Most festival packing lists are written by someone who has never had to put a wet boot back on at nine in the morning. This one is ordered by what goes wrong, in the order it usually goes wrong.
The four things that ruin weekends
In rough order of how often they end someone's festival early:
- Shoes. Blisters on day one mean you are sitting down by day two. Nothing else on this list matters as much.
- Cold at night. The temperature drop after dark is the single most underestimated number at any outdoor festival. A 30°C afternoon can become an 12°C night in the same clothes.
- Rain, and specifically wet feet. You can dry a jacket. You cannot dry boots overnight in a tent.
- Sun. Not glamorous, but sunburn on day one makes every later layer uncomfortable.
Everything below exists to prevent one of those four.
The core list
- Two tops per day. One will get beer on it, sat on, or soaked. This is the cheapest insurance on the list.
- One night layer that goes over everything. An oversized shirt, a light puffer or a fleece. Choose it to work with all your outfits, because it will be in every photo after 10pm.
- Broken-in footwear. Not new. Whatever you bring, walk 10 kilometres in it before you go.
- Two pairs of socks per day. Dry socks are the closest thing to a reset button.
- A bag with a zip, small enough for the gate policy. Most large festivals cap bags around A4 size; some require clear bags at main stages.
- Earplugs. High-fidelity ones cost about the same as one drink and keep the music sounding like music.
- A refillable bottle. Nearly every festival has free water and nearly every festival bans metal or full bottles at the gate, bring an empty soft one.
- Power bank and a short cable. Your phone is your ticket, your map and your group chat.
- SPF 50 in stick or fluid form. Sprays get confiscated at some gates and vanish in wind.
- Baby wipes. For hands, face, and the thing you spilled.
Weather add-ons
If rain is likely: a packable poncho (over the outfit, not instead of it), waterproof boots, and a dry bag or bin liner for anything that must stay dry.
If it is properly hot: a hat with a brim, a hand fan or cooling towel, electrolyte sachets, and loose natural fabrics. Synthetics stop breathing above about 28°C.
If nights are cold: thermal base layers are lighter and warmer than a second jumper, and they take up almost no space in a bag.
If it is a desert: a scarf or bandana against dust, and something to protect your eyes. Contact lens wearers should bring glasses as a backup.
Camping add-ons
- A head torch. Getting changed in a dark tent with a phone torch in your teeth is a rite of passage you only need once.
- A second pair of dry shoes, kept in a sealed bag.
- Bin bags. For wet clothes, for muddy boots, for sitting on damp grass.
- Pack in outfit sets. One bag per day with the whole look in it, including underwear and socks. You will be getting dressed in the dark, hungover.
- Separate sleep clothes. Never sleep in what you danced in. This is the difference between a tent that is fine on day three and one that is not.
What not to bring
- Anything you would be upset to lose. Jewellery you care about, the good sunglasses, the nice bag.
- A hairdryer or anything that needs power. Even at "glamping" level, assume nothing.
- More outfits than days. People pack five looks for three days and wear the same jacket the whole time anyway.
- Glass. Banned everywhere, without exception.
- Plastic glitter. Increasingly banned outright, and impossible to get out of a tent.
The one thing worth overspending on
Footwear, every time. The gap between adequate and excellent boots is maybe €80, and it is the difference between dancing on day three and watching from a hay bale. Everything else on this list can be cheap.
Once you know which festival you are going to, open its own guide. The temperatures, ground and gate rules there decide which of the sections above actually apply.