Correctly hanging a hammock is essential to ensure both safety and comfort for when you use it.
It is not uncommon for people to complain of bad backs or serious injury after using a hammock. However the reality is they probably just didn’t consider where or how to hang it.
In this article you will learn how to hang your hammock outdoors properly in 5 easy steps so you are left with a positive hammock experience.

1. Find out what kind of hammock you have
If you’re looking up how to hang your hammock, you’ve probably already bought or have one ready to hang. The first thing we would advise is to check what kind of hammock you have on your hands.
Is it a hammock that is suited for the location in which you want to place it? What kind of hanging system does it use? Is the material suited for outdoors, and so on… Is it one of our favorite ENO hammocks?
The second thing to do in this step is to check the manual (if there is one) on how to hang that given hammock. Hanging a hammock is fairly easy to do, but some hammocks are simply unique in the way they’re designed and might have a special kind of hanging system.
If there’s no such thing in your hammock package, proceed to step two to see how hammocks should be hung in general.
2. Find a suitable place for your hammock
Location, location, location! The first thing you have to do with every project is choose the appropriate place to pursue it. If you’re looking for a place in your garden, you should study a few things first.
Look at the sun and how it behaves during the day. There’s nothing more annoying than the sun burning your eyes while you try to relax in your hammock.
If you have two trees (12-24 feet apart from each other) in your garden, you might be off to a great start. Think about it as if it was finding the right place for your bed in your bedroom. You wouldn’t put it just anywhere now, would you?
Make this effort early and you’ll be rewarded with a comfortable and relaxing place once you finish hanging your hammock.
If you don’t have any trees in your back yard that are the right distance apart, take a look at our suggestions for alternatives on how to hang a hammock without trees.
3. Secure the hanging system onto the trees
A set of quality hammock straps can make it easy to hang your hammock correctly with ease. Depending on the type of straps the hammock you have comes with, there are different ways to secure them to the trees.
If the hammock comes with slap straps (something we recommend) you simply have to attach the straps onto the trees. But how high do you attach the straps?
Ideally you want the hammock to give you a 30 degree angle from base to tree for optimal body positioning. It is recommended to get the lowest point of the hammock at 18 inches off the ground, for safety and ease of getting in and out of the hammock.
See below for our guide for how high to wrap the slap straps around the tree depending on how far apart the trees are to achieve the optimal hanging position.
Hammock Strap Fixing Height In Feet (ft)
Hammock Strap FixingHeight In Meters (m)
If your hammock comes with screws, you’ll have to drill holes into the trees, which we wouldn’t recommend. It is much prettier for a tree to stay intact while you enjoy swinging in your hammock underneath their tree tops. We would advise you to get slap straps instead and follow step number 2 from the beginning.
4. Attach the hammock carabiner to the hanging system
Once you’ve attached the slap strap to the trees, it’s time to hang you’re hammock. Don’t worry, if you’ve done everything right so far, then there’s nothing to worry about. Just make sure the hammock is the right side up and attach the carabiner to the slap straps you wrapped around the trees earlier.
Attach one side first and then pick up the other side as well. Make sure the height of the hammock fits in nicely to achieve the 30 degree angle, or whatever is best suited for your needs. If necessary, undo everything to this point and regulate the slap strap height until you find the one that is the best for you.
5. Test the hammock
Testing the hammock is an extremely important part of the hanging process. Don’t just jump into the hammock like it’s been there forever and you know how it’s going to behave. You don’t know how stable it is yet. Maybe the carabiner has a defect and won’t withstand the pressure.
Maybe the slap strap is old or has a factory flaw which will make it break. There are a million little things that can be outside of your power to control, so don’t get too excited until you test the hammock first.
Gently press the middle of the hammock with your hands. See the hanging system span and pay close attention to the way the moving parts behave. Then, grab one end of the hammock and pull down on it to see if it moves downwards. Repeat the same thing on the other side.
If everything seems to be fine, you can now gently climb into the hammock. Listen to the sound the hanging system makes. Watch it closely. If everything is fine you can finally start relaxing on your newly hung hammock.
Take a look at our tips on how to sleep in a hammock to maximise your comfort.
Conclusion
To recap it all, hanging a hammock is not extremely difficult, but you should nonetheless pay close attention to the way you’re doing it. Be cautious with the way you secure the hammock to the trees and test the hammock first before deciding to jump into it right after hanging it.
Even when the hammock becomes a part of your garden, you should always be careful in the way you climb into it, so you can enjoy it for a long time to come.