THINKING of taking the family for an adventure in the great outdoors this summer? Whether you’re planning a long weekend camping in your favourite outdoor spot, a few days covered in mud and glitter at a festival or a hike in the hills with your bed on your back a family tent that can accommodate the whole crew is an absolute must-have.

Like a decent sleeping bag, the right tent is imperative to your camping comfort and can absolutely make or break your family holiday. There’s nothing worse than trying to put up a tent in bone-drenching conditions while your kids sit grumpily in the car (been there!) or waking up with several small elbows, feet and a collapsed canopy in your face (been there, too).

For the perfect family camping trip, you need a tent that’s easy enough to put up, big enough to sleep everyone, plus store all their belongings comfortably and a quality structure that won’t fail you even in the worst weather conditions. With this in mind, we’ve found the best family tents for the ultimate adventure in nature.

Best family tents at a glance:

Quechua

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• Quechua 4 Man Inflatable Black Out Tent, £449.99 at Decathlon – buy here

There’s a reason this tent has over 700 five-star reviews on the Decathlon website, in fact, there are several. As first-time users, it took us under 15 minutes to erect and with a bit of practice you could easily pitch it even more quickly.

You simply pump air into the ‘poles’ using a hand pump (although be warned, this is sold separately) and then you peg in a few guy ropes and ‘hey presto’ you have a spacious four-man tent.

It features two blackout bedrooms on either side of the living area, which is big enough to stand up in, and it has a zip-in groundsheet for easy cleaning. This tent comfortably sleeps four and there’s even enough space for travel cots if needed.

We found the blackout rooms were cool and dark and we even achieved an almost-unheard-of 7am wake-up.

Berghaus

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• Berghaus Adhara 500 Nightfall Tent, £329 at Go Outdoors – buy here

Created by reliable British brand, Berghaus, this incredible family tent will be used all summer long (and beyond). The colour-coded tent poles and sewn-in groundsheet mean this tent is fantastically straightforward to put up – so, more time for toasting marshmallows around the campfire.

Inside the tent, there are two decent-sized bedrooms each with genuinely blackout ‘Nightfall’ tech, which is ideal for young children who are prone to waking with the sunrise. You can also choose to remove the room divider if you prefer to keep an eye on little ones throughout the night.

The living area is incredibly well thought out, with enough height so you can stand, plus well-placed vents and windows for a light and airy feel. There are also storage pockets aplenty, useful hooks and a power access point.

If your family is larger, or you’re planning a longer trip and would like some more space, take a look at the Adhara 700 Nightfall Tent too, which has many of the same great features, plus an extra 2-man sleeping pod and extended living area.

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Boutique Camping

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• Boutique Camping, 3m Star Bell Tent, £349 at Mountain Warehouse – buy here

Putting the ‘camp’ into camping; festival-loving families will be obsessed with this colourful bell tent. With one large central pole and the show-stopping extended 1m canopy entrance, the Star Bell tent resembles a mini big top and is just the thing to get the whole family excited about upcoming adventures.

Because of the bell tent structure, it is relatively easy to erect and it also feels surprisingly sturdy even in changeable UK weather, plus the groundsheet unzips so you can easily clean it if it gets stomped all over by muddy wellies.

The four zip mesh windows and air vents (all with mosquito netting) mean the tent won’t get stuffy and stale and there is enough ground space to sleep four, plus a handy access point for electrical hook-up. This tent would also make an amazing birthday party tent for the park or back garden get-togethers.

Halfords

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• Halfords 6-Person Air Tent, £445 at Halfords – buy here

Unsure about inflatable tents? Well, you won’t be once you try out this brilliant six-person sleeper from Halfords. The air beams are quick and easy to inflate (even by one parent) with the included hand pump and the high-vis guy lines mean there won’t be any nighttime-loo-visit stumbles.

The layout of the tent is two darkened sleeping pods set around one middle, full-height living space, with the option to split one of the bedrooms further, so you end up with one large bedroom and two small ones.

This is great if you’re camping with teenagers who want a bit of privacy, three young children or you just need some more storage – however, six full-size sleepers would definitely be a bit of a squeeze.

