Spend enough time watching overlanding content and you start thinking you need a rooftop tent, a snorkel, a winch, and a full drawer system before you’re allowed to sleep outside. The car camping vs overlanding confusion is everywhere. YouTube built it. Instagram polished it. The gear industry makes money from it. And a lot of people are sitting at home not going because they think they need a rig first.
But you don’t, that’s the whole article.
At a glance
Overlanding is a months-long expedition, living out of your vehicle, self-sufficient, crossing terrain. Car camping is a night or two in nature with whatever you have. The overlanding aesthetic convinced a lot of people they need a rig for the second thing. They don’t. A 25-euro tent and your regular car is enough to start.
Table of Contents
Overlanding Is Not Camping. Camping Is Not Overlanding.
Overlanding is a specific thing. You’re on the road for weeks, sometimes months. You’re crossing terrain, maybe borders. Everything you need is in the vehicle: shelter, food, water, recovery gear, tools. At that scale, the equipment earns its place. The rooftop tent makes sense when you’re setting up and breaking down camp every day. The extra fuel makes sense when the nearest station is four hours back. The fridge, the water tank, the dual batteries, all of it has a real job.
Car camping is different. You drive somewhere. You set up a tent. You sleep outside. You drive home. A night, a weekend, maybe a week if you push it. Your car’s only job is getting you to the spot. Two completely different activities. The problem is they got fused into the same aesthetic.
YouTube and Instagram made overlanding look aspirational, and the look attached itself to anything involving a car and nature. Someone doing a weekend in the mountains ended up in the same visual category as someone crossing Africa. The gear industry had every reason to keep it blurry. Selling a 1000+ euro rooftop tent is better for them than pointing out a 25-euro ground tent does the same job for a weekend.
The result: people who want to go camping for a night or two think they need overlanding equipment. They don’t go. That’s the actual problem.
A Peugeot 307 in Albania and Other Things You Don’t Need a Rig For
Yep, that’s me, I drive a Peugeot 307 station wagon. It is not an off-road vehicle by any definition.
A few years ago I drove it fully off-road, alone, into the Albanian mountains to photograph a paragliding spot. Over an hour of rocks, roots, ruts, and tight switchbacks. Solo. Filming equipment in the back. No recovery gear, no second car. Probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.
Also the most hardcore off-road I’ve ever been on. Drone shot from the same trip. The green patch on the ridge to the left is where I am. The lake peeking behind the mountain is where the asphalt stopped. The car made it up and back.
My Peugeot has been off-road more than 90% of vehicles actually capable of it ever will be. Not because it’s special. Because I drove it there and you also know that the less you care about your car the better offroader it becomes.
The second story involves a week of wild camping in Sittonia, Greece. A friend, a 20-euro tent, yoga mats, and sleeping bags we found at home that were probably 20+ years old and smelled like it. No campsites, no bookings, no planning beyond “go south.” Different beach every day. We had everything we needed and nothing else. That was a perfect week.
The third one isn’t even camping. My best man has a Land Rover Freelander Mk2. Stock. Not lifted, no roof rack, no overlanding kit. We drove off-road for a day to a waterfall, sat there with food and drinks, and came back. Didn’t sleep outside. Still worth every hour of it.
You don’t need to stay overnight for a day in nature to count. The car doesn’t decide the adventure, the decision to go does.
What You Actually Need
A car. Whatever you drive. Its job is getting you close to where you want to be. If the road ends before the destination, put your bag on your back and walk.
A tent. Decathlon sells solid options for very little. Spring, summer, autumn, a basic tent is fine. Winter camping in the mountains is a different conversation, haven’t been yet, but it’s not where most people start anyway.
A sleeping bag. It doesn’t need to be technical unless you’re camping in serious cold. The bag from your parents attic probably works for a summer night. Mountains get colder than the forecast suggests. Bring a layer you don’t think you’ll need because you’ll need it.
Something to sit on. A camp chair. Optional but worth it every time. Food, water, a jacket. That’s the list.
Yes, a rooftop tent looks the part. A lifted SUV with a full build looks like freedom on wheels, and I want one eventually. That’s the goal but it’s not the prerequisite. That’s the same logic that applies in every sport, the experience comes first, the gear follows. You don’t buy the rig and then figure out if you like camping. You go camping, and if it sticks, you build toward whatever setup actually fits how you use it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between overlanding and car camping?
Overlanding is a self-sufficient, vehicle-based expedition, usually weeks or months long, crossing terrain, living out of the vehicle, handling everything yourself. Car camping is driving to a spot, sleeping outside for a night or two, and coming home. Same vehicle, completely different scale. Most weekend trips are car camping. The gear industry made them look the same.
Do you need a lifted truck or modified vehicle to go car camping?
No. Any car that gets you to the trailhead is enough. A Peugeot 307 station wagon drove over an hour of rocky switchbacks in the Albanian mountains, alone. Stock vehicles go further than most people expect. Knowing how to read a trail and commit to a line matters more than ground clearance.
What’s the cheapest way to start car camping?
Borrow a tent if you can. If not, Decathlon. Add a sleeping bag, something to sit on, food, water and a jacket. One night is enough to know if you want to keep going. A week of wild camping in Sittonia, Greece cost almost nothing and remains one of the best trips I’ve taken.
There’s someone watching overlanding content right now thinking they need to wait until they have the right vehicle. They don’t.
I still want the SUV, that’s not changing. But it’s not what gets me outside. A 25-euro tent and a bad decision in Albania already did that. Spending time in nature doesn’t ask for much, it asks you to go. Go with what you have, the rest can come later. It usually matters less than the experience itself.
Filip Petreski is the founder of AFIELD and a multi-sport outdoor athlete. A two-time national cross-country MTB champion, snowboard instructor, and former dirt bike rider, he writes about the people, gear, and culture worth paying attention to in the outdoor world.