The most crucial item for having a successful beach day with your baby is sun protection, so today, I am going to help you choose the best beach tents for babies.
Let’s have all of the summer fun with none of the summer sunburns!
Growing up in New England (Rhode Island, to be exact) summer beach days are what we live for! We endure the winter weather for the glorious, days full of salt air and sunshine. As a mama of four, we have done many beach days.
Nothing can stop me from enjoying a day at the beach. Not a newborn (or two). Not toddler twins. Not the worry and fear of dehydration and sunburns. I just come prepared with the proper supplies, including a popup beach tent that is easy to assemble.
I’ve used different beach tents during different seasons of life, so I’ll walk you through how to choose the best beach tents, plus show you my favorite ones!
*Post contains Amazon affiliate links.
How to Choose the Best Baby Beach Tents to Suit Your Needs
There are a few things to consider when choosing a sun tent for your baby. Are you looking for something that will provide shade for your entire family? Something to contain your baby while they play or nap or both? Will you be by yourself or will you have a partner to help set it up?
Here are the most important things to consider when selecting a beach tent for your baby:
- Adequate UV protection from the sun’s rays
- Ease of setup: is it a pop-up tent for easy setup?
- Airflow: does it have mesh windows for good airflow?
- Function: just for naps, for playing, for breast or bottle feeding?
- Size: does it need to fit other family members?
I’m going to divide my baby tent recommendations into three categories: single tents, medium-sized tents, and tents for the entire family.
Single tents are tents that are used exclusively for napping babies. Medium-sized tents are good for babies and older siblings or for an adult to sit in to feed a baby.
And at the bottom of the post, I will share my absolute favorite beach tent that fits our entire family of 6, plus friends!
Single Tents: The Best Beach Tents for Babies to Nap
The best way to get your baby to have a solid beach nap is to give them their own, private little place to nap, especially if your baby is used to napping independently. These say that they’re suitable for babies 6 months up until 5.
Personally, my kids all stopped napping on the beach once they were older babies/toddlers. These tents are really only suitable for sleeping and aren’t big enough to play in. It’s not a tent I would suggest splurging on because you won’t use it for very long, but, of course, the choice is yours.
I chose an inexpensive tent for this purpose, as I knew we weren’t going to have any more babies and it wouldn’t be used for that long.
Beckham was 2 months old in these pictures. The ground was a little bit rocky and uneven, so I placed a folded-up beach blanket underneath the tent. Now, before everyone gets upset about the potentially unsafe sleep practices: I was sitting right in front of him.
I could HEAR him breathing from my chair. I would not recommend this tent with an infant baby on uneven ground on a folded-up beach blanket if you aren’t going to be right there with them.
Baby Nap Tent: Budget
The Poray Portable Pop Up Tent is very similar to the tent that I used.
They don’t currently make the exact model that I used, but this is the closest one I could find. It is EXTREMELY easy to set up: literally, it just pops right open! And folding it back up is extremely easy as well.
It is lightweight and easy to carry in the carrying bag. It protects against UV rays and has excellent airflow through the mesh panels. It is an excellent option and is very affordable.
Baby Nap Tent: Splurge
The Joovy Gloo Portable Travel Tent is a super fancy portable travel tent. It is also lightweight, protects against UV rays, and has great airflow through the mesh sides. It also pops up just like the budget option I showed above.
The biggest difference between this tent and the budget tent is that this comes with a self-inflating pad on the bottom, versus just regular tent material.
Is it worth the splurge? I think that depends on if you’re going to have more children, and if you’re going to be doing a lot of traveling. This tent can also be used for camping or travel instead of a pack-n-play, so if that’s something you do a lot of, this is worth the splurge.
Related –> The Best Baby Sleep Products
The Best Medium Sized Beach Tent for Siblings
These tents can comfortably fit a few children, a cooler, and other beach gear. We have used them for feeding our babies and toddlers and as a place to get some shade. These tents are not tents that you can hang out in all day though.
The main reason that we purchased a tent of this size instead of a bigger one was that I wanted one that I could EASILY take when I went to the beach by myself.
