Best camping mattresses

The mistake people make camping is buying for comfort and being cold anyway.

The ground conducts heat away far faster than air does. Lying on it compresses whatever is under you, and compressed material insulates poorly, so the warmth you lose downward is the warmth that matters. A thick uninsulated mat can be colder than a thin insulated one.

The number for this is R-value, which measures resistance to heat flow through the mat. It is now measured to a common standard, ASTM F3340, so R-values are comparable between brands, which is unusual in outdoor equipment.

Thickness is about comfort. R-value is about whether you sleep.

The picks

Inofia Tri-Fold Mattress: Best for car camping and campervans

Budget · 6.5 / 10

A folding mattress is a genuinely good campervan and car camping bed: foam does not deflate, does not puncture and insulates far better than air alone. It is heavy and bulky, which matters not at all when it travels in a boot.

Read the full Inofia Tri-Fold Mattress review

Silentnight Airmax Topper: Best insulating layer over a thin mat

Budget to mid · 7.4 / 10

Scores 7.4. In a campervan or an awning, a topper over a thin mat adds both insulation and cushioning, and spacer mesh in particular lets moisture move rather than trapping it against the base.

Read the full Silentnight Airmax Topper review

Silentnight Sleep Now Range: Best for a fixed campervan bunk

From £169 · 6.7 / 10

From £169. Worth knowing for van beds specifically: they sit on solid boards, so condensation collects underneath exactly as it does in a caravan, and a breathable underlay plus regular airing is what stops it.

Read the full Silentnight Sleep Now Range review

What R-value to aim for

Two useful facts. R-values add, so a 2.0 foam mat under a 2.5 inflatable gives roughly 4.5, which is how people extend a three season mat into winter cheaply.

And most people sleep colder than the charts suggest, so if you are between two numbers, take the higher one. Being slightly too warm is a trivial problem and being cold is the thing that ends a trip.

The three types, compared

The last row is the one people buy by mistake. A standard air bed has almost no insulation, which is fine on a warm indoor floor and cold on British ground in April.

The common setup among experienced campers is a thin closed cell foam mat under an inflatable: the foam adds R-value, protects the inflatable from stones, and gives you something to sleep on if the inflatable fails.

Practical things that matter as much as the mat

Clear the ground. Stones and roots create pressure points a mat cannot absorb, and they are the main cause of punctures.

Do not inflate fully by mouth in cold weather. Breath carries moisture, which condenses inside the mat and, over time, can degrade insulation. A pump sack avoids it.

Inflate slightly soft. A firm mat holds you above the insulation rather than letting it work, and it is less comfortable on your hip.

Keep the sleeping bag off cold ground at the edges, where a narrow mat leaves your shoulder or hip overhanging.

Punctures, and preventing the trip-ending one

Carry the repair kit, and know where it is before you need it in the dark.

Find a leak by inflating the mat and brushing soapy water over it, watching for bubbles. Valves are the commonest site, then seams, then the underside where a stone was.

Store it unrolled and unvalved at home, which is how self-inflating mats keep their loft: rolled tight for months, the foam takes a set and stops self-inflating properly.

Dry it completely before storing. A mat packed damp grows mould inside where you cannot reach it, which is the same failure a mattress has on a solid base.

What not to buy

An uninsulated air bed for camping. It is the coldest option available.

Thickness instead of R-value. A thick uninsulated mat can be colder than a thin insulated one.

A three season mat for winter, unless you add a foam mat underneath. R-values add.

A mat narrower than your shoulders, if you sleep on your side.

Storing a self-inflating mat rolled tight. The foam takes a set and stops working.

Also considered, and why they are not here

A roundup is only as useful as what it leaves out, so here is what was assessed and rejected for this list.

How this list is made, and who made it

Who writes this. Kyle Klinkradt has worked in the mattress and bedding industry for over ten years across retail, distribution and brand partnerships, and has handled, sold or assessed products from every major UK bed-in-a-box brand. Every review on this site is written by one person, so the scores mean the same thing from page to page.

What the assessment is. Construction specifications against what they physically do: spring height and where in the mattress it sits, spring count for the size, gauge, whether the base is sprung or foam, foam density where it is published, comfort layer depth and material. Then the commercial terms that decide what you are actually buying: trial against returns policy, guarantee length against the company's UK trading history at Companies House, and the regulatory record.

What it is not. This is not a laboratory. I do not publish pressure-mapping data or claim to have slept eight years on every mattress here, because nobody has and pages that imply otherwise are not telling you the truth. Where a judgement rests on construction rather than long-term use, the review says so.

What gets a product removed. Leaving the UK market, a specification change that makes the review inaccurate, or a corrected fact. Brands that have withdrawn are kept on the site with the score removed rather than quietly deleted, because people still search for them.

See editorial independence, corrections and the author page.

How these were chosen

Every product here has its own review on this site with a score out of 10, and the score is a judgement rather than an average. Nothing appears in a list because it pays more.

A score is against the market, not against its own range. The cheapest mattress in a lineup is usually priced to make the model above it look reasonable, and the flagship of a budget range has risen into a bracket where better brands compete. Both are judged against what else you could buy for the money.

Everything listed can actually be bought in the UK. That is not a given: Casper withdrew in July 2020 and Leesa no longer sells here, and both still appear in current British roundups with affiliate links attached.

I do not pad the list. Where only three or four products genuinely qualify, there are three or four. A list of seven when the category contains four good ones is a list with three bad recommendations in it.

Prices move constantly. Judge the cash price on the day rather than any percentage beside it. See every review on this site or where the real savings are.

Questions people ask

What R-value do I need for camping in the UK?

One to 2 for warm summer nights, 2 to 4 for typical spring and autumn, 4 to 5 for nights near freezing, and 5 and above for winter. R-values add, so a foam mat under an inflatable combines them.

Why am I cold camping even with a thick mat?

Because thickness is comfort and R-value is insulation. The ground conducts heat away far faster than air, and a thick uninsulated mat can be colder than a thin insulated one.

Can I use an air bed for camping?

It is the coldest option, because the air inside circulates and carries your body heat into the ground. It is fine on a warm indoor floor and poor on British ground outside high summer.

How should I store a self-inflating mat?

Unrolled and with the valve open. Stored rolled tight for months the foam takes a set and stops self-inflating properly, and a mat packed damp grows mould inside where you cannot reach it.