The Best Family camping tents

Fall/Winter 2024

Home away from home. Shelter. Bedroom. Playroom. Game room. Changing room. And on it goes. Your summer camping tent is the heavy hitter of the campsite, the piece of gear without which you’re not really camping, you’re just kind of out there in the woods.

With the best family camping tent for fall or winter you can quickly create a space that’s warm, dark, safe, dry, and that can be used for sleeping, for games and storytelling, for mealtime if it’s raining out, for dressing and changing and diaper business, for storing gear and apparel, and on it goes. Long story short, you can’t really have a good family camping trip without a trusty tent for the kids and adults to share and enjoy.

So while we have broken things down here based on the best tents for various weather and conditions, for the smaller family, for the camping family looking for their best budget tent, and so forth, the common factors here are reliability and the fact that we have tested out gear from these brands ourselves, firsthand, and in the field, not in a basement or backyard.


family camping tents

  • An off white canvas bell tent with its door flaps closed

    THE GET OUT CLASSIC BELL TENT

    The Classic Bell Tent from The Get Out is far and away the largest tent we have ever set up ourselves, but don't worry, that setup process is really rather simple. It involves a huge center pole that supports the tent's nine-foot-tall peak, an A-frame of poles that creates structure for the doorway, and lots of ground stakes secured around the tent's exterior. Inside, this 16-foot diameter is so spacious that everyone in your family can not only have their own sleeping area, but can also have some personal space, as in room for a camp chair, a pack, and more. The tent has a rugged floor that resists punctures, a waterproof roof and walls, mesh windows, and a hook for a lantern on that central post. It's more like a portable room than a tent, and it's a surefire way to create a comfortable campsite for your family.

  • Coleman Skydome Screen Room Tent 6-Person 3-Season shown with front chamber closed in gray and lime green

    Coleman Skydome Screen Room Tent

    This six-person tent from Coleman is positively spacious when used by a family of four or five. (Or three!) Its main chamber can accommodate two queen-sized air beds or six smaller sleeping pads or cots and, as the name suggests, the tent’s lining material and coloration helps keep that space darker than in most tents, allowing for earlier bedtimes and better sleeping in. Arguably the best feature, though, is the 10-foot by four-foot screen room just outside the main chamber, which allows parents to slip out and have some personal space that’s protected from bugs. That screen room can also be additional sleeping space, it be used for meal prep and dining, for playing games or reading stories, and of course it’s an ideal gear storage spot, too.

  • Kelty Grand Mesa 4 Tent in olive green and orange shown with all sides with screens

    Kelty Grand Mesa 4 Tent

    The Kelty Grand Mesa 4 will be pretty snug when shared by four adults, which it can indeed accommodate, but with two adults and two kids, it’ll be downright cozy. And at a price that’s downright comforting. At a little over seven pounds, this tent is light enough for use on camping trips involving moderate trekking (especially if you split up its components among adults), and this seam-sealed, double-walled tent will keep you and the crew dry even when weather blows through and for those hotter campsite evenings, it’s also easy to ventilate.

  • A dome shaped tent in orange and gray shown with one exterior flap panel pulled back to reveal closed "door"

    Klymit Cross Canyon Tent

    This is a basic but spacious tent with a reliable rainfly, a large covered vestibule area, and multiple internal storage pockets. The four-person Cross Canyon is a great choice for the family whose camping adventures often take different shapes, from a week traveling on trails or paddling on rivers to the weekend where you make camp a stone’s throw from the car. At about 10 and a half pounds all-in (meaning rainfly, poles, etc.) this tent is suitable for hiking provided you share the weight, and you’ll appreciate its 100” by 86” interior when it’s time for some shuteye. Or games. Or dinner on a cold night. It’s a wonderful three-season tent everywhere and even fine for winter in many climates.

  • Sea to Summit Ikos TR3 Tent shown in gray-green and orange with front flap staked open

    Sea to Summit Ikos TR3 Tent

    A new release from a trusted brand (and one we were excited to test out this season ourselves), this is a three-person tent ideal for use by two adults and one kid, or with two kids if they’re pretty small. It’s also a great tent for a dad-and-me or mom-and-me camping trip for precisely the same reason it’s a great tent for trekkers: it weighs less than seven pounds. Granted, the Ikos TR3 is a pricier tent, but for being so lightweight it’s quite capable, ready to stand up to gusty winds and lashing rains, but also easily opened up during warmer weather camping. Our favorite features? The four pockets and two suspended gear lofts that offer you and the fam plenty of space to stash your stuff, preserving precious floor space for your bodies to stretch out on.

  • REI Co-Op Base Camp 4 Tent in orange with both entry canopy staked open

    REI Co-Op Base Camp 4 Tent

    This is a great and sturdy pick if you are looking to camp (almost) all year round. It is technically a three-season tent but one that can handle itself fine in wintry conditions too. With a capacity for four adults, it will easily keep two adults and two kids warm, dry, and safe.

  • The North Face Wawona 6 Tent  in two toned gray

    The North Face Wawona 6 Tent

    This is a superb tent in terms of space. The floor space is huge, comfortably accommodating six sleeper, but it’s the wall shape and ceiling height that are truly remarkable. The peak height tops out at 76 inches, so even someone who is 6’3” can stand up tall in the center of a Wawona 6. And as the walls rise up almost vertically, all of that floor space we mentioned is usable. Those walls also feature multiple large mesh pockets for storing gear. And the tent also has a huge covered vestibule that can fit several bicycles, four camp chairs, a meal prep area, and more, all covered fully (except the ground) or with the sides zipped up for plenty of fresh air. With multiple windows that can be opened up for airflow on hotter summer nights, this tent is a great choice for varied weather and temperatures.