Tents and Shelters
Ready for a night out? Whether you’re an ultralight alpinist, family of backpackers, devoted hanger, or comfort camper, you'll find the best tents, tarps, and hammocks for your outdoor overnights right here.
Check out our top picks below—including price comparisons—to shelter you in any terrain, trip, or season: winter mountaineering, three-season thru-hiking, warm weather car camping, hammock hanging, alpine bivys, tarps, and emergency shelter.
Or you can browse our thousands of independent tent and shelter ratings and reviews by product type, brand, or price. Written by real-world hikers, backpackers, alpinists, climbers, and paddlers, Trailspace community reviews will help you select a dependable, field-tested, outdoor abode just right for your next adventure.
The best tents and shelters, reviewed and curated by the Trailspace community. The latest review was added on November 22, 2021. Stores' prices and availability are updated daily.
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What’s the “best” tent or shelter for you? Consider your personal outdoor needs, preferences, and budget:
- Conditions:
First, and most important, in what seasons, conditions, and terrain will you use your tent, tarp, or hammock? Choose a shelter that can handle the conditions you expect to encounter (rain, snow, wind, heat, humidity, biting insects, an energetic scout troop), but don’t buy more tent than you truly need, and don’t expect one tent to do it all. - Capacity:
Tents are typically classified by sleeping capacity (i.e. one-person, two-person, etc). However, a tent's stated sleeping capacity usually does not include much (or any) space for your gear and there’s no sizing standard between tent manufacturers. Some users size up. - Livability:
Will you use the tent as a basecamp or is it an emergency shelter only? To determine if you and your gear will fit, look at the shelter’s dimensions, including floor and vestibule square areas, height and headroom (including at the sides), plus the number and placement of doors, gear lofts, and pockets, to assess personal livability, comfort, and footprint. - Weight and Packed Size:
If you’ll be backpacking, climbing, cycling, or otherwise carrying that shelter, consider its weight, packed size (and your pack it needs to fit in), and its space-to-weight ratio before automatically opting for the bigger tent. Paddlers and car campers have more room to work with, but everyone should consider how the tent and its parts pack up for stowage. - Design:
Tents come in various designs. Freestanding tents can stand alone without stakes or guy lines and can be easily moved or have dirt and other debris shaken out without being disassembled, though they still need to be staked out. Rounded, geodesic domes are stable and able to withstand heavy snow loads and wind. Tunnel tents are narrow and rectangular, and large family cabin tents are best for warm-weather campground outings. - Other features and specs to consider include single versus double-wall, ease of setup, stability, weather resistance, ventilation, , and any noteworthy features.
- Read more in our guide to tents.
Recent Tent/Shelter Reviews
NEMO Dragonfly 1
A lightweight, high quality, solo tent with great space and weather protection. A great solo shelter. It's lightweight, 2lbs 13 oz in its stuff sack. I carry its parts seperately: the poles and stakes in the Nemo bags provided that have cords with toggles, and the tent body and fly in a Sea to Summit Ultra Sil compression sack. The Nemo tent bag un-zips into two halves to carry the body and fly in one half. I'd recommend carrying a footprint, the bathtub floor's lightweight fabric (20 denier) is… Full review
Gossamer Gear The One
The Gossamer Gear The One is a very straightforward non-free standing tent design that provides a nice amount of room, is lightweight, and is a reasonably priced shelter option for the solo hiker focused on minimizing weight. Overview Back in September of 2020 Gossamer Gear was phasing out the existing version of The One available as they were about to release an updated 2021 version of The One, and put the existing version on sale at a great price, so I picked one up. I really didn’t need… Full review
Eureka! Solitaire AL
This was a great one-man tent and a big upgrade from my claustrophobic bivy sack. Super lightweight, watertight, and no frills. This is a great value for the money. This is a well designed inexpensive lightweight one-person tent. This tent has many of the good attributes of a bivy sack, without the bad. Some bivy sacks are way too claustrophobic for me. This has plenty of elbow room and length for one person. This tent was watertight in a heavy rain in the Pacific Northwest. The only part of the… Full review
Hilleberg Anjan 2
It's built to use, and use, and use... I've been wanting a Hilleberg for many years. In my opinion, there are simply no better tents and maybe only a handful that can compete with them. I looked long and hard at several different tents including the Akto, Anaris, Unna, and Niak. They all had their strong points, but the Anjan really stood out to me. It has great room, well ventilated and an easy in and out and relatively dry entry. I am 6'2" and can sit with ease. Alone, it almost seems too big,… Full review
Eureka! Apex3A
Not a lightweight tent by any means, but it is solid, functional, and has stood the test of time for more than ten years on all kinds of trips. We bought this tent more than ten years ago to use as our primary backpacking tent. It has served us well on many, many trips, and we still use it when car camping. Very simple to set up—just two crossing poles (we bought the lighter and better aluminum pole version, thus Apex 3A). It really does set up in a minute or two. Most of the tent is bug net,… Full review
Coleman 8-Person Instant Tent
I have owned this tent for 11 years. Have used it roughly once each year and I use it by myself or with only one other person, so not under heavy repeated use. If you want it to last, best not to force anything and follow the instructions on setup. It has held up very well and still looks like new. I sweep it out before every take down. Recently, I experienced my first breakage. At the top center hub, I got in a hurry and erected the legs too soon in the wrong order which caused the hub to twist… Full review
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL1
Roomy, comfortable shelter with plenty of storage. Generally good weather protection and ventilation. I love this castle of a tent. I have used this tent on multiple trips in the Virginia Blue Ridge mountains as well as in the Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming. This review is based on those trips and particularly on an 8-day backpacking loop trip in Wyoming mountains with elevations around 10K. In two very hard thunderstorms the waterproofing of the fabric was overwhelmed, allowing moisture to "spritz"… Full review
Force Ten Helium 2
Very light. Much more affordable than most super-lights. Simple to put up. Green is perfect for unobtrusive wild camping. Perfect for one person plus kit. And possibly a Border Collie. Tent blends in nicely. Wouldn’t have been interested if it had been yellow or orange. Force 10 designation puzzled me. Suggests this could withstand high winds and rough weather, which, very plainly, it couldn’t, at least not a lot of it. It genuinely is super-light. Packs down small. Is easy to put up and take… Full review
Paria Sanctuary SilTarp
This is a review of the Sanctuary 12'x10' hex SilTarp, Paria’s lightweight, double-treated and seam-taped 30D ripstop hex-cut tarp with catenary sides and ridgeline that comes as a kit with DCF guylines w/ line locks and alu Y stakes. It’s more suited for hammock camping and backpacking, but Paria also offers the Sanctuary in square/flat and tapered/catenary cuts and various sizes, which provides for all types of campers and backpackers who don’t want to spend a fortune on a good and lightweight… Full review
