Best car tents for camping: compact rooftop designs from Thule, TentBox, Quechua and more
A night out under the stars sounds idyllic, but traditional camping has drawbacks, from feeling every root and rock underneath the ground sheet to trying to get a good night’s kip on the slowly deflating airbed.
But if you have your own set of wheels, there is an alternative: behold, the car tent. The motorist’s camping hack uses a foldaway tent that attaches to the car’s roof. It means no frantic search for the flysheet and more chances to be spontaneous at the weekend.
Most car tents are straightforward to fix to your car using hardware that is supplied with the car tent (some manufacturers even offer an in-house fitting service), but you will need some form of roof bars fitted to your car first.
How to choose the right car tent
When choosing a tent that’s right for your rooftop, there are many similarities between traditional camping and car camping. The first is how easy the tent is to set up and this is one of the joys of car tents, which unfold in a single motion usually controlled by the telescopic ladder that you’ll climb up to get into bed. There are battery-operated models available too.
Either way, the tent is usually pitched in less time than it takes to say ‘fly sheet’ with base camp ready so you can crack on with building a campfire or exploring your new setting.
All car tents have built-in mattresses of various thicknesses and
