After thousands of dollars and over 30 family camping tents, here are 16 of the best family camping tents,
What’s the best family camping tent
before we dig into choosing the best camping tent, I encourage you first to check our guide to choose the best camping tent, which will give you a good overview on what you actually need.
Starting with Core Equipment’s 10-Person Cabin Tent.
The main reason I love this Core tent is its impressive peak height of 90 inches. I measured the peak height of all the family tents I tested, and none come close to the Core. Since I have too many tents to fit into one table, I’ll provide the peak heights of only the six tallest tents, while grouping the others into the last row, which have peak heights ranging from 68 to 77 inches
One thing to consider is that if you’re not as tall as I am—I’m 5’3″ (160 cm)—you might find this peak height a bit too high. I couldn’t reach the top of the tent, so whenever I wanted to hang a lantern or grab something from the gear loft, I had to stand on a chair.
My brother, who is around 5’6″ to 5’7″ (174 cm), had no trouble reaching it, so I’d recommend this peak height for anyone who is at least his height.
The next tent is the Coleman Sundome 6, which is my first Best Budget Tent.
At around $100, which is how much I paid for my Sundome, this is easily the most affordable family camping tent of decent quality. While it can technically accommodate six family members, I recommend a maximum of four adults for added comfort, with two on each queen bed
Just got back from camping in the rainy North Cascades and this tent kept me and my 7 year old daughter dry the entire time. It was raining when we arrived so I was thankful this tent was easy for the 2 of us to set up quickly! I got the 4 person version and it fit our queen sized air mattress and a small fold up end table for a night stand along with both of our backpacks without feeling too crowded inside —
Katie
Ozark Dark rest instant 6
Now, you may have heard of Ozark Trail
and you may be wondering, why not pick that as the best budget tent instead?
Well, first up, the quality of Ozark Trail tents just aren’t as good as Coleman.
And second, their waterproofing is terrible, and the seams will start feeling damp after just 15 minutes of very, very light rain.
On the other hand, the Sundome could survive about 30 minutes of heavy rain before its seams got damp as well. Unless there’s no chance of rain at all, I wouldn’t recommend the Ozark.
If you want to give it a try, or use it in the summer season, take a look here as the price is dropping now.
Coleman Montana 8
If you need something a little bigger than the Sundome 6, then I’d recommend the Coleman Montana 8 instead,
and this is my second Best Budget Tent.
The Montana is essentially a slightly larger, extended version of the Sundome. Both tents have nearly the same peak height of around 74 inches, but the Montana can accommodate eight regular pads compared to just six in the Sundome. Additionally, the Montana can fit three queen beds, while the Sundome only holds two.
The Montana has two cool features that the Sundome lacks.
First, it includes a porch area at the front of the tent, which I really appreciated because it kept my flip-flops cool instead of overheating them in the sun, unlike the Sundome that offered almost no shade at all.
As for the second feature, I’ll keep you in suspense and cover that in the next section!
For now, I paid about $120 for my 8-person Montana, not too much more expensive than the Sundome, and this is a fantastic price for a budget 8-person tent.
The Coleman WeatherMaster 10
If the Montana is too small for you, you can upgrade further to the Coleman WeatherMaster 10, which is my third budget family tent. While it’s not as budget-friendly—about double the price of the Montana, as I paid around $250 for mine—the price increase comes with six additional benefits
Here are the six benefits of the Coleman WeatherMaster 10:
- Higher Quality Materials: The WeatherMaster features thicker and more durable steel poles, whereas the Montana and Sundome use thinner fiberglass poles.
- Increased Peak Height: It offers a peak height of 80.5 inches, providing more headroom.
- Removable Room Divider: This allows you to split the tent into two separate rooms for added privacy.
- Angled Windows for Ventilation: The large angled windows provide excellent ventilation, even in the rain.
- Extra Door: The WeatherMaster includes one additional door for easier access.
- Hinged Door: One of the doors is a hinged door, which is the cool feature I promised to share!
Using this hinged door was simple: I just grabbed the handle, similar to a regular home door, pulled it open, stepped inside the tent, and closed the door behind me.
The Montana features a hinged door, similar to the WeatherMaster, which is one of the reasons it’s considered a step up from the Sundome. In terms of size, the WeatherMaster accommodates 10 regular sleeping pads or three queen beds, making it ideal for six people who prefer extra comfort. If you’re looking at these three budget family Coleman tents, here’s a handy table highlighting the main differences to assist you.
