Best Travel High Chair 2023

When you are travelling you never really know what you might find when it comes to baby high chairs in restaurants, hotels, B&B’s or apartments that you rent.

We have learnt from experience to make sure that we are prepared for any eventuality when it comes to baby meal times and an important part of that is having our own portable high chair.

There are many great products out there that will make mealtimes so much more enjoyable for you and your family.

In this guide to finding the best travel high chair, we will show you what features to look out for in a portable high chair and bring you our review of the best high chairs to take travelling.  

Best Travel High Chair Guide

Inglesina Fast Table Chair Review

This stylish, Italian made hook on high chair is really easy to set up thanks to the easy twist coupling that allows you to get ready for mealtimes in no time at all.

It will fit on most types of table, even ones that are a hefty 3.5 inches thick, or ones that have a lipped edge. This is really important as many restaurant tables do have a lip and not all hook-on chairs will fit.

The clamps are really good quality and the chair feels really safe and secure.

The Inglesina high chair is ideal for babies from 6 months right the way up to 37 pounds.

One thing that we love about this baby travel chair is that it comes with a storage pocket on the back of the chair. This is perfect for storing wipes, snack, toys and all the other little things that can help make mealtimes go that bit more smoothly.

This portable high chair seat is collapsible and folds down flat when it is not being used. You can then easily slip it into the handy carry bag until your next mealtime.

This travel high chair has an optional tray accessory should you choose to purchase it. This will provide you with a great surface for them to eat off, which you know is clean, and the added benefit that it has raised edges to help to keep the food on the tray.

Obviously, having the tray will add to the overall weight and bulk of the high chair so depending on how you plan to use the chair it may or may not be a good idea to get it. If you do, it simply fits in the carry bag with the chair.

We think that this is a brilliant portable high chair for travel.

Mountain Buggy Pod Clip-On Highchair Review

The Mountain Buggy Pod Clip-On Highchair is an extremely lightweight and compact baby chair that will fit most tables from 0.8” to 2” thick. It is safe for babies up to a sizeable 33 pounds

The clamps are really easy to adjust and the non-slip rubber grips hold it firmly in place whilst protecting the table.

It weighs only 2.2 pounds and folds down totally flat to be a truly compact travel highchair that will easily fit in your diaper bag, under your stroller or in you hand luggage. It is dead easy to fold up and you can simply pop it into the carry bag until the next time you need it.

This travelling high chair doesn’t have a tray which helps to make it the lightest seat of its type but it does also mean that you will need to rely on the surface of the table for your child to eat off.

We think that this makes it one of the best portable high chairs for toddlers.

(check out our Mountain Buggy Nano stroller review)

Phil & Teds Lobster Clip-On Highchair Review

The Phil & Teds Lobster Clip-On highchair is another aluminium framed baby chair that hooks onto a table. The chair has a safe and secure 4 point safety harness with padded shoulder straps. This means that the chair can accommodate a child from 3 months up to 37 pounds.

It measures just 14″ x 13″ x 3″ (Folded dimension in bag 13.7 inches x 13.4 inches x 3 inches and weighs in under 4 pounds.

This has the largest clamp of all the hook on portable high chairs in this review – 3.75” and is suitable for indoor and outdoor use (as with all the clip-on high chairs).

This chair includes a clip-on tray that is dishwasher safe, which is great – cleaning up a tray after a baby meal is a real chore. It might not be an option if you are using this on the go though.

The seat itself is easy to clean – simply slide the fabric out of the frame and wipe it clean. We love this seat as an ideal travel high chair for restaurants.

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Pop and Sit Portable Booster Review

The Pop N’ Sit Portable Booster weighs just 4.5 pounds and is designed like a tiny camping chair, but with a tray to eat from. This means that it neatly folds up into the carry bag so it is easily portable, but it pops up in just a couple of seconds when you need it.

You can use this foldable travel baby chair anywhere, without needing a normal chair or table to fix it to – perfect for when your little one just has to eat right now!

If you are at a table you simply place the booster on the chair and secure it in place with the included chair straps.

The BPA-free plastic tray is removable and can be washed in the dishwasher for the minimum of fuss.

We did notice that there was a bit of a gap between the tray and the child so food is likely to fall in the gap, and there is a bit of sag in the fabric at the bottom of the seat which reduces the amount of ‘boost’

This foldable high chair for travel offers a great degree of flexibility and is ideal for families that like to go on picnics, go camping or are looking for something that can be used in a wide variety of situations.

First Years On-The-Go Booster Seat Review

The First Years On-The-Go Booster Seat is a perfect choice for families that like to travel. This booster seat is compact, lightweight and portable thanks to its inflatable design.

