Last week some friends of ours visited the Discover Glamping office and after a nice cuppa and some hobnobs we started chatting about glamping. Glamping is very different from normal camping where you might even use a roof top tent on your vehicle as a shelter! Sounds cool, isn’t it?

To be honest, both of us had the same light bulb moment that we should put together a post for our readers, particularly aimed at those who are new to the world of glamping that gives a basic description of each tent style and the types of holidays they would best suit.

So here you have it, we hope you enjoy it and be sure to submit any comments or questions you have at the bottom of the page.

Although to the untrained eye there may not appear to be many differences between bell tents, tipis and safari tents, you will find from the descriptions below that not all tents are designed the same.

Bell Tents

The traditional bell tent is made using one single pole in the centre, covered in canvas made from cotton. The tent is made more stable by attaching guy ropes around the top of the walls that are held down by pegs round the circumference of the tent on the ground. As a result of the design, a bell tent always has a circular floor space and is thus called a bell tent because of how it looks from the outside.

Bell tents can be designed to be as big as you need them and the floor space that you have under cover is relative to the size of the central pole and the canvas covering.

Tipis

Although tipis look the same as bell tents, in so much as they are conical in design, there are some notable differences. A tipi is traditionally made from wooden poles and animal skins, and is closely associated with the Native Americans from the Great Plains. They were designed and built to be very robust and comfortable. In the summer, they were cool, while in the winter when it was cold, they provided nomadic tribespeople with much needed warmth and kept the rain out. Another major feature in the design of tipis was that they could easily and quickly be disassembled and packed up if a tribe choose to or had to move on.

Besides the traditional tipi using different materials to bell tents, there was one further difference in that there was a gap in the roof of the tipi to allow smoke to escape, which is not present in a bell tent.

Safari Tents

Although safari tents often make use of canvas as a covering like the other two types mentioned above, they are structured slightly different. Safari tents are, as the name suggests, mostly associated with camping/glamping trip in African on safari trips and are usually designed to house 2 people comfortably with normal sized beds and even some furniture. However, with the increased popularity of glamping you can now find safari tents that can be inhabited by more than 2 people very comfortably with many of the mod cons you would expect from 4 and 5 star hotel rooms.

Whereas structurally the above two are more conical and circular, safari tents come in a wide range of shapes form cylindrical to square, lodge-style designs. Unlike tipis that use a collection of wooden poles and bell tents that use one central pole, safari tents make use of many poles around the perimeter of the tent and work in a similar way to supporting walls on a house.

There you have it, descriptions of bell tents, tipis and safari tents. You are now as wise as the Discover Glamping team.

You may now be wondering what the best tent is for you. Much like anything in life, the tent that is right for you may not be the right tent for someone else and will depend on a number of different factors:

• Your own needs, requirements and preferences
• With regards to a tent, where in the world you will be sleeping
• The number of people you will be sharing with
• The accommodation available in the location you plan on visiting.

While tipis are a bit more rustic than bell and safari tents, this is often a really good thing – especially if you do not plan on spending much time in your tent, apart from at night time or if the weather gets bad. Bell tents could be seen as a step up in many ways from the more humble tipis, but if you are looking for a truly luxurious holiday and want proper ventilation, mod cons and lots of room you would be best, in our opinion, looking at safari tents.