This tent also has a double-skin layer to reduce condensation, two doors for a well-ventilated living space and a handy long line of built-in storage pockets. The tent packs away pretty easily too, although at 23kg you wouldn’t want to be carrying it around for long.

Robens

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• Robens Wolf Moon 5XP Tent, £800 at Cotswold Outdoors – buy here

This may look like a fairly standard family tent, but there is durability, quality and considered details in every corner of this five-berth set-up.

It follows a fairly straightforward, peg, pole and clip system to put it up, but details such as reinforced peg points and lightweight alloy poles should mean it will last through many years of summer camping weekends.

There are two blackout bedrooms at the back of this tent (although one is removable if you need extra space) and a living space, plus a covered porch, which is a handy place to sit or leave muddy walking boots.

The living space is tall enough to stand in and it also features three (yep, three!) doors – two side doors and a huge front door which can be fully opened – so there are plenty of configuration options available and it also feels very spacious and airy.

Inside there’s an integrated groundsheet for extra weather protection, lots of handy pockets, lantern points and a clothesline across the ceiling to hang coats or wet clothing. This tent also comes with a handy repair kit for life’s little mishaps.

Vango

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• Vango Casa Air Lux Family Tent, £725 at Millets – buy here

This super spacious portable tent is the dream casa away from casa. With an extra large living space, including an enclosed porch, this tent is just as comfortable in the wet as it is in the dry. The air beam design is also an absolute breeze to put up and can be single-handedly erected in around half an hour – pretty incredible for a tent of this size.

The living space really is massive and you can comfortably pop up all your camping furniture and still have space to move around. It has two ‘super king’ bedrooms at the back which can sleep up to seven people (although five is more comfortable), both of which have darkened interiors.

Eurohike

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• Eurohike Ribble 3, £100 at Blacks – buy here

Looking to test out this camping malarkey before going pro? Or perhaps you’re an active family who wants to do lots of hiking with your tent on your back? Well, this wonderfully affordable tent from Eurohike is a fantastic find.

With sleeping space for three, it weighs only 5.1kg and is a reliable little shelter even in tough weather conditions thanks to the fully-taped flysheet and bathtub-style groundsheet. The two-pole tunnel structure is simple to put up and the surprisingly roomy bedroom simply clips inside.

There are pockets in every corner to stash your valuables and a hook for a lantern too. Although there is no living space as such, the door can be used in a number of ways, including pulled out over king poles with optional side panels to create a canopy.

Hi-Gear

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• Hi-Gear Hampton 4 Nightfall Family Tent, £359 at Go Outdoors – buy here

With a pleasing domed design and colour-coded poles, this affordable family tent from Hi-Gear is quick and simple to put up. It also features two blackout ‘nightfall’ sleeping areas at the rear, which are comfortable and well-ventilated, but it’s the full-height living space and generous porch that really sets this tent apart from the rest.

The porch is large enough for a picnic blanket or even a couple of camping chairs and a table – it’s the perfect place to sit and enjoy the outdoors, even if the weather’s a bit drizzly (and it’s also very handy for dumping muddy kit).

From the porch, there is a large zippable front door into the living space, which has big windows on either side so you can really enjoy the outdoorsy life. There’s space here for furniture and a double row of storage pockets so you won’t spend hours hunting around for sunglasses or torches.

Outwell

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• Outwell Jacksondale 7PA Inflatable Tent, £1529.99 at Taunton Leisure – buy here

This incredible tunnel tent is the dream camping solution for large families or groups. Made up of a wet porch area for kit and seating, a mid-dry area for chilling and a large sleeping area at the back which can be zipped into various configurations (one, two or three bedrooms).

As well as darkened sleeping areas, this tent also offers “quick and quiet” inner doors with magnetic strip closures, which can be silently parted to slip through without waking little campers.

As you’d expect for such a huge tent, the Outwell offers plenty of headroom and awesome panorama windows to give you that living-in-nature feeling as well as lots of incredible functionality such as power access points, crafty ventilation and speedy-to-put-up air beams.

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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