This table is about the dimensions in each tent, and this other table is about the features in each tent.
FEATURES
| FAMILY TENT | POLES | DIVIDER | DOORS | HINGED DOOR? | ANGLED WINDOWS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEATHER MASTER | STEEL | YES | 2 | YES | 2 |
| MONTANA | FIBERGLASS | NO | 1 | YES | 0 |
| SUNDOME | FIBERGLASS | NO | 1 | NO | 0 |
PEAK HEIGHT
| FAMILY TENT | PEAK HEIGHT (in) |
|---|---|
| CORE CABIN 10 | 90 |
| EUREKA LX 6 | 84 |
| WONDERLAND 6 | 81 |
| WEATHERMASTER | 80.5 |
| COLUMBIA | 80 |
| GAZELLE T4 | 77.5 |
| THE REST | 68-77 |
If you’ve chosen the Sundome, you might want to consider a small upgrade to the Sundome Dark Room instead of the standard model. This tent is also my top pick for a blackout tent. The two tents are nearly identical, with the main difference being Coleman’s Dark Room technology
This is the regular Sundome in the middle of the day, and there’s no dark room tech.
Now, check out the dark room Sundome. There’s a lot less light, and it’s great for sleeping in a little more.
I’m aware that Ozark Trail offers their Dark Rest tents, but after a year in storage, the blackout fabric began to deteriorate significantly, leaving a sticky residue on my fingers whenever I touched the tent walls, which is quite unpleasant. In contrast, I didn’t experience the same problem with my Coleman blackout fabric, even after 3-4 years. As I mentioned earlier, I generally prefer Coleman over Ozark Trail.
Coleman Evanston Tent
If you need a screen room tent on a budget, don’t worry because Coleman has got you covered as well, and I really liked the Coleman Evanston Tent.
This tent is quite similar to the Sundome, but it features an additional screen room in front, providing an extra 42 square feet of space. Interestingly, the total area of the Evanston 6 is around 20 square feet larger than that of the Montana 8, which has a base area of approximately 103 square feet.
The main drawback is that the screen room offers very little rainfly protection, so even during light rain, water can seep in, and it’s even worse in heavy rain. To keep it protected, you would need to set up an additional tarp over the tent.
Gazelle T4
I also appreciate CORE as a budget brand, and they offer screen room tents that closely resemble Coleman’s. However, I believe the same issue of insufficient rainfly protection applies here as well. If you have three times the budget of the Evanston, you might consider the Gazelle T4 Plus Hub Tent, which I found to be the best screen room tent available. To be transparent, I don’t own this tent since it costs around $910, which is beyond my current budget, but I do have the regular T4.
You can still go and check the plus one here Gazelle T4+ Hub tent
I really appreciate that the screen room panels in the Gazelle can be fully closed, providing much better rain protection. In contrast, the panels in my Evanston can’t be shut, which allows a lot of water to enter, and I believe the CORE tents have the same issue.
And yes, Gazelle is not a cheap brand, but it offers a lot more livable space inside the tent, much more features, and of course, much higher quality materials as well.
Here’s a table summarizing the key differences between my Gazelle T4, and also my Evanston 6.
Family Tent Comparison
| FEATURE | GAZELLE T4 | EVANSTON 6 |
|---|---|---|
| PEAK HEIGHT | 77.5 IN | 68.5 |
| TENT SHAPE | CABIN | DOME |
| SIDE WALLS | VERTICAL | SLOPING |
| DOORS | 2 | 3 |
| WINDOWS | 8 | 7 |
| UPF RATING | 50+ | NONE |
| FLOORING | 300D POLYESTER | POLYETHYLENE |
| TENT BODY | 68D POLYESTER | 75D POLYESTER |
| RAINFLY | 210D POLYESTER | NONE |
| HR RATING | 2,000-5,000 | NO BRAND |
| ZIPPERS | YKK | NO BRAND |
As you can see, there’s a lot more that you get with the Gazelle. And since we’re on the topic, if you’re looking for the best instant tent, that’s easily the Gazelle T4 as well.
Out of all the family tents in this review, the Gazelle sets up the fastest, and nothing even comes close. It also packs away the fastest as well, and you can pause the review to check out all these timings on the screen here.