I didn’t want a tent that I couldn’t set up on my own, as I frequently take our kids to the beach by myself.
Related –> Toddler Beach Essentials
Medium Sized Beach Tent for Babies and Siblings: Budget
If you are looking for a lightweight beach tent on a budget, the Ocean World Beach Tent is a great option.
One thing to note about this tent is that it is NOT a popup tent. You actually have to insert the rods into the tent.
This will provide UV protection for nap time for your little ones and has great air ventilation. The only thing it doesn’t have is an easy setup feature.
Medium Sized Beach Tent for Babies and Siblings: Medium Range
The Pacific Breeze Easy Setup Beach Tent is a really good baby beach tent at a medium price point.
It has UV protection against the sun’s harmful rays, and reviews say that the ease of use is fantastic. It has a popup feature and is lightweight, making it a great portable beach tent.
Medium Sized Beach Tent for Babies and Siblings: Splurge
The Easthills Outdoors Instant Shader Advanced Delux XL Beach Tent is one that I have used and loved. It is easily my top pick for a medium-sized beach tent. The easy pop-up assembly feature is awesome! Assembling and disassembling it on my own was easy, although I never did it by myself on a super windy day.
This checks all of the boxes: easy assembly, lightweight tent, good protection from direct sunlight, and large windows for air circulation.
As you can see, there is plenty of room for a baby and siblings. It can even fit 2 beach chairs comfortably WITH a napping baby. I have no pictures of that as proof because, by the time we got this tent, my baby had FOMO and boycotted naps on the beach.
However, he still enjoyed playing in the tent, stealing his sibling’s lunch, and getting sand in his brother’s Harry Potter book. Mom life, right?
Related –> The Best Backyard Toys for Your Little Ones
The Best Beach Tents for Babies: Containment
I have never personally used a pack-n-play style of beach tent that contains my babies, but I can certainly see the appeal. As I have never personally used this type of tent, I extensively read reviews and spoke with other moms who have used them in order to choose the best options.
Best Pack N Play Style Beach Tent for Baby: Budget
The Bend River Baby Playpen with Canopy provides UV protection when the canopy is on it (not pictured). It still has mesh sides for airflow and ventilation when the canopy is on it. Reviews say that this has adequate space for a baby and even a parent for diaper changes, but that setup and tear down isn’t exactly easy.
It is a good budget option, but if you’re going to be using it often and can afford a nicer one with an easier setup, I would go that route.
Best Pack N Play Style Beach Tent for Baby: Medium Range
The California Beach Go Pop N Go Baby Tent also provides UV protection for sun safety with the canopy (also not pictured).
This is one of the top baby beach tents and has fantastic reviews! It is lightweight and compact, and super easy to assemble.
Best Pack N Play Style Beach Tent for Baby: Splurge
The Veer Basecamp offers quick and easy assembly, which is one of the most important things, after sun protection and airflow, of course. This one also comes with a canopy that offers full UV protection. It is the ultimate portable play yard with sun protection, perfect for your baby’s beach trip!
The Best Large Beach Tent for Babies and Families
Once we added a fourth baby to our family and our beach trips became longer and longer, we realized that we needed something that was a large size and offered a shady spot to protect us from hours of sun exposure.
We needed something that we could hang out under all day long without being cramped! We wanted a high-quality tent that could withstand high winds because that is sometimes the case at our local beaches. A large tent that is easy to transport, and has enough room to fit several beach chairs and lots of playing children.
And let me tell you, we found one, and we could not love it more!!!
Best Large Beach Tent for Babies and Families
We ended up choosing the 10-foot Sun Ninja Beach Tent.
It is large enough to fit our entire family of 6, plus friends! It is extremely easy to set up. It is truly the only way we can spend hours upon hours at the beach with our young children and babies. Even with sunscreen and hats (which we use!), your baby’s skin is so sensitive and needs a break from the sun.
As you can see, it is HUGE! And the shade it offers is fabulous. And it is so easy to set up AND will not blow away even on a super windy day.
You could easily fit a smaller tent that’s the pack-n-play or napping style under this tent as well.
I hope this helps you choose the best tent to meet the needs of your baby and family!
Happy Beaching!