Camping essentials list: the complete UK camping checklist

DH

By Dave HanneyDave was our CEO until 2026 21 Jul 2025

Shelter, sleeping bag and mat, stove, water, light and layers. What to pack for a night's camping in the UK, what to look for in each, and a checklist.

The camping essentials are a shelter, a sleeping bag and mat, a stove with fuel and a pot, a way to carry water, a head torch, warm and waterproof layers, and a first aid kit. Get those right and you'll have a dry, warm night almost anywhere in the UK. Everything else makes camp more comfortable.

Below is what to look for in each, the kit we'd pick, and a complete camping checklist to tick off as you pack.

In this guide

• Shelter: a tent, a tarp or a bivvy bag
• Sleeping bag and mat: choose them together
• Stove, cooking kit, water and food
• Clothing for camping
• Light, navigation, first aid and repairs
• Wild camping or a campsite: what changes
• Comforts worth packing
• What to leave at home
• The complete camping checklist

Shelter: a tent, a tarp or a bivvy bag

For most people a tent is the right shelter. Look for one that pitches quickly, stays put in wind, and has a porch big enough for wet boots and cooking out of the rain. If you're carrying it, weight decides most of the rest. Our guide to choosing a tent goes through shapes, seasons and sizes.

Jaran 2: one tent for most UK camping. The Jaran 2 is a 3-season, 2-person tent at 2.04kg, with a crossbar that keeps it stable in wind and twin porches, so two of you each get space for kit. The Ordos 2 is our lightest 2-person tent at 1.4kg, for when you're counting grams. On your own, the Soloist XL weighs 1.31kg and has room to sit up and get changed. For a family or a group, the Khort sleeps four, is freestanding and weighs under 4kg.

A bivvy bag is a waterproof cover for your sleeping bag. It's lighter and smaller than a tent, and you sleep with the sky above you. The Hunka weighs under 400g, and the Elan adds a hooped canopy over your head for more shelter at under 1kg. Our bivvy bag guide explains how to sleep in one.

A tarp pitched over a bivvy, or beside a tent, gives you somewhere dry to cook and sit. The Rig 7 is 2.8m by 2.4m, big enough for two or three people to sleep under. See how to set up a tarp six ways.

A footprint under your tent protects the groundsheet from stones and wear, so check whether your tent has one made to fit.

Sleeping bag and mat: choose them together

Your sleeping bag and mat work as a pair, so choose them together. The part of the bag underneath you is squashed flat and does very little, which leaves the mat to keep you warm from below. You can lose up to three times more heat to cold ground than to cold air.

Sleeping bag. For UK camping from spring to autumn, most people want a 3-season bag. The Pipedream 400 is a down bag with a -6°C limit that weighs 865g and packs small, for backpacking. The Cloud Peak 300 uses synthetic fill, which keeps its loft when damp and stands up to repeated washing, with a -8°C limit. Our guide to what season sleeping bag you need explains the ratings, and the full range is in sleeping bags.

Sleeping mat. A mat's R-value measures how well it stops heat escaping to the ground: the higher the number, the warmer the mat. The Whisper is insulated, with an R-value of 2.8, and weighs 740g, which suits 3-season camping. For cold nights and winter, the Radiant has an R-value of 7.2 at 640g. If you're camping by the car, the 7.5cm self-inflating Dozer is the comfiest mat we make. A folding foam EZ Sleeper under an inflatable adds warmth in winter. Choosing a sleeping mat covers the types in more detail.

Stove, cooking kit, water and food

A small gas stove, one pot and a spork will cook most things you'd want at camp. Canister gas stoves are the simplest: screw on the canister, light it, and turn a dial to control the flame. Our guides to camping stoves and choosing the right stove fuel cover the options.

Kraku: when you're carrying everything. The Kraku is a 45g titanium stove that screws straight onto the canister. Pair it with a MytiMug 650, which holds enough water for most dehydrated meals and has room for the Kraku and a 100g canister inside. The BruKit is for when you want a brew quickly. Its pot, burner, windshield and heat exchanger work as one unit, so less heat is lost to the wind and your gas goes further. For two people or big appetites, the MytiPot 900 is a pot for sharing. Add a spork, a lighter and a spare.

Canister gas loses pressure as it gets cold, so it burns weakly on frosty mornings. A canister with more propane copes better, and Go Gas is a butane, propane and isobutane mix made for low temperatures. The Koro has a pre-heat tube that turns the gas to vapour before it reaches the burner, so it works better in freezing conditions.

Water. Carry a bottle for the day and something bigger for camp, so you're not walking to the stream for every brew. The Hydrater is a 3-litre soft flask that weighs 88g and gets smaller as you drink it. If you're drinking from streams, the Hippo filter removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria, such as E. coli, salmonella and cholera, and 99.99% of protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium, without chemicals. Collect water from flowing streams away from farms and roads, or boil it.

Food. Plan each meal and take a spare one. Dehydrated meals, porridge, wraps, cheese and snacks are light and need little cooking. See planning backpacking food for working out quantities on longer trips, how to rehydrate camping food, and our camping food.

