The weather in St. Petersburg is beautiful, I want to walk all the time and stay at home as little as possible. To complete the experience, one could spend the night right on the street - in a tent. But is it legal? We asked representatives of large city parks, the press secretary of the Improvement Committee, and the head of the ECOM Expertise Center about this.

Marianna Tishchenko

Head of Communications Department
with the public TsPKiO them. S. M. Kirova

Perhaps in some parks you can pitch a tent, but definitely not in the Kirov Central Park. The fact is that we have strict opening hours: during the summer season, we close at midnight and open at six in the morning. The patrol service keeps order. And in principle, in the context of the Central Park of Culture and Recreation, it is strange to talk about a tent: this is a monument of federal significance, a specially protected natural area - not just a public garden or Sosnovka park. It can be compared with Palace Square: what will happen if a person who does not have money for a hotel, but who really wants to wake up with a view of the beauty, starts setting up a tent on the square? However, I am not aware of any cases where someone tried to pitch a tent on Yelagin Island.

Elena Komarova

press secretary of the committee
for improvement

The city has several categories of green areas. So, the zones of plantings for common use are under the jurisdiction of the Committee: no tents can be set up there. It is also not allowed to spend the night in tents in intra-quarter squares, which are run by municipalities.

Of course, you can not put up a tent on the Champ de Mars. But anything can happen there: it even happens that drunk people fry sausages on the Eternal Flame. Agree, the memorial is not a place for such things.

A tent in the wrong place is an administrative offense, and more specifically, a violation of landscaping.

300th Anniversary Park Administration

It is definitely not possible to spend the night in a tent in our park: this is a state budgetary institution with its own opening hours, we are not open around the clock - the park closes at 11 pm. If someone starts to put up a tent, a guard will come up to him and explain that this is not worth doing. But we did not have such cases.

Alexander Karpov

Head of the ECOM Center of Expertise

In parks, such a service as spending the night in a tent is not provided. But we have a huge city: please go to Gorelovo - put up a tent there. There are plenty of places on the periphery where this can be done and no one will drive it away - in the forests, on the banks of rivers: in the Kurortny and Krasnoselsky districts, in Kronstadt and Pushkin, even in the Kirovsky district - on Kanonersky Island.

There is no special line about tents in the laws. Old-timers recall that in the early 2000s, protesters set up tents in the garden in front of Smolny - and everything was fine. And now they will not be fined for a tent: they will simply drive them away. They will say, for example, that you can not knead the lawn.

Illustration: Nastya Yarovaya

Recently, traveling by car has become more popular: according to statistics, this format attracts 15% more tourists every year. For lovers of recreation "savage" has collected a selection of campsites in Moscow and the Moscow region.

Camping Rushotel

Since 2008, the hotel complex "Rushotel" has been included in the German directory ADAC, which contains the best campsites in the world. The parking area can accommodate 50 motorhomes, caravans and tents. Guests have access to a 24-hour restaurant and free internet. The campsite is located at the intersection of 33 km of the Moscow Ring Road and Varshavskoye Highway. In the immediate vicinity of the hotel there are historical museum-reserves "Tsaritsyno" and "Kolomenskoye", as well as the shopping and entertainment center "Vegas". The cost of parking is 1500 rubles per day.

Camping town "Sokolniki"

The campsite is located in Sokolniki Park. The territory is designed for 40 motorhomes and caravans. All parking spaces are marked and equipped with electrical outlets. For guests there are toilets, showers, a mini-laundry and a kitchen. Guests can enjoy free Wi-Fi. Parking rental - 800 rubles per person. Here you can also have a barbecue or rent a house with a Finnish grill.

Camping "Mayak" in Khimki

Camping "Mayak" is located on the territory of the yacht club of the same name in Khimki. A large parking area has been opened for guests, which is guarded around the clock. Electricity is provided on the territory, toilets and showers are equipped. There is also a café open to visitors. The cost of parking is 650 rubles per square meter. In winter, parking is transferred to a separate area.

