A Burning Man trip planner

This plan: United Kingdom, 2 people, Reno

1. 1

   Before the RV, before the flight

   Read the dates and the tickets on the city's site

   Tickets, the vehicle pass, and the dates live on Burning Man's ticketing page. We do not sell tickets, and we do not publish a calendar of our own. If their page and this page ever disagree, theirs wins. The pass gets a vehicle to camp. It is not part of a rental quote.

   • Open the city's ticketing page for the dates, the ticket, and the vehicle pass.
   • The vehicle pass is sorted with the tickets. It is not hiding inside the rental quote.
   • City ticketing page
   • Burning Man dates
   • First-year kit
2. 2

   As early as that company asks

   Book the RV, and say the desert is the destination

   Tell the company the trip is Burning Man, in the Black Rock Desert, before you pay. Several contracts treat an undeclared trip as a penalty, and some platforms forbid it outright. The event's RV page says the rigs sell out quickly. El Monte's one-way page says to book as early as you can. Cruise America forfeits the down payment if you cancel a special-event rental inside 45 days of pickup. We do not publish a month of our own. The company's calendar is the one that matters.

   An RV out here is amazing once the company has said yes: a door, a bed off the dust, a kitchen that is not a cooler in the wind. Escape's campervans have no plumbing, so the toilet plan is still yours. The sleeping count on the listing is the number. Cruise America's Seattle page says you can sleep up to seven. That is one fleet, not a floor plan we invented.

   Travellers AutobarnEl Monte RVCruise America

   Links open the company page. None of them carry a tracking code.

   • The company has heard "Black Rock Desert" before anyone pays.
   • That company's own Burning Man page is the page you read, not a reseller's summary.
   • Round trip or one-way is written on the reservation.
   • The sleeping count on the listing can hold this group of 2 people.
   • Renting an RV
   • Compare the companies
   • RV prep list
   • The city's RV page
   • Note for United Kingdom
3. 3

   After the counter is real

   Fly into the city that matches the counter

   Reno-Tahoe is the airport for the Reno and Sparks counters. Las Vegas is the airport for the Vegas counters. Cruise America's San Francisco page is in Newark, not downtown. Their notes allow a same-day pickup, and a late flight, customs, or baggage is your problem, not theirs. A hotel night is welcome and not required. Call the center a few days ahead. If the plan is the bus instead of a rig, the Burner Express luggage page is the limit, and a bike on that truck has to be locked.

   You are flying into the airport those Reno and Sparks counters are written for. The vehicle tour Cruise America describes is about 25 minutes. Ask which language the video is in when you call. We have not watched it.

   • The airport matches the counter on the reservation.
   • The center has a call a few days ahead. A late flight is yours, not theirs.
   • RV rental from Reno
   • Flying in, the suitcase
   • Burner Express luggage
4. 4

   2 to 4 weeks before you fly

   Order the gear so Reno is holding it

   This planner does not know the day you land, so it will not print a calendar date. Count back two to four weeks from the flight and order from home, on the Amazon links on our Reno page. Aim for the box to arrive a day or two before you do. A locker or a Hub counter holds a package for a few days, not for the week you are still at home. If you will land later than that, ship it to the hotel and ask them to keep it until check-in.

   • The gear order goes out two to four weeks before the flight, aimed a day or two before you land.
   • Ship gear to Reno
5. 5

   Before you fly

   Bring the licence the counter will actually accept

   The rental happens in the United States, from a company that allows the desert. A van that lives at home does not drive to Nevada for the week. Travellers Autobarn, El Monte, and Cruise America all ask for drivers to be at least 21. Read the fleet you booked. We are not a substitute for that page.

   A licence in English is not the case Travellers Autobarn's IDP rule or El Monte's translation rule are written for. Bring the physical card. Cruise America's 2026 notes want that card and a foreign passport. They do not accept a digital licence.

   • Everyone who will drive is at least 21, on the three fleets that print that rule.
   • The physical licence and passport are packed. The card is in English, which is the case those translation rules are not written for.
   • Note for United Kingdom
6. 6

   Before you land

   A bike is a must, and you ride it in

   A bike is how this city works. Since 2023, fee-based rental, pickup, and drop-off have to happen outside Black Rock City. Book it before you land. The shops are in Reno, Sparks, Nixon, and Gerlach, and walk-up stock disappears. You ride it through the gate. A rental is a frame. Lights, a lock, a tall flag, and a spare tube are still yours, and they are the part of the night we would not skip.

