Any van lifer will tell you that one of the hallmark attributes of being a van lifer or otherwise living nomadically is the community. We support each other, we have similar lifestyle values, and we know how to have a good time. Whether you’re a seasoned van lifer or you’re new to the community (like me!), you can experience this amazing community at van life festivals. If you’re looking for looking for alternative lifestyle hacks, good music, or just a common experience, here’s a look at festivals across the United States!
Rubber Tramp Rendezvous – Arizona
Dates: January 8 – January 16, 2025
Location: Quartzsite, AZ
Rubber Tramp Rendezvous – RTR – is organized by the Homes on Wheels Alliance and is divided into two parts. The first half of the event, from January 8 until January 10 is the Women’s RTR, followed by RTR from January 11 to January 16. One of two women-centric events on this list, it offers things like safety and hygiene for nomadic women along with meditation and music, all in a safe woman-only space. Following WRTR, there are more workshops focusing on the nomadic lifestyle and keeping safe and healthy in the RTR. It’s really focused on not just living in van life luxury, but also on anyone who chooses to live on wheels, regardless of circumstance.
Start off the year strong with this inclusive van life festival, which is actually free to attend. You can also volunteer or donate.
Buses by the Bridge – Arizona
Dates: January 16 – January 19, 2025
Location: Lake Havasu State Park, AZ
If you’re a VW bus owner like me, this is the ultimate opportunity to see so many buses. New buses to vintage buses this camp out is the place to be. There will be a chili cook-off, bounce houses, and on the final morning, a pancake cookout. You can find the even schedule HERE.
Visit their website or the Lake Havasu website for more details and to make camping reservations. You can also join their group on Facebook for more information.
Nomads in the Desert – Arizona
Dates: January 19 – January 30, 2025
Location: Ehrenberg, AZ
Nomads in the Desert is an event brought to you by Skooliepalooza. It’s a boondocking event to enjoy the beauty of the desert and the community of being nomadic. There will be workshops and live music. You don’t have to have a skoolie to be involved either, you can even just be vanlife-curious to join in on the fun.
The event itself isn’t charging and you can read more or follow along on their Facebook page. It’s free to stay in the BLM campsite they have, or you can be part of their Sound Camp, but you’ll have to purchase an Arizona Land Permit.
Escapar a la Baja – California
Dates: January 30 – February 3, 2025
Location: San Juan de la Costa, Baja, CA
Escapar a la Baja appears to be on track to be a grand time for celebrating van life, overlanding, the Pacific coastline, and the Mexican culture of Baja. There will be art, food, music, and a whole temporary village dedicated to all things nomad. You can get yoga at most festivals, but where else can you also get whale watching?
For tickets to every day of the 4 day event, you can purchase tickets on their website for $100 (per person).
VanFest – Florida
Dates: February 6 – February 10, 2025
Location: Space Coast Daily Park, Melbourne, FL
Vanfest has a lot to offer – grab some food at a food truck, watch some live demos, enroll in some van life classes, and of course, tour some rigs. Don’t have your own van? No worries! Not only do they have dedicated spaces for van parking, but you can also tent camp for the event. The event is only 30 minutes away from the sand and sun of the beach, which gives way to their really awesome “Terraforming Mission”. You can sign up to volunteer for beach clean-up and conservation work in the morning, followed by a cook out and hang in the afternoon.
You can purchase tickets for daytime admission, camping admission, and even get a pass to both this event and Skoolie Swarm (February 21-March 5).
Ironwood Meetup – Arizona
Dates: February 7 – February 10, 2025
Location: Ironwood Forest National Monument, AZ
The Ironwood Meetup is an annual Sonoran desert hang location on BLM land in the Ironwood Forest National Monument. It’s for all rig types and they promise fun excursions and lots of community events. Keep in mind this is dispersed style camping/boondocking.
RSVP and get more information over on Mellow Nomadic Adventure’s Facebook page.
Nomads Unite Field Trip – Florida
Dates: February 10 – February 17, 2025
Location: Plant City, FL
Nomads Unite is an annual “field trip” to All World Acres campsite. There are a lot of spiritual and grounding opportunities at All World Acres, including sweat lodges, trade circles, drum circles, and meditation sessions. There is also a scavenger hunt to participate in and workshops focused around the nomadic lifestyle.
Cost to register is $25 per day or there is a holiday sale for $180 for the entire trip. You can also pay additional for access to electric hookups for your rig.
SkoolieSwarm – Florida
Dates: February 21 – March 2, 2025
Location: Melrose, FL
SkoolieSwarm is a gathering of nomads from all rig types (not just skoolies) located on 70 acres in Melrose, Florida. The event changes location every year and is touted as the largest nomadic gathering in the Southeast. Multiple swarms are being set up for this year, and this is just the first. Organizers don’t call it a festival, they call it a family reunion because of how it serves the community. There will be potluck dinners, movie nights, and community breakfasts. The site is also located right on the lakeside so it provides ample opportunity for getting out there on the kayak or paddleboard.
