The best campervan awnings may not seem to be as essential a purchase as they are when you have a caravan. After all, campervanning is meant to be all about getting up and going, and having an elaborate fabric structure attached to your vehicle somehow dictates against such a philosophy.
As a result, a good many campervan owners, if they have an awning at all, will just opt for a roll-out that can be rolled back again at a moment’s notice.
If, however, you want something that will make the living area of even the best campervan feel a little bit more spacious and comfortable, most of the top awning manufacturers have products which should be suitable. Generally speaking, campervan awnings are split into three kinds.
Driveaway awnings, which are the most popular, can be detached from your campervan and stand on their own more or less as a tent. Then when you come back in the evening you can reattach them, either just by throwing guy ropes over the roof or your vehicle and pegging them back in again, or by carefully sliding the edge of the awning with its cable (generally known as a kador or keder) back along the awning rail on the side of your vehicle or on the outer edge of the fitted roll out awning.
These awnings have the advantage of acting as a kind of reservation notice on your campervan site pitch, so that you don’t return in the evening to discover that someone has pinched it. (Yes, this can be a real issue, particularly in high season.)
If you want something that is a bit more substantial, and don’t mind not being able to drive your vehicle away while it is on site, you can get campervan awnings that fit onto it just like a caravan awning. But they are much less common. Prima Leisure, Bailey’s accessory arm, used to produce some which could still be available on the second hand market.
There are also smaller awnings – usually driveaway options – that are specifically designed for campervans. These may not be as high as some of the best motorhome awnings. They also may run parallel to the vehicle, and can be connected to it by a tunnel, rather than sticking out at right angles.
Here is our run down of some of the best campervan awnings.
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The best campervan awning
Olpro Cubo Breeze V2
Vango Versos
Kampa Cross Air
Outwell Daytona Air
Outdoor Revolution Movelite T3EPC
Outwell Fresno
Olpro Hive
Dometic Club Air Pro
Fiamma Privacy Room
Isabella Buddy
The best campervan awnings
Olpro Cubo Breeze V2
Reason to buy:
- Good value for money
Reason to avoid:
- Not the largest awning here
Family-run Olpro has really made a name for itself in producing well-made driveaway awnings designed primarily for campervans. The Cubo Breeze V2 is a good example of this. It connects to your campervan – either over the sliding door at the side or over the tailgate or barn doors at the back – with a tunnel. This tunnel has a door on each side, so you shouldn’t have to worry about muddy footprints getting into the awning itself.
You also get a canopy at the front of the awning to make opening and closing the door a more pleasurable experience.
The awning has an impressive hydrostatic head reading of 5,000mm. (You probably don’t need to know what this waterproof reading actually means, except to say that 5,000mm is towards the high end for awnings at this price range.) Best of all, you can feel supremely sustainable buying this awning, because the Oltech Repro 150D fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles.
Olpro says the awning can be put up in ten minutes thanks to its multi-point inflation beams. Along with the overall waterproofing, particular attention has been made to the zips – a notoriously weak sport when it comes to keeping water out. The Aquabarrier system features four tiers to make sure nothing seeps through, even in the most stormy conditions. The Terragrip pegging system is also customisable to make sure the awning is as taut as it can be each time.
Unusually for a modern awning, the Breeze also comes in a range of colours. You can go for two shades of blue, lime and grey, or a very 1970s orange, blue and black combination.
Find out more about the Breeze here.
Vango Versos
Reason to buy:
- A highly versatile driveaway awning
Reason to avoid:
- It’s not designed for long-term seasonal use – UV degradation is not covered under its warranty
Scottish company Vango is probably best known for the sleeping bags, rucksacks, and other camping gear it makes. But it also produces a wide variety of awnings, both for caravans and campervans. Available in a Mid (250cm high) and Low (215cm high) height, the Versos is a highly flexible driveaway awning for a campervan. It can be pitched in no fewer than 18 different ways, thanks in part to having an interchangeable annex and bedroom. So you get to decide whether the awning is front or side facing.
The awning has also been made using Vango’s single point inflation AirBeam technology, and is made with the company’s Sentinel Active 150D fabric made with ColourLok Eco technology to make colours last longer.
You get flat access on all doors, to make wheeling a pram or wheelchair easier, while curtains can be easily zipped open or shut.
Find out more about the Versos Mid Air at Decathlon here.
Kampa Cross Air
Reason to buy:
- A great value drive-away awning from a famous name
Reason to avoid:
- A fairly limited range of optional extras
Kampa was the company that more or less introduced the inflatable awning to the UK market, so it is hardly surprising that it should continue to produce a good selection of such awnings – mostly geared at campervans – under its new owner, Dometic.
The Cross Air is a good example of this. It’s a driveaway awning, specifically designed with steep sides to allow for as much room inside as possible. The D-shaped door can be rolled back, while a large front canopy keeps the rain off you when you are coming in and out. The side panels can be completely removed, and there are blinds for privacy, and mesh panel windows. And instead of having a fitted groundsheet, the one in here clips on, so it can be easily removed if you find yourselves spending a couple of days on a site that doesn’t allow them.
The polyester fabric has also been tested to withstand 200 litres of water per hour per square metre. Kampa claims this is more than double the amount of rainfall London get in its wettest month.
Outwell Daytona Air
Reason to buy:
- A solid awning from a respected brand
Reason to avoid:
- A 3000mm hydrostatic head means it’s probably not suited for all-year-round, long-term touring
The Daytona Air is one of Danish brand Outwell’s best selling models, and it’s not difficult to see why.
