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6 best family tents for a camping adventure

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GONE are the days of thick, unbending canvas, breakable poles and family tents requiring 130 pegs. Where if you dared to even touch the inside of the tent it started leaking and the only choices came down to colour. 

Now there’s so many to choose from it can be a bit overwhelming.

The last time I bought a tent it was for Glastonbury festival 15 years ago and boy, have things changed since then. 

I splashed out one that was large for a single person - one room for me, one room for my booze - but you literally had to bend almost double to crawl into the tiny saggy space. . 

And every year since - as a family of four - we’ve dragged it out the attic and then spent an hour arguing how best to erect it in a rainy campsite in Dorset.

So trying out all these tents for Sun Shopping was an absolute pleasure.

Bring on the colour coordinated poles and black out blinds - the pop ups and the multi-room - the tents of 2024 are truly terrific. 

So here at Sun Shopping we can bring the glamping back into camping and take the intense out of the tents as we bring you the best on the market at the moment.

Best family tents at a glance:

Berghaus Air 400XL Nightfall

This is the absolute daddy of family tents. A truly magnificent beast. But beware: in it's carry case it will fill the entire boot of a normal sized car, with no space to squeeze in your sleeping bags. Thankfully the case is on wheels as it’s too heavy to carry anywhere. But if you’re prepared for that, it’s well worth the high price tag.

It comes with it’s own pump, which is necessary as a small electric pump probably won't be able to handle the work.

And it inflates astonishingly quickly. If I hadn’t been an idiot and realised there was a valve inside that needed to be ‘up’ I genuinely think I could have got the whole tent up in under 20 minutes. 

My garden was not the ideal size to test it; it really does need a wide open space to pull it out to its full glory. And, when you do, my goodness it’s big! My children were doing cartwheels in the living space and I have no doubt my 6ft 4 husband’s head would be nowhere near the roof; extraordinary. 

And the bedroom, which would easily fit two double blow up mattresses side by side, has an amazing black out ability, even through lightweight canvas. 

It’s got windows and air vents and, because it’s Berghaus, you just know that it's really well made and worth every penny. Plus, you can deflate it extremely quickly and I even managed to fold it up and get it back in it’s carry case on the second try; pretty impressive for a tent that size!

Quechua Camping Tent MH100 - 3-person

Who says family tents have to be for four people? This is a three person tent and, although I suspect it would probably be more comfortable for two, if you’re three people on the smaller side, then its fine. 

It comes in a bag so small you could probably fit it in a rucksack, and the tent peg is part of the bag, which is really helpful. It literally took ten minutes to put up, and was really easy, simple and old school.

The handy hooks attach the inner layer to the outer tent, creating a freestanding structure, so you could literally pick it up and move it if you didn’t fancy your neighbours much. 

It’s more suited to a family out hiking, or not spending much time in one place, as there’s literally no room for anything else except sleeping. And it's unlikely you could fit in blow up mattresses; this is much more suited to sleeping mats.

It’s got a lovely little rigid back window, which is a really nice touch. And a little porch to leave your walking boots outside. 

Quechua Arpanaz

I loved this tent; it’s old school, it's got poles you have to poke through, but joy of joys they’re colour coordinated and you would not believe what a difference that makes compared to my tent from 15 years ago.

They feel very robust and each pole is smaller, which makes it feel stronger. The instructions are attached to the carry bag, which is also a nice touch; no more running across a field chasing paper flying in the wind.

It’s got two rooms and a living space in between (that you can stand up in) which is another massive positive. Each room has got windows and I like the fact there are four pockets in each. Very handy.

Decathlon boast that it also reduces temperatures inside (probably because of the white canvas) although I'm not sure that’s the most practical colour for my family.

There’s also ventilation in the roof as well as two giant windows in the living space, which is really practical.

My only concern is that it’s quite heavy, but it does have two long carrying handles so you could probably sling it over your back if you had far to walk; a great buy for the price.

Mountain Warehouse Single Skin

I’d never dealt with a pop up tent before, but what an absolute joy! Just unzip it from the bag and give it a shake and voila! The four man tent unfolds in front of your eyes with zero effort whatsoever.

What a great concept and for a tent that’s under £100, this one really delivered.

You could just about fit four people in at a push, but definitely worth trying.

And because the groundsheet and poles are all part of it, it actually feels pretty sturdy.

It’s single skin - and billed as ‘rain resistant’ so I’m not sure how well it would hold up to a British summer storm, but if you plan ahead, you should be fine.

My only gripe is that it takes a while to get your head round how to squeeze it back into it’s little round bag. But there’s videos online to help you, and I got there in the end.

