What is the best gym towel in Australia?
For most people the answer is a three pack of 40 x 80cm microfibre towels, because a single towel is never enough once you train more than twice a week. Our overall pick is the PGlife 3 Pack Gym Towels, which gives you a full rotation at the size that actually fits a gym bag side pocket. If you commute to the gym and want the smallest possible bundle, the Simpeak Sports Towels 2 Pack comes with a carry bag and a listed pack weight of 0.15kg. On the cheapest end, the SUNLAND 3 Pack Workout Towels is the cheapest of our three headline picks and carries the most customer reviews of any pick in this guide.
Beyond those three, the choice comes down to how you train. Bench and machine work rewards a long towel with a zip pocket. Heavy sweaters want more surface area. Some people cannot stand the squeaky drag of microfibre on skin and should buy cotton, accepting a longer dry time.
How do our seven gym towel picks compare?
Sizes below come from each listing. Pack counts matter more than they look: two towels means washing every second session, three means you always have a dry one ready.
How did we choose these gym towels?
NestPath does not run a laboratory. We research listings, ratings and specifications, then apply four filters to every candidate.
- Listed dimensions had to sit in true gym towel territory, roughly 40 x 80cm to 100 x 50cm, not bath sizes wearing a sports label.
- Fibre content and washing instructions had to be stated on the listing, because a towel you cannot wash hot enough will smell.
- Rating and review volume had to be real, not launch feedback on a listing with a handful of buyers.
- The towel had to be in stock on Amazon Australia at a sane price, with resellers charging double the going rate excluded.
Which gym towel should most people put in their gym bag?
The PGlife 3 Pack is the safest starting point because it solves the real problem, which is not towel quality but towel supply. Three 40 x 80cm microfibre towels means one lives in your bag, one is in the wash, and one is folded in the drawer, so you are never drying yesterday's towel on a radiator at 6am.
At 40 x 80cm each towel is long enough to drape over a bench or hang around your neck between sets, and narrow enough to fold into a duffel side pocket. The listing specifies microfibre throughout and clear care instructions: machine wash under 40C, no bleach and no fabric softener, tumble dry low or air dry, do not iron. That softener line matters more than buyers realise, because softener coats microfibre filaments and is the fastest way to kill absorbency.
The rating sits at 4.4 stars across more than 250 reviews, and because all three towels are identical you treat them as interchangeable rather than developing a favourite that never gets washed. This is the towel for someone who trains three to five times a week and wants to stop thinking about laundry logistics. It will not double as a shower towel, which is a separate purchase covered in our bath towel guide.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Microfibre this thin picks up lint from a shared wash load, so wash gym towels with other synthetics rather than cotton bath towels. The listing shows a bright colourway, and strong colours in synthetic fabric are the ones most likely to look faded after a year of hot washes. The 40C wash ceiling also means you rely on detergent and prompt drying rather than heat to keep odour down.
Which gym towel packs down smallest for a bike or train commute?
The Simpeak Sports Towels 2 Pack is the one to buy if your gym bag is already full. The listing gives a pack weight of 0.15kg for both towels, and they ship with a carry bag so the damp one does not touch your work shirt on the way home.
Each towel measures 40 x 80cm, the same footprint as our overall pick, in quick dry microfibre. The listing describes it as lightweight and quick dry and specifies machine washing. Two towels rather than three is a deliberate trade for people who wash often or train fewer days a week, and it keeps the bundle small enough to live in a backpack pocket permanently.
At 4.6 stars this ties with the CACATUA towel for the highest rating of any pick in this guide, though across a smaller review count than our overall pick. It is the towel for the rider, the walker and the train commuter, where the session sits between work and home and the towel has to go back into a bag while still wet. Pair it with a bag that has a wet compartment and the problem disappears.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Two towels is a thinner rotation than three, so if you train daily you will wash every second day or buy a second pack. The carry bag is light drawstring nylon rather than a waterproof pouch, so it contains a damp towel but will not stop moisture reaching the rest of the bag. And 40 x 80cm will not cover a whole bench.
What is the best cheap gym towel for a first gym membership?
