A Guide to Beach Camping Gear: What’s Inside Our Backpack?

This is your complete guide to discovering what beach camping gear and equipment you need for a successful overnight trip to your favorite shoreline destination.

Whether it’s from your car, hiking in, or just posting up at your local spot, beach camping is an ocean adventure we all dream of. Bonfires, starry skies, and sand between your toes with the sweet sound of waves crashing along the shore. Does it get better than this?

It doesn’t. And we’re here to help you get there.

This guide will help you select gear for your next beach camping trip in the lightest, most efficient way possible. Ideally, this list is for explorers seeking to hike multiple miles to their destination. But can also be applied for those simply seeking to lighten their load in their car, boat, or other method of camping.

All of the Beach Camping Gear and Equipment We Use

I’ve broken my beach camping pack into multiple layers to help you better find what you’re looking for. Each piece of equipment was carefully selected for durability, lightweight, and high-quality:

• Backpacks for Beach Camping
• Cooking and Eating Tools
• Sleeping and Relaxation Necessities
• Items for Efficient Packing
• Health and Safety Essentials
• Gear to Help You Stay Dry
• Miscellaneous Equipment

(Note: most links throughout this article lead to our affiliate partners, which means, if you click through and make a purchase, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support in this way helps fuel this blog so we can keep providing useful information to you!)

Backpacks for Beach Camping

I’ve used two different bags for all of my beach camping endeavors: a Kelty Coyote 80L and Kelty Red Wing 50L backpack. Not to mention all of the lugging along during extended international trips and backcountry camping in the Rocky and Smoky Mountains.. They’re light, versatile and comfortable.

As a general principle, I use the 80L backpack for trips longer than 3 days, 2 nights. Anything shorter? I can get away with using the smaller 50L.

Cooking and Eating Tools

Unless you’re hunting and fishing your own food while beach camping, you’ll be needing to pack in your own food and kitchenware. And if you are, kudos. You’re a total bad*ss.

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Stovetops for beach camping

Jetboil blows the competition away. Literally.

Their lightweight, compact design stores together neatly using minimal space within your backpack.

Oh. And the boiling water in 60 seconds is a nice touch, too.

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Food for beach camping

What to eat while beach camping is a topic in itself. Let’s just say, your food’s quality is limited only by your creativity. Us? We like to keep it simple.

Beef jerky, peanut butter, dried fruit, granola, and trail mix all the way. However, for full meals? We love the backpacking meals by Mountain House. They’re lightweight, easy to make, and absolutely delicious.

Just add boiling water from your Jetboil and you’ll be munching on your favorite dinner in just a few minutes!

Compare prices at Backcountry.com

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Bowls, Plates, and Cutlery

Sometimes, I don’t even bring bowls or plates as they take up too much space. I’ll just use the Mountain House baggies for my bowl.

However, if I have the space I’ll pack a few bowls from GSI. Handy little things.

As for silverware and cutlery, I can’t stress this enough: always keep a spork on you. Always.

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Other Vital Cooking Tools

A lighter may just be a hungry backpacker’s best friend. Just in case your stove doesn’t ignite or run out of fuel – you can always make a campfire to cook.

And how about water? I get it, you’re likely camping near the ocean so freshwater may be hard to come by. Most times, you may have to haul all of it into your campsite. On the off chance you stumble upon freshwater, though, I always bring a water filter. I use the Katadyn below:

Sleeping and Relaxation Necessities

Ah, yes. The tent. Possibly the most important piece of equipment you bring. After all, this is where you’ll be sleeping! A peaceful night’s rest is of utmost importance so you can keep exploring the beach the next day!

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Tent and accessories for beach camping

For all my backpacking adventures, from the beaches to the mountains, I’ve used a 2-person Kelty Late Start. This tent is rated for 3 seasons and should not be used in winter months (who wants to camp in the cold, anyway?)

The tent is lightweight, easy to breakdown, stow away, and provides plenty of space for you and your camping buddy.

Of course, the buck doesn’t stop there. Essential tent accessories are each sold separately! Duh!

The most important accessory? The footprint. This is what separates your tent from the ground protecting you from getting wet and your tent from wearing and tearing.

Additionally, a compression sack from Osprey helps pack your tent up neatly and tightly to optimize your backpack space. We recommend a 20L capacity.

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Hammocks and accessories

You’ve seen the postcard. What’s a beach without a hammock? In fact, some people (myself included) will often camp in a hammock. Here’s the starter gear you need if you want to try:

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Sleeping Bag for Beach Camping

I own two separate sleeping bags: one rated for 20° F and one for 55° F. Let me just tell you, I must be lost if you’re going to find me having to use the 20° sleeping bag. I am NO fan of the cold.

I love my 55° sleeping bag though. It’s super lightweight and super compact. Comfy, too!

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Sleeping Pad

Truthfully, I’ve skimped on my sleeping pads. It’s something I never heavily invested in but wish I have – I could have had countless nights of better sleep. Highly recommend buying one:

Compare price at Backcountry.com

Items for Efficient Packing

Bags, bags, and more bags. The more the merrier, right? Maybe not. But the more organized you’ll be, at least. Our favorite utility bags are from Osprey – they make a bag for literally any purpose.

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Bags to utilize space

Save some space in that pack of yours with these bags.

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Bags to organize better.

Believe me when I tell you, these are a lifesaver. Your backpack will be SO much more organized and whatever you’re looking for will be WAY easier to find.

Health and Safety Essentials

As a rule of thumb, every one should carry a well stocked first aid kit and safety gear when adventuring into the wilderness. Beach camping is no different.

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Must-have’s for health and safety

These items are essential for your health and safety while beach camping.

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Sun Protection

It is the beach, after all. Protect yourself from harmful UV rays during your trip with these items:

Gear to Help You Stay Dry

In our honest opinion, nothing is worse than being wet when you don’t want to be. Or even worse, when you gear gets wet and you have no means of getting it dry. Absolutely terrible.

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Keeping yourself dry

I always keep a rain jacket and rain pants close by for those sporadic Florida showers.

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Keeping your gear dry

A little extra protection for your gear never hurt. Besides, just imagine climbing into a wet tent and sleeping bag at the end of a long day of hiking! Sounds like a nightmare….

Miscellaneous Equipment

These miscellaneous items are just that: random. But, they serve extremely important purposes during your beach camping adventures!

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts on Beach Camping Gear

As seasoned beach campers, we’ve honed in on the gear that works best for us. Again, I aim for lightweight, durable, and high quality. And yes, that does mean some items might be more expensive.

However, with proper care, your investment will yield plenty of results. Most of my gear I’ve had for years and it’s still durable to this day. Rarely do I have to replace anything in my backpack.

So again, take that jump into some of those items you’ve been debating on purchasing. Trust us, you’ll be happy you did.