Do you have a specific trek you are planning on doing? How many days is it? Or are you just traveling around Europe via rail or the like and hitting up campgrounds at your stops?

I have not backpacked Europe, but I have done quite a bit of backpacking here in Canada. If I am out in the bush, I would opt for the lighter tent and some plastic and maybe leave some of my stuff outside the tent. I have a feeling that wouldn’t be smart in Europe because you are going to have people around all the time and will probably want to keep everything inside your tent. Basically, I don’t have a good answer for you. Some more specifics in regards to the type of trip you are taking will probably help.

I would take the smaller tent as long as you and your stuff will fit. Yea it’ll be snug, but that beats carrying around a heavier tent in the middle of Europe, especially if you’re hitting up the cities.

Is there a reason you want to camp? Backpacking Europe and Camping Europe are two very different styles.

We are taking the train all over Europe for two months and will be hostelling and camping all over the place. We will be seeing cities and countryside and we both love to camp. We will probably camp at most 20 nights out of 60. We should be able to fit all our stuff in the tent which is a must but the smaller tent will be quite tight. Will we encounter much rain in July and August? Hope that info helps.

Yep, go for the lighter one. You’ll thank us later

I suggest an ultralight tent, mine weighs approx 3lbs, I got mine off ebay brand new $100 below retail (REI prices). Check out the ones on REI.com/REI store and try to find those on ebay. I think camping is an excellent option for saving money when not in the big cities. I plan on throwing my tent up in places like Pamplona(accomodation is too expensive during bull run), cinque terre & greek isles(for a different experience), and in the Cognac, France(no hostels in the region).

Thanks for all the advice. We will be taking the smaller tent. We will be pitching it wherever we can and rely on hostels as a backup most of the time. Even in bigger cities like Stockholm we have found camping very close to the city center (15 minutes out). Should be great amount of fun.

If anyone has any camping europe tips those would be appreciated as well.

we have been getting quite a few questions about camping in europe.

if you have some good camping tips you would like to share, i know they would be an appreciated addition to the Travel Tips.