If you have ever traveled with an overnight stay, you have come across the choice of a place to set up a tent. Unfortunately, not everyone who seeks to merge with nature knows how to set up a tent correctly. The tent is one of the main attributes and symbols of the campaign. In addition, a properly set up tent is the key to a comfortable stay on a hike. With a properly set up tent, you can forget about bad weather, dampness, cold and condensation on the walls of the tent.

To make the rest of the savage on Seliger as much as possible comfortable you need to take with you:
a tent, preferably windproof;
an air mattress, which is much more comfortable to sleep on than in sleeping bags;
rugs and blankets;
folding chairs and table;
a tripod for a fire;
kerosene burner;
aluminum pans;
kettle;
axes, saws, knives;
coal, since finding firewood on Seliger is a big problem;
garden rakes to clear the parking lot of needles and cones;
table knives and forks, a cutting board and a set of disposable plastic utensils.
. It is better to worry about the upcoming overnight stay in advance, before sunset.

Choosing a place for a campground

When choosing a place to camp, give preference to clearings protected from the wind and far from the reservoir. So you will be warmer and annoying mosquitoes will not bring you to white heat.
The next requirement for the camp site is the availability of water and firewood. It is difficult to say which of these requirements is more important. It all depends on the specific conditions of the trip. Usually in hot summer time it is more important to find water. It is easier with firewood, but in early spring, when the melt water has not yet come down, this problem comes to the fore.

So, security, provision of water and firewood - these are the main requirements for the camp site. All of them are taken into account first of all when the bivouac site is marked on the map, and then when it is chosen on the ground.

Choosing a place to set up a tent

1. The place for setting up the tent should be flat. Not in terms of slope, but in terms of relief: no ledges, mounds, holes, branches. Practice shows that for some reason people sleep worse on roots, mounds and bumps than on level ground.

That's why:
1 If there are stones on the site that you have chosen to set up the tent, it is better to remove them.

Sharp knots are lying around - it’s better to remove them: not only will they not let you sleep, but also the bottom of the tent (waterproof by default) will be scratched and pierced.

If roots protrude from the ground, and there is nowhere else to become a tent, you can put some soft things in this place. Or just throw branches with leaves on the ground, it will definitely be more comfortable to sleep.

Yes, and pay attention that there are no anthills under the tent. Vengeful insects practically do not show up in the evening, but in the morning they will happily gnaw through the bottom of the tent and wake you up with "friendly" bites even before the official rise.

2. In the mountains, and in general, in any even slightly hilly area, where you are going to sleep, there will be a slight slope. It is important to go to bed with your feet down and your head up the slope (head above legs). Even if the slope is tiny, and lying down is not felt, at best you will wake up with a swollen face, and not at the best - also with a sore (from blood flow) head.

3. A sudden rain can derail all your plans. Therefore, when choosing a place for a tent, try, looking for salvation from the wind, not to stand inside any funnel or pit: everything will drain into it.

If there is a rather steep slope near the parking lot, water will flow from it in case of bad weather, and it is to your tent. Therefore, it is worth digging an already set tent with grooves. Once there, the water will smoothly bypass the tent and leave its inhabitants dry.

4. Pay attention to how far the tent is from the fire. According to popular wisdom, "a tent burns at a rate of $100 per second." Therefore, the distance between the fire and the tent should be at least three meters. In addition, try not to get smoke inside, otherwise a headache is guaranteed in the morning.

5. It is better to set up a tent away from the water (near which it is very cool and damp in the evenings), and also not on the trail. Otherwise, in the dark, the participants of your camp or some late tourists will stumble on the tent a couple of times, which could damage the tent or loosen the tension of the awning. As a result, you will have to get up from a warm sleeping bag and, cursing, hammer the pegs again.