On top of this, the Gazelle’s peak height is pretty massive for a 4-person tent, coming in at 77 and a half inches. Notice that it’s actually one of the tallest few tents in this review?
It’s nearly comparable to larger 6-person and even 10-person tents, which is quite impressive. The tent features completely vertical side walls, allowing me to move around freely inside. I was able to comfortably fit four people in this tent, along with two double pads in my Gazelle, and still had some extra space left over.
Sadly, the Gazelle doesn’t come in a 6-person version, but my second-best instant tent does, and that’s the Caddis Rapid 6. There are two main reasons why you might pick the Caddis over the Gazelle.
- The first reason is if you need to fit more people into your instant tent. The Caddis has a max capacity of six, but I’d recommend at most four people instead, on two queen beds, like this. On the other hand, the Gazelle has a max capacity of four, but I’d recommend at most two people, on one queen bed, or maybe three people would be fine as well.
- The second and more important reason is if the Gazelle is too expensive at the time you’re checking this review out. The Caddis actually has a 25% lower retail price, but at the same time, the quality of the materials is solid as well.
The flooring and the tent body are only slightly less thick than the Gazelle, while the poles are thicker and made of beefier steel, compared to fiberglass. You also get micro-mesh instead of regular mosquito netting.
Core Instant 9
If you need a much larger tent for a family, the best one I’ve tested is from CORE, specifically their 9-person instant tent. I could fit nine regular pads inside this tent, and here’s what that looks like, giving you significantly more space than if you were to buy a four-person Gazelle or even the six-person Caddis.
And of course, here are some setup timings for the CORE Instant 9, compared to other similar-sized family tents, including 8-person and 10-person tents.
Notice that the CORE sets up much quicker, taking anywhere from 1.5 times to more than two times less than the other tents in this review. The same goes for the pack-away timings; the CORE is just significantly faster than the rest of the 8 to 10-person family tents.
Family Tent Setup Timings
| FAMILY TENT | SETUP TIMINGS |
|---|---|
| CORE INSTANT 9 | 12 MINS |
| WEATHERMASTER 10 | 19 MINS |
| MONTANA 8 | 22 MINS |
| CORE CABIN 10 | 22 MINS |
| COLUMBIA 10 | 28 MINS |
Outdoor Products 10-Person Instant Tent 1
If you need something even bigger, the largest instant tent that I recommend is the Outdoor Products 10-Person Instant Tent.
It’s slightly bigger than the CORE and can fit four queen beds with no space left, while the CORE only accommodates two queens but has a lot of extra space. It also fits 10 single sleeping pads if you really want to squeeze 10 people into this tent.
Here’s a secret pro tip that I think no one else has noticed:
both the CORE and Outdoor Products have the exact same instant mechanism. The poles are identical, the hubs at the top are the same, and they even came with the same product tags.
Additionally, the flooring, tent body, and rainfly fabric are all of the same quality. While the materials are a bit more budget-friendly than I would have liked, I found the instant mechanism to be the best among the large family instant tents I’ve tested. That’s why I recommend these tents. For the best value, check the prices of both and buy whichever one is less expensive.
Now, if you’re looking for the largest possible family camping tent, I recommend the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12.
I have the LX 6, which has the same peak height as the 12, coming in at a full seven feet. It boasts one of the tallest peak heights among all the family tents here, surpassed only by the CORE. Additionally, I was able to stand comfortably throughout, including in the corners, where the height was still 66 inches. Thanks to the near-vertical side walls, I could walk around easily inside this tent.
I think Coleman, Ozark, and CORE all have 12-person tents as well, but I’m recommending the Eureka because it offers higher quality. For instance, my Eureka comes with a lifetime warranty, features higher quality materials like thicker and beefier fiberglass roof poles, and provides much better waterproofing.
In contrast, both Coleman and CORE only offer a one-year warranty, while Ozark’s is only six months. Their fiberglass poles are thinner, the materials are cheaper, and the waterproofing isn’t as effective.
Columbia Mammoth Creek 10
I found it a bit strange that Eureka doesn’t have a 10-person model, so for the next best large family tent, since I can’t recommend the Eureka again, I’m going to suggest the Columbia Mammoth Creek 10.
I tested the Columbia against five other 10-person tents, and it performed fantastically in all these different tests, from space to quality. It also came in first overall, making it the best 10-person tent that I tested.
