I Hate Sleeping in a Tent. So I Turned My Car Into a Cozy Camping Haven. (2024)

The first thing you need to transform your car into a comfy cocoon is an air mattress specifically intended for use in sedan backseats and SUV cargo areas.

The Saygogo SUV Air Mattress, which I’ve used intermittently over the last two years, offers a great value for casual campers. It has six separate inflatable chambers that you can fill (or leave empty) as needed to fit your space. This makes it compatible with most SUVs and sedans and lets you personalize your setup in a way that makes most sense for you.

The Saygogo air mattress includes a separate inflatable piece designed to fill the gap created by your car’s backseat footwells, so you can lay comfortably without the mattress caving into that empty space. Also included is an air pump with a 9 V car adapter that can be used to inflate and deflate the mattress.

Fully inflated, the mattress has a max weight limit of 380 pounds and can comfortably sleep two adults. It loses a bit of air overnight, especially when two people use it, so you have to top it off if you plan to use it a second night—though I find myself deflating and folding up the mattress in the mornings anyway so I can use my car to get around during the day. The Saygogo air mattress also comes with two inflatable pillows, but I tend to bring a regular pillow, along with sheets, blankets, and my sleeping bag for especially cold nights.

I knew I’d want to leave my windows cracked overnight to keep the interior of my car from getting too stuffy while I slept, but the thought of inviting bugs into my space made my skin crawl. Universal car window screens were the answer: These mesh window shades let through fresh air while providing a barrier that creepy-crawlies can’t cross.

Essentially large mesh bags that you pull down over top of your car doors, these shades are elastic enough to fit over most car doors while retaining enough tension so you can pull them taut across your windows. (I use screens from SameeFloral, but a handful of seemingly identical shades are available on Amazon in case this particular option is out of stock.) Once they’re installed, you’ll be able to roll down your windows without interference. The dark shades also provide some privacy, and they’re reasonably effective at blocking morning rays of sun.

Light is essential for any camper, whether you’re in a tent or tucked away in your car. The Black Diamond Moji Lantern is palm-sized and emits a strong, cool-white glow that easily lights up the back of your car. The Moji Lantern turns on and off with a click of a button, and you can hang it from a grab handle or a headrest by its metal handles to create overhead lighting or keep it beside you on the mattress while you get situated for bed. This little lantern uses AAA batteries, so pack extras, just in case.

Lights can be used for more than just illumination; they can also help turn your space into a cozy den. I like to thread battery-powered string lights through my car’s grab bars so that I can kick back and decompress in the warm glow of twinkling lights after a long day of hiking. I turn them off right before I drift off, but you could easily keep them on as a night light. You shouldn’t rely on fairy lights as your main source of light—they aren’t nearly bright enough to be helpful in emergency situations—but they can certainly make your base camp a more inviting retreat.

The first time I camped out in my Subaru Crosstrek, I didn’t foresee how warm and stuffy the air inside my car would get, even with the windows cracked—and things only got warmer once rain started pouring, forcing me to close the windows. I woke up in a puddle of sweat and, upon returning home, immediately bought an Amacool battery-operated fan, which we recommend for kids going to sleepaway camp.

The Amacool fan has three speed settings and is surprisingly powerful for something so small; it’s able to circulate the air in a closed space and cool down most sweaty sleepers (myself included). You can twist the fan’s flexible tripod legs around the metal legs of a headrest or a grab handle, and its USB-C rechargeable battery lasts up to 10 hours. The fan also has a built-in LED light, which can come in handy as a backup option if your lantern batteries die.

Even though you can use your car during the day to charge your devices, it’s still a good idea to keep a power bank on hand in the event your phone or Kindle needs a little extra juice after you’ve settled in for the night. The Belkin BoostCharge Plus 10K is small enough to tuck into a glove compartment or back seat pockets when not in use, yet has enough battery capacity to charge most smartphones up to three times. It also has two built-in cables—USB-C and Lightning—so you don’t need to sift through your belongings to find your own charging cord.

This article was edited by Christine Ryan and Catherine Kast.