Written by Daniel Walton on 9th Jul 2026
Managing Director & Founder, OLPRO
Daniel founded OLPRO in 2011 and still leads its product design. He created the OLPRO Breeze inflatable system after watching too many campers wrestle with pole sleeves in the wind, and that fix-the-real-problem approach shapes everything the team builds and tests in-house.
Festival camping means carrying everything yourself, so pack light and buy a tent you will take home.
The essentials that actually matter:
- A small, tough tent: a dome or backpacking tent you can pitch fast and reuse, not a throwaway pop-up
- Sleep kit: roll mat, sleeping bag rated to around 5°C, and earplugs (the most underrated item you own)
- Weatherproofing both ways: wellies and a waterproof for mud, sun cream and water for the heat
- Power and cash: a 10,000mAh+ power bank and £30-£50 in notes for when the card reader dies
- A way to carry it all: a festival trolley for the long haul from the car park
Festival camping is not regular camping. The sooner you accept that, the better time you'll have. You are not choosing a peaceful pitch on a quiet site. You are putting up a tent in a field with 50,000 other people, questionable toilets, and a sound system you can feel through the ground.
The gear is different. The priorities are different. The whole mindset is different. This guide covers what you actually need to bring, what tent to buy, how to handle a heatwave in a field, and everything first-timers wish someone had told them. If you only remember one thing: pack light, because you carry all of it yourself.
Festival camping vs regular camping
At a campsite you choose your pitch, you have space, the toilets are clean, and it is quiet at night. At a festival you get a slot in a crowded field, the toilets are portaloos, and quiet does not exist until Monday morning.
That changes what matters. At a festival:
- Portability beats comfort. You carry everything from the car park, which might be a 20-minute walk. Every kilo counts, and a festival trolley earns its place.
- Your tent will take a beating. Wind, rain, careless neighbours and the general chaos of a festival field are hard on gear. Bring something you can pitch fast and live with.
- Security is real. Tents do not lock. Theft happens. Anything you cannot afford to lose stays on you or at home.
- Sleep is a bonus. Between the music, the generators and the neighbours having the time of their lives at 4am, solid sleep is not guaranteed. Earplugs are essential, not optional.
Get those four things right and the rest sorts itself out.
Your festival camping essentials checklist
Festival packing is ruthless prioritisation. You carry everything you bring, so anything you do not need is dead weight. Here is the list that actually matters.
The one-bag festival packing checklist
For a full trip checklist you can adapt, see our ultimate camping checklist. If you would rather not build the kit piece by piece, OLPRO's Festival Bundle packs a tent, a trolley and two sleeping bags into one order.
Choosing a festival tent
Hallow 2.0 Dome ~£69
The festival workhorse. A 2-berth dome, 3,000mm waterproof, quick to pitch and small to carry.
Stafford 2.0 ~£99
From OLPRO's range with explorer Ed Stafford. A 2-berth built to handle far worse than a field.
Festival Bundle ~£155
The easy route: Hallow 2.0 dome, a folding festival trolley and two sleeping bags in one order.
The perfect festival tent has three qualities: it is easy to carry, quick to pitch, and tough enough that you are not tempted to leave it behind on Monday.
That last point matters more than most guides admit. Every year, UK festivals clear tens of thousands of abandoned tents from the fields, most of them cheap pop-ups bought for a single weekend. They are hard to recycle and most end up in landfill. A slightly better tent that you take home and use again is cheaper over two or three festivals, and it does not add to the pile.
Here is how the options stack up.
Pop-up tents go up in seconds, which is genuinely useful when you arrive at midnight. The trade-off is that most are small, flimsy, and struggle in wind or heavy rain. Fine for a dry weekend if you already own one. Not worth buying new to throw away.
Small dome tents are the festival workhorse. Spend five minutes pitching and you get something far more stable and waterproof. OLPRO's Hallow 2.0 Dome Tent is a 2-berth dome around £69 with a 3,000mm waterproof rating, which is plenty for a British field, and it packs down small enough to carry easily.
Lightweight and backpacking tents are the pick if you want something that lasts. The Stafford 2.0, part of OLPRO's range with explorer Ed Stafford, is a 2-berth around £99 built to handle far worse than a festival. The Beckford Lightweight 2 Berth uses a ripstop fabric that shrugs off the knocks a festival throws at it.
The easiest route is the Festival Bundle at around £155, which pairs the Hallow 2.0 dome with a folding festival trolley and two sleeping bags. It covers your tent, your carry problem and your sleep setup in one go, and every item comes home with you.
We built the Festival Bundle because we were tired of seeing good gear treated as disposable. A dome tent and a trolley for the price of two throwaway pop-ups, and it lasts for years. Look after it and it will do a lot more than one weekend.
Daniel Walton
Managing Director, OLPRO
On size: a 2-person tent for one person, or a 3-person for two, is the right ratio. You need room for your bags inside, because there is nowhere else to put them. A porch is a bonus for muddy boots. For the full rundown on tent types and what suits what, read our guide to choosing a tent, and browse the full tent range if you want to compare.
