Enjoy a Comfy Night Under the Stars Inside the Best Car Camping Tents

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A reliable backpacking tent shields you from the elements on any front-country outing adventure, and dedicated car camping tents do the same but with expanded livable space and taller interiors. While most car camping tents are designed similarly to lightweight backpacking tents, the increased space and heftier materials of the former are a welcome bonus on most camping excursions, as long as you're not worried about every extra pound in your pack. But with more room to work with, car camping tents vary in design, as well, because you aren’t trapped with a single-hub pole system and finicky staking situations.

All of the best car-camping tents on our list come with ample interior space, durable and weather-proof materials, and thoughtful features like extra venting, interior storage options, and color-coded pitching systems. With one of these in tow, your next car-based adventure awaits.

Best Car Camping Tents

• Best Overall: The North Face Wawona 6

• Best Budget: Coleman Skydome 2-Person

• Best for Families: Nemo Aurora Highrise 6P

• Best Four-Season: White Duck Outdoors

• Most Packable: Msr Hubba Hubba 3

What to Consider

Interior Space

The interior space of a tent means how much space is inside the zippered doors, not counting the vestibules. A standard two-person car camping tent should include at least 30 feet of interior space, while many of the more spacious, family-oriented shelters cover more than 70 feet. If you are planning on camping with a group of four or more, check the capacity of the tent, but also make sure it has at least 70 square feet of interior space to avoid feeling cramped.

Capacity

The capacity of a tent refers to how many people comfortably sleep inside. If you aren’t sure of your group size, we recommend going bigger. Since you won’t be lugging this around in a backpack, it’s totally worth the extra space. If you look at the packed size of many of these shelters, the difference in a four-person model compared to a six-person tent is pretty minor when it’s packed down, but you bump up the interior and vestibule space considerably when it's pitched.

Weather Resistance

While all tents on this list are highly water-resistant and are built with a good amount of wind resistance, most are not four-season shelters. This means they won’t stay stable with a snow load, and they won’t be weatherproof like a winter tent. All shelters are proven in rainstorms and inclement weather for three-season use. Always pitch yours tight to maximize fly tension and prevent rain from saturating into the tent body.

Features

Most car camping tents include taller peak heights, more interior space, and more accessible doors and entryways. Look for extras like interior pockets for storing small items and mesh loft pockets that attach to the ceiling for hanging lights or stashing layers. Some shelters contain hooks on the inside for hanging clothes, and many add durability with reinforced, higher-denier floors.

How We Selected

To select the best car camping tents for 2024, we focused on features and factors like durability, ease of setup, space, and weather resistance. We’ve tested an abundance of tents in this category and looked for models for a range of group sizes and storage options. We wanted shelters that are easy to stand up and walk around in, stable in wind and rain, and reasonably sized when packed down and not in use. Finally, we considered various price points to offer options for different budgets.

Wawona 6

Base campers, groups, or solo adventurers who want to live in a tent for an entire season: Look no further. The North Face’s popular Wawona topped our list thanks to its massive interior at nearly 90 square feet. There’s also a 50 square-foot vestibule, and this extra space gives you the option to prop your camp stove outside of the opening and sit inside out of the weather to tend to it.

While the pitch isn’t the easiest out there (none of the bigger car camping tents are simple), it is easier to pitch than others we’ve tested. Just finesse the guylines to get the tension and angle correct.

This tent comes with a strong pole set that’s reinforced throughout the system to protect against snapping or bending, and the large mesh door provides enough ventilation, as long as you prop the top fly vents open.

Skydome 2-Person

Coleman is a stalwart in classic, budget-friendly outdoors gear, and this dome-shaped two-person tent costs less than most, is easy to pitch, and saves you space both in storage and at the campsite.

We pitched this in just five minutes on our first attempt, and its smart pole hub design creates much welcome extra headroom. That said, this is a smaller model than the family-sized options on here, so the peak height is still only 48 inches.

Aside from that, the large doorway fits a full twin-size air mattress and the tent itself fits a queen-size mattress. (We didn’t test getting the inflated queen-size through the door, but assume you’ll have to inflate it once it’s already inside.)

Other highlights include reflective guylines, interior pockets, and a mesh loft pocket for stashing small items overnight.

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Aurora Highrise 6P

This family-friendly car-camping tent weighs just under 19 pounds but comes with similar interior space and capacity as much heavier models. At its tallest point, it stands 6.5 feet high, and notably, its square-shaped pole design means that peak height extends nearly the entire span of the tent.

Steep walls add to this spaciousness but don’t impede shoulder space, so it offers plenty of room for both parents and kids to walk around. And while no tent is totally dog-proof, this one is close thanks to its durable, high-denier polyester floor with reinforcements around the pole hubs.

Regatta Bell FR

Four-season car-camping tents are less common than winter-ready backpacking and mountaineering tents, so this structure looks unique compared to other tents on the list. White Duck builds its burly Regatta Bell with proprietary fabric, a cotton canvas treated with a PFC-free finish to make it water repellent, mold- and UV- resistant, and fire resistant. It features reinforced seams and corners and is fully weather-proof, plus the steel poles are shatterproof and freeze-proof down to negative temperatures.

It has an integrated PU groundsheet so you can keep your furry friends inside with you, and the laminate also makes it easy to clean off at the end of the trip.

This is a big shelter—75 square feet inside and 7.5 feet at peak height, making it an ideal base camp setup for ski touring, snowshoe outings, and all-season camping.

Hubba Hubba 3

MSR’s classic backpacking tent includes a non-tapered floor and two large side-entry vestibules with wide doors for easy entry and exit. While many backpacking tents have sloped walls and a tapered foot area, reducing livable space, this 39-square-foot interior feels palatial when you consider the full package weighs under four pounds.

We listed the three-person version, but for car camping one or two people fit in here most comfortably. Since this tent is made for heavy backcountry use, it’s extremely waterproof. It uses Easton Syclone poles, which are incredibly durable and stable in high winds, and the tent body is made of about 50 percent mesh and 50 percent solid material, which promotes airflow without leaving you exposed.

Wonderland 6

We appreciate the tube-like shape of the tent, which extends the peak height nearly the length of the shelter, as opposed to the more dome-like tents. Stand up and walk around in it, and you won’t feel cramped when you have a load of gear or are trying to organize a base-camp expedition.

We also love the 360-degree views from the ample mesh, and the versatile awning feature provides extra shade and extends the livable space into the outdoors. Like other tents this size and weight, setup is more complicated than your standard backpacking tent, but once you get the hang of it, it comes together in just a few minutes.

Other nifty design features include high-low vents that promote airflow and reduce condensation buildup and near-vertical walls so you don’t lose shoulder and head room near the sides of the tent.

Alpha Breeze

Snow Peak’s line of front-country tents, furniture, and cookware has a sleek aesthetic we don’t often see from larger, technical outdoors brands. With a muted colorway and a mountain-cabin inspired shape and structure, the Alpha Breeze checks boxes in both design and function. This tent has a large interior space (77 square feet for four people), and its A-frame structure deviates from the standard jewel-tone nylon domes dotted across the campgrounds.

The vestibule extends into an awning to add living space for outdoor cooking and relaxing, and the durable, 300-denier polyester floor won’t wear through and doesn't require a footprint (unless you want to be extra careful).

This tent has some of the easier pitching of the larger shelters, with color-coordinated pole hubs and connectors, and it comes together in just a few minutes.

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