What to Pack on a 1-Week Beach Resort Vacation

Per my last post, we just returned from Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda, an all-inclusive beach resort in the Dominican Republic. I thought I would share what I packed for this trip. I only focused on outfit ideas here. If you want a more comprehensive packing list, check out my Bowsing Nom Nom’s Ultimate Travel Packing List and Baby Packing List.

Note: some of the photos in this figure are not the exact same item that I have. It’s just what I could find a picture of.

White linen shirt – This was great for the airplane but didn’t really use it as much as I would have liked to at the resort since it was too warm to wear outside. I did use it as a cover up once or twice and when the AC was too strong in our room.
Cotton tees – I packed a couple: a Uniqlo supima cotton yellow tee, very lightweight and a gray tee from Muji, which was thicker weight, slightly different silhouette, more cropped, more boxy and easy to wear.
Tank tops – Again from Uniqlo, contrasting cream and black colours, with a built-in bra. It was easy to dress up or down depending on the bottom.
Sleeveless blouse – Great for elevating the outfit a bit at dinner or can dress down during the day with jean shorts. If you can find one that matches one of the dress code colours, even better! I wore this on the blue/red/white night.
Maxi floral dress – Okay, so I cheated here. I actually forgot to bring my maxi floral sundress but instead packed a short floral dress instead. I didn’t like it as much and wished that I had a nice flowy maxi dress to wear for dinner and during the day when I felt like dressing up.
Mini dress – This was very versatile, both as cover up during the day and for a more casual look at dinner.
Shorts – I ended up bringing two pairs of jean shorts (different washes) but what I really wanted to do was to bring only one and another part of a lighter coloured linen shorts but I have yet to find a nice pair to add to my current wardrobe.
Wide-legged pants – These wide-legged cropped black pants from Uniqlo was great for dinner. I did not wear during the day because it was too heavy weight. Ideally, I would love to add a pair of white/biege lighter fabric (e.g. linen, crinkle gauze) pants that I can add to my summer wardrobe.
Swimsuits – I brought two to exchange when one is wet. The key is to have ones with different necklines to avoid harsh tan lines. I gravitated towards a favourite one so I couldn’t avoid this unfortunate situation.
Beach cover up – A lightweight cover up is so useful when you’re spending all day at the pool or beach. I hung it up to dry in the bathroom/patio and it dried quickly between pool/beach sessions. Of course, like I mentioned above, you can always use the linen shirt and mini dress as cover ups but it didn’t dry as easily, especially if you wanted to rinse it between sessions.
Active wear – Easy active wear is great to wear for lazy mornings and for any sports/activities.
Sneakers – I always have a pair of trusty sneakers for travel days and for exercise (e.g. Zumba or long walks)
Sandals – I recently got this pair of super comfortable sandals by SOUL Naturalizer. It was semi-dressy which could be used during the day and night.
Flip flops – My sandals were not waterproof so I needed something easy for the beach/pool. Flip flops was the natural choice.
Canvas tote – I considered getting a straw tote, which is cuter but I also hate to pack bulky things so I wanted something compact and easy to pack. The only way I can see a straw tote working is if you used this as your personal item when travelling, which I don’t have the luxury of since I had to also carry a diaper bag and manage a toddler so the practical side of me thought that a comfortable backpack-type bag is more practical in this stage in my life. Of note, you might have noticed I didn’t include a purse in this capsule wardrobe. To be honest, I did bring a small envelope purse but I did not use it at all on the resort. I just used the canvas tote to carry all my essentials as well as baby items. Maybe one day, when I don’t have to carry extra diapers, wipes, water bottles, snacks etc, it’ll be nice to carry a cute little purse to dinner.
Hat – I would have preferred a wide-brimmed sun hat style-wise but again, the practical side of me decided on a baseball cap because so much easier to pack. I also saw people wearing their sun hats on/off the plane but again, I have enough carry-on items to handle with a toddler, so I wanted to minimize this hassle.