The Best Travel Adapters For Europe, Japan & Worldwide

There is nothing that will derail the start of a trip faster than landing somewhere, trying to plug in your phone, and realizing the wall outlet has other plans. We learned that lesson years ago, during what we like to call our “gap year”: 14 months of travel with no permanent address, rent, or mortgage. We were traveling the world and bought our first TESSAN adapter before that trip because it had received great reviews.

It turned out to be one of the most vital things we packed then, and it remains true.

Since then, we've tested a full lineup of TESSAN products across mainland Europe, including Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, and plenty of spots beyond, like Japan. Below are the four we reach for most, what each one is actually good for, and a couple of stories about the times we learned the hard way why we needed them. We also share two additional TESSAN products we love — a power bank that's become a lifesaver and an at-home surge protector.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by TESSAN. There are affiliate links in this post. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting our website, which helps keep our content complimentary.

Important Differentiation between an Electrical “Adapter” vs. “Converter” (dumbed down so non-electricians can understand)

We are sharing the four best travel adapters for wall outlets. (The name “outlet” is synonymous with what electricians call “receptacles.”) Simply put, this is where you plug something into the wall to get power.

I want to differentiate between an ADAPTER and a CONVERTER, however.

We've seen many travel Facebook group conversations (cruises included) where someone will ask if they need a “converter” for the country they're visiting, and mean people reply that they really mean an adapter, not a converter. These commenters aren't coming from a place of kindness and a desire to gently educate… but we are, and we're happy to help provide clarity.

An adapter changes the shape of the plug so you can plug your two- or three-prong device into the wall. Or, with modern technology, you can plug your USB-A or USB-C cord into a wall outlet to power devices like your Android phone, iPhone, or Kindle.

A converter serves a similar purpose, but it also converts the voltage supplied through the “wall.” (I put the “wall” in quotes because the power is supplied via cables running through the walls of a structure, like your hotel room, not via the wall.)

Some of the adapters we share here are also available as converters. Someone would typically need a converter (instead of an adapter) if they are bringing something like a hairdryer, flat iron, or curling iron on a trip and the voltage (like 110V) doesn't match the country's normal receptacle voltage. This is something you have to research if that's an item you often pack. If you don't convert the voltage, you risk blowing a fuse at the hotel or Airbnb or damaging the electronics that power your curling/flat iron. And that would suck.

However, Dan and I don't pack those beauty products. (Your hotel or Airbnb might supply a hairdryer with the country's native voltage for this reason.) Nearly 100% of the time, we've needed an adapter during travel, not a converter. We have plugged in DSLR camera batteries, our MacBook laptops, our iPads, our Kindles, our iPhones, AirPods, and AirFly devices into an adapter in every country we've visited without issue. And that's partially thanks to the TESSAN products we mention here.

Best Adapters & Surge Protectors (Plus our Favorite Travel Battery Pack)

US-to-Europe Adapter

• Best for: single-region trips to mainland Europe (Danube River cruises, tulip season through the Netherlands and Belgium, and similar itineraries)
• Price point: $18.99 single / $27.30 two-pack

This is our workhorse! It's a seven-in-one: four plugs up front (a three-prong + two-prong outlets on the sides) plus two USB-A ports and a USB-C. It weighs just slightly less than an iPhone 16 Pro, and the prongs on the back aren't removable, so it takes a little bit of mindful packing, but we've never had an issue fitting it in a bag.

Because it has no cord and no surge protection, it's also cruise-cabin-friendly, which matters since many ships restrict surge protectors on board. One important caveat: this one is for mainland Europe only. It won't work in the UK, Ireland, or Scotland, which have a different plug type entirely.

This was the adapter that started it all for us. We bought it before our gap year, and it's remained the one we use most, simply because mainland Europe is where we travel most often. We now travel with the two-pack so we each have our own on either side of the bed; between phones, iPads, laptops, and camera batteries, we'd genuinely rather have more ports than we need than come up short.

Ultra Thin Universal Adapter

• Best for: multi-country itineraries and travelers who want the fastest charging in the lineup
• Price point: $28.99

This one is for the gear nerd in your travel party. It's slim, nearly pocket-sized, and the lightest adapter in the lineup at 3.65 ounces, about half the weight of an average newborn baby. The power plug is on the front, but the real trick is in the back: pop-out plugs for mainland Europe, the UK, and a third that works across parts of Asia.

It also charges faster than the rest of the lineup, which matters more than you'd think on a small ship cruise when you're out on an excursion in the morning, back for a quick lunch, and headed out again right after. It comes in black, white, gray, and silver.

