Ultimate Guide to Solo Car Camping (Packing & Route Planning)

May 7, 2024

Looking to start car camping and road tripping as a solo traveller but don’t know where to start? From what to pack to route planning, here’s everything you need to know for solo car camping!

Why this blog? Hi I’m Maddy and I’ve worked as an outdoor guide and writer since 2018! I’ve done several solo road trips, and often more or less live out of my car while I’m headed out to more remote guiding jobs. I’m happy to help you get started!

Oh hey there! This blog uses affiliate links. That means if you choose to make a purchase based on my recommendation, I make a small kickback at no additional cost to you.

How to Solo Car Camp for Beginners:

From route planning to simple car setups, here is a comprehensive guide to planning your solo car camping or road trip adventure!

1) No-build Car Camping Setup for a Solo Traveller

While there are lots of great ways to build out your car for car camping including making custom shelves and a sleeping platform, realistically that takes a lot of time, can be expensive, and is often just overkill for what the average car camper needs.

Instead, I prefer to opt for a simple no build setup. First, I fold down the back seats. Then, I use two or three bins behind the drivers side to hold my clothes, camping gear, and kitchen. I keep the clothes bin directly behind the drivers seat, and the kitchen bin behind that one, but closet to the tailgate.

For a sleep setup, I first pad out the dead space on the rear passenger side of my car with pillows and add a few layers of cardboard where needed so that my sleeping pad will lie flat. Then, I add a yoga mat over the top once everything is flat to keep a clean and comfortable sitting space.

Last, I use an inflatable sleeping pad, the same one I use for regular camping, pillows, blankets, and a sleeping bag for a cozy setup.

One little luxury item I love is solar-powered Luci lights to make it extra cozy.

Obviously this system doesn’t work perfectly for every car, but it’s great for my Subaru Forester!

Is camping in a car comfortable?

Sleeping in your car definitely can be comfortable, but it can definitely be a little more unpleasant in heavy rains, where it’s hard to set everything up without getting your bed wet, when it’s buggy and hot, so there’s not an easy way to cool off without letting bugs in, or when it’s particularly humid.

Overall, sleeping in your car offers a lot more security for a solo female road trippers especially, with the ability to actually lock your doors. Depending on the area I’m camping, that comfort alone goes a long way.

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2) Best Gear for Car Camping

I’m a big believer that the best gear is the gear you already have with you. I like to repurpose as much of my camping and backpacking gear as possible to use while car camping rather than buy anything new or specific to car camping.

Here’s a quick list of what gear I bring car camping:

Pillows from home to sleep with and pad out the car
A sleeping pad: I own a Nemo Tensor and have only good things to say
A sleeping bag: Pay close attention to the temperature of when you plan on car camping. Compared to tent camping, sleeping in your car is more subject to temperature changes.
A camp stove like a Jetboil with the pot support attachment
A small cooler
A variety of clothes to hike in and sleep in
Solar powered lights like Luci Lights (string lights!) + headlamp
External battery for charging phone
A large cutting board and knives for cooking and plating
Pots, Pans, and dishwater
A folding camp chair
Tent: even when sleeping in my car I still like to have tent camping as an option— sometimes there’s no flat place to park or it’s too hot to sleep in a car. Check out this article to find the best tent for your needs.

One of the best ways to find outdoor gear is to shop used! Check out the best tips for scoring outdoor gear secondhand.

3) Safety Tips for Solo Car Campers

One of the most common questions I get about solo road trips as a woman is “Is that safe!?”. Road tripping and car camping as a solo female traveller can be totally safe, and in reality isn’t that much more inherently dangerous than solo hiking in your home town.

That said, it’s important to stay aware of your surroundings, always tell someone where you are and where you’re hiking, carry a Garmin InReach or SAT device to call for help offline, and trust your gut.

For a full guide to road tripping as a solo female, read this article!

4) Planning food as a Solo Car Camper

For me, one of the hardest parts about solo car camping is planning the food. Cooking for just one person on a camp stove is hard, and personally I like to stay away form the dehydrated meals whenever possible because they’re really hard on my digestive system.

To pack food, I freeze as much as I can in advance and pack it in a cooler. I pack for 2-3 days at a time. My favorite breakfasts are oatmeal with a sliver of butter and Nutella or French toast (pretty easy at camp!). For lunches, I’ll usually eat snacks. For dinners, I really love a summer sausage, avocado, goat cheese, raspberry and honey on pita bread, especially when it’s hot out.

