From Tents to Tipis: Family Festival Accommodation Options
Joanna Armah-Kinson 
Explore the pros and cons of family festival accommodations, from classic camping to glamping and off-site stays.
From Tents to Tipis: Family Festival Accommodation Options
Choices, choices, choices.
At some festivals there are so many options for how to overnight that it can be tough to choose.
Should you go for the original festival experience in general camping or is it worth having a splurge and staying in something a bit special?
At the end of the day only you can decide what you want and how much your willing to pay for it.
But it’s worth knowing what the options are.
I'm going to cover bring your own accommodations, those that are set up ready for you and the always controversial option of staying offsite.
So read on to find out more.
1. “Bring your Own” Camping
General
Is this the ultimate festival experience?
Well it’s definitely something to be experienced at least once!
Making seemingly endless trips from your car to your camp to get set up. Being hemmed in by thousands of other tents onto a hilly field. Having a steady stream of people tripping over your guy ropes in the night. Queuing for toilets and showers with every other camper in the morning might not sound like something you’d pay to do.
But in reality, not only is it normally not that bad, but it can actually be an awful lot of fun.
At many festivals, if your prepared to walk a little way you can have as much space as you want, set up a lovely camping area and have a lot less unexpected nighttime visitors. Time your showers well and the queues are minimal. And all for the price of a slightly longer walk.
Plus, very little beats snuggling up in your sleeping bag all cosy with your kids and listening to the sounds of fun and laughter from all around you.
Festival tickets nearly always include general camping so the majority of festival goers are always going to be in general camping. Look for the quieter or family camping fields and try and arrive early so you have maximum choice of where to pitch. Pitch away from the main routes to and from the stages and try to keep a healthy distant (i.e. not to close and not to far) from the toilets & showers.
VIP
What VIP camping actually means varies by festival. In some it’s just a guaranteed pitch often closer to the action than standard camping that lets you book and guarantee camping next to your friends who are arriving separately. Others have tents with hairdryers, mirrors, extra showers and hot water.
Is it worth it?
Well that depends on you. And how much you value what you’ll get.
Personally I’ve never felt the need to use the VIP camping. Not for any admirable reasons, just because hairdryers and mirrors don’t feel worth it to me.
But I know plenty who have and how wouldn’t go back to standard camping now.
Motorhomes and Camper Vans
Whichever you choose, taking a live in vehicle to a festival can be a great option. There’s no struggling to carry all of your stuff from your car to your camp. You can pack a lot of extra clothes in just in case it rains. And with a motorhome, well you get your very own toilet and often a shower.
If you have a camper van you probably already know this of course.
Not only do you get to go any festival you want to in it, but there are plenty of festivals where your van is the star of the show. We love Camper Jam for this – from sitting watching thousands of camper vans pouring into Weston Park to indulging our nosy side and getting to have a poke around other people’s vans in the show and shine this festival is always a treat.
If you are planning to go to a festival in a live in vehicle, you might find you need to get your tickets early.
They are normally restricted to certain camping areas and places are often limited. So if it’s one of the bigger, more popular festivals you want to go to aim to get your space booked as close to the tickets being released as possible.
And if your planning on hiring a van, don’t do it until you’ve got the festival tickets secured!
2. “Already set up For you”
Glamping
From tipis to airstreams to pods, the options for staying in a preerected structure can be eye wateringly wide. And have a range of eye watering prices too!
Having somewhere to sleep all set up for you when you get the festival is definitely an attractive option.
The boutique campsites are generally well located and quite often quieter than the standard ones. You definitely won’t need to carry a tent and depending on what you book you won’t need bedding or airbeds either.
And each night you get a comfy bed to sleep in.
Plus the toilets and showers are likely to be more available and many glamping options
But be sure to check what you are actually getting for your money.
I’m not saying the companies that run this accommodation intentionally mislead people, but I have heard many horror stories of what was in the tents not matching the images on the website.
And, if you want a comfy bed whilst keeping the festival atmosphere 24/7 be prepared to pay. Many of the options cost a significant amount and that’s on top of the ticket prices.
It might be cheaper to consider the last option, staying offsite.
3. Staying Offsite
There are many people who would never consider doing this, believing that you lose some of the festival magic if you do.
We’ve actually done it a few times for various reasons. It doesn’t mean you lose out, but it does change your festival experience.
The first time we ever went to a festival we stayed in a nearby hotel. We won tickets and so only found out we were going at the last minute. We had no camping equipment, a just about ready to walk baby, hectic work lives and two weeks to get ourselves sorted out. So in a panic I booked a local hotel.
And we still fell in love with festivals.
The weather was kind and we had a brilliant time during the days. We choose to miss some of the evening acts and instead we spent one evening having a lovely meal and watching the sunset whilst paddling in the sea. After a good night’s sleep and a hot shower, we got to do it all over again.
And an added bonus, which we only realised the following year when we did camp at the same festival, was that we missed all of the traffic jams getting off site on the last day!
So don’t write staying off site off completely. It can be a great option when you need it. It makes for a different family festival experience, but it definitely doesn’t ruin it.
Which one are you going to choose?
It definitely helps to know which festival you’re going to before you decide how and where you will sleep. Once you’ve worked that out, you can see what your options are on their website.
If you’re still confused about which one is right for you, you can download our guide, “3 Simple Steps to Choosing the Right Family Festival for You”.
Download it Here
It will help you work out exactly what your family want from their festival experience and which festivals will offer them it.
So you can stop feeling overwhelmed by the options and start being excited for an amazing festival weekend.
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Categories: : Family Festivals
Written by Joanna Armah-Kinson (Owner, The Fantabulous Family)
Joanna is the wife of a festival performer, who is lucky enough to spend the majority of her summer weekends at festivals entertaining her (now 11-year-old) son. As a mum who juggles a part-time job and managing two businesses, she knows the importance of good planning, and the need for flexibility and good grace when plans fall through! A lifelong adventure lover, travel, photography and spending time outdoors have always been Joanna's passions.
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