Bicycle Touring Vs Bikepacking. Navigating rough terrain such as sand rocks steep inclines and river crossings is easier with a bikepacking set up. Whatever types of bike is used the differential between bikepacking and touring come to how you are riding not necessarily what you are riding.
Bikepacking is a type of bike touring which is more focused on unpaved surfaces singletrack gravel roads etc and the bags are optimized to address those specific challenges. Whatever types of bike is used the differential between bikepacking and touring come to how you are riding not necessarily what you are riding. Backpacking allows you to get away from it all more completely.
A touring bike will always have rack and fender mounts while a bikepacking bike will only sometimes have them.
Bicycle touring allows you to travel greater distances and see more. Bike touring with just a trailer is not necessarily the cheapest way to tour but it does offer the luxury of choosing a bike that doesn t have pannier mounts. Navigating rough terrain such as sand rocks steep inclines and river crossings is easier with a bikepacking set up. Another way to look at it is that all bikepacking is considered bike touring but not all bike touring is bikepacking.