You’ve expanded your family, but you aren’t quite ready for the deluxe cabin style tents yet. You need some weight flexibility, but you’d also like it balanced with usable space. A six-person tent may be just the thing. Six-person tents usually have space for four people comfortably plus all the gear you need to camp with children. They’re also good for long car camping trips for couples or a small group of friends. Many of them can be divided among several packs as well, reducing individual trail weight and making it possible to hike in further.
We’ve got our list of favorite six-person tents to give you some inspiration and to help you decide what might be the right one for your family and the environment where you tend to camp.
Our first tent has Kelty’s classic stargazer fly and a dome style frame that creates usable living space. It has two large doors with two vestibule spaces on either side of the tent, plus vestibule vents for air flow.
DAC DA 17 aluminum poles are incredibly strong and cut down on weight. The color-coded pitch system is intuitive and shaves minutes off set-up. Inside, plenty of gear pockets and loops helps you organize your stuff. The catenary style floor is coated nylon to keep moisture out, and the full coverage rain fly is lightweight, coated polyester. It doesn’t include a footprint, but the 80 square feet of floor space should be plenty for a small family with lots of gear.
This option uses a double coverage rain fly with an inner tent for better insulation. There’s just one door, but the fly fabric can be propped up for an instant porch area. Floor square footage is 112, and peak center height is just over six feet. The rainfly is 68 denier PU coated polyester taffeta with a 2500 mm waterproof rating. The floor material is also coated with an anti-fungal inner layer that also prevents leaks. Bathtub style construction cuts down on seaming while preventing splash back.
Fiberglass poles offer flexibility and strength, but they do add a little weight to the overall tent. They are made of Nano-Flex material so you won’t fight as hard to get the tent into place.
One door is a little inconvenient, and while the vestibule area is nice, it does make it awkward to get in and out of the tent with all your stuff stowed there. If it were a little bigger or a little closer to the ground, it could make all the difference.
The Flying Diamond is quite an investment, but it offers durable materials with plenty of usable space. This design is intended for base camping, and it’s considered a three-season plus tent. The design and DAC Pressfit aluminum poles can hold a moderate slow load, and the fly helps with insulation.
It has precut guy lines and tensioners already attached to the fly. They’re reflective for safety, and the configuration shaves time off pitching. The doors have two layers, one mesh for ventilation and a full closure for insulation. Two doors and two vestibules give everyone access to the interior and keep wet gear out. Gear pockets and loops help organize, and the tent is compatible with any trapezoidal gear loft. A fabric wall can separate the space into two rooms and stows away when it isn’t needed. All seams use Big Agnes’ solvent-free polyurethane tape.
It’s an investment, but if your family camps in anything other than fair weather, you’ll be glad you went for it. The base camp option can extend your camping season well beyond fair weather and peak travel season, so you never have to close up shop before you’re ready. If you only camp in fair weather, it might be overkill.
Coleman’s fast pitch tent option comes with pre-attached poles and guylines to shave minutes off your pitch. Polyguard polyester taffeta fabric lasts from season to season while retaining water resistance and weatherproof integrity. Window awnings encourage ventilation without letting in rain, and the rainfly itself can be propped up during nice weather for an instant porch. It offers you 90 square feet of floor space with an additional 50 square feet of porch/vestibule space. Peak height is nearly six feet, but it does have some serious slope. The sweet spot is definitely in the center, but you should still have plenty of room to sit up and move around without too much trouble.
Inverted seams, welded floors, and protected zippers prevent leaks. Unfortunately, the mesh window in the back doesn’t have a cover, so this is strictly a fair weather tent. Even with heavier gear in place, you could still be facing some cold nights head on without a closable window flap.
Wenze’s three season tent uses a polyguard armor polyester fabric with a PU coating. It’s lightweight but offers moderate protection from the elements. It also uses a classic dome design that raises the peak height and gives you more livable space towards the edges. The divider curtain divides the 94.5 square foot floor area into two usable rooms to help with privacy or to keep things organized. Welded polyethylene floor material keeps moisture and splash back out while two doors and three mesh windows encourage ventilation. Shock-corded fiberglass poles bend easily and withstand moderate amounts of weather and wind, but they’re a bit prone to cracking. The fly is removable for nights when you can see the stars, but mesh prevents bugs and gives you some privacy during the night-time hours.