Single serve pastas are also fairly easy to make, especially if you sub a fresh tomato diced in lieu of packing a can of sauce.

The most important part of meal planning for solo car camping is simply planning in advance and doing as much prep as possible to minimize your work the day of! Eating out along the way can be fun, but the expenses of restaurant food add up quickly.

5) Planning and Choosing your Solo Road Trip Routes

One of the best things you can do to ensure a smooth road trip is plan your route in advance and set realistic goals. For me, the key is usually to have enough planned that I know where I’m going and what my options are, but not so much planned that I feel overwhelmed and like plans can’t change.

Tips for planning your Solo Road Trip Route:

Decide how far you are willing to drive in one day. For me, 2-3 hours is the ideal distance between destinations. Five hours is doable, but eight hours is way too many
Plan out camping options in advance. Whether I’m camping at a forest service campground that’s first come first serve or a developed campground with showers, for me it’s important to have all of my camping options planned out in advance
Decide how much time you need to explore each area you visit! Generally, one full day without moving locations works really well for me. I tend to enjoy an area a lot more if I know I can camp in the same place two nights in a row.
Showers— how often do you want and need them? For me, I like to shower at minimum every three days on a road trip, especially if the trip is heavy on hiking. Most state park campgrounds have showers of some sort available, which makes them a good option to sprinkle in throughout your trip.

6) Solo Car Camper Pre-Trip Checklist

Before you head out on your solo road trip, here are some things to keep in mind:

Double check everything on your car! I, foolishly, did not do this before my long haul road trip this spring and ended up needing new tires somewhere in Indiana. My bad.
Offline maps or paper maps! Make sure that you have physical road maps for the region you’re visiting, or at minimum download offline maps for your route to avoid getting lost and loosing service.
Send your route plan to someone you trust! Before heading out on a solo road trip, I send a copy of my itinerary to both my mom and my partner and let them know when I plan to check in, and when I plan to be out of cell service.
Make a checklist of all your gear, but also don’t stress! There is truly nothing you can forget that you can’t ultimately make do without.

7) Choosing the Best Campsite as a Solo Car Camper

There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing your campsite as a solo car camper! There are plenty of places in National Forests or on BLM where you can park overnight for free and camp; these are usually scenic spots but with no services and often no cell coverage.

One of my personal favorite options is State Forest or National Forest first-come, first-serve campgrounds. These are often scenic and tucked away on lakes and rivers, usually have space excepting on busy summer weekends, have pit toilets and garbage as well as a picnic table and fire grate, and run about $10 per night.

As a solo woman, I really like these campgrounds because they are far enough into the wilderness that they feel extra safe, and I’m usually surrounded by older couples in RVs who still know about these campgrounds.

Another great option is State Park Campgrounds; these sites are usually the most expensive, between $20 and $30 a night, but you’ll have access to flush toilets and showers. These sites also usually feel pretty safe as a solo camper, and I’ve multiple times had a friendly campsite host check in with me because I am solo and make sure I have everything I need to feel safe.

8) Add Window Covers for Privacy and Temperature Management

For sure one of the hardest parts of car camping is maintaining a consistent temperature in the car. When it’s hot out and you leave for a long hike you might come back to find your car sweltering. When it’s cold out and you fall asleep in your cozy car den, you might wake up colder than you expected!

One easy fix is to use an insulation kit to line your windows both to keep them warm at night, and cool during the day! Check out this video by Arizona Outdoor content creator Jacey West for a quick guide for how to make your own window covers!

9) Managing Stress on a Solo Car Camping Trip

For me, one of the hardest parts of a solo road trip and solo car camping is managing my own stress.

Will my car break down, did I pack enough food, did I remember to lock the doors, what was that sound, am I going to get murdered, you know what they say about solo women hiking—

It can be really hard to sort out what stress is serving me, and what stress is sabotaging my trip.

For me, journaling while on the road makes a huge difference. I like to sit down and unpack the stress I felt throughout the day— what of that stress was helpful, me being vigilant, and what of that stress only made me unnecessarily anxious? From here, I like to focus throughout the next day on identifying what stress I’m feeling, why I am feeling it, and whether or not is serving me.