Best lightweight tents for backpacking and hiking

Top-rated backpacking tents are lightweight, portable and perfect for adventure

Not all tents are created equal – they range from huge familyfriendly designs with as much space inside as a small cottage to light and portable one-person tents that can fit into a small rucksack.

Backpacking tents sit at the smallest end of the tent spectrum and, as the name suggests, are designed to be carried with you on your adventures – they’re portable and compact enough to fit into backpacks or bike panniers, and are designed with hikers, wild campers, bike backpackers and anyone else covering long distances and setting up a new camp each evening in mind.

You’ll see tents sold according to the amount of people they can sleep – oneperson tents really do only fit one, and you may still want to choose a two-person tent if you want extra space and comfort. Most two-person tents should fit two campers plus their backpacks, and while these are heavier, they can usually be divided up to share the weight.

Weight is at a premium on hiking and fastpacking adventures – after all, you have to carry all of your camping equipment with you. A one-person tent that weighs under two kilos or a two-person tent under four kilos is your best choice, although there are tents that weigh as little as 700g in our round-up.

We recommend picking a tent you can at least sit up in, and tents with an outer sheet that can be pegged out to create a porch are also useful, offering extra storage space for your boots and other kit.

lVisit nationalworld. com/recommended for more in-depth reviews.

MSR Elixir 2 £269 Bit.ly/3vykLYA

We’ve never met an MSR tent we didn’t like – they stand out for their quality, and are a great choice if you want a backpacking tent that’s built to last for years of camping trips to come. It’s the work of minutes to click together the Elixir’s poles, and the inside of the tent is roomy enough for two people, with more than enough space to sit up.