Everything you need to know about Teepee tents, Wigwams tents, and more

A Teepee or Tipi is a portable, cone shaped tent made of wooden poles covered in animal hides. These temporary dwellings were traditionally used by nomadic Native American tribes. These ingenious shelters enabled the tribes to quickly erect or pack them away for travelling. They often had a flap at the top that could be opened and closed to allow a fire to be built inside the teepee for warmth.

Today, these iconic tents have been adapted for camping and for children to play in. Whilst, large canvas models are available, they are typically now made of lightweight, waterproof materials. A notably useful adaption to elaborate it’s uses in different weather conditions.

There are several manufacturers that make large tipis for camping and these solid tents provide great headroom, even for 8 to 12 adults. This makes them an ideal tent for group camping or festivals with the added bonus of a great talking point too! These tents are excellent for the new trend of “Glamping” (glamorous camping) too, as they are generally more spacious and have more headroom than normal tents, allowing you to take more luxuries with you.

It is now fashionable for many static campsites to offer yurts, teepees and other lodge style shelters for people to hire. The larger ones come with fires or wood burning stoves, making them an excellent and comfortable holiday shelter for you and company.
The childrens play tent versions come in a great range of colours and designs meaning you can leave the kids spending hours of fun playing “Cowboys and Indians” in the outdoors, enjoying it all to its full potential.

Typically, as with all tents for camping, teepee sizes are described as 2 man or 4 man etc. we would suggest that you buy a slightly larger tent such as the next size up, especially if you are all adults. So in the case that there are two of you, buy a 3 man tent etc. This will provide you with a more spacious area to camp and gives a more luxurious feel.

It is also a good idea to bear in mind that most teepee tents are not designed for stormy or extreme weather. They do however consistently make a great summer tent and are also great for fun as well as a group shelter for eating or evening gatherings. With all these pros considered the teepee is inarguably a luxurious way to camp, entertain your children and all at the same time as being easy to set up and pack away leaving them a must buy for festivals and other outings.

If you are an avid festival goer then using a teepee tent for camping will really help you get into the festival mood and the additional height of the tent will leave you far happier than those with a tent, with some giving you the ability to even stand inside! Why not add a flag to the top so you can really see it from a distance, making sure you don’t lose sight of your campsite behind other tents. If you take one large festival tent for the whole group then there will be less to carry.

One word of caution, a teepee tent is more for the roadside camper, they are not typically built for carrying up mountains when hiking nor are they usually the most weather proof of designs (with some exceptions). However this can easily be forgotten about when compared to the pros.

In order to make the decision easier for you we have selected a range of teepee tents suitable for camping from different suppliers. Please click on the drop down menus on the navigation bar above for more information.