Camping on Sark

Camping on Sark gives you a different relationship with the island.

You are sleeping inside the landscape

Sark is a plateau, the highest land in the Channel Islands, with the sea on every side of it.

From a tent, that height and exposure become immediate. You hear the wind change. You notice the temperature fall after sunset. Morning begins with light through canvas rather than curtains.

Sleeping in a tent here means staying immersed in the island through the night, not just walking through it by day.

The dark feels different from a tent

Sark became the world’s first Dark Sky Island in 2011, designated by the International Dark-Sky Association. There is no street lighting anywhere on the island, so nothing competes with what is overhead.

On a clear night the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye, a band of light traceable across the sky rather than a faint smudge. From a sleeping bag with the tent unzipped, that is the whole view.

Sark’s lanes also carry no motorised traffic, apart from emergency vehicles, between 10pm and 6am.

Who camping on Sark suits

Camping works best for people who enjoy being outside.

It suits walkers, cyclists, families and anyone who values the first and last hours of the day as much as the middle. It also means living with the patchier parts of Sark’s mobile signal: reliable across most of the Village area, patchier on the cliff paths and most beaches, which is usually where a campsite sits.

It does not need to suit everyone. Sark also has hotels, guest houses, self-catering properties and glamping.

What to bring

• A tent that can hold up on an exposed, treeless plateau, not one bought for a sheltered inland field.
• Warm layers and a genuinely waterproof jacket. A shoulder season week on Sark will almost always include at least one day of wind and rain, and Channel Islands weather can turn within a single day even in the warmer months.
• A head torch. There is no street lighting anywhere on the island, so on the walk between the tent and the shower block, or the tent and the shop, it is the only light you will have.
• A comfortable sleeping mat and warm sleeping bag.
• A small backpack for food and everyday supplies, and a way to find your way back after dark that does not depend on a phone signal, given how patchy coverage is near the cliffs and beaches.
• A tent light.

Check the campsite’s current facilities before travelling rather than relying on an old list.

Our Getting to Sark guide explains the ferry, luggage system and the practical journey with camping equipment. When to visit Sark explains how the experience changes through the seasons.