This is the adapter that would have saved us on a trip home from a Rhine River cruise. We flew back through London and got to our Airbnb, ready to charge our devices, only to realize the UK uses a completely different outlet than mainland Europe, and we didn't have the right adapter. Dan spent the evening watching his laptop battery die ahead of three back-to-back work meetings the next morning.

The next time we headed back to London, we were much smarter and packed this one so that didn't happen again!

6-in-1 Universal Adapter Kit

• Best for: travelers who want one adapter that works literally everywhere, including at home
• Price point: $34.99

This is the true universal option, covering more than 200 countries through a swap-the-tip design rather than retractable pins. It comes with six interchangeable plug heads (C, G, E/F, I, A, and B) that slide into the back, plus a three-prong outlet and two two-prong outlets on the front, along with two USB-A ports and one USB-C.

Because one of those swappable tips is a US Type B, this is also the only universal adapter in the lineup you can use at home for extra outlet space. It's the priciest adapter in the group, but for good reason: it genuinely covers everywhere, including places you might not expect to need an adapter, like the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands, Iceland, Ecuador, Croatia, Saint Lucia, Zambia, and Tanzania. Every TESSAN product ships with a small manual that breaks down exactly which pin works where, which is worth keeping handy.

If you're not headed to every region of the world on one trip, you don't need to pack every pin; just bring the ones for your specific itinerary to keep the bulk and weight down. This is the one we'd recommend for a world cruise, where you could realistically use most of these pins over the course of the voyage.

US-to-Japan Adapter

• Best for: trips to Japan and other Type A regions, including China, Mexico, Thailand, and Peru
• Price point: $19.99–$32.99, depending on port configuration

Technically, a standard US two-prong plug already fits Japanese outlets, so this one isn't strictly required for a trip to Japan. Where it earns its keep is as a seven-in-one: four outlets plus three USB ports, in your choice of configuration (for example, one USB-A and two USB-C, or two USB-A and one USB-C). Because several port-configuration variants are listed for this adapter, it's worth double-checking that you're ordering the exact one you want before you check out.

We spent six weeks in Japan and stayed mostly through Airbnb, including a gorgeous, much older apartment in Kyoto that simply didn't have many outlets. This adapter would have let us safely expand what we had available to charge everything at once, rather than rationing outlets across devices. We don't have a Japan trip booked yet, but we're already looking forward to using it there.

The Best, Fastest-Powering Battery Pack for Travel

• Best for: backup charging on excursions, or bailing yourself out when you forget the right cord
• Price point: not stated during the episode; premium colors (pink and blue) run about a dollar more than black and white

This one isn't an adapter at all; it's a rechargeable power bank, and it's become one of our favorite must-packs in our travel kit.

It's roughly the size and weight of an iPhone (about 7.6 ounces), cordless, fast-charging, and shows the remaining battery percentage on a digital display so you always know how much charge you have left before heading out on an excursion. The output prong is a US Type A, the same as Japan's, so you'd only need a separate adapter if you're somewhere that doesn't use that plug type. It comes in multiple colors, including black, white, blue, and pink.

This is the one I call a lifesaver. On a trip to upstate New York, I packed the wrong charging cord for my phone. Instead of scrambling to find a replacement, I plugged the power bank into the wall and used it to charge my phone every day of the trip. It's since been borrowed and admired by family members, including my mom, who couldn't believe how quickly it charged compared to her battery pack.

Surge Protector Outlet Splitter

• Best for: hotel rooms, home offices, and dorms — not cruise ships
• Price point: $21.24

This is the one product in the lineup that isn't meant for your cruise bag at all. It's a surge protector, but instead of the sprawling power strip most of us picture, TESSAN built it into a compact block that plugs directly into an outlet without covering the second outlet hole next to it. It has four three-prong outlets plus two USB-A ports and a USB-C.

Because it includes surge protection, it falls into a different category than the other five products, and it's worth noting that many cruise lines explicitly don't allow surge protectors in cabins. Keep this one at home, in a home office, or in a dorm room instead.

This solved a pet peeve for me: most outlet extenders and even simple timers end up blocking the second outlet next to them, which defeats the purpose of adding extra plugs in the first place. This design doesn't have that problem.

The bottom line in Travel Electronics Adaptation

It's easy to overlook a travel adapter until you're standing in an Airbnb with a dead phone and no way to charge it. We've learned that the hard way more than once, and every product above exists because we hit a real problem while traveling and TESSAN had already solved it. Whatever your travel style, whether that's one region visited often or a single trip covering multiple continents, there's a TESSAN adapter built for it.

All of the products above are linked in the show notes. If you've got your own travel adapter horror story, we'd love to hear it; send us a note through the fan mail link in the show notes.