Camping is generally something I have pretty limited experience in, let alone camping solo. Recently I headed to Pembrokeshire, South Wales for my first solo camping trip.  Going camping alone for the first time can definitely be a daunting experience, especially when you’re camping alone as a woman. In the forefront of your mind there are likely to be a fair few safety concerns, but I’m here to assure you that you can easily camp alone safely and thoroughly enjoy yourself. I have put together this guide to camping with some of my best camping tips for beginners, ideal for women camping alone for the first time.

Camping Essentials for Beginners

Even if you are a first time camper, you’re going to know you can’t camp without a tent and a sleeping bag! But there are a lot of other things you might want to consider when preparing for camping. I have compiled the ultimate list of camping essentials for beginners. There’s also a free camping checklist for you to download and print off.

10 FIRST TIME CAMPING TIPS WHEN CAMPING ALONE AS A WOMAN

1. Look for campsites on Google Maps and contact directly, or use pitchup.com – NOT Air B&B

Kicking off my list of my first time camping tips with a The World by Emstagram classic – a way of travelling on the CHEAP! If it’s your first time camping, it can be hard to know where to go to find a campsite. My first port of call for finding accommodation is always to ask others for recommendations. You can’t beat first hand knowledge! But that aside, Pitch Up is a great place for finding campsite.

Another great piece of camping advice would be find the area you want to explore / stay in on google maps, and then just zoom in and see if there are any campsites there. Then you can find a way of contacting them. There are still a lot of campsites that don’t have a great online presence so you can find lots of place just on maps.

Try and avoid using Air B&B to book campsites because they charge premium fees. If you find a site on Air B&B look for them on google and contact them independently for booking.

Tent pitches on Pitchup.com

2. Read reviews for the campsite you are looking at booking.

Camping alone as a woman certainly means you want to ensure you can be safe at all times. One of my best safe camping tips is to read reviews of the campsite you are looking at going to. Often you can easily find these on either Google or Trip Advisor.

Pitch Up is great because you can easily read reviews of the sites from other campers. It will give you can idea as to what the facilities are like, whether people have felt safe there and what sort of groups go there. Some campsites may attract more groups of young people. If a party is what you’re after then 10/10, but if you just want to read a book and get a good nights sleep you might want somewhere a bit quieter and more secluded! You might want somewhere you know is family friendly as this may help you feel safer! Also look into what’s around the campsite. Some places have great access to nearby walks, rivers and lakes.

3. Don’t worry, other campers are usually very friendly

I was worried that I would look like an idiot camping alone, but I found other campers on the site to be very friendly. Of course, one of my safe camping tips would always be wary of your surroundings, but just use your common sense. My gut instinct is usually excellent at telling me whether or not I should trust people, and the majority of my solo travel experiences have always told me to trust and believe in the kindness of strangers. On my first night of solo camping, the two ladies in the tent next to me invited me ‘over’ for burgers and red wine for dinner, and then made me coffee in the morning!

4. Hand warmers, hand warmers, hand warmers

These certainly come top of a list of camping essentials! The ones I use are by Hot Hands. You simply take them out of the packet, and they start to heat up, and then stay hot for 10 hours. I didn’t trust they would do what they said on the packet but they really did! They’re great to put in your sleeping bag overnight and before you get in.

5. Don’t underestimate the power of a camping chair, the sound of birds, and a good book

Honestly there is no better place to just sit back, relax and chill out than a campsite. Majority of the time there won’t be amazing phone signal, and they certainly won’t have WiFi. So make the most of it andjust enjoy the peace, quiet and the sounds of nature. I am no reader by any means but I thoroughly enjoyed reading whilst camping.

6. Download offline maps

As I mentioned before, you might find yourself without signal. If you aren’t 100% sure where you want to go or where you are, having offline maps can be a life saver! Maps.me is a godsend when it comes to travel, and always make me feel safer. Make sure you download the appropriate maps when you have wifi before you go, then you can use the maps whether you have any phone signal or not.