Camping at a festival in a heatwave
For years the defining festival hazard was mud. In 2026 it has been heat. The UK has already had three heatwaves this summer, the latest pushing past 34°C with health alerts across much of England. Whatever the forecast says, plan for genuine heat, because a tent makes it far worse than open ground.
A tent in direct sun becomes an oven by 8am. Nylon traps heat, and you will wake up sweating no matter how late you went to bed. Here is how to take the edge off it.
A tent in full sun becomes an oven by 8am. Here is how to take the edge off it.
Pitch for the morning
Put your tent where something will shade it early. A pitch that feels perfect at 9pm is unbearable at 7am.
Reflect the heat
Pale tents stay cooler than dark. A foil blanket or reflective tarp over the flysheet bounces off real heat.
Open both ends
Cross-ventilation beats shade once the day heats up. Unzip vents and doors at opposite ends.
Drink before you're thirsty
Find the water points on arrival, carry a refillable bottle, and add electrolytes if you're drinking a lot.
Sun cream is survival kit
High factor, reapplied, plus a hat and sunglasses. Sunburn in a hot tent is a special kind of misery.
Look out for each other
Headache, dizziness, feeling sick: get them to shade, water and the medical tent.
Nights are the flip side. Even in a heatwave, open fields can drop to single figures after dark, especially in June and September. A sleeping bag rated to around 5°C covers both extremes. Our guide to staying warm camping has more on getting the rating right.
The 2026 UK festival calendar: what is still to come
Part of the fun is picking where to go. Plenty of the big camping festivals still have weekends left this summer, and camping tickets sell out well before the last acts are announced, so book early. These are the major camping weekends still ahead in 2026:
| Festival | 2026 Dates | Location | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latitude | 23-26 Jul | Henham Park, Suffolk | Strong family camping area |
| Camp Bestival | 30 Jul-2 Aug | Lulworth, Dorset | The most family-friendly of the lot |
| Boardmasters | 5-9 Aug | Newquay, Cornwall | Coastal wind: bring extra pegs |
| Boomtown | 7-10 Aug | Matterley Bowl, Hampshire | Long walk in: a trolley is close to essential |
| Green Man | 14-17 Aug | Brecon Beacons, Wales | Mountains: pack a warm layer even in August |
| Reading & Leeds | 27-30 Aug | Reading & West Yorkshire | The late-summer institution and many a first festival |
Major camping weekends still to come in 2026. Camping tickets sell out early -- check each festival's own site before booking. Scroll the table sideways on mobile.
Whichever you pick, check that festival's own vehicle and camping rules before you book. Sites vary on what counts as a campervan, whether trolleys are allowed through the gates, and how far the camping fields sit from the stages.
Campervans and vans at festivals
Most major UK festivals offer campervan or vehicle camping: a dedicated field where you park and camp beside your vehicle. It is a different experience from tent camping, and a real upgrade in comfort.
The advantages are obvious.
You sleep off the ground, you have storage, you can lock the vehicle, and you have somewhere dry and shaded to retreat to when a tent would be roasting. Some people run a small driveaway awning alongside for extra living space.
The catch.
Campervan tickets cost more, often a lot more, and spaces are limited and sell out fast, sometimes before the lineup is announced. You are usually further from the main stages, and getting in and out can mean long queues.
Check what qualifies.
Rules vary between festivals. Some accept any vehicle you can sleep in, others set height or length limits. Confirm the policy before you book, because turning up in a vehicle that does not meet the criteria means you are in the car park with no bed. If you are new to van life, our layby and overnight parking guide covers the wider rules on sleeping in a vehicle.
Power.
There is rarely a hook-up in vehicle fields. Bring a leisure battery or portable power station for charging and lights. Do not run your engine to charge things: neighbours will not thank you, and many festivals ban it.
Surviving the conditions
Festival camping sorts itself out once you accept the reality. Here is how to handle the classic problems beyond the heat.
Mud.
Still the defining feature when it rains. Wellies handle the walking. A bin bag by the tent door catches the worst of what you tread in. Keep wet, muddy clothes in a separate bag so they do not contaminate everything else.
Noise.
It never really stops. Earplugs are your friend, and a sleep mask helps against the early light. Do not expect silence and you will not be disappointed.
Toilets.
Portaloos get worse as the weekend goes on. Go early in the morning after they have been serviced overnight. Bring your own toilet roll and hand sanitiser. Some festivals offer compost or premium loos for a fee, and they are worth it if you can find them.
Finding your tent.
A festival campsite is a sea of identical shapes. Mark yours with something tall and distinctive, and note the nearest landmark when you pitch: a food stall, a fence corner, a path junction. Your 3am self will thank your sober self.
Frequently asked questions
Sort your festival kit in one order: tent, trolley and sleeping bags.
The OLPRO Festival Bundle. Lifetime warranty, free UK delivery, and it comes home with you.
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