How to Choose a Bigger Tent for Family Camping

(Without regretting it by day two.)

Everything I’ve written on this site so far has been about going smaller and lighter. One-person tents, packs you can carry up a fell, gear that fits in a rucksack. Family camping is the opposite problem entirely. You’re not trying to save every gram, you’re trying to fit two adults, two kids, a cool box and an inflatable something-or-other into a space that stays dry for a week.

Which is, funnily enough, closer to how I actually grew up camping. Trailer tent for us, caravan for my grandparents parked up alongside, cutting potatoes and de-podding peas on my grandads car for some reason. None of it was lightweight, none of it needed to be.

Here’s what actually matters when you’re buying a bigger tent, rather than what the box tells you.

Ignore the Stated Capacity

This is the one thing worth knowing before anything else. A “6-person” tent does not comfortably sleep six people, not with bags, shoes and a bit of floor space to actually stand up in. The general rule among people who test these things for a living is to halve whatever number is on the box. A 6-person tent works well for a family of four. A 4-person tent suits a couple who want room to breathe, or one small child in with them.

Buy bigger than you think you need, and this becomes far less of an issue.

The Number That Actually Predicts a Dry Holiday

Look for the Hydrostatic Head rating, usually written as a number followed by “mm” somewhere on the tent’s description. This measures how much water pressure the fabric can take before it starts letting water through.

Anything lower and you’re gambling on the weather behaving itself, which it won’t.

One Bedroom or Two

Bigger family tents tend to come in two layouts. Some have one large sleeping area across the width of the tent, sometimes with a removable divider, which works well while the kids are small and everyone’s happy sleeping in one space. Others have two separate bedroom pods at opposite ends with their own entrances, which becomes far more useful once you’ve got a teenager who wants their own door.

Worth thinking about which stage you’re actually at before you buy, since a two-pod tent is a genuinely different shape of holiday to a one-room tent.

Check the Campsite Rules Before You Buy

This one catches people out. A lot of UK campsites require a minimum spacing of around three metres between tents for fire safety, which effectively rules out the more sprawling designs on tighter pitches. Some coastal or more exposed sites also restrict tent height, mostly for wind resistance rather than the view.

If you’ve already picked a favourite site, it’s worth a quick check of their rules before falling for a tent that won’t actually fit on the pitch. If you haven’t picked one yet, our guide to family campsites in the Lake District is a good place to start.

Pitching It in Under Ten Minutes

If your priority is getting the tent up before the kids lose interest and wander off, inflatable “air pole” tents have genuinely changed things. Instead of wrestling with poles, you pump the frame up and it holds its shape. They cost more than a traditional poled tent of the same size, but if you’ve ever tried to put a tunnel tent up in driving rain with a toddler under one arm, you’ll understand why people pay the difference.

Don’t Forget the Rest of the Kit

A bigger tent tends to drag a longer shopping list behind it:

• A footprint groundsheet, placed underneath the tent, protects the integrated groundsheet and makes it last considerably longer
• A decent cooking setup matters more once you’re staying a few days rather than one night, a two-burner camping stove earns its keep over a single burner once you’re cooking for four
• Extra storage or a porch area for boots and bags keeps the main living space from turning into a dumping ground by day two
• Reproofing spray, such as Nikwax or Grangers, is worth having on hand for older tents that have started letting water bead less effectively than they used to

FAQs