6. Practice shows that it is more convenient to put up a tent with an exit to your feet. More precisely, it should fit in it with your feet towards the exit. Otherwise, if at night someone goes “to the wind”, and then comes back, he will definitely step on other people's heads, and a general upsurge for a stupid reason cannot be avoided. The legs, on the other hand, take up much less space, and it will be much easier for the unfortunate night to enter.

The rest of the requirements for the camp site should be considered as desirable, but not mandatory. Among these requirements is the convenience of a place for deploying bivouac work.

It is desirable that you don’t have to climb into a deep ravine for water or sip in a mug from a barely noticeable spring, so that you don’t have to go far for firewood, so that the camp site is protected from the wind, and if there are a lot of mosquitoes in the forest, then, on the contrary, so that the place it was windy so that the tents could be pulled up on trees, and not on special stakes, etc.

If the camp does not meet such requirements, it will drag out the camping time and require more effort from tourists, but, ultimately, even in such conditions one can secure a good rest.

Aesthetic requirements for the camp site and appearance are also among the additional requirements. Of course, ceteris paribus, it is better to camp in some beautiful, eye-pleasing place. It is not for nothing that experienced tourists who have traveled a lot around their native land try to remember such places and, if necessary, bring newcomers there. But, of course, aesthetic requirements for a camp site should not be given preference over basic ones.

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The same can be said about the appearance of the camp. Of course, it is beautiful if the tents are set up at the same distance from the fire or if the dining “table” is decorated with a bouquet of wildflowers. But in no case should it become an end in itself. Meanwhile, an inexperienced leader often forgets about this. And so, in order to put the tents in one line, the camp is not set up in the forest, where it is protected from the wind and partly from the rain, where the firewood is literally at hand, but somewhere on the edge of the field, near the road, open to everyone rains and winds, from where you need to walk three hundred meters for firewood. And for the sake of a bouquet of flowers decorating the "table", lunch is delayed for half an hour, and everyone eats cold food. In a word, when choosing a place for a camp, one should not forget about what is the main and what is secondary.

Setting up a tent in the forest

Find in the forest a good place for an overnight stay is the easiest. The main thing is that there are no old, rotten trees nearby that can fall on your head.
It is also important to make sure that there are no anthills nearby, otherwise the orderlies of the forest will come to visit you with an “inspection”.
You should also not put up a tent on the paths of forest animals - why disturb their peace? Yes, and you will not be greeted if a seasoned bear or a wild boar does not want to bypass an obstacle that suddenly appeared on its legal path.

A carpet of small shrubs - lingonberries, blueberries, cloudberries - an excellent spring mattress for a tired traveler. Even on a grassy lawn, sleeping is harder. White moss lichen covers dry places. True, in rainy weather it becomes limp, but it is still dry under it.
But on green mosses, so soft, tempting to look at, it is usually damp.
In general, before setting up a tent in a chosen place, pass the interlacing of stems through your fingers, feel the soil. If moisture appears after pressing, look for a drier place.

Lie down on the chosen place (it is possible on the spread rug), roll from side to side. So you better determine how to position the tent, where is the top, where is the bottom. And in advance, remove the stone or bough found at your side, cut off the bump from the turf of grass or ferns.

Shelter from the rain can be found in the old mixed spruce forest. As a rule, there are always powerful sprawling spruces here, under which nothing grows, they shade the ground so much. A large amount of old dry needles accumulate here under the trunks. Under such trees, wild boars, deer, and elks often lay down. If the tent fits in between the gnarled tree-like roots that often come to the surface, why not use this forest hotel for a person? This is the perfect place for an overnight stay. Warm, soft and dry!

Where is it better to set up a tent in a forest or in a clearing?

It is always warmer to sleep under a canopy of trees than in an open meadow. This is especially felt on spring and autumn nights, when in the morning the blades of grass in an open place are covered with frost, and there is no frost under the trees.
In the summer the dew falls heavily on the meadow and the tent gets wet. Nylon ropes stretch, weaken from moisture, the awning sags, begins to touch the fabric of the tent, and if the impregnation of the tent is old, moisture will penetrate into the tent.

