The 5 Best Family Tents for Camping This Summer
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After months of social distancing, many families are looking for safe and budget-friendly ways to hit the road and get in some travel. A camping trip provides a budget-friendly way to make the most of the great outdoors and spending time in nature, all while finding distance from others if so desired. Choosing a tent for your family can be a make or break decision when it comes to family camping. All tents are not created equally, and it is essential to find a family tent that meets your needs.
More: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Camping This Summer
Fortunately, we have a detailed roundup of the best family tents for camping in 2020 to help you make this challenging decision.
Our Top Picks
Largest, Affordable Tent: Ozark Trail 12 Person 3 Room L-Shaped Instant Cabin Tent
The Best Tent With Special Features: Coleman Tent for Camping | Montana Tent with Easy Setup
The Best 4-Season Canvas Tent for Families: DANCHEL 4-Season Family Cotton Bell Tent
The Best Lighted, Large Tents: CORE Lighted 10 Person Instant Cabin Tent with Screen Room
The Best Weather-Ready Tent: Coleman WeatherMaster 6-Person Tent with Screen Room
What to Consider When Purchasing a Family Tent for Camping This Summer
Before you start pursuing various camping tents, here are a list of things you might want to consider first:
- Budget: Although there are some solid budget-friendly family tent choices, there are many options that can be very expensive. Know what your threshold is in advance.
- Seasons: Reflect on whether your family will only be camping in the summer or whether you might want to use the family tent for camping in other seasons. This parameter has a big impact on what kind of tent you choose.
- Features: Ask yourself questions like: Do we need a tent with more than one room? Do we need an extra tall tent? Do we need a screen room to protect ourselves from mosquitoes? Do we need an awning or a privacy feature like room dividers?
- Size: How many people will be sharing this tent? Generally, you want to figure that if you have a family of four, you should get a six person tent, and so on. The plus two rule is important for having the right amount of space.
How We Chose Our Favorites
We have chosen our favorite family camping tents using various trusted resources. We’ve based these choices in the personal experience of real parents and kids, the voices of experts, and through scouring many reviews on top websites. We’ve included some of the most helpful reviews of each family tent below.
Best Choice for Those Looking for the Largest, Affordable Tent Possible
The Ozark Trail 12 Person L-Shaped Tent is an excellent option for families who are looking for lots of space and a darkening feature to extend sleeping time. This cabin tent is very affordable for what you get, and has the added bonus of easy setup. If you have a large family or if you’re just looking for as much space as possible, this is a family tent to consider.
“We're a family of four, with two dogs. We camp about five times a year in south Florida. We have owned this tent for seven years and will be replacing it with the same tent.”
“Roomy. We have a high queen size air mattress and a night table with drawers in the master bedroom, and each other room has the kids high air mattress a night table a dog crate and room to spare. Each room is divided by a dedicated door, not a clip on sheet. The mesh storage compartment/pockets throughout the tent are totally clutch for all kinds of stuff.”
The Best Tent With Special Features
The Coleman Montana Tent has several special features that provide the ease that many families are looking for. Angled windows keep rain out while allowing air to still come in. The e-port provides electrical access inside the tent if you’re worried about charging your devices. In addition, the hinged door makes it as easy as possible to get in and out of the tent.
My Trail Co: “This additional big one-room tent out of Coleman is a fantastic option for casual camping households and scout trips thanks to being simple to transport, gathering in mere moments with no hassle, also includes a 16×7 footprint along with 74-inch highest height at the middle. Reverse angle windows, a vent for electric access, and also a smart WeatherTec system that help keep out water make this additional big Coleman dome camping tent a nice budget choice.”
Outdoor Spider: “The best thing about this Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent is that it comes with hinged door that many campers desire to have… If you are planning to go camping with 7 more people out there, then this would be a great choice to have.”
The Best 4-Season Canvas Tent for Families
Cotton canvas tents are definitely more expensive than other options, but if you are looking for a waterproof and weatherproof tent that can easily stand up to all kinds of weather, this is the way to go. This tent also offers longevity which makes it a worthy investment. Families will also love the 360 degree view when you visit beautiful sites as it has a full zip around the bottom which can be rolled up. If your family has an interest in glamping, this is a tent that can easily be transformed into a beautiful space and campsite
The Tent Hub: “A rugged, robust and beautifully designed family canvas tent here from Danchel. Straight off the bat, you’ll notice it’s a 4-season model, meaning it is suitable for any weather, 365 days of the year. This shows the strength of treated canvas, it can stand up to snowfall and resist water penetration even when pitched on top of snow.”
Amazon: “This tent was awesome! Setup time by myself was around 30 minutes, plenty of room for myself, wife, three kids and a baby. I installed a roof pipe opening for a HQ stove that I purchased. Spent the weekend for my birthday at 9,400 ft in elevation in the Sacramento Mountain range. We woke the next morning with snowing most of the day and the lows were 23° F. We were very warm and comfortable! I would highly recommend it!”
The Best Lighted, Large Tent for Families
Families will love the built-in LED lighting that comes with three brightness settings and the quick and easy setup. A lovely feature is the mesh roof for panoramic stargazing on summer nights. The large space and headroom will allow the adults to stand up inside the tent and have plenty of room to store all of the camping gear that comes along with bringing kids.
The Tent Hub: “This is one of our favorite family models of lighted tents. It encompasses 3 main features that are a perfect fit for groups… A wall mount gives you full control of the lighting, with 3 variations of brightness. Serving as the power output for the lighting also, you will get different run times from the low, medium and high settings. Ranging from 50h up to 250h of run time, depending on the brightness used.”
Amazon: “Tent is huge, at 6'1" I am easily able to stand up inside. We were able to fit 2 queen sized inflatable sofa beds with some room to walk around. The lights provide an appropriate amount of visibility, not obnoxiously bright and you won't trip. Screen room keeps dirt outside of your sleeping space. Bottom airflow vents keep it from getting stuffy inside, even with the rain fly on. The whole thing assembled in under 5 minutes.”
The Best Weather-Ready Tent
As the name “WeatherMaster” implies, this six-person tent is made to protect you. It flaunts protected seams, a wind-strong frame, zipper protection, and waterproof floors. The spacious, breathable interior has enough room for two queen-sized air mattresses if you prefer that to sleeping bags, plus there is a screen room for hanging out without the mosquitoes joining you. Families love the special features as well like storage pockets to stay organized, a hinged door, and an e-port.
Amazon: “I've used all kinds of backpacking tents, good and bad. Never have I bought a "car camping" tent until now. I wasn't sure about how I'd like it or the craftsmanship of the product. Boy, this is one nice tent. Super strong, went up in 30 minutes on first try, stable and robust… This will be a very comfortable tent, well made, easily handle the elements, and quality all around.”
Tents Review: “This is the first model that comes under Coleman WeatherMaster Series. With the dimensions of 11 ft. x 9 ft, the tent offers enough space to accommodate 6 persons at a time. This tent features the Hinged door that lets you easily open and shut the door which means you can easily exit or enter the tent. The tent comes with small pockets which make sure that you keep your stuff well organised and don’t take up the floor space much. This is one of the best waterproof tents you can ever get a hold of.”