The SUNLAND 3 Pack is the value answer and the cheapest of our three headline picks. You get three 40 x 80cm microfibre towels in a waffle weave, the texture most people picture when they think of a proper sweat towel rather than a smooth cloth.
Waffle weave matters for a practical reason. The raised grid adds surface area and a bit of grip, so it lifts sweat off skin rather than sliding across it, and it opens the fabric so air gets through when the towel is hanging. The listing confirms microfibre, a waffle weave type, machine washing, and a pack weight of 0.24kg for all three towels.
This pick carries the most customer reviews of any pick in this guide, sitting at 4.4 stars across more than 700 of them. In a category where the failure modes are obvious and immediate, that volume is useful signal: the towels arrive at the stated size, absorb what they claim to, and survive repeated washing. Buy this if you have just signed up somewhere and do not yet know how often you will really go. If you end up training five days a week, buy a second pack rather than upgrading.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Waffle weave holds lint and hair more stubbornly than a flat weave, so shake the towel out before it goes in the machine. Grey is the sensible way to buy these if you want them presentable in a year, since pale colours show every mark. And like all thin microfibre, they will not work as a post shower towel.
Which gym towel is best for bench work and weights?
The CACATUA Gym Workout Towel is built for one problem: lying on a bench someone else has just sweated on, with nowhere to put your phone or gym key. It is 118 x 48cm, the longest towel of our picks, with a zippered pocket at one end.
That length is the point. A standard 40 x 80cm towel covers your upper back on a flat bench and nothing else. At 118cm this one runs the length of the pad, so your head and hips are on your own fabric, which is the whole reason gyms ask you to lay a towel down. The listing also describes a non slip construction, which stops it sliding off the vinyl when you set up for a press.
The zip pocket holds a phone, a locker key or a car fob, which sounds trivial until you count how many times you get up mid session to check where your phone went. The listing specifies microfibre with a synthetic fabric type and clear care instructions: machine washable in cold or warm water, do not bleach, tumble dry low, do not iron. At 4.6 stars it ties with the Simpeak pack for the highest rating of any pick here, across a smaller review base. It doubles neatly as a mat towel for floor work, worth knowing if you also train at home on an exercise mat.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
It is a single towel, so there is no rotation built in and you will be washing it after most sessions. The review count is modest next to our overall pick, so you are buying on specification more than crowd consensus. A pocketed towel also dries slower, because the doubled fabric at the pocket end holds moisture after the rest is done.
Which gym towel gives more coverage without going bath towel size?
The Linlook Microfibre Gym Towels answer the complaint that 40 x 80cm is too small if you sweat heavily. At 100 x 50cm each, these sit at the top of the gym towel size band without turning into a bath towel you fold four times to fit anywhere.
The extra width is what you feel first. A 50cm wide towel actually covers your shoulders when it is around your neck, so it catches sweat running down your back instead of leaving a stripe on your shirt. The extra length means you can fold it in half and still have a full towel for the back half of a session.
The listing specifies microfibre, machine washing and a two towel count, and the set ships with a carry bag, which matters at this size because a damp 100 x 50cm towel loose in a bag is a real problem rather than a minor one. Buy these if you run hot, if your gym has poor airflow through summer, or if you do floor classes and want something that covers a mat width. Australian gym floors in January are where the smaller towels start to feel undersized.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
More fabric means more drying time and more space in the wash, so a bigger towel is only an upgrade if you need the coverage. The review count is on the lower side, so this is a specification led pick rather than a crowd led one. At this size the towel also no longer disappears into a jacket pocket.
What is the best hooded gym towel for bench and machine work?
The Vivva 2PC Hooded Gym Towel Set is the only hooded towel among our picks, and it is the dearest of our picks. The main towel is 90 x 40cm with a hood shaped to sit over the top of a bench or a machine backrest, plus a zip pocket, and it ships with a second 40 x 40cm face towel and a carry bag.
The hood is a smarter idea than it sounds. On a flat or incline bench a plain towel slides down as soon as you shift your shoulders, and you end up lying half on vinyl. A hooded towel hangs over the top edge of the pad and stays put through a set. The same trick works on the backrest of a seated press or a lat pulldown.
