Best Family Tents: Field-Trialed & Tested [2024 Update]

The REI Co-Op Base Camp 6 scoops our best family tent award because it does everything camping families need a tent to do – and at a reasonable price. It’s spacious, easy to pitch, performs well in hot and wet weather, and has plenty of storage options to optimize livability.

While the Base Camp’s geodesic, dome-style design means it has slightly less headroom than tunnel or cabin tents, it makes it more stable in windy conditions. Its peak height of 74 inches is also impressive for a dome-style tent – just bear in mind that this will decrease the further you get from the tent’s center.

The Base Camp is made with among the burliest materials on our list. That includes a 75D rainfly and body fabric, and 150D floor, all of which are waterproof enough for 3- or even 4-season use.

The Base Camp is also full of value-adding features that our testers loved. It has two large air vents in the roof to boost airflow, 14 pockets for gear storage, hang loops, two large vestibules, and two huge doors.

While not as roomy as the TNF Wawona, its superior weather protection and bountiful features will make the Base Camp a better tent for some.

If the 6-person version of this tent is overkill for your needs, be sure to check out the Base Camp 4.

The NF Wawona 6 is among the most livable family tents out there and the perfect tent for families who require a little extra space for gear or R&R.

The Wawona has a whopping 86 sq. ft. of interior space, 44.7 sq. ft. of vestibule space, a peak height of 80”, and a ton of storage pockets to help you keep your gear organized and the tent floor free of clutter.

In testing, we loved the Wawona’s steep walls. This means that it boasts the structural solidity of dome tents but maximizes headroom by reducing the degree of curvature either side of center. This allows you to move around inside without having to hunch, which is a huge boon for livability.

The Wawona sleeps 6, but its huge front vestibule could easily accommodate another 2 or 3 sleepers, or serve as an oversize gear garage or hangout space for evening games and dining.

The previous version of the Wawona’s main shortcoming was its a partial-coverage rainfly. While the fly in the new version doesn’t cover the whole tent, it covers enough to ensure you’ll stay dry even in heavy downpours. The only other potential downside is that it has only one door (one, however, that’s big enough to drive a small vehicle through).

While a solid performer in wet weather, the Wawona comes into its own in hot weather. That huge vestibule means you can leave the door open to boost airflow without letting in bugs, while the large ceiling vents and mesh canopy keep stuffiness and condensation at bay when temps and humidity are high.

The REI Wonderland 4 is the perfect family tent for smaller families – it’s roomy, rich in features, breezy to pitch, and great in both warm and wet weather.

Our testers were keen to try this new, updated, and improved version of REI’s hugely popular Kingdom tent, and it didn’t disappoint.

Like its predecessor, the Wonderland uses a tunnel-style design with near-vertical walls that maximize headroom. It also has strategic color-coding on the fly, poles, and footprint to make setup a cinch. We love the “scalloped” fly, which has extensive mesh panels and windows to provide 360° views, even with the fly on.

The Wonderland’s 69.4 square feet of floor space make it a roomy 4-person tent. However, unlike every other family tent on our list barring the Big Agnes Big House, it has no vestibule area, only a duo of small awnings that provide a sliver of cover over the doorways.

Like most REI shelters, this tent features are on the nail. You get a ton of interior pockets for gear storage, vents at top and bottom to stave off stuffiness and condensation, hanging hooks for a lantern or headlamp, and two extra-large doors that extend from top to bottom and wall to wall.

The Grand Hut is the perfect choice of camping tent for families who want a high-performing, high-quality tent for six people without paying through the nose for it.

As with all things REI, this family tent is impressively well-made. It uses 75D fabric in the rainfly and body, and 150D fabric in the flooring, which makes it one of the toughest on our list. The rainfly’s 1,500mm hydrostatic head rating, along with the body’s mesh panels and the double-doored design, moreover, make it a solid performer in both wet and warm conditions.

In terms of livability, this tent is a winner. It has plenty of interior storage options, steep walls to maximize headroom, a 78” peak height, 83.3 sq. ft. of interior space, and a 36 sq. ft. vestibule. This means there’s not only plenty of room for 6 sleepers but also ample space for all of your gear.

In wild weather, this tent is a little less reliable than its close cousin, the REI Co-Op Base Camp, mainly because its vertical walls and 4-pole design make it more susceptible to billowing and/or buckling in strong winds. It also boasts fewer storage options than the Base Camp and a little less vestibule room, but has a lot more headroom and retails at a much friendlier price.

The Big Agnes Big House is a great 6-person tent if you’re looking for a family-friendly tent that combines reliability with a wealth of fancy features.

This cabin-style tent boasts 83 square feet of floor space and a peak height of 81 inches. Despite the generosity of these dimensions, it weighs just 16 lbs. 7 oz., so could feasibly be used as a backpacking tent if the components were split between two or three carriers.

