13 best tents for camping in the great outdoors year-round, tried and tested

The eye-catching teepee air 400 might just be the perfect balance of compact size and roominess for two happy campers. This one-room tent sleeps four at a push but is better suited to two sharing, so there’s plenty of space. Unlike many smaller tents, it has a generous amount of room and feels open and airy, thanks to its tipi-style design. A wide porch is great for stashing wet kit, and we love the clear windows and the blackout fabric, which means longer lie-ins, even when the sun shines. If you want to invest in one good quality tent for weekend trips, this is our top pick.

Hate putting up complicated tents? Get yourself a pop-up design. OK, so this tent is on the basic side, but it’s got enough room for one person (or two kids) plus a weekend’s worth of kit inside, and it’s waterproof enough to withstand light rain. Let this circular design free of its straps and it springs into shape instantly (but, be warned, it’s a frustratingly tricky one to put down again). We like the storage pockets and jazzy colours, too. A simple option for an overnight stay under canvas, for kids to share or for use as a storage tent.

There’s no need to remortgage your house to take the family camping. Asda’s ozark trail is a spacious yurt-style tent that will comfortably sleep four in one large room (you can even stand up in it) – and all for less than £150. The waterproof fly won’t withstand heavy rain but should do the job for summer showers. At 11kg this tent isn’t hugely heavy or bulky to store, either. A real bargain, it even comes with a built-in camp table.

If you hate the rigmarole of pitching enormous, heavy family tents, Decathlon’s air seconds tent is here to make your next camping trip a little simpler. The outer skeleton of this rather futuristic-looking tent is inflated using a pump (not included), and the two roomy bedrooms are pre-assembled and pop up ready to use in no time.

Decathlon’s fresh & black tents all use blackout material to line the bedrooms, and this really does keep them darker and cooler than your average tent, which is a big help during baking-hot summer holidays (or just when you’re trying to get the kids to sleep). We also liked the large central living room, complete with wide door and windows, making it ideal for eating and hanging out in during bad weather.

Small but perfectly formed, this is the perfect two-person tent for backpacking and wild camping. Two doors and two porches make it easy to share the bedroom and to stash kit outside the sleeping area, while the poles are quick to assemble, durable and great quality. You can pitch the bug-resistant inner tent alone or pop the (excellent) waterproof outer over the top, all in 5-10 minutes flat. It packs up quickly and can be popped in a rucksack. Top marks.

Need plenty of space for longer family holidays but don’t want a behemoth of a tent you can barely lift? Inflatable or ‘air’ tents solve the problem, and Vango’s vesta is one of the best. Inflate the poles, peg the Vesta out and you’ve got a roomy tent with two breathable blackout bedrooms and a central living space – it took us around 20 minutes to pitch this one during testing. We love the skylights in the central space for a spot of stargazing, too. This is also an eco-friendly option, as the fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles woven into polyester.

This rather futuristic-looking number is as fun to camp in as it looks. Inside, one huge octagonal room makes an airy living space. If you dislike dark, cramped tents, you’ll love this one’s generous standing room and wall-to-wall windows, which can be fully opened to let light and air in and offer a 360-degree view. The Octagon also works as a brilliant playhouse in the garden or as a beach shelter when you aren’t camping. While, at 24.7kg, the Octagon isn’t lightweight, its carry case has handy wheels for easier transportation.

Recreate your sitting room from home inside the super roomy Moonhill, which boasts a massive living space as well as three blackout bedrooms that work well when shared by a family of four or five. Big windows and a porch make this a nice space to hang out in during bad weather. We did find pitching fiddly – it’s best attempted by two people, and this is still a heavy tent, despite the inflatable ‘air’ poles. You can also add in extras from Outwell, such as a comfortable carpet or a tarp to extend the living space further.

The settler sky is the most expensive tent in our round-up but you really do get what you pay for. This rather beautiful bell tent sleeps up to 10 campers in one huge central space, and there’s plenty of head height. The polycotton material looks like canvas but is breathable and fully waterproof, and, unlike most glamping-style tents, the settler sky has huge windows with mesh panels and privacy curtains, so you can let the light in during the day or even do a spot of stargazing at night. Pitching is surprisingly easy, but this tent is heavy to transport and store.

You get a lot of bang for your buck with this generously sized tent from Mountain Warehouse. Inside are three separate bedrooms, each of which can fit a double air bed. Plus, there’s a living space in which you can stand up. Air vents and a mesh door keep things cool during hot conditions, but we wouldn’t use this tent in anything but fine weather, as it didn’t prove waterproof for long on test. Ideal for a family of four sharing in the summer months, or for heading to a festival with friends.

You’ll go far with this great two-person adventure tent that keeps up with the pricier competition. This two-door, two-vestibule design is great for sharing (or you can use it as a massive one-person tent) but packs down small enough to work for multi-day hikes, bike packing or motorbike touring. On test, we loved that you could pitch the tent with just half of the fly, if you fancy lying out under the night sky. It’s the perfect first adventure tent.

Good for solo wild camping or adventure racing, the teeny tiny ionosphere sits very low to the ground, a little like a glorified bivvy bag. It may feel a little like you’re sleeping in a coffin but there’s plenty of bonuses to this low-lying design – it packs down tiny, pitches in 10 minutes flat and weighs a paltry 1.5kg. We like the fact you can sleep in the mesh inner tent on its own in hot climates, and that it comes with a repair kit – this is one for adventurers.

The Luna is the perfect first canvas tent to invest in for festivals and family camps. It’s a lovely spacious size for four to share, with tons of head space and big circular windows that make the inside feel airy and light. It’s best used in summer, but we did find the canvas was water resistant enough to withstand a shower on test. All that thick canvas makes the Luna heavy, and the tent is easiest to put up with two people, but good guy ropes and aluminium poles make the whole thing feel reassuringly sturdy when erect, even in windy weather.