Reviewed: Some of the best festival tents for 2023

by Sam Warrenger
Best Festival Tents for 2018

You might have bought some festival tickets by now, so if you haven’t already found a decent tent it’s already on your to-do list. We’ve reviewed some of the best festival tents for 2023, so get something that’ll last for years before you start to panic.

You don’t wanna be stuck with whatever tent you got from Tesco the night before again, do you?

At a festival, if not at all times, you want to cut the number of people a tent says it can sleep in half. You’ll need somewhere to store all that beer, and even without much stuff, a supposedly 4-man tent would be far too cosy with four people sleeping inside it.

We’d always avoid single-skin tents, such as most pop-up tents or cheap tents found in supermarkets. These tents have only a single layer of fabric between where you sleep and the outside world. Decent tents have two layers with a gap between the two, which prevents water from getting inside.

If it rains, you’ll get very wet in a single-skin tent. They’re cheap tents, not decent tents. All your stuff will get soaked. It’s a festival. It will almost definitely rain, perhaps lots. If you really must take risks, there are some super cheap tents at the bottom of the list.

We’ve reviewed some great quality festival tents at decent value prices, from online stores and high street retailers.

Oh, and if there’s a few of you going to your next festival, get everyone to chip in. Then you can get a nice tent, with room to sit about on your chairs and charge your phones inside when it rains all day.

High-quality tent for 2-3 people

Coleman 3+ Coastline Tent

Coleman Coastline 3+

This has become my go-to festival tent. It’s big enough for two people to have plenty of room and easily sleeps three if needed, though it’s small and light enough to carry, build and pack away easily on your own.

The bedroom walls are miles from the sides of the tent, which is probably why it was one of the only tents in the Kendal Calling crew campsite that didn’t get soaked through by the thunderstorms last summer. There’s even a porch area big enough to sit around on camping chairs inside – and it’s tall enough you can stand up inside to get changed.

I used it through the last few summers and expect to take it to pretty much every festival I go to this summer.

It’s a high-quality product from a well-known brand so if you go to multiple festivals every year, or go camping, spend the extra on this. If you’re off to Reading with your mates from college for the first time, maybe get one of the cheaper and bigger tents below.

When you’re used to cheaper tents you notice some of the luxuries the Coleman brand offers, like nicer zips that don’t get stuck and colour-coded poles. This one-man tent even gives you a choice of two side doors and one larger, front-facing door. If you get fed up of the view you can look the other way and you can use the door where the rain doesn’t blow inside. Fantastic.

It’s available from Amazon and pretty much anywhere else with a decent range of tents on offer.

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Best value festival tent for 2-4 people

Skandika 4 Person 2 Room Tunnel Tent

4-6 man tent

This tent gives you the essential ‘bit-in-the-middle’ where you can socialise and store stuff, whilst giving you separate sleeping compartments on either side.

You’ll have festival luxury with only two people, with the space and privacy of a bedroom each and a spacious living area – and with three or four people, you’ll still be ok, as you’ve got the big central area to store your (non-valuable!) stuff!

It’s a pretty tried-and-tested design for a group festival tent. It’s not too hard to build either, just get the poles into the outer shell, hook up the sealed bedroom compartments, and with a sewn-in groundsheet, you’re already done!

Alternatively, it can be used without one or both of the bedroom compartments, creating a massive space that’ll sleep a bigger group.

It’s not too heavy either, so taking turns, it’s not too bad for carrying into a festival campsite from the car without a trolley, and it’d be manageable on public transport.

Sale
Outsunny 4-6 Man Camping Tent w/Two Bedroom, Hiking Sun Shelter, UV Protection Tunnel Tent, Blue and White
130 Reviews
Outsunny 4-6 Man Camping Tent w/Two Bedroom, Hiking Sun Shelter, UV Protection Tunnel Tent, Blue and White
  • 4-6 PERSON TUNNEL TENT: Features 2 bedrooms and a living area, suitable for 4-6 people. Perfect for families and friends camping together
  • SELECTED MATERIAL: The 2000mm waterproof polyester cover and strong flexible fibreglass poles guarantee the stability of this family tent. The ground stakes and guy ropes keep the tents for camping stabilized in the wind
  • PRACTICAL DESIGN: The bedrooms are situated on either side of the living room. Each bedroom is big enough to accommodate a double airbed and features a sewn-in groundsheet, zipped doors and storage pockets to store your items
  • LIGHTWEIGHT & COMPACT: A carry bag allows you to easily store and carry the tent on outdoor adventures
  • DIMENSIONS: 170H x 430L x 240Wcm, Bedroom Dimensions: 150H x 220L x 130Wcm, Door Size: 117L x 153Hcm

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Best value festival tent for 3-6 people

ProAction 6 Man 2 Room Tent

Proaction Tunnel tent

This tent is a lot like the 4-man tent featured above, so if you’ve read what we’ve said about that one, you’re off to a great start.