Tickets are $40 per night and keep in mind, while daytripping is allowed, you still need to register ahead of time. Anyone not registered will be turned away.
PeaceLoveVans – Florida
Dates: March 7 – March 10, 2025
Location: Withlacoochie River Park, FL
PeaceLoveVans has a certain appeal that makes me absolutely biased. This retro-themed vanlife festival is designed to optimize community and allow you to make new friends. There are also some really awesome things to do you might not find as structured in other festivals like stargazing, nature hikes, trivia, and a DIY build contest. It sounds like a blast and that’s not even taking into account the beautiful locale you can explore while you’re there.
Spectators are welcome with $10 daily admission, or if you’d like to spend the weekend camping you can reserve a spot starting at $159. Be aware, spots are already selling out!
Overland Expo – California, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Virgina
Dates: March 15 – March 16, 2025; other locations in May, June, August, October
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
Overland Expo is where van life and overlanding collide. Overlanding is basically traveling to remote areas over rugged terrain, and not all van lifers overland. Overland Expo still sounds like a great place to connect (especially if overlanding is your jam). It’s a typical expo set up so you can expect lots of vendors, demonstrations, and food but there will also be workshops and campfire style talks. There’s even camping!
Prices vary depending on location and if you want to camp. You can buy day passes or weekend passes. There is an Overland Expo in several regions, so if you can’t attend the March expo in California, you can attend the Expo West in Arizona in May, PNW Expo in Oregon in June, Mtn West Expo in Colorado in August, or the Expo East in Virginia in October.
Chattanooga Outdoor Festival – Tennessee
Dates: April 5, 2025
Location: Choo Choo Gardens, Chattanooga, TN
Van life has a lot of overlap with loving the outdoors, and the Chattanooga Outdoor Festival is a great place to score a 2-night/3-day campervan rental (assuming you don’t come with your own, of course). There’s plenty of opportunity in this one-day festival to learn a new outdoorsy skill or learn about/find some conservation work.
Admission is free but if you do want to enter to win that rental, make sure to RSVP!
RendezVan – Oregon
Dates: April 17- April 20, 2025
Location: Mt. Bachelor, Bend, OR
If you love skiing and you love your van, then RendezVan is the perfect combination for you! There’s everything you can expect from a festival – live music, food trucks, and van life vendors. You don’t have to camp to participate, but why wouldn’t you? Camping is in the parking of lot Mt. Bachelor so you can hang out with your friends all weekend. Even if skiing isn’t your thing, there’s other competitions to enter or you can just kick back, play some yard games, and enjoy the vibes!
The festival is 3 days and has free transportation from nearby Bend. The event calendar hasn’t been updated yet, but you can check out last year’s event on their website so you can snag some tickets when they’re available.
A Roam of Our Own – California
Date: April 17 – April 21, 2025
Location: Split Rock Farm, Fallbrook, CA
A Roam of Our Own is a special kind of van life gathering. Its for women and non-binary folks only. With no spectators allowed, its sure to be a safe place for vanlifers to come together and enjoy the nomadic lifestyle. This year’s events list isn’t confirmed yet, but last year there was music, food, woman-centric workshops, yoga, and even portraits and soundbathing. This year should be just as awesome.
Tickets don’t appear to be available for purchase, but keep an eye on their website if this is something you’re interested in!
Vanstock – Alaska
Dates: July 18 – July 21, 2025
Location: Matanuska Valley, AK
Vanstock is Alaska’s first van life gathering and in 2025 its being hosted on a wooded Bison ranch with a private lake. The Sacred Village is where you can find workshops, yoga, drum circles, and vendors. This is a perfect opportunity to travel to America’s (and van life’s?) last frontier and meet some amazing people and friends while doing it.
There is expected to be a couple thousand participants this year and tickets will be on sale soon (January 2025). They run about $180 but that does seem to be for the entire weekend as they do anticipate most attendees are from the lower 48 US.
Holy Toledo! Gathering – Oregon
Dates: July 10 – July 14, 2025
Location: Toledo, OR
The Holy Toledo! Gathering actually takes place in the heart of Toledo, OR across the Oregon Coast. There is a limited number of spots to park and camp near the center camp, but the city as a whole is welcoming to van living. Simpler Ways promises a jam-packed 5 day schedule so if you want it, you got it? Tattoos to commemorate your nomadic lifestyle? Yup. Boating? You bet. A potluck? Of course! They even have demos you can join in on like woodcarving and cocktail making. Or, you can buy an extra workshop to learn how to forage mussels.
Tickets vary in price, starting at $75. I didn’t make a dent in the schedule, so make sure to check it out in full!
