Need a tent that won’t feel hot and stuffy while camping in the heat? Finding a good quality tent that also keeps you cool can be difficult.
But it doesn’t have to be. This guide gives you our recommendations for tents for hot weather. They help block heat out and provide airflow to help you stay cool on those warm summer days. Want more inspiration on how to keep cool? Check out our summer camping tips.
Ready to find your next summer camping tent? Then without further ado, let’s dive in!
Best Tents for Hot Weather
- Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent
- Mountainsmith Morrison 2 Person Tent
- Hyke & Byke Yosemite Backpacking Tent
- ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 3-Person Tent
- Ozark Trail Instant Cabin Tent with Built in Cabin Lights
1. Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent
Our overall top pick for the best tent for hot weather is the Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent. It’s essentially the same tent as the standard Coleman Sundome, one of the most popular tents on the market, but with the addition of Coleman Dark Room technology.
What that means is that the tent is constructed with special fabric that blocks 90% of sunlight compared to the Sundome and reduces heat inside the tent as well. At the same time, the partial cover fly allows air circulation through the tent via mesh windows on each side, so the tent is still breathable in summer weather.
Be sure to stake the fly out using the included guy lines to ensure that air can flow properly underneath the rainfly to keep the tent cool.
When you’re not as concerned about keeping light out, you can also roll down the covers over the mesh windows in the door and on the back wall to let more air flow through the tent. The front and rear awnings keep the rain out while allowing air to circulate.
Other great features of this dome tent include the electrical cord slot in the front corner of the tent, two interior small mesh pockets, and easy setup in just 10 minutes.
The Coleman Dark Room Sundome is available in 4-person and 6-person sizes.
- DARK ROOM TECHNOLOGY: Blocks 90% of...
- REDUCES HEAT: For a more...
- WEATHERPROOF: Welded corners and...
- STAY CONNECTED: E-Port makes it...
- CONVENTIONAL PITCH: Sets up in 10...
2. Mountainsmith Morrison 2 Person Tent
Our next summer tent is the Mountainsmith Morrison 2 Person tent. This little tent is great for single adults or pairs who don’t mind being a little cozy at night.
While most tents are snug with the manufacturer’s number of people inside, and certainly won’t fit that number of people along with their gear, the Morrison’s rainfly has vestibules on either side that provide campers with space to store their gear so the entire interior space can be left for campers to stretch out in.
This three-season tent has mesh windows to allow for air circulation and a bathtub floor with taped floor seams to keep water out. The tent connects to the aluminum alloy poles with clips, allowing better airflow underneath the rainfly and making setup easier.
Similarly, the rainfly has built-in vents and uses guy lines on either side to keep the fly away from the tent for better breathability. The guy lines are reflective to prevent campers from tripping over them at night.
And speaking of easy setup, the tent and fly have color-coded buckle attachments to make that aspect of setup easy as well.
- Two door / Two vestibule layout
- Two person layout
- Three season, free standing tent
- Tent fly ventilation windows
- Bathtub floor construction
3. Hyke & Byke Yosemite Backpacking Tent
Looking for a hot weather tent for backpacking? Then you can’t go wrong with the Hyke & Byke Yosemite Backpacking Tent.
The tent itself is almost completely meshing, with the exception of the bathtub floor. Taped seams on the floor keep water out, even in heavy rain. A rainfly covers and almost completely encloses the breathable mesh tent to provide privacy and shelter from the rain. Like the Mountainsmith Morrison, it also provides vestibules for storing gear outside of the tent itself.
The rainfly doesn’t have any vents, but it does allow airflow under the bottom and uses reflective guy lines to keep it taught, allowing better air circulation underneath.
This 3 season tent comes in one and two-person versions. The one-person version (without footprint) weighs 3.79 pounds, while the two-person weighs 4.85 pounds. However, Hyke & Byke also recommends what they call the Ultralight Setup, which is using the rainfly, poles, and footprint without the mesh tent.
The Ultralight components of the one-person tent weigh just 2.58 pounds, and for the two-person tent they weigh just 3.26 pounds.
The other advantage of the ultralight setup is that it allows more airflow underneath the fly and allows you more room to spread out without the tent’s mesh walls.
And to top it all off, the Hyke & Byke provides a lifetime warranty for their tents.
- 2 Person Tent for Kids and Adults:...
- Camping Gear and Equipment: Our 54...
- Dome Tent Accessories: Included in...
- Leisure Time: Whether you're...
- Hyke & Byke Sleeping Bags:...
4. ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 3-Person Tent
Our next tent is the ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 3-Person Tent. This tent is a step up in size from the two tents we just discussed but is smaller than the first and last tents on our list.
As you can guess from the name, ALPS advertises this tent as fitting three adults, but that’s awfully snug, even with gear stored under the two relatively spacious vestibules. This tent is really more comfortable for two people that don’t want to have to sleep quite so close as with the last two tents.
There’s a door and vestibule on each side to keep gear separate and ensure that one camper doesn’t have to climb over the other to get in and out of the tent. The tent itself has to mesh walls to allow for great ventilation, even when using the rainfly, and the bathtub style floor prevents flooding. There are also interior mesh storage pockets and a gear loft for small-item storage.
The tent fly is made of water and UV resistant polyester for durability and protection from the elements, while the aluminum poles are lightweight and durable as well. The two-pole set up allows for quick, easy setup, assisted by the hook-style pole attachments and the buck rainfly attachments.
- There's no assembly frustration...
- Polyester tent fly, with 1500mm...
- Great ventilation with two mesh...
- Fully equipped with #8 zippers,...
- Base Size: 6'2 x 7'5, Center...
5. Ozark Trail Instant Cabin Tent with Built-in Cabin Lights
For large car camping groups, look no further than the Ozark Trail Instant Cabin Tent with Built-in Cabin Lights.
This massive tent has a spacious interior of 140 square feet. It fits up to two queen air mattresses or 10 sleeping bags. Of course, like all tents, you don’t want to actually fit that many people inside. This cabin tent is best for groups of 4 to 6 people, making it our favorite family tent for hot weather camping.
To avoid trapping body heat from all of those people, one-half of the tent is a screen room with two large windows and zipper double doors.
The other half still has plenty of ventilation, with two smaller windows in the walls, an oversized vent near the floor, and another window in the additional door. For privacy, you can use the included room divider.
And despite the large size, this tent is very easy to set up. The freestanding poles are pre-attached to the tent, so you just have to unfold the tent, extend the poles, and stake down the tent. All of that can be done in less than 2 minutes!
There are additional mesh panels in the roof, so in nice weather, you may want to use the tent without the rain fly for even better air circulation. If you decide you do want protection from the elements, the fly can just be thrown over the top of the tent, hooked onto the poles, and steaked down via guy lines.
Other cool features include with interior LED lighting system with three brightness settings, a cable port, and ample interior storage pockets which provide plenty of space for storing small items.
Final Thoughts On the Best Tents for Hot Weather
Each of these high-quality tents is a great pick for your next summertime camping trip. Which one’s best for you just depends on how many people you have in your group and how much space you want per person.
For more warm-weather camping gear, be sure to check out our tips for camping in the summer, and our top picks of the Best Tent Air Conditioners and the Best Tent Fans. The Best Camping Fridges can help keep your food and drinks cold on those hot summer camping trips as well.
And for camping in the opposite season, be sure to check out the Best Winter Tents for Cold Weather, the Best Tent Heaters, and the Best Tent Stoves.