Pre-attached guylines cut down on pitching time, and a gear loft clears up floor space. D-style doors with privacy flaps give you access to the entire tent easily. Zip them fully for privacy or open for visibility and ventilation.
The Core 6 has an astonishing 60-second set up thanks to preinstalled poles and guylines. It gives you 99 square feet of floor space and includes a gear loft to keep things off the floor and out of your way.
Ground vents encourage the flow of fresh air, and the tent allows humidity and stagnant air to escape through the top. It has one sizeable D-style door for access and large gear pockets to keep everything organized and right at your fingertips. Seams are sealed well, and rainfly is factory taped to prevent leaks. The waterproof polyester material keeps the tent dry, but it doesn’t do so well at keeping cold at bay. This is definitely a three-season only tent. It’s heavier because of the pole configuration, but make sure you practice assembly and disassembly before you get out to your campsite.
This tent has an interesting set up to solve a problem that plagues family style tents. It separates the sleeping space from a living area. The sleeping space includes blackout shades to prevent stray light from leaking in and keeping everyone awake. The living space has diamond clear windows for plenty of visibility. Prebent fiberglass poles support a simple frame, and a patented tension band system can be enacted to support the tent frame in adverse conditions. The entrance is a full mesh door with a double zipper. The fly is 70 denier polyester with 4000 mm waterproofing. The bathtub style floor is factory taped to prevent moisture and leakage. The groundsheet is attached to the fly to create a more consistent weatherproof model and to help you with consistent set up. The interior has plenty of pockets for storage. The entrance might be awkward if you plan to store gear in the living space, but it does allow parents to put children to bed earlier without having to go to bed themselves.
This old-school canvas tent reminds us of vintage hunting expeditions. It has over seven feet of peak height and a spacious 108 square feet of floor space. It comes with an awning section that adds even more square footage and provides a staging area to remove wet, dirty gear before stepping into the tent. It features one large D-shaped door and a side entrance for accessibility. The mesh windows are breathable, and canvas allows good airflow while being naturally waterproof. 100% cotton duck canvas is durable. If you take proper care of it, you may never have to buy another tent again.
It comes with everything including the frame with weld enforced corner braces. The weight is serious, over 100 pounds, so it’s only for car camping or places where you’ll have a lot of hands helping you carry things. Before you head out, make sure to set the tent up somewhere in the rain (or wet it with your garden hose) and allow it to dry. As the fabric dries, it draws up creating a water barrier. The tent is always water resistant, but if you skip this step before you go out, you may end up with leaks during the first rain.
The Exio uses a unique five-pole structure to create a larger living space and better stability for inclement weather. The separate rainfly zips down to create an extralarge vestibule that won’t interfere with the entrance. The fly is 20 denier ripstop nylon with 2000 mm waterproofing. It has seven guy out points to secure it for inclement weather, and the bathtub style floor prevents splashback and other moisture. The floor material is 40 denier ripstop fabric with 3000 mm waterproofing.
It has good airflow: ventilation points along the bottom and top draw fresh air in and vent humidity through the top. It can be reduced to a minimum trail weight of less than ten pounds and divided among three different packs, reducing everyone’s load to about three pounds individually.
It has 80 square feet of space, but the vestibule itself is nearly that much at 70 square feet. You could feasibly store all of your gear out there and have plenty of room for mattresses or for more people inside. And you don’t even have to shove your gear aside to get in and out of the entrance.
Marmot’s double wall tent can withstand a little more weather as the full coverage rain fly zips down to create vestibule space. The flaps at each entrance can stake out, so you don’t have to remove the fly completely from the entrance, preserving your vestibule space even as people are walking in and out.
The fly is 68 denier ripstop polyester with a 70 denier ripstop floor. The fly has an 1800 mm waterproof rating while the floor extends to 3000. The frame uses durable DAC DA17 aluminum poles, lightweight but durable. It has interior pockets for gear storage and reflective guy out points for safety. The doors don’t have mesh for ventilation, but overall, it does help prevent interior condensation with conventional ventilation. It’s a good all-purpose tent for rainy climates and unexpected inclement weather.