Ordnance Survey also offer a service where you can download any of their maps to use at your disposal. These are great because they also have pre plotted walk routes that others have done. You can sign up for a 12 month subscription for £23.99, which gives you access to all routes and OS maps for just £2 a month. This also means you don’t need to take loads of maps with you, with helps with packing light – essential for a camping trip!

7. If you don’t have a tent with blackout in, take an eye mask

Some tents come with blackouts in them, so when the sun comes up at 5am you won’t be up with it. Of course, my tent is a super budget one, so it gets fully light at the crack of dawn (which is a bit too early for my liking in summer!). In this case make sure you have an eye mask with you.

8. Practise with your tent at home before you go

Testing out all your kit before you get to the campsite is essential camping preparation. You don’t want to get there and find you’re missing tent pegs, there’s a hole in your flysheet or realise you don’t actually have a clue how to get the tent up! Camping solo, I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing when I arrived, so having a practice pitch up of the tent before I went was crucial.

9. Take a portable charger

You might have offline maps downloaded but what’s the use if your phone doesn’t work?! Get yourself a portable charger / battery pack. You can easily just charge your phone overnight in the tent! Having a fully charged phone at all times will really help make you feel safer when camping alone as a woman1

10. Download podcasts / playlists / films etc.

Yes, a good book is great, but should you get bored of reading you might want to watch or read something. Use the download facilities on platforms like Spotify, Netflix and catch up tv hubs so you can watch and listen on your phone without needing internet. I love listening to podcasts at night to help me get to sleep and this especially helped on a campsite!

My First Time Solo Camping

My first experience as a beginner camper and solo camper was incredibly positive. I stayed at the amazing Will’s Field, just outside Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire. I would highly recommend this as it’s a beautiful campsite with a lovely owner! Full review coming soon on this blog, in the meantime check out my Instagram reel from my stay.

So that concludes some of my top first time camping tips. I hope they will be helpful to any first time campers, and I hope it reassures anyone, especially females, who want to go camping on their own. Before you head off camping, make sure you check out my list of camping essentials so you don’t forget anything.

Just most importantly make sure you HAVE FUN!

Enjoyed reading these First Time Camping Tips?

Check out some more of my solo travel and travel advice content:

• 
  10 First Time Camping Tips for Camping Alone as a Woman
  First time camping can be a daunting experience, especially when camping alone as a woman so here are my top 10 tips to put your mind at ease
• 
  Ultimate Camping List: What to Bring Camping in 2023
  Knowing what to bring camping can be difficult, so I’ve comprised the Ultimate Camping List so you don’t miss any camping essentials.
• 
  Backpacking Southeast Asia Packing List
  If you are wondering what to take backpacking, you’re in the right place! Compiling a backpacking checklist can often be difficult but light backpacking really isn’t as hard as you think! You will be surprised with how much you can live without. This backpacking guide will hopefully give you a clear idea of what you …
• 
  Travel Vaccinations for Southeast Asia
  When you’re preparing to go backpacking it’s important you know what medical precautions to take! Here I discuss medical preparations and travel vaccinations for Southeast Asia.
• 
  Beginners Guide to Backpacking: planning your first Southeast Asia trip
  When you first decide to go backpacking for the first time, you’re going to be keen to start planning your trip as soon as possible. But as a beginner backpacker it can be very overwhelming knowing where to start! How to start backpacking, how to start backpacking and just simply how to backpack, are undoubtedly …
• How to Build a Travel Fund: Top 10 Saving Tips
  How to save money to travel is a daunting prospect that has probably crossed most budding travellers minds. Here are my top tips on How to Build a Travel fund which will hopefully help make your dream a reality.
• 
  Travel Goals for 2020
  I don’t really make New Years Resolutions. Based on past experience with this, I find it results in me putting too much pressure on myself. Subsequently if I don’t fully achieve what I set out to do I’m not always very nice to myself. This year all I’ve said I’ll do is try and feel …
• 
  Destinations of 2019 – My Top Five
  Heading into a new year, I thought it only right to look back at my top 5 travel destinations of 2019. If you’ve read my review of the year you’ll know I visited A LOT of places. Too many of these places were pretty amazing, so this list and it’s has been almost impossible to …