Car camping is one of the most fun, easiest, and safest ways to explore the outdoors on a budget. The ability to take your campsite with you on the road, set up your “tent” literally anywhere you want, and have all of your gear with you at all times lets you spend less time worrying about setting up camp and more time enjoying all the activities nature has to offer.

However, poor planning and poor packing can ruin even the coolest trips. We have learned through personal experience that the gear on this list will dramatically improve your next car camping experience, and most of these aren’t on any car camping checklist! This is gear that we use every time we car camp. Some of these car camping essentials might surprise you!

Silica beads

These are amazing. If you sleep in your car with all the doors and windows shut (for optimal privacy) these are a MUST HAVE. When we first started car camping we had no idea how much condensation we would be dealing with overnight just from our breathing! We woke up after the first night in our car with water literally dripping down the inside of the front windshield.

Don’t be us.

Silica beads absorb some of the moisture from the air and keep your car from getting too damp overnight. The best thing about them? They’re reusable! Once they fill up with moisture just pop them in the oven for a while and they’ll be ready to use for the next car camping trip. Moisture can cause more problems than just condensation. Moldy headliner is a nightmare that neither of us ever want to experience, and using silica to manage moisture while car camping is a good way to prevent it. We bought this large container that comes with its own bags and we’ve been really happy with the results. These are the ones we bought.

A non-stick pan

Ok, we know a non-stick pan isn’t going to look as trendy in your early morning look-at-me-I’m-so-into-camping Instagram post as a cast iron, but when it’s 9:30 PM and you’re trying to scrub burnt chicken fried rice out of your skillet with cold water and a stick you’re going to remember reading this list and really start wishing you had just picked one up anyway.

Non-stick pans are cheap, light, and require less grease while cooking and less cleaning afterward than other pans. Space is always a concern when car camping, so we picked up a flat top crepe pan that packs into super tight spaces while still being the perfect size for one to two people.

Luci String Lights

We love our Luci String Lights! What we thought was a “splurge” purchase bought with a gift card has ended up being our favorite car camping essential. You can charge it using a USB charger (micro-usb, unfortunately) or by setting it in the sun to use the built-in solar panel. Charge level is easy to check by looking at the 4 small LEDs on the unit.

The lights have three brightness settings but we almost always find the lowest to be more than enough while we’re inside our car. Not having to fiddle around with flashlights and not worrying about getting blinded by each other’s headlamps while sleeping in our car camping setup is well worth the cost of the lights and makes our car feel bright and cozy.

The lights also have a usb port that you can use to charge your phone in a pinch. We really like this option for string lights especially when compared to some of the cheaper options on amazon because the cable the lights are attached to is of much better quality and makes us think that these lights might last quite a while. Speaking of lasting quite a while, we get roughly 18-20 hours out of the lights on low. This is right in line with the specs that Luci provides and lasts us through multiple trips without having to recharge. Click here to see them on amazon.

Window covers

Window covers are essential for maintaining privacy while car camping and are definitely a must! We made ours ourselves and while they were time-consuming, it was still much cheaper than buying them all online. Our window covers do a great job of insulating the car while making our car windows impossible to see through. The white on the inside makes our car seem so much more roomy and bright as well!

Our DIY solution to car camping window covers insulate, control moisture, and prevent light leak better than all but the most expensive options for sale on the internet. We’ll have a tutorial out soon on how exactly to make these yourselves.

Sleeping bags

A decent sleeping bag will make a world of difference.  Unless you’re camping in really cold weather a zero-degree rated sleeping bag will keep you nice and toasty. We use two sleeping bags fully unzipped as blankets with one on top and one on the bottom for insulation. We are always amazed at how warm we are even in cold weather when we layer our sleeping bags this way. Sleeping bags also pack a lot smaller than a big pile of blankets and are a great way to keep the footprint of your bedding smaller while car camping.

Sleeping pad/ Folding Mattress

The right sleeping bag will be the difference between reaching for your hiking boots or a bottle of Advil in the morning. The great thing about car camping is that space and portability are less of an issue than traditional tent camping, so foam mattresses are usually a better option than roll-up or inflatable camping pads.

We aren’t saying to throw out your Therm-a-Rest if you already own one, but having a 4 inch memory foam mattress to sink into after a long day of hiking is one of the perks that makes car camping so enjoyable. For a more extensive write-up on how to car camp comfortably, check out our guide here.

Depending on how you decide to build out your car you may try to DIY your sleeping pad by buying foam and cutting it yourself to get as much space as you can out of your car. We thought about doing this for our build but ended up finding this one for way cheaper than we could have made a similar performing mattress for.

Wrap-up

Everything on this list is something that we use every time we are on a trip. Remember, this isn’t a guide for everything that you need on a car camping trip, but more of a look at the car camping essentials that we think are a little less talked about but make a massive difference when you’re out camping. Let us know what your favorite car camping essential is!