Gear for Car Camping | Jilin Emerald Isle Group Co.,Ltd

Kit Dillon

Kit Dillon has written about luggage and travel for Wirecutter since 2014.

Updated June 14, 2022

We’ve updated this list with new recommendations where applicable.

As great as backpacking in the wilderness can be, there's something special about the simplicity of car camping: Just toss your gear into the car, roll down the windows, and aim for the nearest state park. Bring the following items—all vetted through weeks’ worth of outings by Wirecutter staffers—and you can combine a taste of the wild with almost all the comforts of home … coffee included.

Whether you’re sleeping in a tent outside your car or in your car itself, a good sleeping bag will keep you warm and comfortable no matter the conditions outside.

The reasonably priced, poly-fill Siesta 25 is great if you need a bag that you’ll use primarily for car camping—it's warm, comfortable, moisture resistant, easy to clean, and easy to stuff away.

This cozy double sleeping bag—which has a sleeping-pad sleeve for extra comfort—might help convince a less outdoorsy partner to try camping a little more often. Pair it with a double-wide sleeping pad.

The Montbell is made with well-lofted down insulation, packs down smaller than our other picks, and comes with a lifetime warranty.

A sleeping bag is only as comfortable as the cushion beneath it. These pads (plus one air mattress) will take some of the strain out of a night on the ground.

The 3-inch-thick, notably warm Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap is as comfortable as any similar pad—and it's easier to inflate, deflate, roll, and store.

This sleeping pad isn't small, and it isn't light. But it's the most comfortable pad in the game. If you’re driving up to your campsite, the MegaMat Duo is wilderness luxury.

I slept on this mattress for nine months in a tent, and it was great. The vinyl is very durable, though you do still need to be careful around sharp edges and gravel. However, it does not include a built-in air pump.

Instead of blowing up a sleeping pad with a pump bag or your own breath, consider using an air pump like the Exped Widget, which is lightweight and powerful.

For some people, car camping actually means sleeping in your car, but most folks define it as driving to a campsite and setting up a tent there to sleep in—usually one that's heavier than a backpacking tent but also roomier and sturdier.

Easy to both set up and pack away, this tent's all-mesh design excels in warm weather, when you want to do nothing but look at the stars. It also has a full fly for rainy nights or crowded campgrounds.

Spacious, versatile, and affordable, the Copper Canyon LX 6 has all the features most families need and none of the fussy extras they don't.

A full rain cover, a spacious vestibule, and a reinforced pole structure make this the best choice for all-weather campers. It's also available in family sizes.

Waking up in nature and getting to make your own hot breakfast is one of life's great pleasures. Many campsites have open fire restrictions—with a stove, you’ll be able to make a meal almost anywhere.

This is a straightforward and rugged stove that cooks quickly and evenly. It's a 50-year-old classic for a reason.

Most people will end up with a few of these disposable tanks that, when empty, are considered hazardous waste in most parts of the country. They work well, but disposing of them requires a trip to a hazardous-waste facility.

Not only is a 5-pound tank refillable, but it's also cheaper over time to refill a reservoir with gas than to constantly buy new disposable bottles.

Nothing beats a hot cup of coffee after a long car journey or a night in a tent.

This insulated metal canister is the simplest way to brew a large batch of fresh coffee.

The lightweight, compact AeroPress is the simplest way to make an excellent-tasting single cup of coffee, no electricity needed.

Good coffee in convenient, single-serving packets. It's great for anyone who wants a quick cup without dealing with the bulk, weight, or cleaning that other coffee setups require.

Keeping food safely chilled for a few nights is easy to manage with a good cooler in your trunk.

Better insulated and less expensive than the competition, it keeps ice frozen for a week, and its well-designed drain port makes the cooler easy to clean.

This roto-molded cooler costs much less than the popular Yeti Tundra 65 but performs just as well, keeping our ice frozen for 10 days. It is not, however, certified as bear resistant by the International Grizzly Bear Committee.

