Coin lockers at stations
In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, coin lockers are part of the furniture of a main station: banks of them in several sizes, near the ticket gates or on the concourse. Payment has largely moved from coins to transit IC cards, which also means the locker prints or displays a code rather than handing you a key. They are charged by calendar day rather than by hour, so an overnight stay costs two days, and most have a maximum stay of a few days before staff clear them.
Bag drops in shops and hotels
Where lockers are scarce — most of Europe, much of Southeast Asia — the gap is filled by networks that pay a shop, café or hotel to hold bags behind the counter. You book a slot on a phone, walk in, and the staff tag your bag. The practical differences from a locker: someone else is handling your bag, opening hours are the shop’s, and you can usually leave something larger than a locker would take.
Airport counters
Larger airports have a staffed baggage-service desk, useful on a long layover or a night arrival before an early check-in. They are priced per bag per day and are usually the most expensive of the three options, but they take oversized items — skis, instruments, boxes — that nothing else will.
Your hotel
The option people forget. Hotels hold bags for guests on arrival and departure days, normally free, which covers the two moments when travellers most often go looking for a locker. Two limits worth knowing: it is a store room rather than a safe, so valuables go with you, and holding bags for a night you are not staying is a favour, not a service — ask, don’t assume.
Luggage storage, by country
Plan your trip
Some links above are affiliate links — if you book through them, Wander Atlas earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. It's how we keep every guide free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I leave my bags at the station?
In much of East Asia, yes — coin lockers are a normal part of a big station, usually in a few sizes, and increasingly they take an IC card rather than coins. Elsewhere they are rarer, and a staffed left-luggage office or an app-based bag drop takes their place. Each country guide below says which of these you can expect.
What if the lockers are full?
This is common at the busiest stations on weekends and holidays. The usual fallbacks are the lockers one stop down the line, a staffed office in the same station, or a nearby shop signed up to a bag-drop network. Booking a bag-drop slot in advance is the only one of the three you can arrange before you arrive.
Will my hotel hold my bags after check-out?
Almost always, for guests, on the day you arrive and the day you leave — it is the simplest option and normally free. Ask at reception rather than assuming, and take anything valuable with you: hotels store bags in a back room, not a safe.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the country, the size of the bag and how long you leave it, so a single figure would be misleading. The country guides give the range that applies where you are going and link the operator's own page.
Locker sizes, prices and opening hours are set by each operator and change; the country guides link the official pages so you can check before you rely on one.