This is a slightly bigger 6-man tent, with room for three in each bedroom on opposite sides of the living and storage area. There’s doors on both sides, which can be opened out into an awning with included poles.

It’s currently on offer in Argos for £59.99, and if you’ve left it until the last minute, you can check stock in stores near you online and reserve one to pick up immediately.

A cheap double-skin tent that’ll last

Coleman Darwin Dome Tent (2 person)

Reviewed: Some of the best festival tents for 2023 1

This tent from Yellowstone weighs less than 3KG and should only take around five or ten minutes to pitch. It’s one of the cheapest double-skin tents we could find, so it has a separate bedroom to hang inside to help stop leaks dripping through from the outer layer.

There’s a small porch area to keep your wellies dry and your chair hidden away. It’s perfect if you’re doing a festival solo but there’s enough space inside it’ll comfortably sleep two people. You can even fit a double airbed inside without much hassle.

Coleman Tent Darwin | 2 Person Compact Dome Tent | Lightweight Camping, Festival and Hiking Igloo Tent | 100% Waterproof with HH 3000mm | Sewn-in Groundsheet
3,285 Reviews
Coleman Tent Darwin | 2 Person Compact Dome Tent | Lightweight Camping, Festival and Hiking Igloo Tent | 100% Waterproof with HH 3000mm | Sewn-in Groundsheet
Several ventilation flaps for optimal air circulation avoid condensation; Mosquito net in the inner tent; Inner pockets for mobile phone, glasses, keys

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Really want one? Single-skin tents

Two kinds of cheap festival tent examined

Ok, so you want a really cheap tent. If you get any heavy rain, it’ll leak, but yeah, you’re willing to take the risk. You’ve read our list of good yet still reasonably priced tents, but you don’t care, you just wanna know about cheap tents anyway.

You should never leave your tent behind after a festival. They go to landfill, not charity, and on average contain 8,750 straws worth of plastic. If the weather isn’t horrendous and you avoid the very cheapest, it’s perfectly possible to look after a single-skin tent and use it again and again. Just don’t take too much stuff, anything touching the sides will make it leak.

We’ve found some of the cheapest decent quality small, single-skin tents around.

The single-skin dome tent

Argos Dome Tent at Boomtown in the Rain
ProAction 4-man Dome Tent

These are often sold as ‘festival tents’ and are a common sight amongst the festival campsites, but should perhaps come with a ‘you will get wet’ warning like an Alton Towers ride.

To be fair, some of the larger ones like pictured above can actually stand up pretty well to the rain, provided there’s absolutely nothing anywhere near the sides of the tent.

Danny brought that one to Boomtown because it was £25 in Argos (usually £30) and he needed to buy one en-route. It was totally dry inside through the worst downpours, but keep in mind that’s one man in a 4-man tent.

Still, the tent’s coming to Glastonbury and back to Boomtown this summer. You don’t need to buy an expensive tent to re-use it again and again, you just need to avoid the very very cheapest and look after what you do buy.

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Pop-up festival tent

A pop-up tent at Boomtown

Pop-up tents are slightly more expensive, unless you go for a tiny one, but totally worth it if you hate pitching and packing away. They literally pops into place in about 5 seconds. Just stick some pegs in and you’re done.

There’s a bit of a technique to folding them away, but once you’ve mastered it you can pack your tent away in seconds. If you can’t manage, there’s always someone within earshot who knows how to put a pop-up tent away in a festival campsite.

They’re generally very lightweight and easy to carry, so it’s a shame so many people leave them behind because of the price. They’re probably the easiest tents to take home and re-use.

There’s also a pop-up tent with awning available from Argos if you don’t fancy buying online.

As an Amazon Associate TheFestivals earns from qualifying purchases / Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.co.uk, Inc. or its affiliates

F.A.Q.

What’s the best type of tent for a festival?

If you’re going with mates, go splits on a decent tent with a few bedrooms and a living area. It’ll be cheaper than buying your own individual tents and easier to reuse again and again. Even if you’re going alone, we always recommend taking a double-skin tent to festivals. If and when it rains heavily, you’ll probably get soaked in a cheap single-skin tent.

What happens to tents left behind at a festival?

They go to landfill. Tents left behind at festivals rarely go to charity. The average tent left behind contains as much plastic as 8,750 straws. Get a decent quality tent and use it year after year.

Main image creditÉamonn Ó Muirí

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