Festival camping in van: complete ultimate adventure guide

Want to hit up some of Australia’s hottest festivals but don’t want to camp in a hot and stuffy tent? Make the whole experience better and go festival camping in a van!

Dance all day, party all night and then return to your campervan to charge your phone, wash up, enjoy a hot meal and tuck yourself into a comfortable double bed!

Regardless of whether you’re attending a rave with your mates or family-friendly festivals with your kids - this guide to camping in a van at a festival will tell you everything you need, including 20 tips on:

• Planning your festival camping trip

• Setting up your van at the festival campsite

• Partying at the festival campsite

• Packing up and heading home

Want to go festival camping in style and comfort? Use Camplify to find the perfect campervan hire in Australia!

Ultimate guide to festival camping in a van: 20 tips you need to know

Planning your festival camping trip

1. Choose the right van

When it comes to festival camping, you want a van that is both comfortable and decked out with features that will make you the life of the party. Try to hire a camper that has:

• A stereo system

• Solar-powered USB chargers

• A fan or aircon

• A kitchen with a fridge and stove

• A comfortable double bed

Camplify makes it easy to find affordable and comfortable campervan hire in Australia. Whether you’re after a groovy little campervan or a cool caravan, you’ll find the perfect option for festival camping.

Just make sure that the owner allows their van to be used at festivals.

2. Don’t pay extra for comprehensive hire insurance

You don’t want to go festival camping in a van without a comprehensive insurance policy and roadside assistance. If you have a collision or break down in the middle of nowhere, it’s going to be a bummer if you can’t get help and miss your favourite band.

When you hire a van through Camplify, you get comprehensive hire insurance included at no additional cost. Plus, you’ll also receive Nationwide NRMA Roadside Assistance - simply call our 24/7 support team and we’ll have someone come out to help you!

Enjoy total peace of mind knowing that you’re covered if anything goes wrong on your festival camping trip!

3. Read the festival T&Cs

Let’s get the boring part out of the way. Read the music festival’s terms and conditions and make sure that they allow campervans.

Double check whether there are any vehicle restrictions in place and find out when and where to park your campervan once you arrive - van campers often have to set up in the afternoon or evening before the festival kicks off.

4. Know how to use your van

Before you set off, make sure you understand how everything works.

When you hire through Camplify, the van’s owner can give you a comprehensive tour at the handover. They know their vehicle like the back of their hand, so feel free to ask as many questions as you want.

And if something comes to mind after you’ve driven away, simply send them a message or give them a call for some expert advice.

5. Use this festival camping checklist when packing

When you hire a van from Camplify, it should include almost everything you need to go festival camping. However, you can use this road trip packing list to make sure that you don’t forget anything important.

Every festival camping checklist should include:

• Sheets, blankets and pillows (if not included with Camplify hire)

• Camping table and chairs (if not included with Camplify hire)

• A heap of drinking water

• Portable speakers

• Portable chargers

• Paper towel

• Camping lantern (saves you from draining your van battery)

• Trash bags

• Baby wipes

• Plastic cups, plates and cutlery

• Medication and toiletries

• Lip balm and sunscreen

• Sunglasses

• Backpack or bum bag

• Sanitiser

• Snacks and drinks

6. Leave the glass bottles at home

For safety reasons, many festivals don’t permit glass within the event grounds (double check the terms and conditions). So when you’re loading up your van with beer and wine, try to make sure that it’s not in glass bottles.

7. Bring all of the necessary tickets

Check, double-check and triple-check that you have brought all of the required tickets before you hit the gas. For many festivals, you will need to bring both a standard entrance ticket and a separate ticket showing that you can park in a designated festival camping area.

8. Charge your power bank before you leave

To conserve the van's battery life, bring along as many power banks as possible. Just make sure that you charge them all before you leave.

Setting up at the festival campsite

9.Choose the perfect camping site

Before you get excited about that parking space by the main stage, consider these factors when choosing a festival camping site:

• Will you be at the back of the queue when exiting the festival?

• Is the site flat?

• Is the site at the bottom of a hill (will water flow down into the site)?

• Is the site grassy or muddy (are you likely to get bogged)?

• Is the site a good distance from the festival facilities (toilets, water, food, etc.)?

10. Set up the solar panels

Most music festivals don’t offer powered camping sites or allow generators. To avoid rotten food and dead devices, ensure that the van’s power supply (i.e. the leisure battery) is 100% charged before you hit the road.

