Best 5-Person Tent for Your Next Outdoor Adventure

If you’re in the market for a 5-person tent that’s roomy enough for family car camping trips, light enough for backpacking, and a solid performer in all weather conditions, the Taurus from ALPS Mountaineering is the tent for you.

The Taurus ticks every box, but let’s start with the most important ones: livability, waterproofing, and portability.

This dome-shaped tent offers a generous 80 square feet of interior space that’s complemented by a whopping 32 square feet of vestibule space. The vestibules don’t only provide a handy place to change in and out of outdoor clothing and shoes but also free up living space by letting you store your gear outside the sleeping area.

Even if it’s far from the tallest model on our list, the Taurus’ 71-inch peak height also makes it comfortable for campers under 6 feet tall.

One of the Taurus’ main selling points is its performance in wet weather. It’s the only tent on our list with a full-coverage rainfly – and one that’s rated to a mighty 1,500 mm HH at that. While this makes it suitable for three-season, all-weather camping, its two doors, air vents, and mesh canopy all make it a standout in hot and humid conditions.

The Taurus is also one of the most portable models on our list. At 13 lbs. 5 oz. and with a packed size of just 9” x 25”, it could feasibly be used as a backpacking tent if split between two or three carriers.

As for features, the Taurus covers the most important bases. There are two doors, two vents, a gear loft, and a couple of mesh storage pockets, which is more than you typically get from other tents in this weight class.

If interior space, waterproofing, and durability happen to be high on your list of priorities, the Browning Big Horn is well worth a place on your shortlist.

Despite a few shortcomings, this is, in a few words, one of the best family camping tents out there. It doesn’t have any vestibules, is too heavy to consider for backpacking, and has only one door, but in every other metric it leaves most tents in its price range decidedly in the shade.

Steel uprights and crisscrossing fiberglass horizontal tent poles make the Big Horn more stable and solid than most other cabin tents. Its 75 D polyester rainfly and 150D poly oxford tent floor also make it one of the burliest and most durable on our list, while its 2,000 mm HH flooring and fly mean it’s a standout in wet weather.

Given there are other tough and waterproof tents on our list, you probably want to know why you might choose this one ahead of other tents.

The answer? Livability.

The Big Horn offers similar interior space to the ALPS Taurus and Eureka Tetragon, but its steep walls mean that it has significantly more usable space. In addition, its 84-inch center height means even tall campers can walk around inside without hunching, while the enormous front door makes for easy entry/exit.

A few other nice features put the icing on the cake. These include 4 large windows that partially make up for the absence of a second door, a large mesh storage shelf, and a pretty unique pole hub design that makes setup breezy for such a large camping tent.

If you’re looking for a user-friendly, frill-free, budget camping tent for good-weather camping trips, the Moon Lence Instant Pop-Up is well worth considering.

The Moon Lence ranks highest on our list in three metrics. Weighing just 10.8 pounds, it is the lightest of all the tents we reviewed. Its friendly price tag also means it’s the cheapest. And its pop-up design also makes it the easiest and quickest to pitch.

In terms of features, the Moon Lence also covers all the main bases. You get two doors, a couple of low vents to boost airflow, and a pair of mesh pockets on the walls.

There are, however, a few caveats worth mentioning.

Despite its light weight, this isn’t one you’d want to take backpacking. Its materials are far less rugged and waterproof than tents like the ALPS Taurus or Eureka Tetragon. And owing to its one-piece, pre-attached design, the weight of the shelter can’t be divided between multiple carriers, so one unlucky camper would be lumped with the whole 10 pounds (minus peg weight).

It’s also worth noting that the Moon Lence provides less living space than most of the competition (75 sq. ft.) and has no vestibules for gear storage.

Looking for an affordable, simple, solid tent for family camping trips? If so, the Eureka Tetragon is a great pick.

The Tetragon isn’t a standout in any particular metric but performs well across the board. It’s relatively light, waterproof enough for inclement weather, fairly roomy, easy to pitch, and boasts a few interior storage features that help to make up for its lack of vestibules.