Simply pull out the valve and it self inflates into a sturdy and comfortable booster seat. This gives you the great option to adjust the level of inflation to ensure that your child is at the correct height in relation to the table (there is no tray).

The buckle straps attach the whole booster seat safely to the chair. When your mealtime is over you just squeeze out the air and fold it up again.

It folds into a nice compact shape (12″ X 2.25″ X 11″) that you can either carry like a bag or put in your luggage without taking up too much space. It is designed for babies from 9 months to 50 pounds.

The booster gives around 4 inches of lift and has no tray so it is possibly better suited to babies over 1 year.

The fact that it is so small makes this one of the best baby high chairs for travel and is well worth taking on international trips.

Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat

Key Features

•         Straps easily & securely to most dining & kitchen chairs
•         Dishwasher-safe feeding tray
•         Snap-on lid keeps feeding tray clean
•         No crevices to trap crumbs
•         Built-in cup holder

The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat is a popular choice as a travel booster seat. It attaches easily to almost any chair by using the front and rear seat straps. These clip in place really easily and we like that all the straps are coloured so they don’t show up the food stains quite so badly.

This seat will grow with your baby and has three different height settings so that you can always get your child into a comfortable position.

There is a slightly raised bit between the legs that helps to keep them in place. The straps themselves are really well made with a nice buckle that clips into place easily and with a satisfying click.

Fisher-Price is proud of the fact that this seat is easy clean and has no nooks or crannies for food to get stuck in, and this really is a bonus. Getting a high chair really clean is a thankless task and is nearly impossible in many cases.

Fortunately, this one is relatively simple to clean thanks to the design. The tray comes off and can be cleaned up in the dishwasher to be totally clean and sanitised for its next use.

A pretty unique feature of this high chair is the snap-on lid that goes on top of the tray to keep it clean for your next mealtime, perfect if you are on the move!

We love the folding back on this booster seat. It folds right down into a little cube and is so easy to carry about using the carry strap.

Zicac Kids High Chair Portable Booster Seat Cushion

This booster seat cushion is a decent option for a toddler that can sit unaided. It is basically just a high-density soft sponge cushion with straps on.

The straps have been cleverly designed so that a child can wear it as a backpack when you need it for meals, the cushion attaches to both the back and base of the chair for extra safety.

If you have ever just used a normal cushion to raise your child to the table then you will have a good idea how this works, it is just a bit more balanced and secure than a pile of cushions under your child.

The cover comes off so you can wash it in the machine or by hand. The cushion inside shouldn’t need to be washed.

We like that this cushion is really versatile, you could use it in all sorts of situation where your little one might like a little bit more height, like at the cinema or the theatre, or even just as a floor pad. If your kids are anything like ours I am sure they will love it and find a million different situations to use it!  

Totseat Chair Harness

Key features:

•         Machine washable fabric
•         Fits children 8-30 months
•         3-point adjustable safety harness
•         2 unique options to secure to chair
•         Fastens securely with quick clip (no knots)
•         Cummerbund included for chairs with open backs
•         Lightweight and portable (storage bag included)
•         3 adjustable height settings to fit almost every chair
•         Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.2 x 2.8 in. | 18 x 15 x 7 in. and weighs 0.57 lbs. | 0.26 kg.

This clever, compact piece of kit can turn almost any chair into a safe seat for your little one to eat their meal.

We think that it is the best option for long term family travel due to it being so small and light. It is easy to slip it into your daypack so that you have it with you whenever you might need it.

We took it with us when we travelled around Thailand and South East Asia and there were countless times when it came in really handy.

Having this little seat with us meant that we had a back-up option and didn’t have to worry too much about finding baby chairs and it doesn’t take up much space in your bag.

We used it at one hotel that we stayed in Vietnam, they had no baby chair options but it was quite remote so we ate there for breakfast and dinner. The owner was so impressed that she copied the design and sewed her own version! Future guests might get to use a Totseat copy!

Whilst we love the small size of the Totseat it is not perfect and may not fit your needs. Your child will be secure on any seat but there is no tray and they are not raised up to the table height.

This means that mealtimes can still get messy and they might end up using the chair as a table. Your best bet is to hand your child the food piece by piece or maybe feed them yourself.

For these reasons, the tot seat isn’t really comparable to the other seats in this review. It is great at what it does and was a lifesaver when travelling Thailand with a 9-month-old. The tech specs say that this is suitable for children up to 30 months but there is no way our youngest would go in this anymore.

I have seen other 2 year olds happily sitting in one though so I guess this comes down to the personality of the child.

OXO Tot Perch Booster Seat Review

The OXO Tot Perch Booster Seat is a neatly designed travel booster seat suited to children from 15 months up to 70lbs. A 3 point safety harness keeps them safe whilst they are little but the straps are removable and they can be handily stored under the cushion when not needed.

