Best Ultralight Backpacking Tents
Best Ultralight Backpacking Tents

Best Ultralight Backpacking Tents

It doesn't matter if we travel just for a weekend or for weeks; we prefer to spend the nights remote in the wilderness or on basic campgrounds. Therefore, we need to have the right tent or shelter to stay protected during the night and feel a bit at home. Mainly we travel during spring, summer, and fall a 3-seasons tent was the best choice.

Tent and stake hammer
Never travel with this lightweight stake hammer. People often borrow it from us.

Although we are only 2, the decision was to go for a 3-person tent to gain extra space inside, plus the vestibules to store additional gear. And to be honest, we both need a little space at night. I can't imagine sharing this tent with our nephew, who often joins us. 

Mutha Hubba™ NX 3 - Best Two-Person Tent

Mutha Hubba MX Tent for three people
My birthday in France, close to River Seine


If the weight doesn't matter too much, we go with the Mutha Hubba™ NX 3. It weighs 2,26 kg fully packed and is free-standing, allowing it even to stay on a solid surface without using stakes. Although it is sold as a three-person tent, we prefer a bit more space and use it for two.

FreeLite™ 3 Ultralight - Best Ultralight Tent

Free Lite Ultralight for 3 people
Camping on a remote Fiji Island

When we went on a world trip for 6 months travelling with just 23 kg was challenging. Less weight was essential, and we bought the FreeLite™ 3 Ultralight. It is semi-freestanding, double-walled and weighs just 1,56 kg/ 3.4 pounds. Both tents are set up quickly, which is great after a long day hiking or driving by car. The ventilating micromesh canopy helps to get fresh air insight, and we felt safe and dry even under heavy conditions due to the waterproof rainfly. The FreeLite™ 3 Ultralight has, of course, much less height, but we felt extremely comfortable insight if you use it for two people only. 

Tent Accessories

Once, we broke one of our tent poles, luckily, we had tent pole splints with us to repair a pole on the fly to continue our travel without interruption. After using a tent for some years, we recommend replacing the shock cords using the MSR replacement kit. Other tent accessories we recommend is a footprint to protect the tent from obstacles on the ground and some patches to fix holes in the mesh.

Stake Hammer to pitch the tent
Markus pitching the tent in Florida at night.

For a quick setup using a stake hammer is helpful if you need to push the stake into firm ground. Although MSR is offering a nice Hammer based on aluminium, we prefer a simple plastic version like the one I used in Florida. Depending on the ground, you may need to choose another stake. Usually, we carry a collection of MSR Mini-Groundhog Stake, Core™ Heringe, and Cyclone Tent Stakes. We frequently arrive in the darkness, especially in the winter.  Always take a headlamp for camping, and you can easily pitch your tent.

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