Ostrich On Your Back Chair earns the top spot among the best beach chairs
Ostrich is proud to share that the On Your Back Chair has been named Best Overall in Travel + Leisure's roundup of the 10 Best Beach Chairs of 2026. The list, written by gear tester Nathan Allen and published in May, came after the team tested 46 chairs sent to testers across the country, with hot spots in New York, Florida, Southern California, and Washington. Read the full review here!
Testers spent hours in each chair, evaluating comfort, portability, durability, and value. They dumped water on the chairs, dragged them through sand, and even let kids and dogs put them through the wringer over a month of testing. Out of everything they tried, our Ostrich On Your Back Chair came out on top, with Travel + Leisure calling it an extremely comfortable and supportive chair that will work for most people.
What Set It Apart
The feature that really caught testers' attention was what they called the "bury your head" padded face hole, along with the arm holes, which let you lie flat on your stomach without straining your neck or losing the ability to breathe comfortably. Anyone who's tried to sunbathe face down knows the usual tradeoff: crane your neck to one side or bury your face in your arms and lose all visibility. This chair solves that.
On top of that, the chair offers five reclining positions and a fully flat recline, giving beachgoers more range of motion and comfort options than most of the other chairs in the test group. Testers did note a small learning curve to get the chair all the way flat the first time, but once they figured out the trick (using the armrests to adjust position), setup became second nature.
Built for the Beach
Travel + Leisure also called out the built-in backpack straps, cup holder, and pop-in and pop-out headrest as standout features that make the chair easy to carry and just as easy to enjoy once you're set up. The backpack straps free up your hands for a cooler, an umbrella, or a kid, which matters most on the days when getting from the car to the sand is half the workout.
On the durability side, testers found nothing that made them question the chair's build quality. It has a 325 pound weight capacity and is constructed with 600D PVC polyester fabric on a powder coated steel frame, materials meant to hold up to sun, saltwater, and repeated use season after season. At just over 10.5 pounds, it strikes a solid balance between being sturdy and still easy to carry..
Best Overall for a Reason
Travel + Leisure landed on the On Your Back Chair as an excellent value pick at under $100, especially considering everything it offers. Whether you're heading out for a solo tan session or a full family beach day, this chair delivers the comfort, durability, and portability that Ostrich has built its name on, and now it's official: out of 46 chairs tested from coast to coast, this one came out on top.