The handle and wheels on the Tundra are the best we’ve come across. It feels like you can roll this cooler across anything without the handle straining, bending, or the wheels breaking. And the Tundra does carry an IGBC certification.

Although you can turn on your car headlights for extra light, it's often easiest to have a personal headlamp that you can bring along as you move around in the dark.

This easy-to-use, bright-enough option offers long-lasting battery life and reliable performance, year after year.

The Actik Core has the brightest light with the highest beam quality, and it stays charged for days—whether you charge it via USB or AAA batteries.

Preparing for any potential emergency on the road or one that might arise while you're camping requires consulting a full Wirecutter guide, but these three items—water, emergency lights, and a jump-start kit—are a good place to start.

Enough water for two people for two days, with a spill-proof screw-on vent cap.

This compact yet well-stocked kit has the best layout of any we tested, so you can easily access the supplies you need.

This model can start larger V8 engines as well cars and midsize SUVs, and it has effective safety features and sturdy clamps.

This kind of tent isn't meant for overnight shelter, but any of these will shield you during the day from bugs, sun, and even rain while still letting in the breeze.

A simply designed, comfortable shelter that offers protection from bugs, sun, and rain, this canopy tent is durably made and ready to pair with a rain fly (sold separately).

The Coleman Mountain View is a more spacious, adjustable canopy that offers more sun protection than our other pick. But it also suffers from more durability complaints and frequently goes out of stock.

When you’re reading a book outside and the sun passes behind the clouds, you can burrito yourself in something that will neither detract from the experience nor get damaged: a stain-resistant, ripstop nylon puffy blanket.

This blanket offers the greatest warmth and durability for the lowest relative weight, price, and size.

This is a slightly heavier and stiffer blanket, but it's available for less money and with more style options.

Not every campsite or viewpoint offers a place to sit and rest. A portable camp chair lets you pull up a seat at any moment.

This is the Ford F-150 of camping chairs: big, tough, and widely beloved. It even comes with an insulated pouch that’ll keep four cans of whatever cool.

The Renetto's big, heavy canopy provides ample sun protection at a campsite or cookout and doubles as a backpack-strap-equipped carrying case.

Handy if your car is short of cargo space, this featherlight, compressible chair fits in a backpack, so you can even bring it on hikes.

Inverters and car chargers can juice up your devices while your car is running, and our portable battery pick can give your devices a boost at night or anytime you don't want to start your car.

The Bestek is fine for running small motors or air pumps, but more-sensitive gadgets may not function correctly while using this DC-to-AC converter.

This model can charge phones, tablets, and computers from its USB-C port, plus it has a second port for charging USB-A devices. It adheres to USB-C fast-charging standards and includes a quality cable.

This is the smallest and lightest 10,000 mAh power bank we’ve tested. It has USB-C PD and USB-A ports, it comes in several colors, and its rounded edges make it easy to slip into a pocket.

Not all campgrounds have showers—or showers you want to use. A solar shower lets you enjoy a reasonably hot shower even when you’re far from a tap.

You get a shower that's more warm than hot, but it has decent water pressure and a functional showerhead.

This shower has a built-in foot pump for adding pressure, so you don't need to hang it to use it. It rolls up to the size of a can of Folgers coffee for easy portability.

A sleeping bag liner is like a set of sheets for your sleeping bag and makes cleaning the sleeping bag itself easier. A liner is also great to have if you end up in a strange motel with suspect bedding during your trip.

The Sea to Summit silk liner wicks moisture, doesn't retain smells, packs down to the size of an apple, and even weighs less than one. It makes scratchy motel and hostel linens a lot more bearable.

The convenience of a car-mounted home may seem appealing, but rooftop tents are expensive and have serious drawbacks. These shelters are closer to an RV than a tent, and any large piece of equipment that's safe to attach to cars comes at a high cost.