Guide
What to Pack for a Music Festival — by Weather
A festival packing list organised by the weather you're actually walking into: hot and dry, wet and muddy, cold nights, or thunderstorms — with the festivals that typically match each.
Start with the climate, not the checklist
Generic packing lists are why people arrive at a 32°C desert festival with a fleece and no electrolytes, or at a rainy Northern European field in canvas trainers. The useful question is not "what do I bring to a festival" but "what does this festival's weather usually do".
Below, each section lists the gear that matters for one type of weather, and which festivals in our index typically deliver it — based on around 15 years of Open-Meteo archive data at each venue. Check the individual festival page for the live forecast before you actually pack.
Hot and dry (highs of 28°C+)
- A refillable bottle you can carry sealed — most sites have free water points but won't let open containers through.
- Electrolyte tablets — water alone doesn't keep up with a full day of dancing in the sun.
- SPF 50 and a wide-brim hat — festival sunburn happens during the 2pm sets you didn't plan on watching.
- Loose, light-coloured, long-sleeved layers — better sun protection than a vest, and cooler than you'd think.
- A shade solution for camp — a tent in direct sun becomes unusable by 9am.
Wet and muddy (1.5mm+ of rain a day)
- Wellies or waterproof boots, plus a second pair of shoes for dry spells.
- A proper rain jacket and a spare poncho — the poncho covers your bag in the crowd.
- A tarp under the tent and pegs that hold in soft ground.
- Dry bags for phone, power bank, tickets and one sealed set of dry clothes.
- Twice the socks you think you need.
Cold nights (lows under 12°C)
- A 2–3 season sleeping bag and a mat — the ground steals more heat than the air.
- Thermal base layer and dedicated sleep socks that never leave the tent.
- A packable insulated jacket for the walk back from the last set.
- A beanie — the cheapest comfort upgrade in the bag.
Mild and mostly dry
- Layers over bulk — a t-shirt, a hoodie and a light shell cover almost every hour of the day.
- Broken-in trainers or light boots.
- A compact rain shell anyway — "mostly dry" still means one shower over a long weekend.
- Sunscreen — mild does not mean cloudy.
Thunderstorm days
Summer festivals in continental Europe and the US Midwest regularly see afternoon thunderstorms, which is why a storm in the forecast caps a day's weather score on this site. Storms are usually short, but they can pause a stage or trigger a site evacuation.
- Know where the nearest solid shelter is — a tent is not shelter.
- Keep your phone charged; that's how the site will tell you what's happening.
- Agree a meeting point with your group in case the crowd is moved.
- Keep valuables in a dry bag — storm rain arrives all at once.