If the idea of sleeping in an oven does not interest you, perhaps it’s time to discover the best tents for hot weather camping.
Camping is one of the best summertime activities for escaping the day to day hustle and bustle. But don’t be fooled into thinking that it won’t get hot. Especially inside a tent after being baked in the sun all day long.
There are various ways to stay cool when camping and choosing the right tent is one of the more important decisions you can make. A tent can remain hot day and night which can make it unbearable to sleep in. Fortunately there are tents that are better designed for dealing with warm weather camping.
What About 4 Season Tents In Summer
The best hot weather tent will at most be a 3 season tent. A four season tent means it is equipped to handle cold winter conditions, which is not ideal for camping in the summer heat. So a 2 or 3 season tent with mesh walls and ceiling to provide ventilation is key.
But don’t forget about the morning sun and rain. By this I mean make sure you still have a rain fly attached. This will obviously provide shelter from the rain, but also act as a means for shade. A tent can heat up very quickly in the morning sun, so the shade of a rain fly is a must in hot weather.
While a rain fly can restrict air circulation to a degree, it’s still better than the blaring hot sun directly on your skin early in the morning. But in saying this, tents these days have improved in design to allow for air circulation between the tents rain fly and side walls. So a rain fly will not completely shut off the air flow.
Innovative Dark Room Tents Block The Hot Sun
Coleman produce this range of ‘dark room tents’ designed purely to block out 90% of the sun and keep the inside of the tent as cool as possible. Available in 4, 6 or 10 person size tents, there’s one for everyone.
If you have a few people camping with you, then go for the instant 10 person tent. It has large windows and doors to assist in air circulation. The smaller versions of these dark room tents are a dome style rather than a cabin style of tent.
How This Tent Keeps Hot Weather Out
The reflective rain fly and the dark interior are the key ingredients to this dark room technology. The outer material reflects the sun’s rays by up to 90% according to Coleman. This combined with the dark interior ceiling and walls creates a shade like area. Which is meant to reduce temperature building up over the day by 10%.
So when it comes to sleep time, the tent is cooler due to not building and storing heat all day long. But whats also cool about this it’s actually dark inside. So in the early hours of the morning when he sun pokes it’s head, you won’t be blinded by the glaring light. This tent will keep you sleeping in darkness for longer.
More About This 10 Person Instant Cabin
- Bathtub flooring with inverted seams that make water penetrating the tent almost impossible.
- A huge 14ft x 10ft tent footprint.
- Super easy to assemble being an instant tent.
- 6’7″ high ceiling makes walking around inside easy.
- Mesh ceiling for allowing hot air to rise up and out of the tent.
- Features the Coleman Hinged Door which opens and closes like a regular house door with a velcro door latch.
Air Conditioned Tent
If the idea of a dark room tent isn’t your thing, then perhaps a tent which is enabled to be air conditioned is more up your alley. This 8 person Wenzel Klondike tent is air con enabled meaning it has a vent specifically for putting a air con unit behind. This vent can also be used as a air vent when there is no air con unit attached.
However, as this tent has a mesh ceiling, you will need to put a tarp between the mesh and rain fly in order to keep the cold air inside your tent.
The vent is down low on the tent and features a waterproof flap to cover the air con unit. The opening is protected by a fine mesh insect screen so no nasty bugs or snakes slither their way inside the tent. So leaving this vent open with the flap tied up will increase the amount of fresh cool air flowing into the tent. When this cooler air comes in from the bottom of the tent, it pushes out the hot air that’s been sitting inside the tent up through the mesh ceiling and out through the rainfly.
Screen Room Keeps This Tent Cool In Summer
Besides having the air vent, the other feature I adore is the front screen room. When its a particularly hot day and the tent is just stewing with hot air, the front screen room makes for the perfect spot in the shade. Because all the walls are mesh air can circulate extremely well while you enjoy the shade from the over head awning.
The screened porch also has a floor which makes tacking a nap in the screen room all that much easier. The entry from the screen room into the main tent is a large circle. This entry can be completely zipped up for privacy of left open to create a cool channel of air to flow in and out through the mesh ceiling.
The main room of the tent boasts 2 mesh windows for extra air intake. The back wall doesn’t have a window but it does have the air vent down low to push out any hot air sitting in the tent.
Overall the Wenzel Klondike 8 person tent is a great tent for camping in hot weather. It has plenty of air circulation and a mesh ceiling for hot air to escape. Not many tents have a air conditioning port like this one. So if you really want to stay cool this summer you can with the use of a air conditioner.
Dark Rest Tent By Ozark Trail
Ozark Trail have this ‘Dark Rest’ 6 person tent which uses similar technology to the Coleman Dark Room tent mentioned above. So with this tent you can have a much cooler interior to you tent while also having a darker room to sleep in whether you want a extended sleep in or to have a nap in the afternoon.
But what makes the Ozark Trail a little different is that this tent also has a skylight. This panel in the ceiling allows you to open it to allow extra light inside the tent if you feel it’s too dark. Whats cool about this feature is that it is still protected from bugs due to the mesh ceiling and also protected from rain due to the clear panel in the rainfly.