The listing gives a fabric composition of 80 percent polyester and 20 percent nylon, a quick dry construction, and a hooded towel form type with a zip pocket. The second smaller towel is the one you keep for face and hands, which is a good habit: the towel that touches shared equipment and the towel that touches your face should not be the same piece of fabric. It suits people who train heavy, live on benches and machines, and want their gear to stay put without adjustment.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The review count here is the smallest of any pick in this guide, so there is less collective experience to draw on than with the multipacks. The main towel at 90 x 40cm is narrower than the Linlook towels, so it is coverage in the right place rather than more of it. The hood also adds bulk when packed.
Which gym towel suits people who cannot stand microfibre?
The Glory Organic Cotton Gym Towel is the only cotton towel among our picks, and it exists for one reason. Plenty of people find microfibre unpleasant against skin, describing a squeaky drag that gets worse as the towel dries out. Cotton has none of that.
The listing specifies 100 percent cotton at 570 grams per square metre, measuring 75 x 35cm. That GSM figure is high, which in cotton means a dense, plush, absorbent pile rather than a thin flat weave. It soaks up a lot for its size and feels like a proper towel rather than a technical cloth, which is the entire appeal.
The trade is drying time, and it is not a small one. A dense cotton towel at 570 GSM holds far more water than thin microfibre and takes longer to dry, which is why it should not live in a sealed gym bag between sessions. Take it out when you get home and hang it properly and it is fine. Buy this if you train at home, if you drive to the gym and can hang it as soon as you get back, or if you have tried microfibre and hated it.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
At 75 x 35cm this is the smallest towel of our picks, so it is a sweat towel and nothing more. Cotton is heavier wet and slower to dry than the microfibre picks here, which rules it out for anyone who cannot hang it promptly. The listing shows white, easy to wash hot but marked from day one.
Which gym towel should you buy?
Still weighing it up? Match your situation to a row below.
What should you look for in a gym towel?
Five things decide whether a gym towel is good, and only two appear in the marketing.
Microfibre or cotton
Microfibre wins on speed and weight. The filaments are split so fine that they wick water in quickly and release it just as quickly when hanging, which is why a microfibre towel can be dry by the time you get home. Cotton wins on feel and on how it handles your face, and it never develops the plasticky stiffness some microfibre gets after many washes. The cost is drying time and weight when wet. If your towel lives in a bag between sessions, choose microfibre. If it gets hung up promptly, cotton is fine.
Size: 40 x 80cm or bigger
40 x 80cm is the default and it is right for most people. It hangs on a machine, folds into a bag pocket, and covers your upper back on a bench. Move up to 100 x 50cm and you gain real shoulder coverage and the option to fold it in half mid session, at the cost of drying time and bag space. Go longer, to something like 118 x 48cm, and you get full bench length, which matters if your session is mostly lying down. Anything much bigger is a bath towel with a sports label on it.
GSM and absorbency
GSM means grams per square metre and describes fabric density, not quality. In cotton, a high figure like the 570 GSM on our cotton pick means a dense plush pile that holds a lot of water. In microfibre, higher GSM means a thicker towel that absorbs more but dries slower, so fast drying microfibre is deliberately lighter. Read GSM as a position on the absorbency against drying time trade off, not as a score.
Zip pockets, hoods and hooks
A zip pocket removes the low level worry about where your phone and locker key are. A hood keeps the towel anchored on a bench or backrest instead of sliding off between sets. Both add drying time where the fabric is doubled. If you train standing up, doing cardio or lifting away from benches, neither is worth the trade and a plain towel is better.
Multipacks and colour
Buy at least two, ideally three. One towel means washing after every session or reusing a damp one, and reusing a damp towel is where the smell starts. On colour, dark and mid greys hide marks and age best. Bright synthetics visibly fade after repeated hot washing and line drying in Australian sun, and white cotton looks great for about a month. Grey is boring and grey is correct.
How do you wash and care for a gym towel?
Gym towel care is simple and almost nobody does it, which is why so many people believe cheap towels start smelling after a month. They do, but only under conditions you can avoid.
The first rule is never use fabric softener on microfibre. Softener coats fibres with a waxy film, which on a towel designed to wick water is the fastest way to turn an absorbent towel into one that pushes water around. The same applies to dryer sheets. Wash with normal detergent and nothing else, and if you are particular about what goes in the machine, our laundry detergent guide covers the options.
The second rule is do not leave a damp towel balled up in a bag. The smell people blame on the towel is bacterial growth in warm, sealed, wet conditions, and a gym bag in a car boot in February is close to a laboratory for it. Get the towel out when you get home, every time. If it has gone sour, a hot wash with a cup of white vinegar in place of softener strips the residue that traps the odour.
The third rule is check the temperature ceiling. Our overall pick specifies washing under 40C, which is common for thin microfibre, and washing hotter than the listing allows damages the fibres over time. Where warm washing is allowed, use it, because heat does most of the work on odour. Tumble dry low or air dry, and skip the iron, since heat plates melt synthetic fibres.
Finally, wash gym towels separately from cotton bath towels and bedding. Microfibre grabs lint from cotton and holds it, and once furred with lint it never feels the same again. If you train in synthetics, throw the towels in with your gym shorts and training gear instead.
What else belongs in the gym bag?
A towel solves one problem. These solve the rest, all listed on Amazon Australia.
Which gym towels did we leave out?
Plenty of towels look fine in a search result and fall over on closer reading. These are the ones we passed on, and why.
The RINGSUN Gym Towel is the obvious budget temptation, a single 40 x 80cm microfibre towel. Buying one towel instead of a pack recreates the exact problem that makes people hate their gym towel. If your budget is that tight, a three pack is still the better purchase.
We also passed on the five and six packs of cooling towels that flood this search. They are thin chilled cloths designed for a different job, dropping skin temperature after outdoor exercise, and they are not absorbent enough to work as a sweat towel.
Oversized sweat towels around 60 x 120cm and branded sports towels at 70 x 140cm were excluded on scope. At that size you are buying a bath towel and the specification that matters becomes pile weight rather than drying speed. We also skipped anything making antibacterial or odour free claims the listing does not substantiate, since odour is a function of how you dry and wash a towel far more than of any factory treatment.
Gym towel questions Australians ask
What is the best material for a gym towel?
Microfibre for most people, cotton if you dislike the feel of it. Microfibre wicks sweat quickly and dries fast enough to be usable again the same day, which is why every multipack in this guide uses it. Cotton absorbs more per square centimetre and feels far better on your face, but it holds water longer and needs to be hung as soon as you get home rather than left in a bag.
What size gym towel do you actually need?
40 x 80cm covers most training and fits any gym bag, which is why it is the standard size. Step up to 100 x 50cm if you sweat heavily and want real shoulder coverage, or to a longer towel around 118 x 48cm if your session is mostly benches and machines and you want the whole pad covered. Anything larger has become a bath towel.
What is the best hooded gym towel in Australia?
Of the hooded options listed on Amazon Australia, the Vivva 2PC Hooded Gym Towel Set is the one we recommend. The main towel is 90 x 40cm with a hood that hangs over the top edge of a bench or backrest so it does not slide when you shift position, plus a zip pocket for a phone or locker key, and it comes with a second smaller face towel.
Do Australian gyms require you to bring a towel?
Most Australian gyms ask members to carry a towel onto the floor and wipe equipment down after using it, and some will stop you at reception without one. Treat it as a rule rather than a suggestion. It is also the practical reason to own more than one towel, because forgetting the only one you have can cost you the session.
How do you stop a gym towel from smelling?
Never use fabric softener, and never leave a damp towel sealed in a bag overnight. Softener coats microfibre and destroys absorbency, and a warm wet towel in a closed bag is where the bacteria that cause the smell actually grow. Wash at the hottest temperature the listing allows, dry the towel fully before it goes back in the bag, and use white vinegar instead of softener if a towel has already gone sour.
What else should you sort out for training?
A towel is one line item in a bigger kit list. These guides cover the rest.
About the author
Anish Puri founded NestPath in 2026 after going through the Australian first-home-buyer process himself. NestPath focuses on Australian first-home buyers because the existing review sites are American, generic, or both. Anish handles editorial selection across the homeowner hub. Reach out: hello@nestpath.com.au
