We use household towels every day, whether hand towels or bath towels. So sourcing the best bathroom towels for the job is a well worthwhile investment. Whether you’re looking for clean and pristine with classic white towels – with the highest cotton credentials – or wanting to add personality with a buy based on purely pattern, there’s a best bathroom towels choice to suit.
Look for a high quality cotton to ensure comfort. This doesn’t mean buying only uber-expensive towels, since many of our high street favourites do incredible levels of quality at very affordable prices.
Before we get to our best towels, let’s explain some towel jargon.
What does GSM stand for on towels?
You’ll see this abbreviation frequently when sourcing towels – it’s like the thread count associated with bedding. GSM stands for ‘grams per square metre’. Put simply, it’s the way weight is measured for towels. Typically speaking, the higher the GSM the higher the thickness of the towel. Therefore the higher the GSM attributed, the more luxurious a towel is considered.
‘The GSM is a good indication of how heavy and dense a towel is. Generally, the higher the GSM, the thicker and more absorbent the towel will be. When deciding on the GSM, think about how you’ll use your towel and how often. Lightweight towels dry quicker, but heavyweight towels have a more luxurious feel,’ advises Lucy Comer Comer, Partner & Bath Shop Buyer at John Lewis & Partners.
The experts at Christy advise, ‘if you were looking to purchase a towel for a busy household, where quick drying time is a priority, you may look for a lower GSM which results in a quicker drying time.’
What does zero twist mean?
Zero twist is a term you will see when researching towels. It basically means the cotton is spun with an open loop with no twist, giving a softer and more plush feel.
Which cotton is best for bathroom towels?
‘Cotton is the most traditionally used material for bathroom towels, as it is extremely durable and absorbent, ‘ explains Lucy Comer at John Lewis & Partners.
Egyptian cotton
Egyptian cotton towels offer supreme quality and performance. Long, fine fibres of cotton help to create towels that offer high absorbency, durability and a super-soft touch. Egyptian cotton is an ideal towel choice if you prefer a heavier weight for your towels.
Supima cotton
Supima cotton is a superior cotton choice, only grown in the USA. Unique with its extra long fibres, Supima cotton is highly durable and stronger than a large majority of alternative cotton types. Despite its tough properties, Supima cotton is sumptuously soft. Making it the ideal choice if you want a hardworking heavyweight towel with a soft feel.
See all of our bathroom style ideas and more
More than just practical, towels can also add a little something something to the look and feel of our bathrooms. Whatever your bathroom style, we have the best bathroom towels on the market to suit your shopping needs…
Honeycomb Towels, Christy
This Honeycomb design by Christy is a great way to add pattern without having to add another accent colour.
The simple Platinum grey towels feature a stylised honeycomb pattern sculptured into the towel, rather than having to use multiple colours to create an intriguing design.
Made from 100 per cent cotton the highly durable, luxurious towels are ideal for adding decorative interest to simple bathroom schemes, in style.
Dimensions W50cm x L100cm
Honeycomb Hand Towel, £12, Christy
Luxury Egyptian Cotton Towels, The White Company
Our sources at The White Company inform us that these are the definitive best-selling range – winning high accolade from all manner of experts.
The luxury spa-like towels are made from an incredibly high 700GSM twisted Egyptian-cotton Terry, which feels super-soft and generously plush to the touch. The heavy weight design helps to make you feel reassuringly enveloped in complete comfort.
In the brands signature crisp white these towels will help to add a posh hotel feel to any bathroom. The clean white design features a detailed simple border, to add just a hint of interest without the need for more.
Doing what The White Company does best, these towels help make an everyday home accessory feel a little bit more luxurious.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Luxury Egyptian Cotton Hand Towel, £12, The White Company
Spa Cotton Mustard Towels, Habitat
The Spa Cotton range has been developed to give you the feeling of a luxury spa in the comfort of your own home. These super soft, fluffy and absorbent towels are made from 600gsm zero-twist cotton yarns, woven into a deep pile.
Better still, these luxurious towels are available in various sizes and colours. We especially love the vibrant and jolly on-trend shade of ’Mustard’, a beautiful accent for grey bathrooms especially.
Dimensions W50cm x L100cm
Spa Cotton Hand Towel, £12, Habitat
Ultra Soft Cotton Towels, John Lewis & Partners
Made using untwisted yarn to create a super-soft feel, these are the affordable option for luxury towels.
