Are you going on a camping holiday with your family and are you not sure what to bring? If you’ve never been camping before you most likely want to prepare yourself for the camping trip of your dreams. We’ve seen lots of camping guests come and go, some better prepared than others, and we’re more than happy to share our knowledge with you. That’s why today we’ll be providing you with a list of camping gear and more to fully prepare you for your camping holidays! Read on to learn more about the ultimate family camping starter kit.

Let’s start with the must have camping gear you need to have when going for a trip with your family. If you’re arriving at the camping by car then you can easily take all the necessities with you. Let’s get started, hereby the must have camping gear for families:

Tent

We’re obviously starting with a tent. This is usually the biggest purchase when it comes to creating your own camping kit. Nowadays you can find cheap alternatives at Decathlon or Amazon, but you want to be asking yourself if you truly want to buy a one-off tent like that. With their low quality you may not be able to go camping twice if you consider buying a low cost tent.

High quality tents

Are you camping for two or three weeks? Do you have a big family? We advise you to look into getting a solid family tent from a proven brand. Some of the best, but at the same time affordable brands on the market are:

• Safarica Tents

• Nomad Tents

• Eureka Tents

Low Budget Tents

If you’re on a low budget and are thinking of going camping just once, you may want to look into a low budget tent. We’ve listed the best low budget tent brands so you can easily pick the tent that suits you and your family.

• Quechua tents

• Coleman tents

• Vango tents

• Eurohike tents

Air mattresses or self inflating mats?

Even though choosing the right mattresses for your camping trip may seem easier, there’s still some things to consider before buying camping mattresses for the entire family.

Self inflating mats with a decent thickness are usually preferred over sleeping on inflatable air mattresses. Besides the fact that self inflatable mats are silent in comparison to air beds, they also are better at keeping your body warm throughout the night as you won’t have to sleep on cold air. Tuscany is warm throughout the summer but you still want to make sure that you don’t get cold during the night.

Cheap inflating camping mats start at € 15 per mat, which you can find at your local camping or outdoor store. You can also have a look at Decathlon or GO Outdoors assortment of air beds.

The right sleeping bag for camping in Tuscany

A lot of people ask us: what is the best sleeping bag for camping in Italy? Well, buying the right sleeping bag depends a lot on your location and the period of the year you are going camping. Throughout the year it will be a lot colder in the mountains of Italy than it will be in the south.

Assuming you’ll be camping in Tuscany we’ll provide you with the information to buy the right sleeping bag for camping in Tuscany.

Sleeping bag for camping in spring in Tuscany

The average temperature during a regular night in Tuscany ranges from month to month. In spring the average temperature ranges as follows:

• March: 6 - 16°C, 6 degrees being on the low range during the night.

• April: 8 - 19°C, 8 degrees being on the low range during the night.

• May: 12 - 23°C, 12 degrees being on the low range during the night.

You could either decide to go for a +10 degree sleeping bag, but with these temperatures you’ll even be fine with a summer sleeping bag of +5 degrees.

Sleeping bag for camping in summer in Tuscany

During the summer months you’ll be looking into a +10 sleeping bag. The temperatures are pleasant throughout summer making sure you’ll never get cold. You can consider your sleeping bag to serve as a light blanket to cover you up.

In summer the average temperature ranges as follows:

• June: 15 - 27°C, 15 degrees being on the low range during the night.

• July: 18 - 30°C, 18 degrees being on the low range during the night.

• August: 17 - 30°C, 17 degrees being on the low range during the night.

You can find cheap sleeping bags again at Decathlon or even Amazon. Just search for a summer sleeping bag and you’ll get right what you need.

Family camping essentials: gear up your camping experience

But that’s not it: no, there are a lot of other things you need in order to “make camping glamping”, or better said: make it more comfortable.

To truly enjoy your camping experience you probably want to gear up your living area with decorations and other living area equipment. We listed some of the most important camping items down here below:

• Tent footprint (ground cover for under your tent)

• Extra tarp

• Repair kit for mattresses and tent

• Table

• Camping chairs

• Hammock

• Pillows and extra blankets

• Stove

• Kettle

• Headlamps or flashlights

• Camping lantern

• Lights

Camping Barco Reale offers a complete camping kit for families that are going camping for the first time and are not sure how to prepare themselves. This kit is also perfect if you’re coming by plane and cannot take your own camping equipment, but still want to enjoy a true camping experience.

The camping kit includes the following things:

• 1 Tent for 4 people

• 2 Mattresses

• 1 Hammock at a cost of € 3 per night

We hope that helped you out a little, preparing you for your camping trip this year. We also created a complete family camping checklist with pdf Once you have all your camping and cooking gear, read up upon these 4 easy camping meals for families to make some delicious food! Do you feel prepared and ready to enjoy your holiday with your family? If so then we suggest you to read our article on the best camping games for families. This way you’ll be sure to get some fun games for your kids and yourself before heading on your holiday.