Spacious and durable camping tents designed for large crews offer several advantages for families looking to get away from it all. In this guide, we break down the countless benefits of family camping tents, from their sturdy and reliable frames to their roomy interiors, and then explore just why family camping trips are so important.

Why Larger Family Camping Tents Are Best

When it comes to taking a camping trip with your family, a larger camping tent is ideal. A durable and spacious family camping tent offers lots of benefits and ensures everyone in your party – adults and youngsters alike – will enjoy their outdoor experience. So just what are the benefits of larger family camping tents?

Here are the many ways larger camping tents can elevate your family camping trip.

One Tent to Carry & Pitch

One great benefit of family camping tents? You only have to pitch and break down once – one and done! It also means you only have to carry one tent, leaving space in your vehicle for essential camping gear. Clear one site, pitch one tent, and have more time to spend enjoyable outdoor activities with your family.

While it’s tempting to bring along a couple of smaller tents (to separate kids from adults, for example), it kinda defeats the purpose of a bonding family camping trip. However, remember: some larger family camping tents also offer dividers and even multiple rooms, providing the right amount of privacy.

Ultimately, you know your family members’ personalities and quirks best. If you have a teenager who just needs more space, a second smaller tent (like a pup tent) they can call their own might be the best compromise to keep everyone sane and happy.

Space & Comfort for the Whole Crew

Family camping tents are built large enough to accommodate multiple campers. The spacious footprint and interior offer ample room and elbow room to move about without stepping on toes or feeling cramped and stacked on top of one another. The extra space also means more breathability and ventilation, thanks in part to common features like multiple mesh screen windows and external walls that can be raised.

Extra space also means better sleeping arrangements, allowing you to bring along raised cots, which in turn provide under-storage space for camp gear and personal items like backpacks and toys.

When it comes to space and comfort, consider height too. Family camping tents tend to offer standing room height, so you can go about your normal routine like it’s home. In fact, standing room height also means space for creature comforts like camp furniture, which makes your family camping tent feel as cozy as home.

Space to Spare for Activities & Relaxation

Since large family camping tents are so spacious, they offer room for cots and inflatable camp beds, but also spare space for families to gather for activities and entertainment. Once the sun goes down, you can bring everyone together for family game night or use the spare space as a reading nook.

This benefit is especially useful when you need protection from the elements. Take shelter in your family camping tent, shaded from the sun or dry from the rain, and still spend quality time together doing activities, even when the weather spoils your outdoor adventures.

Better Durability & Longer Lifespan

Large family camping tents are made to last. The tent’s manufacturer assumes a family camping tent will take a beating, so it needs to be well-built and durable for many seasons and even years to come. Some family camping tents, especially canvas-style tents, can even last a lifetime.

Typically, family camping tents are made of high-quality materials like nylon or thick heavyweight canvas. With proper care and maintenance, a family tent will keep you and your loved ones safe from the harsh weather and wet conditions with weather-resistant features and sturdier poles, frames and reinforcements.

Family Camping Tents are Budget-Friendly

Compare the cost of a long week or weekend stay at an Airbnb or hotel room to the cost of a family camping tent. When you add up the upfront cost of the family tent (even with any tent accessories you desire), it can seem like a chunk of change. But when you realize your family camping tent can be used multiple times over, and that it’s built to last, other accommodations simply don’t compare.

The Benefits of Camping Trips With Your Family

Family camping tents offer many benefits, but the benefits they provide your family is compounding. Family camping trips offer countless rewards and valuable, teachable moments. It can act as family therapy, bridging the divide of sibling rivalries and bringing parents closer together. Family camping trips are simply good for the soul, the environment, and even the wallet.

Everyone Unplugs and Reconnects

Camping forces you to disconnect from devices and reconnect with loved ones. Technology is such a huge part of our lives, but when you venture into the wilderness, where the Wi-Fi is weak, you have no other choice but to do without. And let’s be honest, adults and kids are equally as addicted to devices. But when you unplug from said devices, kids realize there’s more to life than TikTok and adults escape those nagging chime notifications of work emails.

Forced to unplug, family members remember how to interact and socialize with each other instead. Plus, without the distraction of devices, they can experience the world and nature right in front of them. Technology has its benefits, but every once in a while, it’s important to power down to reconnect with family.

Nature Health Benefits

Another benefit of family camping trips is that nature improves our health on so many levels.

Take stress for instance. For kids stressed about school to adults stressed about work, nature improves our mental health and reduces anxiety levels. Stroll along a wooded path for a little forest bathing to see what we mean. Not to mention, the fresh air alone, away from air pollution of dense city environments, can clear out your lungs and bring a sense of renewal to the spirit.

Sleeping outside can also reset your circadian rhythms, which is wonderful for family members looking to get some restful shuteye.

Family Camping Activities Keep Everyone Active

Time spent outdoors usually comes with activities that keep the entire family active. Whether you camp near a lake and enjoy water sports like kayaking or fishing, or prefer to explore the local hiking trails, being outdoors promotes physical activity and time well spent with family too.

Camping Trips Are Affordable

Family vacations can put a strain on finances, but camping softens the blow. Camping is an extremely affordable way to have a family vacation, especially if your destination is rather costly. Owning your own family camping tent means not having to book hotel rooms. Camping allows you to make your own budget-friendly meals (which are nutritious, by the way) to cut back on eating out (at least, not all the time).

Camping trips offer an affordable way to travel, even if you prefer to splurge a little on the activities and sightseeing. Just choose a budget-friendly campground close that offers spacious campsites and sits close to the action – you’ll never miss vacation another way again!

Family Members Learn Invaluable Life Skills

Camping brings a certain set of challenges. Challenges that require invaluable skills. When you go camping with family, you have to work as a team to accomplish simple tasks like pitching the tent to cooking to building a fire. Camping gets down to basics, boiling down to the basic everyday challenges of everyday life, from problem-solving to adapting to change and more.

Camping Teaches Appreciation for Nature

When you take a family camping trip, it immerses everyone in the great outdoors, teaching youngsters (and, yes, some adults too) to appreciate nature and the world in which we live. And as they grow up (or mature), they will have a deeper understanding of their role in environmental conservation, and be more inclined to practice a more sustainable lifestyle.

You Create Stronger Bonds and Family Ties

Family camping trips will always create stronger bonds. Sharing a large family tent is a great way to bring everyone together and create lasting memories. Even if the camping trip becomes a fiasco, or disputes or tiffs are had, family members must still rely on one another in the wilderness. In turn, learning to stick together – in both smooth and rough times – brings everyone closer together.

Family camping trips also don’t have to involve only immediate family members. This is a great opportunity to invite grandparents, bridging the generation gap, as well as cousins, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who is a part of your lives. Heck–make your camping trip a full-on family reunion! The point is that camping can strengthen those family ties!

How Big of a Family Camping Tent Do You Need?

So therein lies the question: How big of a camping tent does your family need? That depends on many factors, several of them quite personal. Ultimately, the answer resides in how you intend to use your tent and the size of your crew (is it still growing?).

But, to help you come to a conclusion, here is some extra information to help you choose the best family camping tent for you!

Check out the Bell Tent Size Guide & the at-a-glance Bell Tent Comparison.

And don't pass up Family Camping Tips and Tricks to ensure a smooth adventure!