In the forest you can always find shelter from the wind. Only in hurricane winds is there a danger that trees will begin to fall. In such a strong wind you should not camp in a mature tall forest, especially among thick aspens - they are the most fragile and break first, easily, like matches. In such weather it is better to stop among young trees.

Setting up a tent in a swamp

It happens that the night of the traveler catches in the swamp and there is no time left to choose a place. It's OK. You should chop small pine trees, make flooring out of them, and put up a tent on top.

Setting up a tent on a hillside

If you find yourself on the slope of a mountain or a river valley and do not have time to find a flat area before dark, it does not matter. The slope can also be used. Set up your tent so that you can sleep with your feet down the slope. Place a log or large stones at the exit of the tent so that your feet rest against them and prevent you from sliding down.

Or, another option is to roll a roller out of clothes and put it under your “fifth point” - this also prevents rolling. Inside the tent, under the rug in places of dips, put shoes, a backpack, and food.
The next option is to collect grass, rotten, easily breaking wood, moss, lichen in a sleeping bag cover. And use all this for "profiling". The main thing is fantasy! Then you will sleep softly and evenly ...

Setting up a tent in winter

Before setting up a tent in the snow, the area should be compacted. The easiest way to do this is with skis or a wide board. Break fir branches as a mattress. It is better not to throw the spruce branches in disorder, but to stick them into the compacted snow at a slight angle to create a springy “mattress”. It turns out a wonderful spring bedding.

Climbing into the tent should be done carefully so that once again you do not push through the snow with your hands and do not create holes at your side.

What Not to Do

The most common mistake of novice tourists is putting polyethylene under the tent, supposedly in order not to get dirty, not to wet the bottom. What you fear will happen even faster. If the edge of the polyethylene even slightly protrudes from under the tent, water from the awning will inevitably flow onto it during oblique rain. The only time this is justified is when the corners are bent and attached, for example, with a clothespin to the walls of the tent.
Don't be afraid to pitch your tent on wet grass. Let the bottom get wet, but the mat will still remain dry. If you're really afraid of wet grass, lay some polyethylene inside the tent. The main thing is not to put up a tent in the depression of the relief!

Don't camp on low pebbly beaches mountain rivers. Although it is tempting: in the ventilated space, mosquitoes and midges do not annoy. However, the rain that has passed in the mountains and has not even touched you can dramatically increase the water level in the river, and the tent will simply be flooded.

In the mountains in winter it is life-threatening to put up a tent in avalanche-prone places - on slopes covered with a thick layer of snow, in narrow valleys, couloirs, gutters. Do not stand on peaks, snow ledges hanging over cliffs. They can just break off under your weight. It is dangerous to stand under steep slopes from which stones can crumble.

Tips for novice tourists - little tricks.

In the spring, when the snow has already melted, but the ground has not yet completely thawed, you can first make a fire in the place of the tent. In an hour the earth will warm up, the fire can be extinguished, trampled and covered with fresh spruce paws. And set up a tent on top. Sleep will be much warmer at night. The main thing is not to leave large coals so as not to burn the bottom of the tent!

If you're camping for a few days and the weather is rainy, it's a good idea to dig a shallow trench into your tent. So you will avoid possible flooding of the tent.
If you have a choice, try not to put up a tent on the sand - it will inevitably get inside your house.
Try to set up your tent away from dense bushes or tall grass, a haven for mosquitoes and small midges.

Anyone who has ever camped overnight probably understands how to pitch a tent. For experienced travelers, the process of installing a house does not take much time. For a beginner, the creation of an overnight stay can cause serious difficulties.