   • The bike is booked before you land, for pickup in Reno, Sparks, Nixon, or Gerlach.
   • Lights, a lock, a tall flag, and a spare tube are in the bags. The rental is only the frame.
   • Rent the bike before the gate
   • Night bike kit
   • Bike lights and a lock
   • The city's bike page
7. 7

   The day you leave the counter

   Drive the route that city actually published

   We publish a drive time only when a company page stated one. Traffic and a fuel stop change the day. El Monte says there is no fuel inside the city, and that Gerlach is the last services, about ten miles from the entrance. There is no store inside Black Rock City you should count on.

   Reno is the short drive, and it is the grocery run. El Monte's Burning Man counter is seasonal, at Bordertown Casino RV Resort, 19575 US-395 N. Cruise America's Sparks center is 465 S. Rock Blvd. Do the shop in town, then Gerlach.

   • The counter address is the one on the company's page, not a downtown guess.
   • Fuel is handled before the city. El Monte says there is none inside it.
   • RV rental from Reno
8. 8

   Reno or Sparks, before Gerlach

   Do the shop before the last services

   Buy the food and the drinking water in Reno or Sparks. Cruise America's client notes say to ask the center for a supermarket. Gerlach is the last services El Monte names. The city's water page is a potable fill there. Fill containers. It is not a dump, and it is not a supermarket.

   You land in the town where this shop happens. Do it before you point the rig at Gerlach.

   • Drinking water is bought in Reno or Sparks, in jugs you can label.
   • Food for the group comes from a supermarket, not from Gerlach.
   • The bike pickup, if it is on this side of the gate, is on the same day as the shop.
   • White vinegar rides in its own bottle, labeled so nobody drinks it.
   • Gerlach is the last services, about ten miles from the entrance. It is not the grocery run.
   • The Reno shop and counters
   • Camp food
   • Cook kit
   • How much water
9. 9

   In the kitchen, before the shop

   Count the water before you fall for a canteen

   The Survival Guide says 1.5 gallons of water per person per day for drinking, washing, and cleaning, and a full bottle whenever you leave camp. Our water note multiplies that by seven days: 10.5 gallons for one person. If washing is more than a wipe, add water on top, and haul the gray water out. If your days on playa differ, multiply 1.5 by people and by days. The dates are on the city's ticketing page. An RV fresh tank is still water you filled from a potable source before the playa. Pump-out trucks do not fill it.

   For 2 people, that same multiplication is 21 gallons for drinking, washing, and cleaning across those seven days. Drinking jugs stay labeled, separate from vinegar and from gray water.

   • For 2 people, the city's 1.5 gallons across those seven days is 21 gallons.
   • Drinking jugs are labeled and separate from wash water and vinegar.
   • A full bottle leaves camp with each person.
   • How much water
   • Water kit
   • The city's water page
   • Survival Guide
10. 10

    Charged, before the gate

    Power for a body, then power for a quiet camp

    A 20,000 mAh bank is the personal charger, if your airline allows that class. Read the airline. It is not a camp. The quiet-camp station we list is the Explorer 300 class: lights, phones, a fan, and a laptop, charged full before the gate, brought in a vehicle. It does not run a fridge and a sound system at once. Solar is a top-up. Dust and a whiteout make the panel a folded mat. An RV generator follows the contract, and the neighbor's night is part of the plan. Each person still carries their own bank. One station does not grow because the group did.

    • Each person has a bank for the phone, charged, inside the airline's battery rule.
    • The camp station, if you need a fan and a laptop, rides in a vehicle and starts full.
    • The RV generator plan is the one in the contract.
    • Camp power
    • Power gear
    • RV generator
    • RV week kit
11. 11

    Exodus, then home

    Take the gear home the right way

    Sweep the hex before you clean the car. The Survival Guide asks for a shoulder-to-shoulder pass, and a magnet or a rake for the last look. The rental bike goes back to the shop that owns it, outside the city. The RV goes back to the drop on the reservation. A one-way that was never booked is how a contract gets expensive. Blow the loose dust off outside, then use vinegar on the film. Water alone makes a paste. Do not dump the bags in the towns on the way out.

    • The hex is swept, shoulder to shoulder, before the car is cleaned.
    • The rental bike goes back to the shop outside the city.
    • The RV goes back to the drop written on the reservation.
    • Loose dust is blown off outside. Vinegar cuts the film. Water is not the first cleaner.
    • Trash stays with you. It is not dumped in the towns on the way out.
    • Cleaning the dust off
    • MOOP and the sweep
    • Departure kit
    • Printable pack list