How to Camp at Coachella

*DISCLAIMER: These tips have been gathered from forums, tweets and from friends. Some are mine and some are from others. Take these tips as you wish you DON’T have to follow them, but thought they would help*

If you’re taking on the challenge to camp at Coachella, I applaud you! Camping at a festival is one of the best ways to experience a whole festival. It’s also probably more cost-effective then a hotel/airbnb. Along with my tips on how to prepare for Coachella, here are some things to keep in mind for camping at Coachella. Again, Coachella has some great resources for the logistics of camping. These are just things you don’t know about until you’re camping and realize you’re in for a wild ride.

Pro-Tips

• Where you get placed in the car camping area depends on when you arrive! We got there maybe around 2 or 3 pm and got placed right by all the camping amenities and about a 5 minute walk to the Coachella gates.
• If you have several cars in your group, meet somewhere beforehand at like a gas station or store. In order for you to be next to each other you have to show up together. The more cars in your caravan, the bigger your site will be.
• They do search your car, how thoroughly depends on how pissed off the guard is so be nice to them or depends on how sketchy you are 😉
• The camping activities area is super cool! They’ll have food, yoga, braid and beauty bar, various vendors. They also have a general store for if you forgot anything.
• You can re-enter from camping in case you need to take a break at your site or forget anything.
• Be prepared for cold nights and hot mornings.
• When the sun is up at Coachella, you’re up.
• Either wait to use the bathrooms inside or use the porta-potties super early in the morning bc they get GROSS
• Drop a pin where your site is so you can find it after the night’s done.
• Be prepared to not get much sleep, there’s always some campsite with music blasting til 5 am or the not so silent disco goes on for what seems like an eternity.
• Get to know your neighbors! Never know when they’ll give you some extra food or booze 🙂

H Y G I E N E

• I brought baby wipes to wipe the dirt and sweat off me in between showers
• Shower lines for girls are LONG when you go at 7-9 am. We waited until 12 pm and that gave us enough time to get ready and enter the gates by 2 pm-3 pm for the first artists we wanted to see.
• The guys in our group ended up showering twice: once between 7-9 am and again at noon because even after the shower you start sweating under that hot Coachella sun.
• Porta-potties can get really gross so either brave it and bring some wet wipes or go super early in the morning after they’ve cleaned them.
• Some people use a car plug extension to do their hair, I got by with dry shampoo or braiding my hair.
• Brought a mirror to do my makeup

What to Bring for the Campsite

• Ear plugs/eye mask to help you sleep
• Tent
• EZ-Up Canopy
• Folding Chairs
• Speaker
• Games for downtime
• Folding Table
• Flashlights for night time
• TRASH BAGS
• Plates and Utensils
• Cooler and Dry Ice
• Wet wipes for portapotties
• Tapestries – helps keep the sun out
• Sunscreen
• Hand sanitizer
• Toiletries for Showers
• Towels and shower flip flops
• DEODORANT
• Allergy pills – FYI you’re in the desert
• Sleeping bag (I also brought a yoga mat for extra cushion) or air mattress (battery powered inflator)
  • Blankets and pillows
• Portable charger (10/10 recommend not using your car battery as much as possible) they also have places to plug-in and recharge in the camp activities area
• Food to buy beforehand: fruits, veggies, stuff for sandwiches, protein bars, snacks, Pedialyte packs. As long as you have a cooler to store some of those things you’re good to go! I usually ate something in the morning at the campsite then bought something inside the gates.
• If you’re boozing, cases of beer are fine, they won’t let glass in so if you want hard liquor put it in plastic or hide it well.
• If you’re bringing a camping stove (propane only on the grounds), you can make better food, but you can survive without it.
• Not needed but external battery can help!

Camping is truly an experience. It was really bonding for our group to all recap from the day and talk about our favorite sets or funny memories that happened. Let me know what your best tips for camping at Coachella are! I wish I was making my way to Indio so have a blast if you’re going and if you have any other qs let me know! If you haven’t checked out my other tips be sure to!