If you’ve been wondering what to take to a festival when you’re camping and you need a festival survival guide, then you’ve come to the right place. Here we attempt to give you the ultimate festival gear guide; luxury festival accessories for those who aren’t concerned about how much kit they will be carrying to the campsite; reader recommended top tips for a happy festival stay and a list of the best festivals to visit in Europe and USA… in our collective camping opinion. But don’t just listen to us… add your recommendations in the comments section below if you think we’ve missed anything.
The Best Festivals In Europe And The USA To Visit
Here’s our summary of the best festivals to visit for a bit of music, camping and misbehaving madness!
- Glastonbury, Somerset, UK, June
- Donauinselfest, Austria, June
- Fusion, Germany, July
- Summersault, Devon, UK, July
- Wanderlust, California, July
- Womad, Malmesbury, UK, July
- Larmer Tree, Wiltshire, UK, July
- Deer Shed Festival, Yorkshire, UK, July
- Secret Garden Party, July
- Mandrea Festival, Italy, July
- EXIT, Serbia, July
- Rosklide, Denmark, July
- Camp Bestival, Dorset, UK, July
- Croatia Rocks, July
- Burning Man, Nevada, USA, August
- Beautiful Days, Devon, UK, August
- Just So Festival, Cheshire, UK, August
- Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall, UK, August
- The Green Man, Wales, August
- Wilderness, Oxfordshire, UK, August
- Into The Valley, Sweden, August
- Rock En Seine, France, August
- Sziget, Hungary, August
- Flow Festival, Helsinki, August
- Tomorrowland, Belgium, USA & Brazil
- Festival 6, Portmeirion, UK, September
- Bumbershoot, Washington, USA, September
- End Of The Road, Wiltshire, UK, September
- Bestival, Isle Of Wight, September
Festival Camping
When it comes to choosing the right gear for camping on the festival site, it’s best to do your research. Firstly, take a look at our ultimate camping checklist and note the items that are important for you to take. Think about the size and weight of these items as it is easier to travel light when it comes to visiting the festival site, so cut down your items as much as possible. For example, you might want to avoid taking a camping stove and instead opt for buying food and drink ready-made when you need it.
Best Festival Survival Tips From Our Readers
Surviving a festival unscathed may not be your main priority, but if it is then a few of these tips will help you ‘let your hair down’ safely and in relative comfort.
- The car park is always a long way from the campsite so make sure you pack light and take a trolley with you so it’s easy to move your festival gear around.
- Get a lightweight and rapid pitch tent. The Green Hurricane Air Tent is a perfect inflatable tent for festivals. The manufacturer claims it can be pitched in 120 seconds and as it’s made from 100% polyester it is lightweight and easy to carry.
- Pack essential toiletries so you aren’t caught short. Include: dry shampoo, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, loo roll and hangover cures.
- A multi-use lightweight towel, which also works as a wrap or somewhere to sit, is also very useful. Our design choice would be the Hammamas with its fantastic colour range.
- Aways pack a pair of earplugs so you can get some sleep… if you want to!
- If your festival is in a country where the weather can’t be guaranteed, pack: sunglasses, sun hat, sun cream, flip-flops, boots and a rain jacket.
- There are very few places to sit down at festivals, especially if it is wet and muddy, so always have a seat with you. An umbrella seat is the perfect solution.
- Don’t ever loose your friends or tent by taking a festival flag with you.
- Drinks are expensive and queues are long, so take a water bottle to carry with you.
- Do your kids have walkie talkies at home? If so, you can use them when mobile phone systems become gridlocked on the site.
- Download an app similar to Shazam before you go, so you can find out the music playing simply by using your smart phone. You can find out more useful festival apps here.
- Get yourself a great head torch and a long-lasting battery. You’ll need it.
- Another ingenious way of seeing in the dark is by using a thermal image camera. Seek Thermal Camera can be plugged into your iPhone so you’ll never miss the unseen again!
- If you want to upload your pictures before anyone else, make sure you have your own wifi and smart phone charging unit. You can find out more about the portable wifi unit we use here.
- Take a handy sized backpack, just big enough to fit all your belongings in for a day on the festival site. We love these designs.
- If you intend to sleep where you drop, you might want to get one of these wearable sleeping bags.
- Keep things simple by getting the easiest tent to pitch. Our choice would be the pop-up-tent or the inflatable tent. Both can be put up in seconds, leaving you plenty of time to party!
The Best Luxury Festival Accessories
Finally in our festival survival guide we’ve added a bit of glamour. If you are thinking of visiting a luxe camping festival to do a spot of posh camping, you’ll need to take a few extra accessories to get the glamping party going with a bit of extra glitz.
- Never be without a comfortable place for you and your friends to hang out by getting your hands on an inflatable sofa.
- While your chilling with your friends, impress them by giving them a refreshing cocktail.
- Wow your friends with your look by getting some temporary metallic tattoos.
- Look the part by exploring some festival fashion or wearing a festival headband.
- Try out some of our DIY glamping ideas to really put the pizzazz into your glam camping festival visit.
Finally make sure you take care of yourself on the festival site and follow the advice of professionals when it comes to your personal safety.
Have we missed anything out of our festival survival guide? Let us know in the comments section below.
Picture Credits: Summersault Festival
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