9 best family tents UK 2022: our favourite spacious, multiroom tents from Decathlon, Berghaus, Vango

Sleeping under canvas is a childhood rite of passage, and you can’t beat family camping trips as a simple and affordable way to get outdoors in the summer holidays. A good camping trip lives or dies by one thing, though – a decent tent.

Whether you have happy memories of childhood’s spent camping, or recollect soggy holidays away, in a tent not fit-for-purpose, you should be reassured: the tents of 2022 are a stark improvement on the tents of yesteryear.

Exercise canny judgement and you can find a tent roomy, waterproof and comfortable both to sleep and hang out in - an ideal base camp for day trips hiking, a lovely home away from home to laze about and read in, or a refuge from the elements out wild camping.

Indeed, with individual chambers, you can even solve the issue of buying a family tent when you have a teenager who doesn’t want to be sharing an enclosed space with the rest of the family: just leave them enjoying their own, cordoned off area while you get on with roasting marshmallows and watching the stars.

What should you look for in a family tent?

Multiple bedrooms are an excellent idea when you’re shopping for a family tent, especially if you have teenagers in need of their own space. Standing room is a big help when you’re sorting out the myriad bits of kit involved in camping with children, and a spacious living area will give you somewhere to hang out and play games on rainy days.

A porch or anteroom is also useful for popping muddy boots in. Look for a sturdy, sewn-in groundsheet with a coated nylon floor to keep you warm and dry, a waterproof rain fly (this is the outer layer of the tent) and plenty of guy ropes for stability.

What does tent size mean?

Tents are sized according to the amount of adults they can feasibly sleep (i.e four-person, six-person). That said, two adults and two or three children will usually find a six-man tent the best fit, especially if you’ll be camping for a week or two at a time.

What are the downsides to a family tent?

The larger the tent the heavier it tends to be, of course, and the longer it’ll usually take to put together. You’ll see inflatable (sometimes labelled ‘air’) tents on sale as well as traditional designs using metal poles – air tents use a foot pump to inflate their structure, and are quicker and less stressful to erect.

If you’re hopping around lots of different campsites on your holiday then weight and pitching time are factors definitely worth taking into consideration, but if you’re just headed to one campsite and your car has a roomy boot, it’s worth going as big as you can afford and not worrying too much about weight – you’ll only have to pitch your new home once, after all.

The pitch times suggested by manufacturers are usually optimistic, so expect a bit of trial and error the first time you erect your canvas palace.

We’ve tested out a range of sizes and found our favourites: great quality tent options to suit most budgets, ranging from portable tents suitable for wild camping to multi-room mega-tents.

You need somewhere roomy, waterproof and comfortable both to sleep and hang out in, especially if the weather isn’t looking so balmy. We’ve selected nine of the best family-sized tents on the market to take with you, designed to sleep four people and up.