So if sleeping under the stars while being able to see out through the ceiling even if it’s raining is appealing to you, then this tent is a sure contender. It’s very rare to find a tent with a skylight like this and to be able to keep you cooler in hot weather is an absolute dream.
All the windows and the skylight can be closed up, so not only do you get privacy, you also get complete darkness and protection form the sun. While when you do need light you can obviously open up the windows or skylight.
The overall size of the tent is 10ft x 9ft with a total living space of 90ft2. A decent size instant cabin tent for up to 6 people. Because it is a instant tent, assembly is super easy and you have plenty of gear storage compartments.
2 To 4 Person Ventilated Summer Tent
With the bigger tents out of the way, lets have a look at one of the best summer tents in the smaller size category. The Weanas tent is one of the coolest tents you can use in hot scorching weather. The Weanas tent comes in a few sizes from 1 person to 4 person tents.
While it’s a strange name (Weanas), it’s certainly not a strange tent. The features this small tents offers in terms of reducing condensation and temperature build up is amazing. So lets have a quick look at what makes this a great summer tent for warm weather.
The Temperature Control Features
- 2 skylight vents in the rainfly which allows hot air to escape and prevents the build up of condensation.
- 2 vestibule doors which can be left open to create amazing cross ventilation.
- Vestibule flaps can be turned into a awning which offers a place to escape the heat under the shade of the rainfly. However you will need your own poles to keep the awning up. Alternately the flaps can be rolled up and tied back to allow greater air flow through front door.
- Mesh walls and ceiling create a great ventilation system, even when the rainfly is attached.
Overall It’s A Great Tent
The Weanas tent really is one of those tents you can’t seem to fault. It’s design is unique yet very effective and the extra long 85 inch dimensions mean even tall people can sleep comfortably in this tent.
The materials used to the lantern hanging ceiling have all been implemented very well. You can tell this is a high quality tent which has all the key components you need for sleeping in hot weather.
Best 2 Person Summer Tent
If you’re looking for a tent that is suitable for 1 or 2 people which offers great protection from the heat, it’s hard to go past the USA based Hyke & Byke.
This 2 person ‘Yosemite’ tent is ideal for hot conditions because it is full mesh walls and ceiling. Other tents will have some form of nylon on the walls, but this tent offers mesh heaven for some of the best air circulation you can get.
The tent also comes with a rainfly which creates vestibules. These vestibules are great for storing gear outside your tent, but also for allowing wind to blow inside your tent while having protection from the rain.
The Hyke& Byke Yosemite is a freestanding tent which also comes with reflective guylines should you need to stake it down. Aluminum stakes are also included for nailing your tent to the ground. The only thing I wish this tent had was skylight vents like the above Weanas tent. This is why I prefer the Weanas over the Yosemite. However there is talk among Hyke & Byke about adding air vents into the ceiling for just this reason.
Overall it’s still a very good quality summer tent. It’s lightweight, very portable, comes in a carry bag and is made using high grade materials. So for the price, I find the Yosemite to be a very good buy. A tent that is sure to survive hot summer weather.
Best Hot Weather Tents With Lots Of Windows
A big part of camping for me is camping with the family. So having the room for them, or even just having extra room for less people. Is something that I consider to be of extremely high importance. Which is something this tent has in spades. In turn it makes it more comfortable for camping in hot humid Summer conditions.
Huge 3 Room Summer Tent
It can easily fit three queen sized beds inside, which is impressive to look at. This really is a large tent designed for family trips where privacy from the kids is a big requirement. You can easily fit two parents, three kids, and even a couple of dogs if your campsite permits camping with dogs, without it feeling cramped. This is a big plus for me, and will be for you as well if you’re taking the family.
There is a lot to love about this tent, especially for comfort from the heat. A number of things go into making a tent handle the heat well. Thankfully this tent has several things going for it. With first being the sheer number of windows it has, with it having seven in total.
Heat Reflecting Features
Windows by themselves aren’t enough so Ozark went with a mesh ceiling, which is a double edged sword. It does allow the heat to escape which is great. But if you use an air con unit or a heater if it’s cold. The cold or hot air you want will escape easier. So it has it’s positives, but also a downside. The tent is a little too large to throw a tarp over in order to trap the cold air from the air con inside the tent.
It does include three ground vents, with one being in each of the rooms. This is really useful to have when you add the extra function of them being able to connect to an air con unit. Tho as I mentioned above this is good and bad.
But even without an air con unit, these vents play a critical role in keeping this massive family summer tent cooler. They allow for cooler air to come in from the base of the tent and circulate the older hot air that has been sitting dormant inside the tent to escape up and out through the mesh ceiling. Bringing the temperature inside the tent down.
Simple Enough Assembly
There is a bit of a learning curve to this tent when it comes to setting up, with the instructions being a little unclear. But once you learn how it goes, it’s a breeze to put up and take down. With depending on skill level, this can take only 15 minutes to put up, or to take down.