Adventure Van Expo – Colorado, California, Washington
Dates: TBD
Location: Evergreen, CO
Looking for a place to get ideas and maybe buy some gear? Adventure Van Expo isn’t just camping (you can do that, too)! This van life festival also has rigs that you can tour and buy, you can see new and handy adventure gear, and there’s vendors galore. They promise storytelling and there’s a DIY contest, too! If you’re thinking of buying a rig, this might be the place to compare and buy your very own.
Tickets vary, but you can get free entrance for a limited time. You can also catch the Adventure Van Expo in Washington on September 7-8, and California on September 14-15 and October 19-20.
Skoolie U.P. – Michigan
Dates: August 1 – August 11, 2025
Location: Newberry, MI
Go boondocking in the upper peninsula of Michigan at Skoolie U.P. 2025. The event is meant to highlight skoolies but no skoolie? No problem! All rigs and camping styles are welcome at this event. It’s one big camping party with potlucks, campfires, skoolie tours, and crafts all located in the serene and beautiful U.P.
You can sign up by emailing them at [email protected]. Its $35 per night or you can follow along on Facebook to stay in touch.
Van Wild – Colorado
Dates: September 18 – September 21, 2025
Location: Montrose, CO
Van Wild is different in a couple of ways. First, it focuses on bringing our vans and using them together, as opposed to making a tiny village or having vendors set up to look at. Second, its a little pricey but that’s because it includes 4 nights of camping, 3 days of breakfast and dinner, and a special experience each day. These experiences vary from fly-fishing to off-roading to mountain biking. There is even complementary drinks and desserts!
Level up your van life and grab a side of community – tickets are available for $700 on their website.
Van Jam – Washington
Dates: Fall 2025
Location: Seattle, WA
Van Jam 2025 is sponsored by Rydawell Builds in Seattle, WA. These folks are professional rig builders and you’ll be able to see their rigs on display. But that’s not all! As the name implies, there will also be plenty of live music, food trucks, and vendors. This is a day event so its a great option if you’re passing through or don’t have your build finished to camp out. As with most van life events, there won’t just be Rydawell builds there either, but professional and DIY builds as well.
The event for 2025 is confirmed but dates haven’t been announced yet. You can check out their Instagram for the latest news.
The Pilgrimage – Vermont
Dates: October 2- October 5, 2025
Location: Royalton, VT
The Pilgrimage is a festival for folks who loved off-roading and overlanding. This isn’t strictly for van lifers and there’s quite the variety of vehicles to be seen, from brand-new 4×4’s to my one true love, VW buses. A camping spot at a private campground is included with your admission. They also have a selection of off-road trails color-coded by the difficulty and required equipment – don’t worry – as long as you have good tires and a way to be recovered, there’s a trail for you! This festival is all about community and building bonds while enjoying the natural beauty of the world around us.
Tickets for The Pilgrimage, if purchased solo are $350 and can be purchased HERE.
OC RV Show – Maryland
Dates: October 30 – November 2, 2025
Location: Ocean City, MD
The OC RV Show is dedicated more to RV living than van living, but it still has some things you would expect for a van life festival – yoga on the beach, demos, and food to name a few. This festival, though short, also boasts BMX teams, boat test drives, and tipsy tours through the bay. Because its Halloween, they even have a trick-or-treat open house called the “Haunted Highway”.
The RV show doesn’t have any onsite accommodations, so be sure to check out nearby campgrounds for a place to park your van. The sooner, the better, too if you want that ocean front view! Tickets range from about $12 to a little over $20.
M-25 the Gathering – Michigan
Dates: September 18 – September 21, 2025
Location: Merrill, MI
M-25 is a gathering of all kinds of van lifers and its located at The Lake of Dreams Campground in Merrill, Michigan. There’s a store, a pavilion, and bath houses on site. There will be ample opportunity for fishing, swimming, and various other activities along with music and a potluck! This sounds like a really chill get-together that you won’t find in most festivals.
According to their Facebook page, reservations at the campsite are expected to sell out but you can reserve a camp spot with electricity for a $15 deposit. Reservations must be done over the phone, so you’ll need to call 989-643-0403.
Moonlanding IV – New Mexico
Dates: October 9 – October 13, 2025
Location: Pinehill, NM
Is your favorite thing about camping watching the night sky and breathing in that refreshing night air? That’s what Moonlanding is all about! This year’s itinerary hasn’t been updated yet, but last year’s included all things celestial including comet viewing, birth chart reading, sunset prayers, and workshops on using solar power for your rig. With multiple workshops and live music, its a jam-packed 4 days.
Check out The Journal of Lost Time to keep an eye on when ticketing will be up.
If you see I’ve missed a van life festival or event that fits this list, please feel free to contact me with the event information. Events may be added at a later date as more information arises.
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