Rooftop tent camping with children – A rooftop tent is definitely a great way to go on a road trip as a couple.
But is a rooftop tent also suitable for camping with children?
What are the possible limitations, what do you need to think about when traveling with children and what experiences have other families already had?
Robert and Andrea took an iKamper Skycamp 2.0 on the roof of their car with their daughters Féline and Loua last year.
Find out all about their experiences here!
Camping Ratgeber:
Introduction: We introduce ourselves!
We are Robert (37) and Andrea (34) and live together with our two daughters Loua (1) and Féline (3) in our energy-neutral townhouse in the center of Alphen aan den Rijn.
We love to travel and have already visited many beautiful places.
In the past, we’ve always booked far-flung, luxurious (beach) vacations, the highlight of which was the Maldives.
But since we did a round trip through Iceland a few years ago, we have completely changed our minds and love adventurous vacations where we can enjoy nature above all.
In 2017, we discovered CAMPWERK and went on our first trip with a rooftop tent.
Everyone said to Robert: Andrea and camping?
Ha, you’ll be back in a week…
But it turned out to be the opposite.
We drove to Scandinavia and covered 9,000 km in 3.5 weeks (from the Netherlands to the North Cape and back).
It was our best travel experience ever(!).
We parked the car in the most extraordinary places, camped wildly by blue lakes and on high ice glaciers and experienced the most beautiful sunrises from our roof tent.
If only we had discovered this earlier! 
In 2017, Robert and Andrea traveled to the North Cape and back with their Renault Clio and the Adventure 140 roof tent.
Traveling with a roof tent & 2 children under 4 years old
In the following years we had children.
We thought it would be great to do the same trip we had done together with our girls.
We talked about it with family and friends and there were lots of questions about our trip.
“Shouldn’t you spend a weekend in NL with the girls first?”, “Can the kids sit in the car for so long and so much?”, “Wouldn’t you rather wait until they are a bit older?”, “Will you all sleep in one bed?” and “What will you do when the girls are in the tent?”.
These were some of the answers we got when we told them about our vacation plans.
However, we saw absolutely no obstacles.
That’s great, isn’t it?
Or were we too naive?
Let’s go!
Whereas in Scandinavia we set off spontaneously (and camped wild everywhere), this time we decided to book a few campsites to be on the safe side.
We didn’t want to be driving aimlessly through the countryside late at night with two overtired children and in high season, many campsites in (southern) France can already be fully booked.
We decided on a route and booked 4 campsites.
We wanted to drive to the south of France in a few days and then stay a little longer at a campsite in the last week.
The last campsite was a large campsite with several swimming pools, restaurants and a real lagoon.
We thought it would be fun for the children. 
Our journey begins
On the day of departure, I constantly had the feeling that we had forgotten all sorts of things.
Camping with 2 children, I had expected the car to be fully loaded.
But it wasn’t that bad, which is why I also had the feeling that we hadn’t packed everything.
All the stuff that was with us even stayed under the back seat.
Of course, it makes a big difference that when traveling with a roof tent you don’t have a tent in the trunk and you don’t have to take an air mattress (for all 4 of us).
This was also one of the questions we were often asked after our trip: “What are the advantages of a roof tent compared to a normal tent?
As far as I’m concerned, I can answer that:
- Setting up and folding the tent is done in a minute!
This is the best reason why you need a roof tent - Camping beds and air mattresses can be left at home
- You lie on a thick (folded) memory foam mattress that always remains on the roof
- We feel safe having the children next to us instead of in a separate tent
- When we camped in Finland in a forest where bears might roam, we felt safer on the roof than on the ground
- No condensation, less cold than on the ground, less dirt in the tent
- The kids love it!
(Up the stairs, down the stairs)
Packing tip: Don’t pack a bag, instead pack your things in transparent boxes that you can label (kitchen utensils, bathroom utensils, clothes, etc.).
These are easy to stack and nothing gets lost because you can immediately see what’s inside. 
The first night
We were very excited to see how sleeping with the girls in the roof tent would go.
Loua sleeps very well, but Féline can be a real night owl.
The first thing we noticed was that the tent was surprisingly spacious.
You don’t really expect that!
We could even put Loua’s Dockatot sleeping nest (a kind of mini bed) in the middle and still have plenty of room.
The kids were over the moon and went crazy until 10pm, haha.
We didn’t mind, it was the vacations after all.
We counted the stars we could see from the skylight and then they slept through the night.
The next morning, Feline immediately asked if she could sleep in the roof tent again tonight.
A success! 
Horror
In the following days, we drove on to the south of France and ended up at the luxury campsite we had booked for a while.
When we arrived, it turned out to be gigantic.
Equipped with at least ten restaurants and swimming pools.
We had never been to a campsite like this before and the contrast with the beautiful natural places we had visited in Norway was enormous.
We had paid extra in advance to be allowed to choose a pitch.
However, everything was fully booked, so we were allocated a pitch – right next to the entertainment stage, of course.
That was also a disappointment, but we hoped for the best.
We went swimming with the girls, had a bite to eat and when evening came, the entertainment team and music started.
It was really extreme, we couldn’t even communicate in the tent.
Not to mention the girls could sleep.
We thought it would probably only last until 8.30pm at the latest because most of the children would be in bed by then.
But no, it went on until 0:00(!).
We watched it for a night, but the next day we took our loss and drove away with our tires screaming.
Nothing for us.
Still quite spontaneous
We decided to drive towards Provence and see where we would end up.
We passed beautiful lavender fields and pink salt lakes and were so glad we moved on.
We booked a different campsite with natural facilities every other day and went on all sorts of lovely excursions with the kids.
During the day we bought delicious French delicacies and good wine at a French winery and when the children were in bed, Robert and I sat in the awning with our snacks and drinks.
The crowning glory of the impulsive change we made to our vacation was that we were stuck for a day because the Tour de France passed our campsite and the road was closed all day.
Of course, we cheered on the riders on the side of the road. 
Conclusion of our trip
We really enjoyed our vacation and so did the girls.
The roof tent is so practical (quick to put up and take down), it’s easy to maneuver and you can visit lots of different places.
The surprised (and a little envious) looks from other vacationers who see us set up our tent with such ease are also priceless!
We think you can get much more out of your vacation this way.
The tent is really spacious and the mattress is very comfortable.
You’ll never see us go on vacation with a “normal” tent again.
And for anyone who doubts whether they should go on vacation with small children in a roof tent: Do it!
We can’t think of any arguments against it.
All photos were taken by Andrea and Robert.
Click here for their original travel report:
