Every festival packing list on the internet has the same problem: it’s written as if you’re being airlifted to the site. You’re not. You’re carrying everything you bring from a car park or a shuttle stop to a campsite, possibly for over a mile, possibly in the rain. The best packing decision you can make is to bring less.
Here’s the list we’d actually pack, in priority order.
The non-negotiables
- Tent you’ve pitched before — a new tent’s first pitch should not be in a field at dusk with an audience
- Sleeping bag + roll mat or inflatable mat — August nights in Britain get colder than you think
- Wellies — regardless of forecast, for any greenfield festival. City festivals like Victorious are the exception: trainers are fine
- Waterproof jacket — a packable one lives in your day bag all weekend
- Portable power bank — 10,000mAh minimum; two if your phone is your ticket
- Reusable water bottle — every major festival has free water points
- Earplugs — the campsite does not go quiet, ever
- Sun cream and a hat — the forecast lies in both directions
- Bum bag or small day bag — phone, cash, sun cream, plasters; everything else stays at the tent
What the veterans bring
- Gaffer tape — fixes tents, wellies, chairs, and most other disasters
- Bin bags — dirty clothes, wet kit, emergency poncho, tent groundsheet protection
- Cash backup — most festivals are card-first now, but signal congestion breaks payments at peak times
- A printed sheet with the line-up times, your coach/train times, and a meeting point — phones die and signal fails. This is the single most repeated tip in our Glastonbury guide
- Baby wipes and hand sanitiser — your shower for the weekend
- A flag, ribbon or inflatable to mark your tent — thousands of tents look identical at 2am
- Second pair of trainers kept dry inside the tent — the morale value of dry footwear after a wet night is impossible to overstate
- Camping chair — if you’re driving. If you’re carrying, skip it; you’ll survive
For family festivals
Going to something like Camp Bestival? Add:
- Ear defenders for children — it’s loud even in the kids’ areas
- A festival trolley or cart — doubles as a mobile bed for exhausted children
- A wristband with your phone number written on it for each child
We learnt all three the useful way — see our Camp Bestival family review.
Leave at home
- Glass — banned everywhere, searched for at gates
- Your best clothes and white trainers — everything you wear will meet mud, dust or someone’s pint
- “Just in case” items — the on-site shops sell forgotten essentials, and your shoulders will thank you
- Expensive jewellery and anything you’d cry about losing — use the lockups for valuables you must bring
- Gazebos and king-size airbeds (unless driving to a family festival) — campsite space is tight and the carry is brutal
The one-bag test
If you can’t carry everything you’ve packed for 20 minutes without stopping, repack. That’s the whole test. The people gliding past the queue with one rucksack while you wrestle a trolley over a rutted field made the right call.
Got a packing tip we’ve missed? Send it in — good ones get a named credit.