If you’ve hired a van with solar panels, you won’t have to worry too much about running out of power. Simply position the solar panels to maximise sun exposure and let the leisure battery charge throughout the day!

11. Level out your van with ramps

It’s not always possible to get a perfectly flat campsite when festival camping. To be safe, try to hire a van that includes levelling ramps or chocks. This will help you get a good night's sleep.

If the back of the van is lower than the front, place the chocks behind the rear wheels and reverse onto them. Alternatively, if the front of the van is lower than the rear, place the chocks behind the front wheels and reverse.

12. Make your van stand out

Once the hordes have settled in, the festival camping site will become a sea of nondescript campervans and motorhomes. And finding your rental van will become all the more difficult once night falls.

To avoid getting lost in this maze of vehicles, come up with a bright idea to make your van stick out from the crowd. Fly a unique flag or a vivid pair of boxers from a flagpole and you’ll be able to spot your van a mile away!

Partying at the festival campsite

13. Keep the keys secure

As the festival rages on and your group spreads out, it's unlikely that you’ll all return to the campervan at the same time. To avoid lengthy waits, it’s worth asking your hirer for a spare set of keys.

And whatever you do, never leave these keys out! If someone has discovered them and stolen the vehicle, you can wave goodbye to any insurance coverage.

Take the keys with you, either in your backpack or bum bag. Some festivals even offer security lockers in which you can lock up your precious goods for the day.

14. Always lock up the van

With so many unattended belongings strewn about, festivals are a thief’s paradise. Never leave your van at the festival camping ground without first locking up.

Get in the habit of testing all doors and windows, and don’t leave any valuables on show. As mentioned above, insurance claims are void if the vehicle was unlocked.

15. Turn everything off when you’re not at the campsite

Don’t drain the van's leisure battery when you’re away from the festival camping site. Remember to unplug your devices and turn off all the lights and air conditioning before you leave.

16. Keep It Clean

Festivals are a dirty business. That’s a fundamental fact. However, the last thing you’ll want to do after a weekend of festival camping is scrub down the inside of your rental van. And the alternative is paying extra for a cleaning fee.

Luckily, we’ve put together some tips and tricks to help you minimise the mud:

• Set some newspapers down on the floor. This will serve as an extra guard against dirt and grime, saving you lots of clean-up time!

• Leave your filthy shoes at the door (either in a bin bag or plastic box) and change into clean clothes the second you climb inside.

• Keep away from glitter! These tiny plastic sparkles are not only horrendous for the environment but also impossible to remove.

Returning from festival camping

19. Get rid of your waste properly

Please don’t dispose of your waste in any old field. If the festival allows motorhomes and campervans, it will likely provide a proper waste disposal site for grey water.

18. Leave early or late

After the fun is over, there are often massive queues of vehicles trying to leave the festival camping ground at the same time.

To avoid sitting in your van for hours and wasting fuel, consider waking up extra early to beat the traffic. Alternatively, just chill at your campsite for as long as possible and leave when everyone else has cleared out.

19. Plan a stopover or extend your road trip

You’ll be completely shattered after a few wild days at the festival. If you have a long drive home, don’t try to do it all in one day. Plan to stop somewhere for a night and freshen up with a shower and a good meal.

You may even want to make the most of your campervan hire and extend your road trip? Why not spend a few days checking out the sights and attractions on your way home? Check out the Camplify blog for awesome road trip itineraries all around Australia!

20. Refill the fuel tank

When returning your hire van to the owner after your festival camping trip, be sure to fully refill the tank.

Hire a campervan to go festival camping

Camplify makes it easy for festival goers to find the ideal rental van!

Need campervan hire in Australia?

Simply enter your pickup location, adjust the optional filters and within seconds, you will find the perfect campervan, motorhome or caravan! Just message the owner and make sure they’re happy to hire it out for festival camping.

All the vans on Camplify are privately-owned and offer a unique experience. Plus, every booking comes with a range of extra benefits…

Why Camplify?

We are proud to be Australia’s fastest-growing private caravan, motorhome and campervan hire community. When you hire a van through our platform, it comes with lots of advantages:

• Comprehensive hire insurance

• Nationwide NRMA roadside assistance

• 24/7 customer support

• All members are verified

By hiring with Camplify, you are also helping local families who share their van on our platform and supporting many local companies across Australia in addition to ours. So we are very grateful to you.

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