A great, fun tent, perfect for a festival.  

Robert Dyas Coleman Octagon 8

This is a great tent! It looks good, feels good, and is really spacious. Forget paying the price of a week abroad for a glamping style yurt in a field in the UK. You’ll genuinely make people feel a bit silly for shelling out so much cash when you rock up with this.

First of all, it has a solid-bottomed carrying case with wheels, which is such a great touch, and takes half the stress out of dragging it across a field (although I'm not sure how well the wheels would fare if it was muddy).

Again it's got really clever colour coordinated poles, which makes putting it up a dream. Although I would say it’s a two-man job; I did manage it by myself but the air around me was pretty blue.

The instructions were attached and came in the form of pictures, which was unusual but helpful.

And it just looked fab once it was up. One of my favourite touches was the rigid hinged door, which I’d not seen before. You could easily fit four people in there. In fact, Robert Dyas reckon you could fit eight!

But I’d rather go for four or five plus all your stuff plus blankets, hampers and blow up mattresses to make it a real glamping experience. Well worth the price tag.

Vango Cosmos 300

This looked and felt like it would be at home on the side of a mountain. It's a three-person tent so if you’re looking for four, you’re not going to fit into this one. But I’d say there was just about enough room for three in the detachable sleeping area.

It’s lightweight and comes in a decent, roomy bag which is such a nice alternative to the ones where you have to make 15 attempts to get it back in.

I couldn’t find any instructions, but it was really simple to put together (as long as you had a photo of what it was supposed to look like) as it’s got a few unusual angles to it.,

The inner lining came attached already, which was also helpful and again, it had a couple of colour coordinated poles which matched the sockets, so you knew what was what.

There were handy bags inside and bright guy ropes, so it felt very practical. It's also got a large porch space you could fit rucksacks etc in.

Vango boasts that its technical-sounding Protex Eco Fly sheet will keep the bad weather at bay.

The sleeping area is completely removable if you wanted extra space, making it a great, practical mountain tent.

What size family tent do I need?

Tents are categorised by how many people they sleep. However, a family of four shouldn’t necessarily opt for a tent that sleeps four, as you’ll need to consider room for storage and living space too. A good rule of thumb is to choose a tent with one extra sleeping berth, so you always have a bit of wiggle room.

However, if you’re planning on a week's holiday or longer, you may want to go even larger. Or perhaps you’re planning on a family hiking holiday and want to carry your tent everywhere, in which case a lighter, smaller tent, purely for sleeping may be the right choice.

Many serious camping families have a few different tent options, depending on the type of holiday they are planning.

What to look for when choosing a family tent

When choosing a family tent, there are a few different things to consider. Firstly, how much space you’ll need so that all your clan can all be comfortable. If you have younger children, you may be bringing a travel cot and prefer to share a sleeping space so you can keep an eye on them, whereas older kids may want their own bedroom.

There are lots of tent configurations, available so look at what might work best for you and how it’ll grow with your family too.

You also need to think about weather conditions, if you’re camping in the summer look for tents with good ventilation and mesh panels to keep out bugs. Early spring and autumn campers will need to prioritise waterproofing and warmth; accessories such as tent carpets can keep things toasty.

Getting a good night’s sleep is usually top of most parents’ wish list, but this is especially true when camping. If you have younger children, light evenings and early sunrises through thin tent material can mean little ones have trouble staying in their sleeping bags, so look for tents that have blackout bedrooms to increase your chances of getting some shut-eye.

Another important family tent factor is how quickly you can get everything set up. Inflatable tents, which have air beams instead of poles are generally quicker to erect, however, you’ll also need to carry a pump and they are often more expensive too.

Whatever tent you choose, you can always shop around for extra accessories to make your pitch more comfortable. Reinforced tent pegs, storage pockets, clip-on porches, extensions, pods, footprints and carpets can make all the difference.

How much should I spend on a family tent?

Family tents can vary in price from around £75 for a basic one-room sleeping pod, up to £2,500 for a deluxe, palatial tent with every swishy mod con going. Generally, more expensive tents have harder-wearing materials that will last longer, so it may be worth investing in a pricier model, particularly if you want to take your tent out several times a year.

However, consider how much space you need for your family, the length of time you’re going away and what functionality is important to you – maybe you want an inflatable tent, perhaps you’d like lots of bedrooms or maybe you just need a tent that’s very lightweight – all these factors will alter the price tag. Broadly speaking, entry-level campers should be able to find a decent family tent for around £500-800 (depending on size).

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