Here are some of my favorite features:
It has the best room divider of all the tents in this review, as it’s completely full length and provides a lot of privacy.
The T-door on the left is huge, most of the windows are nice and big for summer ventilation, and it even has two pull-out windows that I could leave open in the rain.
Speaking of rain, this was the only 10-person tent to survive my 1-hour heavy rain test with no leaks at all.
So far, most of the tents I’ve discussed are three-season summer tents, and this next tent is my only three-plus-season option in a family size. It’s also the only family tent that has a full-length rainfly, which extends all the way down to the ground.
Rei Base camp 6
This Base Camp successfully passed my one-hour heavy rain test without any leaks. This, coupled with the large fabric-to-mesh ratio, makes it the perfect family tent for off-season camping.
My Base Camp also offers the best storage options. First, it features not just a big front vestibule but an extra back vestibule as well, providing a whopping 52.5 square feet of additional space.
The total square footage is super impressive, on par with all the 10-person tents that I tested for this review. The rest of the tents are much smaller, so I just lumped them into this last row.
And second, the Base Camp has a whopping 14 pockets all around the tent, along with a mind-boggling 20 loops. None of the other family tents even come close to what the Base Camp offers in terms of storage.
In contrast, the Wonderland has the maximum amount of mesh possible for summer ventilation. The mesh doesn’t just cover the ceiling; it extends down the sides of the tent as well, making it easily more than half covered in mesh. Meanwhile, none of the other tents have mesh that extends beyond the ceiling.
I have made a table to gather my thoughts about the mesh-to-fabric ratio in each tested tent.
Family Tent Specifications
| FAMILY TENT | POCKETS | LOOPS | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| BASE CAMP 6 | 14 | 20 | 34 |
| WAWONA 6 | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| WONDERLAND 6 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| EUREKA LX6 | 5 | 11 | 16 |
| CADDIS 6 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| GAZELLE T4 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| THE REST | 2-4 | 2-4 | 4-8 |
These are just estimations, but I did my best to measure the windows, vents, and ceiling mesh in each tent. The Base Camp is probably way down there at about 20% mesh coverage.
Rei Wonderland 6 tent
On top of ventilation, the Wonderland is also incredibly spacious for a six-person tent. It has the best lowest height at its two left and right sides, coming in at a whopping 76 inches. No other family tent even comes close. The center peak height measures about 81 inches, so essentially, I got the peak height, give or take a few inches, across the entire length of this Wonderland.
The North Face Wawona 6
And finally, we’ve got The North Face Wawona 6, which won four of my most important awards for the best family camping tent.
In terms of weather protection, this was the only family tent that I managed to test through a whopping three days of heavy afternoon rain. It was so intense that my entire yard flooded, with the bottom of the tent completely underwater, and it didn’t leak at all.
For the rest of the family tents here, I only managed to test them through at most some overnight rain, nothing as heavy as the Wawona, though. I also put my Wawona through 15-mile-per-hour winds, and it held up completely fine because I had it all guyed out.
The Wawona has the most guylines of any dome-shaped family tent here, along with the highest quality DAC MX aluminum poles, making it naturally the best against wind.
On the other hand, I recommend avoiding cabin tents if you’re expecting strong winds, as they tend to blow away pretty easily.
The Wawona also has the best vestibule of any of the tents reviewed. If you’re looking to take your family tent through some serious rains, this is a great feature to have for storing wet gear.
Only two tents in this review have vestibules, and you’ll notice that the base area of the Wawona’s vestibule is slightly smaller than that of the Base Camp’s.
But the thing is, livability in the Wawona’s vestibule is much better, I could stand up in the entire vestibule, and even fit two camping chairs with lots of leftover space for a table too.
As for the Base Camp, while the front vestibule could fit a maximum of two chairs, the back vestibule couldn’t even fit one chair, resulting in much less livability.
The rest of the tents
Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t get any of these other family tents. These tents are all on my wish list, and one day I’d like to buy and test them as well. However, right now, I’m broke because of this, so I could choose only one. Between the Wawona and the Nemo, I went with the Wawona because of its humongous vestibule.
Based on the prices here, I thought the Wawona was a steal, which is why I believe it offers the best bang for the buck if you’re looking for a higher-end family camping tent. These four important reasons make the Wawona my top pick as a family tent.