How to get a super luxurious glamping setup for under $600
Although I own loads of ultra light weight backpacking gear, I’ve been finding nowadays that more often than not I’m really just camping right next to my car and that all that techie gear is really just overkill and frankly not very comfortable. I looked into building out a trailer for camping but decided against it mostly because I don’t have a car capable of towing much weight and also because I don’t have a good place to store a trailer. Now I know, $600 sounds like a lot, but compared with the cost of building out a camper or van, let alone buying a prefabricated one, it’s actually pretty minimal. After doing a ton of research, here are the items I found worked best interns of size, comfort and value.
1. TENT
Ozark Trail 12X10 Wall Tent
$259
This tent is great because you can actually stand up and move around in it so you’re not spending your entire trip crawling around on the floor. I also really wanted a tent that looked like a glamping tent and this was the only one I found that was affordable. Most other tents I looked at that fit this criteria were $500+ and most of these had a pole going right up the center which is inconvenient. With the price being so much lower than other tents on the market, I was worried that this was going to really flimsy but it was very well built. It weighs a ton though so I found it was easiest to take it out of the carrying case and load it in the car in pieces. Buy it here.
2. BEDS
Mainstays Folding Extra Portable Guest Bed Cot With Foam Mattress
$89 Each
If you wanted to cut cost here and buy a standard cot you could, but for me, having a really comfortable bed was super important so I splurged a little bit. These beds aren’t meant for camping but they worked great. They come with a 3” foam mattress, which is a huge step up from just sleeping on a cot or air mattress. They are relatively light weight and fold down small enough to be packed into most cars. I also chose these over camping cots because they come in standard mattress sizes so you can put real bedding on them. Most cots are very long and narrow. You can also push 2 of the narrow twin beds together to make a standard queen size bed (Hint: zip tie the bed frames together if you decide to do this so they stay put). Buy there here.
3. MOSQUITO NETS
Even Naturals Mosquito Net (for twin or queen bed)
$19.97
One downside to the fancy looking glamping tents is that they are so large they tend not to have screens or be completely sealed (in this tent the top and bottom are attached separately and not permanently connected like in a standard tent) so I chose to zip tie some mosquito nets to the top of the tent for bug protection at night. These really do work amazingly well and also looked pretty neat! Buy them here.
If you go with this tent and these beds this adds up to $477 which is the vast majority of the cost. Everything else you need is either optional, something you likely already own, or something that can be purchased at a thrift store for a few dollars if you don’t already own it.
4. BEDDING
As long as the bedding you use indoors is warm enough for the weather you will be camping in, you can just take pull your bedding off your bed and take it with you so you really don’t need to spend any money here. I even brought throw pillows and bed skirts (these were actually really handy since it turned the under bed area into extra hidden storage). I wanted really warm blankets so I would up taking 2 rectangular Kelty 20 degree bags that I already owned and sewing my own duvet covers for them using an old sheet and blanket that I stitched together. Unzipped, rectangular sleeping bags are similar in size to a standard twin duvet. If you want to go this rout there here is a tutorial on how to sew a duvet cover but this is totally optional.
5. HEADBOARDS
This is also optional but I wanted to be able to read in bed at night comfortably without being propped up on my elbows so I decided to make headboards. A tutorial on how to do this can be found here.These are super simple and all you need to make them are 4 wooden 1 1/2” diameter dowels 36 long each, and a piece of fabric at least 36”X68”. You should be able to make these for under $20. Tutorial on how to do this coming soon!
6. STORAGE BOXES/SIDE TABLES
I stacked up some wooden crates I had for side tables/storage but you could use any boxes/drawers you already own. I found that crates worked well since I could fill them with things so they did’t take up much space in my car (which is pretty small).
7. LIGHTING
There are a lot of good options for battery powdered LED lighting and I was able to mostly things I already had around the house for this. I brought some string lights which I zip tied to the top poles of the tent a battery powered lantern, and some flameless tea lights. I also brought some oil burning lamps and lanterns that I happened to already own but this is a huge fire hazard so if you do this make sure they are not left unattended and are put out before you go to bed.
8. RUGS
Totally optional but I brought a rug from my house for the floor of the tent which I found made it much more cozy. I will probably also bring a doormat for outside the tent next time
9. ZIP TIES
Zip ties….lots and lots of zip ties in various sizes. I used these to assemble and attach just about everything in the tent. On a side note, also make sure to bring scissors so you can detach the zip ties when you are ready to pack up.
10. BASIC CAMPING NECESSITIES
Lighter, knife, flashlight…you know the drill… and of course some Dérive camping products so you can go to bed clean and comfy.
So that’s it…everything you need for a super luxurious glamping experience. This sounds like a lot but I was able to get all of this in the back of an Impreza, so it packs down better than you might think.
Happy Glamping!
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