The 8 Best Family Camping Tents (Bought & Tested!)

The video

Table of contents

1. 1. The North Face Wawona 6 (Best Overall & Weather Protection)
2. 2. REI Co-op Base Camp 6 (Runner-Up)
3. 3. Gazelle T4-T8 Hub Tents (Best Instant Tent)
4. 4. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9 (Best Budget Instant Tent)
5. 5. Core Equipment Straight Wall Cabin 10 (Most Spacious Tent)
6. 6. Coleman Sundome 6 (Best Budget Pick)
7. The Rest of the Best
8. How I Tested All 8 Tents
9. Why You Can Trust Me

Best Overall & Weather Protection

The North Face Wawona 6

First up, it has the best weather protection (rain and wind) of any family tent here. It’s the only one I managed to put through a whopping 3 days of heavy afternoon rain — so heavy that my entire yard flooded, the bottom of the tent was completely underwater, and it didn’t leak at all.

It also went through 15 mph winds completely fine, all guyed out. With the most guylines of any dome tent here (a whopping 11), plus the highest quality DAC MX aluminum poles, it’s naturally the best against wind.

Second, it has the best vestibule of any tent in this review — a great feature for storing wet gear and dirty shoes through serious rains. The lowest height in it is still a whopping 65 inches, so I could stand up in the entire vestibule. (I’m 5’3.)

It even fits 2 camping chairs with lots of leftover space for a camping table. The Base Camp’s front vestibule fits 2 chairs too, but its back vestibule couldn’t fit one — the livability in the Wawona is way better.

Third, it’s the best value for money premium pick. Of the higher-end 6-person tents from the big brands (Nemo, Big Agnes, MSR), only the Wawona and the Nemo Aurora Highrise sit at the affordable end — and I went for the Wawona because of that humongous vestibule.

The one con: the inner tent is the smallest interior space I’ve ever seen in a 6-person tent. You can technically fit 6 people, but I recommend a maximum of 3 to 4 adults.

Thankfully, the Wawona comes in an 8-person model, so you can get that instead if you need more space, and you can check it out through this link here.

Runner-Up

REI Co-op Base Camp 6

The Base Camp serves the one purpose the Wawona doesn’t: it’s a great off-season (or 3+ seasons) tent, while the Wawona is purely for 3-season summer camping. Look at how much mesh there is on the Wawona:

It’s also my only family tent with a full-length rainfly, extending all the way down to the ground. It got through my 1-hour heavy rain test with no leaks at all — and the rainfly never touches the inner tent walls, so I had no condensation issues either.

On top of that, you get two vestibules. The back one fits quite a bit of gear (but no chairs), and the huge front one easily fits 2 camping chairs.

And the storage is mind-boggling for a 6-person tent — a whopping 14 pockets all around the tent, and 20 loops to hang tons of stuff. No other family tent here even comes close.

The biggest con: it’s not the most suitable for summer. With the rainfly on, it can get a little hot and stuffy — and even with it off, there’s just 2 not-too-big windows and a rather tiny skylight.

Essentially: go with the Wawona if you’re a summer camper, and the Base Camp if you’re an off-season camper. Winter is possible with good insulation — REI lists it as a 3+ season tent, not a 4-season family tent (though I have seen friends using this in light snow).

Best Instant Tent

Gazelle T4-T8 Hub Tents

All the poles come completely pre-attached — I just popped open the 5 hubs around the tent, and it almost literally just ‘pops open’. (I only have the T4, so my data and testing focus on that model.)

And unlike every other instant tent I’ve tested, it has a removable flooring — the air comes out super easily when packing away, making it easy to compress and stuff back into the carry bag.

The peak height is massive for a 4-person tent (77.5 inches), the lowest height is a whopping 67 inches (taller than my 5’3!), and the side walls are completely vertical — I could literally walk around everywhere inside.

It fits 4 people perfectly — here are 2 double pads with a little leftover space. It’s also built from the thickest, highest quality materials I’ve seen in a camping tent: 300D polyester flooring, 210D body and rainfly. Way thicker than even The North Face and REI tents above — plus 2 doors, 6 huge pockets, and even a gear loft.

The biggest con: the packed size is humongous. It’s the only car camping tent I’ve seen with a packed size taller than me — not a tent you can lug far away from your car.

Need to fit a family of 6? The Gazelle Hub Tent comes in a T8-size — literally just double the T4 (thankfully, the price doesn’t double):

• Gazelle T8: Peak height 78 in · Base area 110 sq. ft. · Set up (1P) 10 mins · Weight 56 lbs · Packed length 68 in

Best Budget Instant Tent

Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9

There aren’t many budget-friendly options for large instant cabin tents (9- to 12-person) — the main ones come from Core Equipment, Coleman, and Ozark Trail — and this Core beat out its competitors:

The Core has 2 inches more peak height than the Coleman despite the smaller capacity. Its walls slant at just 15 degrees against the Coleman’s 35 — the less slant, the more livable space — and it has 3 hubs holding the ceiling fabric up, instead of just 1.

The instant mechanism is smoother and more user-friendly than Coleman’s too. My Coleman’s would sometimes jam up; the Core never did. (And my Ozark Trail Instant 6 — a really bad 65.5-inch peak, extremely slanted 30-degree walls, just 1 hub — was so bad I didn’t even feel the need to test it against the Core.)

It also beats my other large tents on set up and pack away — 12 and 9 minutes — and the carry bag is much larger than Coleman’s or Outdoor Products’, so there’s no huffing and puffing to get the tent back in.

Two cons. The 9-person sleeping area is a little strange — I could fit a maximum of 2 queen mattresses, not 3. And there’s only 2 pockets and 1 lantern loop — I usually expect a 9-person tent to have at least 9 pockets.

Most Spacious Tent

Core Equipment Straight Wall Cabin 10

If you’re looking for the biggest possible large family camping tent, this is now my pick. I’ve measured the peak height of every family tent I’ve tested (about 30 now!), and nothing even comes close to the Core’s 90 inches.

The walls are pretty vertical and tall too, with a lowest height of still a whopping 65 inches (taller than my 5’3!) — a really spacious cabin tent overall, at a really affordable price. Core Equipment is, after all, a budget-friendly brand.

One thing though: if you’re not tall like me, the peak height can be a little too tall. I couldn’t reach the top, so every time I wanted to hang a lantern or reach the gear loft, I had to stand on a chair. My bro (about 5’7) reaches it fine — so I’d recommend it only if you’re at least his height.

Beyond the spaciousness and affordability, there’s nothing else outstanding here — storage (2 pockets, 1 gear loft, 1 lantern loop), doors, divider, weather resistance, and setup speed are all just average. Buy it for space and value; skip it if you want frills.

Best Budget Pick

Coleman Sundome 6

The construction is fairly solid — the seams aren’t as haphazard as other budget or no-brand tents — and the 6-foot peak height gives a decent amount of headroom. I could stand upright, stretch my arms out, walk around, even jump around a little.

You can technically fit 6 people, but I’d recommend no more than 4 adults, 2 on each queen bed (it fits 2!). That’s still enough space for a small family.

Set up took me just about 11 minutes on my own, the pack away is easy too, and the carry bag can even be expanded to give you ample space to stuff the packed-up tent in.

Just don’t expect top-notch quality for the price: the flooring is budget polyethylene, the body and rainfly are no thicker than 68D to 75D polyester, and not many seams come factory taped — it lasted only 30 minutes in very heavy rain.

If you’ll be camping in hours of heavy rain, waterproof all the seams yourself and coat the entire tent in a waterproofing spray first.