Camping Shelters: Tarps, Gazebos + Awnings

There is no single best camp shelter. A tarp is the cheapest and lightest and handles wind and rain well once you know how to pitch it. A pop-up gazebo is the quickest square of shade, but it is heavy and it hates wind. A tent awning means one less thing to carry. A vehicle awning is the pick when you move camp most days.

The table below compares all four. Prices and weights are from the shelters we currently stock.

A tarp is a sheet with eyelets or tie-outs, strung up on poles, trees or the side of your vehicle. It packs small, costs little and can be pitched to suit the site: high and flat for summer shade, low and steep for rain, or dropped to the ground on one side as a windbreak. The trade-off is time. You need poles, guy ropes and pegs, and it takes a bit of practice to get a tarp tight.

Two kinds are worth knowing:

• Poly tarps are the heavy, cheap, near-indestructible kind. A 3×3.6m Instahut poly tarp weighs 2.2kg. Silver/black tarps like this 3.6×5.5m heavy-duty tarp go silver side up in summer to reflect heat.
• Tent and hiking tarps are cut and seam-taped for shelter. The Vango Adventure Tarp clips over the porch of a Vango tent or stands alone on poles, and the Nortent Helleren is a 4×3m silnylon tarp that weighs about 510g before pegs and lines.

1. Work out where the wind is coming from, and look up: don't pitch under dead branches.
2. Run a ridge line or set your two main poles first, with a guy rope off each pole.
3. Peg the windward edge low, close to the ground.
4. Set one corner or edge lower than the rest so rain runs off, away from where you sit.
5. Tension every guy rope evenly. A tight tarp flaps less and doesn't pool water.

See the full range of camping tarps.

Photo: Nicolas Weldingh on Unsplash

A pop-up gazebo is a folding scissor frame with the canopy already attached. You pull the frame out, raise the legs, and a 3×3m model gives you 9 square metres of shade in a few minutes. That speed is why gazebos are so popular at caravan parks and on the beach.

Two things catch people out. The first is weight: a 3×3m steel pop-up is around 20–25kg in its bag, and a 3×4.5m is 25–30kg. It folds into a carry bag, not a small one, so check it fits in the car before you buy. The second is wind. The flat roof and straight legs catch gusts like a sail, so a gazebo must be pegged at every leg and guyed from every corner, even on a calm afternoon.

• The Instahut 3×3m pop-up is a steel-frame gazebo with a UPF50+ canopy and a carry bag.
• The Wallaroo 3×3m comes with walls and sandbags, which helps on hard ground where pegs won't hold.
• For bigger groups, the Wallaroo 3×4.5m covers a table for six.

Our camping gazebo buyer's guide goes deeper on sizes, frames and canopy ratings. Or browse all gazebos and shade.

Many family tents have an awning or verandah built in, and some take an add-on. It joins your living space to your sleeping space, there's nothing extra to carry, and it is as stable as the tent it is pitched to. The limit is size. Most tent awnings fit a small table and a few chairs, not a whole family dinner.

Add-ons are made to fit specific tents, so check the list before buying. The Vango Calder Exceed side awning fits the Calder and Langley tents, weighs 6.65kg and packs to 57×16×18cm. The Vango Adventure Tarp does the same job for smaller Vango tents. Not sure what a vestibule or a porch is? Our plain-English tent terms guide explains them.

Photo: fiqcx._ on Unsplash

A vehicle awning bolts to your roof rack and rolls out from the side. Unzip the bag, unroll it, drop the legs and peg them, and you have shade over the side of the car in a few minutes. Packing up is just as quick, which is why tourers who change camp most days love them.

• 4WD side awnings. The BOAB 2.0×2.5m car awning is ripstop polycotton canvas with aluminium legs and mounting brackets, and weighs 10kg. See all 4WD awnings.
• Campervan drive-away awnings attach to the side of a van and stand on their own when you drive off for the day. See campervan awnings.
• Caravan roll-out awnings are part of the van. Replacement awnings, fabrics and privacy screens are in caravan awnings.

Vehicle awnings cover less area than a big tarp or gazebo, and they are fixed to one side of the vehicle, so park with the awning side out of the wind. For a long stay in one spot, a tarp or gazebo alongside is often worth the extra setup.

Most shelter damage is caused by wind, and most of it is avoidable.

• Peg every leg and guy every corner of a gazebo or awning, every time. Wind often picks up overnight or in the afternoon.
• Match pegs to the ground. The thin wire pegs that come in the bag are fine for soft grass and little else. Use steel or heavy-duty pegs for hard ground, and longer, wider pegs for sand. The Vango Ground Breaker peg set and steel V-channel pegs are good upgrades.
• Use weights where pegs won't hold. Sandbags or water bags on each leg work on rock, concrete slabs and loose sand.
• Take gazebos down in strong wind. Don't wait for a gust to decide for you. A gazebo that lifts can bend its frame, damage cars and hurt people.
• Roll awnings in when the wind gets up or before you leave camp, and drop one corner of a caravan awning when it rains so water can't pool on top.

Carbon monoxide is the hidden risk. Gas heaters, gas BBQs, cookers and generators all give it off, and you can't see or smell it. Never use them inside a tent, an annexe, or a gazebo or awning with the walls zipped on. Cooking under an open-sided shade is a different thing, but keep the flame well clear of the roof and walls, and turn everything off before you zip up for the night.

Photo: T ed on Unsplash

• Hiking, paddling or a swag weekend: a lightweight tarp.
• Couple on a weekend: a tent awning, or a small tarp.
• Family at a caravan park or beach: a 3×3m or 3×4.5m pop-up gazebo.
• Long stay at one site: a big tarp, alone or alongside a gazebo.
• 4WD touring, moving most days: a vehicle side awning.
• Caravan or campervan: your roll-out or drive-away awning, plus privacy screens.

If you only buy one shelter, decide whether speed or weather matters more. A pop-up gazebo wins on speed, a well-pitched tarp wins on wind and rain, and it's no accident that plenty of campers carry both.

Whatever you choose, spend a little extra on good pegs and guy ropes. They're cheap, and they do more to keep a shelter standing than any frame or fabric does.