The Tetragon offers 81 square feet of living space and boasts a peak height of 72 inches. While these figures make it one of the roomier tents we reviewed on paper, its dome-style design does mean there’s a lot of unusable space towards the edges. The bottom line is that it’s comfortable for four adult sleepers but a tight squeeze for five.

Like most budget camping tents, the Tetragon uses slightly lower-quality materials than those used in other tents on our list, but this is to be expected in this price range. At any rate, its fiberglass poles and 63D polyester taffeta fabric are durable enough to last several years with appropriate care and handling.

The Tetragon is a solid performer in both warm and wet weather. Its 1,500 mm rainfly and waterproof base will keep you dry in heavy rain and its mesh walls and windows provide ample airflow when conditions are hot and humid.

There are no vestibules, but inside you have a large gear hammock, mesh storage pockets, and clear media pockets that let you and the family view and control media devices from the comfort of your sleeping pads.

All of the tents we’ve introduced you to thus far have offered enough space for comfortable short-term stays in the backcountry, but the Vango Airbeam is the kind of shelter you could happily spend a month in.

That’s high praise, we know, but the following will hopefully show that it’s merited.

As you might have guessed from the name, the Airbeam Odyssey boasts a pole-free design, substituting regular poles with inflatable tubular beams that are integrated into the tent itself.

Inflatable tents are often shunned by old-school purists, but they have many benefits. They’re quick and easy to pitch, there’s no chance of losing, breaking, or forgetting your poles, they’re easy to repair, and they’re generally – and especially in the case of the Odyssey – solid in bad weather.

All of this aside, there are numerous reasons why the Odyssey is one of the best camping tents in the business.

For starters, this is an incredibly spacious tent. In addition to its 73-square foot sleeping area, there’s a 67-square foot screen room that can easily be converted into another “bedroom” for further sleepers. If not, it’s a great place for gear storage and bug-free lounging. On top of this, a small front awning provides further sheltered space where you can leave your dirty shoes.

In wet weather, the Odyssey is a standout, so much so that we’d be happy to use it in even heinous three-season conditions or for winter camping in more temperate but wet climates.

Other lovable features include high and low air vents, an expandable carry bag, interior pockets, and huge, clear windows in the screen room.

This wild-card entry on our list is a good pick for car-camping families who are happy to splash the cash for a little bit of luxury.

This cabin-style tent oozes quality from every inch. It’s made with extra-durable, waterproof, ripstop canvas fabric, burly aluminum poles, and a heavy-duty, heat-sealed PVC floor. All of this makes it one of the toughest tents on the market and sure to last at least a lifetime with appropriate care and maintenance.

What impressed us most about the OzTent is its versatility. Its modular design allows you to set it up in various ways, whether attached to your RV or not. And whichever way you choose to pitch it, this is an incredibly liveable shelter. In addition to 72 square feet of space inside, a huge extendable awning gives you as much room again for al fresco lounging or gear storage.

Despite its size and hefty weight (53.7 lbs.), the OzTent has another trick up its sleeve that’s sure to endear – namely, its unique frame design. This design allows the shelter to be set up in just 30 seconds by just one person. This would be impressive in a far smaller shelter, so in one of this size it’s kinda staggering.

The OzTent is pricey, sure, but if you’re unwilling to settle for anything less than the best of the best, your search can end here.

For summer camping trips with your family or a group of friends, you can’t go wrong with the ALPS Mountaineering Meramac.

This is the second cheapest option on our list, after the Moon Lence Instant, but does everything you need a two-season shelter to do.

This dome tent boasts 80 square feet of interior space and has a peak height of 72 inches, so is on par with other dome tents like the Eureka Tetragon and ALPS Taurus. While the sharp wall curvature of the dome-style design does make it a tight squeeze for five adults to move around in, this is more than adequate for sleeping.

The Meramac isn’t designed for three-season camping, but its partial-coverage, 1,500mm rainfly, and water-resistant body will keep you dry in moderate rainfall. This design also proves to be a boon to breathability, with the mesh canopy covered by the fly boosting the airflow provided by its two large, mesh-lined doorways.

For such a cheap tent, the Meramac is also pretty durable. It’s made with thick, 75D fabric, and while its poles are made from fiberglass, these are chunky enough to last if handled properly in transport.