Power plugs around the world

What it's for

Every country has different plugs and voltages: this saves you from being unable to charge your phone. It tells you the plug type (A-N), the volts and whether you need an adapter from Italy.

Mind the voltage

An adapter only changes the plug shape, not the voltage! In the US and Japan (100-120V) check your devices accept that voltage (chargers and laptops usually do).

An adapter and a transformer are two different things

An adapter only changes the shape of the plug: it lets two round pins fit into three flat ones, and it does not touch the current passing through. A transformer changes the voltage, and that is another matter entirely: it is heavy, expensive and needed only for devices that cannot accept the local voltage.

The good news is that today an adapter is nearly always enough: chargers, laptops, cameras and modern shavers are dual voltage, and the power supply says «100-240V». Anyone who reads that line already knows an adapter is all they need, wherever they go.

The devices that still burn out

They are the ones that produce heat or have a motor: hair straighteners, cheap travel hairdryers, kettles, irons, toothbrush bases. If the label says only «220-240V» and it is plugged into an American or Japanese 110V socket, the device works badly or not at all; the other way round, a 110V device plugged into 230V burns out in seconds.

The error seen most often is the hairdryer with the 110/220 switch: it exists, it works, but it has to be moved before switching on, and doing it afterwards produces the noise that means it is finished.

The socket types, in practice

There are more than a dozen, but the world splits roughly into five families: continental Europe (two round pins), the United Kingdom and Ireland (three large flat pins, also found in Malta, Cyprus and many former British countries), the United States and Japan (two flat blades), Australia and New Zealand (two angled blades) and Switzerland and Italy, which have their own sockets only partly compatible with the European ones.

The Italian catch is well known there: Italian 10 and 16 amp plugs have pins of different diameter, and Switzerland has a socket all of its own. The way to stop thinking about it is a universal adapter with several configurations, which covers almost everything and fits in a pocket.

The three things to pack

An adapter with an earth pin, not the cheap two-pin model: some devices require it and in certain countries connecting them without one is dangerous. A small power strip from home, plugged into the single adapter to multiply the sockets: in hotels the free sockets are always one or two, and behind the bedside table.

And one USB charger with several outputs instead of three different power supplies. Watch the power, though: charging a laptop needs an adequate supply, and a low-power USB port keeps it running without actually charging it.

Nearby tools

For the rest of the trip there are Packing checklist, Cabin bag dimensions and What to take on a plane. For the useful numbers Dialling codes and Tipping around the world.