Updated on Oct. 15, 2024
Create a cozy ambiance, light up the kitchen area or go exploring in the night woods with our picks for this year's best solar camping lights.
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.Learn more.
We’re total camp-lighting geeks. The time my partner devotes to setting up string lights, blow-up lights and lanterns would be embarrassing, except for how cozy and inviting it makes the evenings.
It took some practice for us to learn how to do it without losing our starry nights or annoying any neighbors, human or wild. Solar lights are often ideal for this balance. Placed strategically placed around the campsite — tucked under awnings, or stuck on your tent or vehicle — you can minimize light pollution while increasing aesthetics and safety.
Of course, they’re also great because they don’t require electricity or batteries that later end up in the landfill.
When choosing the best solar lights for your campsite, consider:
Now go enjoy the light, but please, be a good neighbor. Don’t overdo it, and turn yours off at a reasonable hour. Many animals, insects, trees and plants are vulnerable to disruption of darkness.
Here are our favorite, must-have campsite solar lights for 2024.
MPOWERD’s Luci Candle blow-up lantern flickers like a real flame, but without the fire danger and waxy mess. It gives off a cozy, romantic soft-amber glow, making it our go-to candle for ambient in-tent/in-van lighting. We collapse them and put them on our dashboard while driving to recharge.
They’re also good for illuminating walkways in a non-obtrusive way. They pair nicely with Luci Color, a larger, brighter light with eight color hues.
We really like the easy collapsibility and tidiness of Goal Zero’s Crush Light Chroma. When expanded, it’s easy to hang and stable on a table. It comes with a pleasing warm white light, plus seven other color modes for a more festive feel.
Ten LEDs give off 60 lumens at full brightness, but it will only last a few hours on that mode. And because it only has a tiny solar panel for input, we usually keep it on a lower setting. Charges via solar or USB.
The workhouse, blow-up Luminaid Titan Two-in-One Power Lantern comes with a ton of features. It twists for easily inflation and lights a 300-square-foot area. Multiple light settings include a 300-lumen bright mode and a red-light one for night vision.
Other features include charging via built-in solar or USB and an adjustable hook-and-loop fabric fastener strap handle and carabiner loops for easy hanging. It pairs well with Luminaid’s Bloomio lanterns, which use Bluetooth to customize color modes and lighting warmth and schedules.
Revel Gear’s Trail Hound offers a 30-foot string, 100 bulbs, a compact design and low energy draw (one watt-hour). Power the cheery, warm vibes via USB or pair with Revel’s Day Tripper Solar Pack. Charge the 8,000 milliampere hour (mAh) battery via sunlight or USB.
It also features two USB outlets for charging devices, a built-in 1,000-lumen LED grid light, and a black light that’s great for night scorpion spotting in the desert.
Want a reasonably compact set of string lights that covers a large area? Check out MPOWERD’s Luci 44-foot Solar String Lights + Detachable Power Hub, a luxe setup for camp or a more permanent home installation.
It offers 20 low-profile, warm-light bulbs on 44 feet of cable, powered by a detachable 4,000 mHa battery, which can be charged through the built-in solar panel or USB port. The battery can also charge your devices.
With large Edison-style bulbs, Brightech’s Ambiance Solar Powered Outdoor String Lights add a festive feel to the backwoods or your back porch. They usually provide us enough light for cooking, depending on how we arrange them.
Each strand is 27 feet long (18 feet lit) with 12 shatterproof bulbs and a detachable solar panel with an on-off switch. The only drawback: They’re a little bulky if you’re short on cargo space.
These technically aren’t solar, but Uco’s StakeLight Tent Stakes with LED lights are really useful for campsite safety. They prevent stumbling over cords and other campsite obstacles when it’s time for a midnight bathroom run.
Made from sturdy aluminum, they and pair well with Uco’s Pika Three-in-One rechargeable combo lantern-flashlight. Get these innovative AAA batteries, which can be recharged via USB from solar, and they’ll officially get their power from the sun.
If you’re hoping to settle down at an off-grid campsite or a seasonal cabin, the BioLite’s Solar Home 620+ self-contained system can make it feel more like a home. It comes with a 6W solar panel, three hanging lights, wall-mounted light switches (one with a motion sensor), an FM/MP3 radio system and a bunch of other features, all compact enough to fit in a package the size of a shoebox.
Pair with BioLite’s SunLite 100 small portable lights and AlpenGlow 250 multicolor rechargeable lantern.
MPOWERD’s Luci mini inflatable EMRG lantern is a pocket-size safety solution for hiking and home power outages. It features an S.O.S. beacon mode, three cool-white LEDs and one red one. It’s waterproof, durable and pairs well with the Luci Core utility solar light.
You’ll find a lot of rechargeable headlamps on the market now. MPOWERD’s Luci Beam Two-in-One Solar Headlamp and Flashlight is a true solar-powered device, with a built-in panel plus a quick-charge USB port.
Magnets make it fast and easy to switch between flashlight and headlamp modes. The 300-lumen light brightens without being obnoxious, and it comes with an adjustable 90-degree tilt.