This booster comes without a tray and raises your child up to the table level. This makes it a bit more compact but obviously, you will be more reliant on finding a suitable table for your little one to eat at.

We think that this is one of the sleekest travel baby seats in this review, the back folds down quickly at the touch of a button and you have a nice neat package to store away or to take with you to the restaurant, on vacation or wherever the wind blows you.

The removable cushion cleans really easily and we like that there aren’t too many gaps for dropped food to get wedged in.

Munchkin Travel Booster Seat Review

The Munchkin Brica GoBoost travel booster seat is a stylish travel bag that can transform into a booster seat.

The great thing about this is that it means you can keep all of your mealtime accessories stored within the bag so that they are super handy when you need them.

No more rooting around at the bottom of your backpack to try and find everything you need – bliss! This portable chair comes with enough room for bottles, cups, some food, and a kids plate or bowl.

There is an adjustable 3 point harness to keep kids safe in the chair booster and the seat will fit them up to around 15kg.

Once your little one has had their fill you simply fold the seat back up again and you can be on the move again using the convenient carry strap.

Do you need a Travel High Chair?

When you are away from home looking for somewhere to eat you just don’t know what facilities you will find. This can lead to less than desirable situations where you have to sit your baby on your knee (if they will let you) or try and find an alternative solution.

On one of our first foreign trips with our eldest many of the hotels that we stayed lacked any sort of baby high chair.

We ended up resorting to using our Ergobaby baby carrier as a chair harness to try and keep our daughter safely in place on the chair so that she could eat her breakfast.

This improvisation worked to an extent but was far from ideal, she wasn’t happy, we weren’t happy and it just wasn’t a relaxing way to eat breakfast in our hotel.

We have now moved on from the Ergobaby improvisation to travelling with our own portable baby high chair.

You never know when it might come in handy. Even places that have baby high chairs often only have one or two and they can easily be occupied by other families before you get there.

We have found that mealtimes can be a bit of an ordeal when you are travelling with a baby. You lose the ability to control the timings of the meal and run the risk of being sat for ages waiting for your food to arrive (with a hungry crying baby).

This situation is out of your control but it is even worse if you do not have a proper seat for your baby. This is where having a travel high chair can really help the situation and provide a comfortable, safe and age-appropriate chair for your baby.

Types of Travel High Chair

If you are looking for the best high chair for travel, you will first need to decide on which type of high chair is best for your travel style and your intended usage. Only then will you be able to find the best portable baby chair for your family.

To decide on the best type of travel high chair for you, you will need to weigh up the relative importance of portability and ease of use.

The main types of portable travel high chair are:

Travel Booster Seat

This is probably the most obvious and simple design. You simply place the booster seat on the chair, fix it in place with some straps and you have a raised seat suitable for your child.

A portable booster chair usually comes with a 3 or 5 point safety harness to keep your little one safely in place.

The simple design of a travel high chair booster seat means that they work with almost all chairs that have a back (i.e. not stools).

This kind of travel baby high chair may not be the smallest or most portable but it is probably the easiest to use and most versatile.

Chair Harness

This is a kind of travel high chair that uses fabric to safely hold your little one on the chair.

They do not raise your child up to table level and don’t fit all chairs but they are super portable and something that you can have at all times.

They are perfect for anyone that plans to travel around a lot (rather than someone looking for something to chuck in the car to take to grandmas house)

Hook-on Chair

This type of compact high chair seems to be very popular in mainland Europe. This design of the chair has no legs of its own but instead will hook on to the table using a clamp and hold your child in position off the side of the table.

The lack of legs makes this a great compact option and the position close to the table makes for a great eating position for the child.

Clip-on high chairs don’t work on every table. For example, they are not suitable for use on glass top tables, tables with loose table tops, table leaves, single pedestal tables, card tables, camping tables, or tables with rounded edges.

Hook-on high chairs rely on you having a good solid table on flat ground to attach to. This means that it is possibly not the best option for some countries where you might expect to find plastic tables and uneven ground in the restaurants (eg, places like Koh Libong, Koh Ngai or Koh Lanta in Thailand).

The Best Travel High Chairs 2022

Thank you for reading our buying guide for the best high chairs for travel. We have covered quite a range of baby chairs and booster seats and feel like there is something for everyone here.

Our favourites are the First Years On-The-Go Booster and the Totseat for taking on long term family travel adventures.

If you are looking for something to take on shorter trips where size and weight isn’t quite such a priority, we recommend the Inglesina clip-on high chair.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this post. We hope that whichever travel high chair you go for you will have many happy mealtimes together with your little one!