The super-soft towels are coated in an innovative natural peppermint treatment which contains antimicrobial protection, to keep them fresher and cleaner for longer.
And while peppermint is the key ingredient in the process it doesn’t leave the towels smelling like a minty fresh toothpaste – the unique ‘Natural Life’ finish actually helps to keep them completely odour-free.
John Lewis test the towels to the highest standards of durability, colour-fastness and performance to ensure they last and last.
Available in 16 pleasing shades, from ‘Pale Pink’ and ‘Sapphire’ to more neutral ‘Linen’ and ‘Mineral’ there’s a hue to enhance every bathroom suite.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Ultra Soft Cotton Hand Towel, £7, John Lewis & Partners
Embroidered Bath Towels, Debenhams
Add a stylish touch to your daily hygiene routine with the addition of these beautifully decorative towels. Featuring a delicate embroidered pattern along the trim, the monochrome global-inspired towels are the ideal finishing touch to dress contemporary bathrooms.
Brought to us by the in-house team at Debenhams these towels are more than just lovely to look at, they are woven entirely from pure cotton to offer a super-soft feel to the touch. Don’t be fooled by the fancy detailing, they are still totally suitable for the tumble dryer.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Off White Embroidered Hand Towel, £9, Debenhams
Cotton Leopard Design Towel, Marks & Spencer
Because sometimes you just need to go wild with pattern, and the bathroom is a great place to have fun with it. Somehow there's less commitment to pattern when it features on towels that can be changed weekly.
Who doesn't love a bit of leopard print? This timeless favourite is the trend that keeps giving, going from strength to strength on decorative accessories. The print in grey at M&S is somewhat subtle, if we dare say that of animal print? The design also comes in a neutral beige.
The design led towels are made from responsibly sourced cotton with 500 GSM, using innovative StayNEW technology which helps to keep them in prime condition for longer.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Cotton Leopard Design Hand Towel, £6, Marks & Spencer
Egyptian Cotton Towels, Next
If you're looking for stylish yet affordable family-friendly accessories, Next is on hand to provide a range of high quality, Egyptian towels designed to retain their colour for up to 50 washes.
Meaning they will look new for longer – a trait worth taking into consideration if you're buying for a busy family household.
And the colour spectrum for these highly durable towels is vast, with a choice of 30 different shades to compliment any bathroom style.
The towels with the range are made with an 100 per cent extra-long-staple certified Egyptian cotton pile, giving them an extra soft finish and high absorbency level. Their 600 GSM thickness makes every towel feel luxuriously plump and fluffy, offering complete comfort for the whole family.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Egyptian Cotton Hand Towel, £5, Next
Ella Towels by Murmur, Wayfair
This quirky design has the look and charm of a traditional Turkish Hammam towel. But rather than a flat-woven linen feel it offers the handle of a fluffy 100 per cent classic bathroom towel.
The characterful geometric print is beautifully finished by fringed hem detailing – much like signature Hammam designs.
The decorative design is available in four subtle, sophisticated bathroom accent colours. Those include the more punchy Sky Blue as seen here, along with Cloud grey, Blush and Sage.
Dimensions W50cm x L90cm
Ella Hand Towel, £11.99, Murmur at Wayfair
Eden Organic Cotton Towel, Sheridan
The Eden Towel collection is luxuriously soft to the touch, yet highly absorbent. This silky soft towel collection is more than stylish, made using organically sourced cotton, Global Organic Textile Standard certified - that’s the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres to you and me. Organic, in any measure is always considered the best option to get the best quality.
The organic cotton yarns are wrapped in lyocell to enhance the super soft touch. The delightful ducky pink shade welcomes a touch of on-trend colour to bathrooms.
Dimensions W50cm x L100cm
Eden Organic Cotton Hand Towel, £12, Sheridan
Best Beige Bath Towel, Wilko
These towels are called ‘best’ because quite simply they as they are the best quality towel within the Wilko towel range offer. So what exactly makes them eligible to be deemed more superior quality?
They are made from Egyptian cotton vs. regular cotton of other towels in the range.
These are also made using 'Hygro' technology – this is hollow core yarn technology. Simply it makes the towel fluffier and bulkier after every wash. A wonderfully unique feature that cements their status as the 'best' towels on sale at Wilko.
Dimensions W100cm x L150cm
Best Beige Bath Towel, £9, Wilko