Running parallel to your campervan, this driveaway 100% polyester awning has single point inflation, canopies over both front and rear doors to keep the rain away, tinted windows, double zips on the front door, toggled curtains, and a sewn in groundsheet
There’s also a Hooktrack system that allows you to position a string of lights or dangle anything else from the roof, up to a maximum weight limit of 1.5kg. The Daytona comes with a host of optional extras, including a dark fabric inner tent.
Outdoor Revolution Movelite T3EPC
Reason to buy:
An awning that stays cool in hot weather
Reason to avoid:
That means it is possibly not so good in really wet winter weather in the UK
If you think you are more likely to spend a good deal of your touring time in hotter climates, it might be an idea to opt for polycotton awning, rather than one made entirely of man-made fibres, as polycotton tends to breathe more easily.
Such material also does a better job of lessening wind noise from outside. Outdoor Revolution’s Movelite T3E PC is one of the best driveaway polycotton awnings you can get.
Launched last year, the awning runs parallel with your campervan, and is attached to it via a tunnel that runs flush with the front of the large porch area. This tunnel includes a door, so you can sneak through to your van without disturbing anyone in the awning.
You also get a 2/3 zip back door, a mesh flyscreen on the front door, zip-up curtains, and tinted rooflight windows. You can also extend the awning with a sun canopy or an annexe, and there is an optional four-berth inner tent, and an optional Lumi-Link tube lighting system. The awning is available in a low (180-220cm) or mid (220-255cm) size
Find out more about the more about the Outdoor Revolution Movelite T3E PC at Decathlon here.
Outwell Fresno
Reason to buy:
- A great lightweight poled awning
Reason to avoid:
- Only middling when it comes to waterproofing
The growth of inflatable awnings hasn’t killed off poled awnings, even with campervans, where poled awnings’ big advantage over air awnings – their ability to retain their basic shape for much longer – isn’t such an advantage when you are frequently on the move anyway. But many people find inflatable awnings as time-consuming as poled ones, especially when it comes to deflating. They can be surprisingly heavy, too.
Outwell’s Fresno campervan awning is a poled awning with fibreglass poles and extra room inside thanks to vertical walls. Yet it weighs just 11.9kg, and packs away into a bag that is just 66x26x24cm. It attaches at right angles to your campervan, with a tunnel that has a side door so you can keep muddy feet out of the awning. You still get the same features that are characteristic of Outwell, such as toggle up curtains, a toggle up groundsheet, and double zips where it matters.
Find out more about the Outwell Fresno.
Olpro Hive
Reason to buy:
- A surprisingly roomy, sophisticated awning
Reason to avoid:
- The shape could make it slightly trickier to assemble
Olpro’s Hive is a poled driveaway awning with six sides. That means it has five windows (taking account of the door panel) which give you a nigh-on 360-degree of your surroundings. It also has skylights in the roof to allow plenty of light in. One side has a sleeping pod attached to it, which includes an inner that is large enough to take an inflatable double bed, or you can removed it for extra storage.
The tunnel which connects the awning to your campervan has two side doors, so you don’t need to disturb anyone in the awning when you are climbing into and out of the van. The front door has a mesh panel and the rip-stop fabric the awning is made form has a hydrostatic head reading of 5000mm – impressive at this price. The poles are a mix of steel for strength and fibreglass to keep the weight down.
Find out more about the Olpro Hive at Olpro.
Dometic Club Air Pro
Reason to buy:
- An inflatable awning – but with a traditional shape
Reason to avoid:
- The awnings can be quite heavy, starting at nearly 30kg
Along with the owning the Kampa brand, and making all sorts of accessories connected with caravanning (such as fridges and loos), Dometic also produces a range of awnings under its own name. These are much more designed for coachbuilt motorhomes, rather than campervans, although they are still mostly driveaway models.
The Club Air Pro range takes many of the best features of Dometic’s similarly named range for caravans, such as having a traditional shape but still having single inflation and multiple deflation. The awning has removable sand interchangeable side panels, full height windows and skylights, and is made of UV-resistant Weathershield Pro material.
You also get double beading on the keder in case you change your motorhome and the new van has a different width awning rail, either on the van itself or on the roll-out awning.
Find out more about the Club Air Pro range here.
Fiamma Privacy Room
Reason to buy:
- It fits your existing awning rail
Reason to avoid:
- It’s quite pricey (see below) and it’s not a driveaway option
If you’d rather not go through all the trouble of inflating and pegging out a full awning, you can always make use of your existing roll-out awning, if your van has one. Fiamma’s Privacy Room attaches to the front and sides of a range of Fiamma awnings to provide you with a complete enclosure.
This includes roll-up windows, a mosquito net and curtains, as well as a roll-back door. As a cheaper alternative you can buy two Blocker Side Panels and one Blocker Front Panel to achieve a similar result, only you won’t have any door.
Find out more about the Privacy Room here.
Isabella Buddy
Reason to buy:
- It fits your awning rail – and you can swap panels around
Reason to avoid:
Only suitable so far for certain vehicles
New last year, and similar to Fiamma’s own Privacy Room, Isabella’s Buddy system uses your existing roll-out awning (and it doesn’t have to be Fiamma – it works with Thule and Omnistor awnings too) to create a complete enclosure.
It’s made with the same Isacryl breathable acrylic material that graces Isabella’s conventional motorhome and caravan awnings. The side and front panels can be zipped out, so you can interchange the side panels if you want the side door in a different position, or go for a smaller front if you want easier access to your garage.
The side panels are held in place by magnets you attach to the existing awning, over fibreglass poles to make the structure sturdy.
Find out more about the Buddy here.
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