Choosing the right place

Some novice travelers believe that a tent can be set up absolutely anywhere. Moreover, this misconception is often confirmed by sellers in tourist shops. However, in order for the rest to be comfortable, you need to know where to put up a tent. When setting up accommodation for the night, consider the following:

1. The tent should not be pitched in a place where there are stones, sharp knots, tree roots or an anthill. Especially vicious insects can greatly spoil the sleep of a negligent tourist.
2. When sleeping on hilly terrain or in the mountains, it is important that during sleep the head is located higher on the slope, even if the slope on which the tent is set up is small. Otherwise, in the morning you will suffer from a migraine.
3. The possibility of sudden rain cannot be ruled out for sure. Therefore, it is important not to pitch your tent inside a hole or sinkhole. Otherwise, at night, water will flow directly into the shelter.
4. When setting up a tent, you need to think in advance about the place where the fire will be kindled. The tent ignites very quickly and must be protected from fire. In addition, it is important that smoke does not enter the tent.
5. It is not recommended to set up a tent directly next to a pond. This place is usually damper and colder.

Every novice traveler must understand where to put up a tent, otherwise he will not be able to avoid a spoiled trip.

Types of tents

Before understanding how to set up a tent for the night, it is important to know what type it belongs to. Most often in stores you can find a hemispherical (frame), tunnel (half-barrel) and gable (house) tent. The last one is outdated. The gable tent was very popular in the early days of backpacking. But lately, it is extremely rare to take it with you on a hike. The thing is that such a house is assembled for a long time, has poor wind resistance and is rather bulky.

Half-shell tents are also hard to set up. But this type has a big plus - it has quite a lot of space. Undoubtedly, the best-selling tent is hemispherical (frame). It is quite easy to assemble and has high strength.

Setting up the tent on site

How to put up a tent in nature, many novice travelers are interested. The installation process of the most popular hemispherical (frame) tent is as follows:

1. First you need to spread the inner tent on the ground.
2. Then you need to install the arcs. First you need to collect them. Namely, insert the elements of the frame into each other. This type of tent should have at least two arcs. Then it all depends on the design of the tent. The arcs can be inserted into the holes at the corners of the inner tent, and then fastened with hooks or threaded through fabric grooves and attached to the bottom of the tent. Then the arcs should be fixed with a rope to the tent itself. Due to this, the whole structure will become more rigid.
3. After the actions already taken, it is necessary to stretch the awning. It is important at the same time to match the inlet on the awning with the exit that is available on the inner tent. The awning can be attached in two ways (to the arcs or to the ground with pegs).

What should not be done by those who like spending the night in the forest

Some people who already know how to put up a tent make the following mistakes:

1. Polyethylene is used so as not to stain the bottom of the tent. However, with oblique rain, such a nuisance will happen even faster. If you decide to use polyethylene, then its corners need to be bent and attached to the bottom of the tent.
2. The tent does not need to be set up on the low beaches of mountain rivers. Due to rain, the water level in the river can suddenly rise and flood the overnight stay.
3. You need to be especially careful if the tent is set up in the mountains. It should be located away from avalanche areas. For example, on slopes where there is a thick layer of snow. It is strictly forbidden to stop for the night on the snow ledges.

Every fan of long trips should understand how to set up a tent correctly. As a rule, in the company of travelers only a couple of people know about it. Some people forget that hiking is not only a vacation, but also a big responsibility.

Choosing a safe place to set up a camping tent

Where to put up a tent for a hike: choosing a place and safety

Have you bought a camping tent, perhaps the first in your life, and think that the lack of installation experience will replace the instructions included in the package? It is unlikely! Life is always more complicated than any formal prescriptions. Believe in many years of experience: you can sleep better in a tent than in a five-star hotel room! But on one condition - you need to choose and prepare the right place for its installation.

In principle, common sense is enough for a successful choice. It is unlikely that there are lovers of sleeping on bumps, in puddles, in the same “room” with blood-sucking insects. It will not be possible to have a normal rest if the tent is in a passageway or next to a rubbish heap exuding miasma. No one likes to extricate themselves from a wind-blown tent in the middle of the night. It is unpleasant, and even deadly, if the tent is washed away with water, a tree collapses on it or stones fall down. Here, in fact, are all the criteria that should be followed when choosing a place.