This tent was designed for the summer, which is where it excels. It does struggle when it comes to rainy weather, with where the rain can pool up on the awning. However this is not a flooding crisis by any means, you just need to ensure the awning is set up so the front of it angles towards the ground, creating a way for pooled up water to flow off the awning.
Best Family Tents For Hot Weather
When you’re camping and the weather is getting hot, there’s nothing worst then being stuck in a hot tent when you’re trying to sleep. So having a tent that breaths is essential, and when it comes to breathing tents, you can’t go past a canvas tent. Especially this Kodiak canvas tent.
The great thing about canvas tents is that they can handle both extremes, cold and hot. This Kodiak is no different it’s well insulated so it keeps the warmth out during the heat, and keeps the cold out during the colder times.
This tent isn’t a one trick pony tho, it’s more than just being great for hot and cold weather. It’s very spacious and quite comfy that some people refer to it as the palace, which just screams comfort if you ask me.
How Big Is This Tent
If you’re in need of a bit of height and room, than this is a great option, with a peak ceiling height of 7.5 feet. It’s a 12 by 9 foot(108 sf) tent which is enough to keep about three cots and some gear. It’s more spacious then you’d think, and has great amount of room.
One thing that I truly appreciate about this tent is how it handles the rain. I don’t know about you but nothing annoys me more then when rain is leaking in my tent. With this Kodiak canvas tent this is rarely an issue, the canvas keeps the rain out, even after several days use.
Setting up a tent can make or break a camping trip in my opinion. How difficult it is to set it up can set the tone for the trip. So thankfully this tent will only take about half an hour, with just one person, and even quicker with a helper. But you can get this time down the more you do it.
Canvas Is Heavy
Being a canvas tent does have a drawback that may put some people off, but it can be worked around. Canvas does weigh more, and be a lot more bulky then there counterparts. With it roughly weighing about 112lbs this could be an issue for some people.
When packed up it’s pretty bulky so making room for it might be difficult, for car camping. With the tent itself being 32 inches in length, and 15 inches in diameter. Then the poles are 46 inches by 7 inches. This might be to big for some people and may want to find something smaller.
In my opinion, the Kodiak is one of the best family tents for hot weather camping. Its heavy duty, durable yet can breath better thanks to the canvas material. Most summer tents are no good when it comes to camping all 4 seasons. So having a tent like this means you can camp in Winter also, giving you better bang for your buck.
Are Canvas Tents Good For Hot Weather
When it comes to tents, there are three main types of materiel they’re made from. Which are canvas, polyester, and nylon. Tho nylon and polyester are very similar so there differences are very small and almost negligible.
With each year the temperature is getting hotter, so having a tent that is good for hot weather is crucial. Having a tent that is insulated well, and can breath well are essential to make your camping trip more enjoyable.
You may have noticed that I said earlier that 4 season tents may not be ideal for hot weather camping, yet I recommended the above canvas Kodiak tent. Isn’t this contradicting myself?. Yes, and no. Here’s why.
Canvas Material Breathes Better
If you’ve ever worn a cotton shirt in the summer, you will know just how important having a breathing fabric is. Which is what a canvas tent does for camping. Which is one of the variety of reasons that make canvas tents highly recommended for hot weather.
They are well insulated tents which means that the tent won’t get as hot initially as the other tents in the warmer times. But the added benefit that it will help with keeping it warmer during the colder camping trips as well. Which is extremely beneficial in my opinion.
When you combine all these advantages of a canvas tent together. They’re perfectly designed to handle the rigors of hot weather, and can also handle the cooler climates as well. This makes them some of the most recommendable tents on the market.
The fabric itself is very durable and can last a long time compared to other types out there. It’s designed to be able to handle UV rays better then most. Which just adds to there durability, which is what you want when you’re camping during the hotter months.
The durability of canvas compared to polyester nylon is like comparing chalk and cheese. You can easily get a rip in nylon or have your tent torn apart by strong winds. With canvas tents, they are more resilient to harsh camping weather. The material is thick, strong and tightly woven together fibers to resist rain, wind and the sun.
In my opinion canvas tents are very good for the hot weather. But there is a slight downside with them, that will be different from person to person. That is they do tend to cost more then other types, so if budget is an issue, this could be a problem.
Too Hot To Go Camping?
There’s times when the temperature outside is just too hot to go camping. Whether you decide to embrace the heat or combat it with a air conditioning unit is up to you. But do remember that extreme temperatures do kill people. Especially the young and the elderly.
So it’s important to be aware of the risks involved with camping in extreme temperatures. Always pack more than enough water for your trip if you know it is going to be a hot camping trip.
A tent can only take you so far, the rest is up to you. Stay hydrated and keep out of the sun as much as possible. If you plan your trip well in advance, there’s no reason you cant have a successful trip.
By using one of the best tents for hot weather mentioned above combined with fans, portable air cons and drinking plenty of water, you can make the most out of some pretty hot conditions. Stay cool and enjoy the great outdoors.