The Big House is a standout in two metrics: weather protection and livability. Its 1,500 mm rain fly and flooring ensures robust protection in all 3-season conditions. And although it lacks a vestibule, its steep walls and “high-volume architecture” make it feel extra-spacious inside. Four large wall pockets and corner bin pockets also partially make up for the lack of external storage.

What about those fancy features? Well, we’re not often the types to be swayed by non-essential bells and whistles, but there’s no denying that the extra-large welcome mat, a duo of huge doors, backpack-style carry bag, huge gear loft (sold separately), and unique “shelter mode” (lets you pitch the fly without the tent body on balmy, bug-free nights) are well worth having.

The Coleman Instant Cabin is the perfect tent for camping families who want to keep fuss to a minimum. Unlike the other tents we tested, this family pop-up tent can be pitched in next to no time and performs well in most other metrics to boot.

The pole structure of the Coleman Instant Cabin is a touch unique – instead of supporting the rainfly from the inside, it suspends the tent fabric from above. And therein lies the Instant Cabin’s genius. Not only do the poles have a telescoping design and pop into place around a central pole hub lickety-split, its integrated rainfly means that the whole pitching process takes around one minute.

The only grumble we have with this deisgn is that the integrated fly isn’t removable, meaning there’s no option to ditch it on hot and humid nights. This shortcoming is partially compensated for by the large vents/windows in the fly, but we’re always fans of having the option to shed weight and optimize airflow by leaving the fly at home when the forecast calls for clear skies.

The Eureka Copper Canyon XL won our testers’ vote as the best car-camping tent for large families owing to its abundant floor space and lofty peak height.

This 8-person tent is all about livability. While there’s no vestibule, it has 130 square feet of floor space, an 84-inch peak height, and steep walls that maximize headroom throughout the tent. This means it can comfortably accommodate a family of eight and is tall enough to let everyone walk around inside without having to hunch.

The Copper Canyon isn’t a standout in rainy weather due to its use of a partial-coverage rain fly. On the plus side, the minimalist fly means there’s plenty of airflow when camping in warm weather.

We were also impressed by the Copper Canyon’s feature set given its (relatively) low cost. It has a large extended awning for drying clothes or kicking back in your camp chair, pockets galore, adjustable vents to prevent condensation, and two canopy storage shelves.

If you’re looking for something a little larger or a little smaller, the Copper Canyon is also available in 4-person, 6-person, and 12-person models

The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL is the best family backpacking tent in the business. It’s ultralight, waterproof, and boasts enough features to keep you and your camping crew comfortable. If you and your family like to stray a little further from the beaten path, there’s no better tent to take along for the ride.

The Copper Spur HV UL weighs a piddly 5 lbs. 11 oz., making it the lightest family tent on our list by a large margin. Even if you don’t split the weight between two carriers, that makes for a very comfortable carry, whether you’re hiking 2 miles before setting up camp or 20.

All those weight savings, however, result in a trade-off with spaciousness. The Copper Spur is the least roomy of all the tents we tested, offering just 57 square feet of floor space and a peak height of 50 inches. In better news, this spatial shortfall is partially offset by the 14-square-foot vestibule, which at least means you won’t have to store gear inside.

In every other metric, this family backpacking tent is a solid performer.

The fly and floor are made with silicone-treated, double-ripstop, mixed-denier nylon with a 1,200mm waterproof polyurethane coating. In layman’s terms, this means it’s extra tough for the weight and waterproof enough for 3-season adventuring. For ventilation, there are high and low vents that help to circulate air inside the tent.

Our testers were big fans of the feature set. You also get a wealth of “extras” not typically found on backpacking tents, including an abundance of pockets, gear loft loops, easy-grip zipper pulls, and quick-clip guy line attachment points. The door also extends into a large awning to give you shelter from the sun or rain.

The Coleman Skydome 6 is a great tent for camping families looking to enjoy outdoor adventures without breaking the bank.

The words “great,” “cheap,” “waterproof”, and “family tent” are rarely seen in close proximity but, thanks to the Skydome 6, we have one notable exception to the rule. It retails at a fraction of the price of the options listed above, so is a great buy if you don’t want to splurge.

The Skydome has long been recognized as one of the best tents out there for large groups. The reason for this is simple: it offers simply superb value for money. This waterproof family tent has 85 square feet of floor space and 40 square feet of vestibule space. It’s also tall enough to walk around in, easy to pitch, lightweight, and very fairly priced.

With a budget tent like this, a few compromises are to be expected. These take the form of fiberglass poles and one door fewer than is ideal for convenience. Unlike many budget tents, however, the Skydome’s features are great – there’s a gear loft, deep pockets, an e-port, and ventilation in all the right places.