Festival Essentials: Tents & Hammocks
Whether you’re rolling solo or sheltering your entire crew, you gotta have a place to sleep (even if you’re not goign to bed until sunrise!). There’s an endless selection of tents with a dizzying array of features and specs, but stay focused on a few key things – good ventilation, waterproof protection, appropriate space, durability – and you’ll find the right one that fits your needs. We’ve picked out a few favorite shelters for summer festival camping.
#5 | evrgrn Starry Night 2P Tent
It’s not the lightest tent out there, but REI’s new evrgrn Starry Night is thoughtfully designed to enjoy a night under the stars. It’s easy to set up, fully waterproof, and equipped with two doors and an adjustable rain fly. Only the top half of the Starry Night is mesh, so you can keep the rain fly off yet still have privacy, which can be handy in a crowded festival campground.
Sleeps: 2 (3 if you want to get cozy!)
#4 | Marmot Tungsten 3P
The minimalist, three season Tungsten is designed for backpacking, but its light and airy design is perfect for summer festival camping. Features include seam taped floor, two doors, interior storage pockets. And as long time Marmot tent owners, we can assure you the Tungsten will serve you well for many years.
Sleeps: 3
#3 | Kelty Yellowstone 4
We love Kelty for their high quality, value priced gear. At $149, The Yellowstone 4 is a great value, offering plenty of room for four adults, and featuring a single large door, ample mesh ventilation, awning fly, taped seams, internal pockets, and color coded clip and fly connections for easy setup.
Sleeps: 4
$149 | kelty.com
#2 | ENO SingleNest Hammock
Hammocks are good for so much more than cat naps. And once you spend a night in a hammock, you might never sleep on the ground again! ENO’s SingleNest hammock packs down to the size of a beer can, providing a very compact and versatile shelter. Complete your hammock setup with ENO’s SlapStrap Pro Suspension System, Guardian Bug Net, and ProFly Rain Tarp, or buy it on all in one with their OneLink Hammock Shelter System. We know trees aren’t always available at festivals, but if you’re attending a festival with wooded camping, nothing beats a hammock!
Sleeps: 1 (or go DoubleNest for 2 person hammock camping!)
#1 | Mountainsmith Conifer 5+
If you’re picking out a tent for family outings or in charge of lodging for your festival crew, the Conifer 5+should be on your short list. The Conifer 5+ is roomy, with 83 square feet of floor space (plenty of room for five adults), offers loads of ventilation (important when your campsite is an open field with absolutely no shade), two vestibules, an interanal height of 6’2″, gear loft, storage pockets, taped floor seams, and classic Mountainsmith durability. And you can’t argue with the price for a tent of this quality!
Sleeps: 5+
