How to pitch a tent in 8 easy steps - How to Set Up a Tent

A properly pitched tent can protect you from adverse weather conditions and give you a comfortable night of sleep before or after an outdoor adventure. Before heading to your next campsite, it is important to familiarize yourself with your tent and practice setting it up at home. Here are the steps to get you started:

Once you’ve checked all your equipment, you’re ready to put your tent up. There are several elements to any tent, and learning to pitch one properly is simply a question of knowing the correct order to set things up. Here’s our step-by-step guide to pitching a tent perfectly.

1. Pick a place to pitch

Before you start pitching your tent, you need to choose where to put it. You’ll want plenty of room for your guy lines, so make sure there’s at least three metres between your site and any obstacles. Place the side of the tent with the strongest pole structure facing any wind. 

When camping in hot weather, angling the door towards the breeze helps to cool down your tent’s interior. 

For more tips on picking a pitch, see the ‘How to pick a pitch for your tent’ section below.

2. Lay your groundsheet

Brush away any twigs, stones or other debris from your pitching area, then put your groundsheet down. If you have a tent footprint or an extra section of protective tarp, place this down first.  

Put your tent on top of the groundsheet, facing upwards. Plug pegs loosely into all four corners of the tent to ensure everything stays secure for the moment.

3. Sort out the flysheet

Take a look at the instructions and see if it tells you to get the flysheet or inner up first, then tackle this part of the job. Some tents have attached inner and outer layers, which speeds the task up.  

If it's a flysheet-second option, place the tent’s interior on top of the groundsheet, matching both sections of material corner to corner. Make sure your doorway is facing exactly where you want. 

4. Connect your poles

Next step is to connect your tent’s poles. Fix them together first, inserting each adjacent pole with care. Don't just let them spring into place, as this can cause damage.

5. Attach the poles to the frame 

There are typically two ways in which your tent’s internal body will attach to the poles: sleeves or clips. Thread the poles through the sleeves or clip the material to the frame, beginning in one corner before moving on to the opposite corner. 

Don’t pull the poles through the sleeves – if they’re joined up by elastic or bungee cords, this will pull them apart and you’ll have to start all over again. It's best to push the poles instead.  

6. Set up the tent

Next, attach the poles to the pin and grommet (or ring and pin) found at each of the four corners of your tent's inner body. This can require a little force as the whole structure needs a certain level of tension to stand upright.  

To avoid breakages, bend the frame carefully instead of putting pressure on individual poles. Then, if it’s separate from the tent body, add the flysheet – making sure to match up the inner doorway with the flysheet's entrance.  

Some tents use velcro to affix the rain fly to the poles; others include bungee cords that stretch the cover overhead and then connect underneath the poles. Have a look at the instructions to be certain which applies to your tent. 

7. Peg the tent in properly

One of your final tasks is to stake everything down securely. Push your pegs into the ground at a 45-degree angle – with the hook pointing away from the tent – then hammer them in with a mallet or rock if the ground is hard. Avoid stamping on the stakes with your foot as this risks injury and breakages.

Using the right tent pegs is vital – to check, read our guide to all the different kinds of tent pegs.

8. Finish up 

Once your tent is up, pull the poles as far apart as possible to make sure the material is nice and rigid. This gives you maximum room overhead and also means that rain will stream down the flysheet and away from the roof. Tying your guy lines properly also helps prevent water from pooling above you. To check the tension of the tent, make sure that the seams on the fly align with the seams of the tent body and its poles.