Before unpacking the tent, meticulously and carefully inspect the chosen place. The first commandment of a tourist says: “do not put a tent on an anthill!” If an ant "path" passes on the selected site, you should not think that the ants will turn off when they see your temporary shelter. Not suitable for a relaxing holiday a place that crosses any path: both human and animal. At best, your tent will be tripped over, at worst, it will collapse, and it’s good if the sleeping travelers do not suffer.

It is better to abandon the idea of ​​​​putting a tent under a tree: you never know how it will “behave” in a hurricane wind. Probably, everyone met in the forest trees uprooted with roots without any visible signs of damage to the trunk. If a thunderstorm is gathering, you should also stay away from trees because they can catch fire due to lightning.

You can not pitch a tent on the edge or at the foot of steep banks - they have a bad habit of suddenly crumbling! An overnight stay in a tent set up at the very edge of the water can also end in failure. Rain and wind can dramatically change the water level in the reservoir and the height of the waves.

You should not put up a tent in natural depressions and in places where mosquitoes and midges accumulate. And there is no need to hope that “there will be no rain”, but we will get rid of mosquitoes with the help of modern repellents. As practice shows, it rains exactly when you are least ready for it, and mosquitoes will fly inside every time you open the tent.

If you plan to spend the night in the mountains, you should not forget about possible rockfalls, mudflows and landslides. And therefore it is not necessary to put up a tent in places where such natural phenomena are possible: under overhanging rocks, at the foot of mountain slopes. It is very dangerous to spend the night in the beds of mountain rivers, because during the rain they instantly fill with water, like a bucket under a running tap, and the speed of the current, huge stones, branches and logs significantly reduce the chances of survival.

Choosing a safe place to pitch a tent

To set up a tent, you need to find the most flat area. Stones, bumps, sharp or hard branches must be removed. Then it will be comfortable to sleep, and the tent will not tear. To level the site, you can use spruce paws, leaves, grass or hay. By the way, with such a bedding it will be warmer to sleep. Carefully inspect the trees around the proposed installation site, in no case should the tent be “covered” in the event of a tree or bough falling. To prevent the tent from being flooded during rain, it is necessary to dig it in - dig grooves around the perimeter and divert the drain away from the entrance.

Before setting up, lie down on your chosen site to determine how best to position the tent, where the entrance should be, and how to arrange sleeping quarters. Even a very slight natural slope of the terrain must be taken into account: there are few who like to sleep “upside down” or roll down the wall of the tent all night.

Particular attention should be paid to the entrance. Anything can happen in campaigns, and you must be ready to urgently leave the tent, pull out the sick or wounded from it. Therefore, the entrance cannot be filled up with things (it is better to put them under the canopy or at the feet). Access to the tent should not be hindered by bushes, stones, or the steep edge of the site. If there is a slight slope, then the entrance should be oriented towards it. You should not lie down with your head to the tent “door”, especially if several people are sleeping in the tent: you risk getting injuries of varying severity if someone needs to go out and, accordingly, go in in the middle of the night.

In order not to pester mosquitoes, you need to find a blown area. And if you have to take a rest with a strong wind, then you need to look for a place that is as protected from heavy gusts as possible. Otherwise, the tent can be demolished, and no pegs will save.

A bonfire is an invariable "attribute" of any campaign. To sit by the fire, fry kebabs or bake potatoes on the coals, of course, is great. But don't put up a tent near a fire. The wind will change a little, and it will be filled with acrid smoke, and this is at best. But the tent can catch fire! So a place to sleep should be arranged so that the fire, even in the worst case scenario, is not a threat to the lives of travelers. And in general, it is better to put out the fire at night "out of harm's way."

Traveling with tents is an extreme entertainment. But any "extreme" is good when it is under the control of common sense, knowledge and experience. And therefore - sensibly evaluate your strengths, learn from the mistakes of others and take care of yourself. Happy travels!