Clothing for camping

Pack for the evening as much as the day. Once you stop moving at camp you cool down fast, even in summer, and the warm layer you didn't need on the walk in becomes the one you live in. Our guide to what to wear when camping explains how the layers work together.

A base layer, a fleece, an insulated jacket for camp, and a waterproof jacket and trousers cover most UK weather. Add a warm hat, gloves and spare socks. Keep a dry set of clothes for sleeping in, packed in a dry bag. Cotton jeans and hoodies hold water and dry slowly, so leave them at home.

Light, navigation, first aid and repairs

A head torch keeps your hands free for cooking and pitching after dark, and a red light mode lets you see inside the tent without dazzling anyone. The Qark gives up to 580 lumens, charges by USB-C and also takes AAA batteries, so a flat battery doesn't leave you in the dark. The Ionic weighs 49g for when you're keeping weight down. A lantern like the waterproof Bob lights the whole tent or porch. See our head torch guide for how many lumens you need.

Away from a campsite, carry a map and compass and know how to use them. The Williams Hillmaster has 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 scales to match OS Explorer and Landranger maps. Take a charged phone and a power bank, and tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.

The Backpacker First Aid Kit has plasters, blister dressings, a bandage, wound dressings and gloves in a roll-top waterproof bag. Add any medicines you need and a tick remover. On the hill, a survival bag weighs 105g and could keep you warm and dry if something goes wrong.

For repairs, a small knife, some duct tape wrapped round a bottle, spare cord and a mat repair kit fix most things that break at camp.

Wild camping or a campsite: what changes

On a campsite, weight barely matters because you're carrying kit from the car. A bigger tent, a thick mat, chairs and a lantern make a comfortable base. Build a Go Box covers keeping your camping kit packed in the car or van, ready to go.

Wild camping means carrying everything, finding your own water and leaving no sign you were there. Go lighter, take a water filter, and add a trowel. The Arlo is a stainless steel trowel that folds away. Bury toilet waste in a hole well away from water, pack used loo roll out in a bag, and take all your rubbish home.

Where you can camp depends on where you are. Scotland has a right of responsible access under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland you generally need the landowner's permission. Our guide to wild camping covers the rules and how to pick a spot, and the ultralight camping kit list shows how far you can strip your kit down.

Comforts worth packing

Once the essentials are sorted, a few small things make camp a nicer place to be. The Drift pillow weighs 110g, packs to the size of a tennis ball and beats a rolled-up fleece. The Vagabond Stool sits low, at the right height for cooking on a stove on the ground, and saves you a wet bum. More camping chairs and tables suit a campsite.

A Mantua silk liner weighs 108g, keeps sweat and skin oils out of your sleeping bag and adds a little warmth. Airlok dry bags keep clothes and your sleeping bag dry inside your pack, and each size is a different colour so you can find things. The Osmo towel is about a third of the weight of a normal towel. A flask, a book or a pack of cards are worth their weight on a long evening.

What to leave at home

Glass bottles are heavy and break, so decant into plastic or tins. You'll wear the same clothes on rotation, so pack layers rather than outfits. Leave bulky kitchen kit behind unless it packs, stacks or does two jobs. And don't take kit you've never used: pitch a new tent in the garden or park first, so you're not reading the instructions in the rain.

The complete camping checklist

Not every item is needed on every trip. Campsite extras are listed at the end.

Shelter and sleep

• Tent with poles and pegs, or bivvy bag and tarp
• Footprint
• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping mat (and pump sack if it has one)
• Pillow
• Sleeping bag liner

Cooking and water

• Stove
• Gas canister (check how full it is)
• Lighter, and a spare
• Pot or cooking mug
• Mug
• Spork
• Water bottle
• Water carrier for camp
• Water filter
• Food for each meal, plus a spare
• Snacks
• Rubbish bag
• Small sponge for washing up

Clothing

• Base layer
• Fleece or midlayer
• Insulated jacket
• Waterproof jacket and trousers
• Walking boots or shoes
• Warm hat and gloves
• Spare socks
• Dry clothes to sleep in
• Sun hat

Light, navigation and safety

• Head torch
• Spare batteries or power bank
• Map and compass
• Charged phone
• First aid kit
• Personal medicines
• Tick remover
• Survival bag (on the hill)
• Whistle
• Knife or multitool
• Duct tape, cord and mat repair kit

Hygiene

• Trowel
• Loo roll in a sealed bag, and a bag to carry it out
• Hand sanitiser
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Quick-dry towel
• Sun cream
• Insect repellent or midge net (Scotland in summer)

Packing

• Rucksack
• Dry bags
• Rucksack liner or cover

Campsite extras

• Camp chairs and table
• Lantern
• Thicker mat
• Tarp for shade and rain
• Camp shoes
• Flask, book or cards

Related kit lists

• First camp out: the three things you need for your first night under canvas
• Winter camping kit list: everything for cold weather camping
• Ultralight camping kit list: strip your kit down for a night out
• Build your own Go Box: camping essentials ready in the car or van

See the full Alpkit camping range.