Best SUV Camping Setup For Maximum Comfort

First off, I bought this Luno Inflatable AIR Vehicle Mattress for Kenny for Christmas, and we both love it. It’s custom fit to the make and model of your vehicle, ensuring that it maximizes every SUV’s limited space. It is way more comfortable than sleeping only in a sleeping bag, and it fully inflates and deflates in a matter of seconds. We always woke up to a fully inflated mattress — it never deflated during the night. Plus, it doubles as an emergency air mattress at home if you don’t already own one like us.

To make our car camping setup even more comfortable, we paired the custom air mattress with the matching Luno Memory Foam Topper, also custom to the make and model of your vehicle. If you don’t sleep well while camping — or even on air mattresses at home — I definitely think this topper is worth the additional cost. It makes the mattress feel softer, warmer and overall more luxe. Plus, the topper, although bulky, folds surprisingly flat, so it doesn’t take up too much additional space.

Moreover, the Luno Fitted Mattress Sheet is a fantastic add to your SUV camping setup if you have the spare funds or if you are gifting the setup like I was. Again, the sheet is customized to fit your vehicle mattress. And, it still fits well over the memory foam topper. Is it completely necessary with sleeping bags? No. But, it helped us keep our pricy custom mattress clean after long days of hiking and walking through dirt campsites.

A pillow can really make or break your comfort when sleeping. Sometimes, you may have spare room in your SUV setup for your comfortable full-size pillow from home. Other times, you may be extra limited on packing space and/or weight. When you’re limited on space and weight, a packable inflatable camping pillow like this one is worth bringing. I bought mine in store at Sierra for 50% off, and it was definitely worth the purchase.

If you couldn’t already tell, we love our Luno car camping gear. And, no, this blog post is not sponsored by Luno. Another Luno product we loved on our most recent road trip is the Luno Car Privacy Curtain. It’s fairly easy to set up, even for setup illiterates like me. But, what I like most about this curtain is that you can open it and drive with the curtain hung during the day, minimizing your camp setup time at night. I did have to tighten the curtain each night, but that may have been my own fault. I’m setup illiterate, remember?

Similarly, the Luno Car Window Screens were substantially better than I expected. Because of the mesh material, I wasn’t sure how much privacy they would actually provide. However, with these privacy curtains you cannot see through the windows from the outside one bit. Between the privacy curtain, these window screens and our tinted back window, we felt we had complete privacy. We use the medium size window screens for our midsize SUV, but check the size guide before purchasing your own. I personally think these screens are a must.

Not only is adequate air circulation vital when car camping, but it will also help you sleep significantly better. I love my TUNISE rechargeable portable fan for travel. I bring this fan on every trip, regardless of whether I’m sleeping in my SUV or a luxury hotel. At home, I always sleep with a fan on, so this fan’s white noise helps me sleep better away from home too.

Additionally, a power source is imperative for SUV camping, as you will need to recharge your phone, smartwatch, camera batteries, fan, etc. while off the grid — especially if you are camping on primitive campsites as opposed to established paid campsites with electricity access. I was gifted the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 portable power station, and this solar-powered generator is a beast. I genuinely have no complaints about it other than perhaps its heavy weight, which is to be expected given how powerful it is.

Another key car camping essential is a light source. Your SUV camping setup light source could be something as simple as a flashlight. But, I recommend having lanterns (we have these lanterns from Amazon) or camping string lights to hang for hands-free lighting too. We hang our lanterns on the coat hooks inside our SUV at night. Moreover, I always bring my Black Diamond headlamp for easy nighttime camp setup and teardown. I love that this headlamp has a red light option to keep your eyes adjusted at night and to prevent shining unsolicited light into others’ campsites.