Yurt-Style vs Bell Tent: A Real Comparison

The Two Most Common Glamping Tent Styles

If you've been shopping for a glamping tent, you've probably noticed two designs that come up over and over: the bell tent and the yurt-style tent. Both have canvas, both have a center pole, and from a distance they can look similar. But the way each one is built creates dramatically different interior experiences, and the differences matter more than most marketing photos suggest.

We make yurt-style tents (the Astral and Eclipse), not bell tents. We've thought hard about why, and we've built our tents specifically to solve the problems that bell tents create. Here's an honest breakdown of how the two compare and where each one fits.

How Each One Is Built

Bell Tent Construction

A bell tent uses a single center pole and an A-frame at the door. The canvas drapes from the peak down to the ground, creating a cone or bell shape. There are no wall poles. The fabric slopes inward at a steep angle from the peak all the way to the perimeter, where the walls meet the ground (or rise only a foot or two before the slope begins).

This is a centuries-old design. It's simple, it's lightweight, and it has a classic aesthetic that a lot of people find appealing. It works well as a structure. The problem isn't whether bell tents work. The problem is how much of the floor space inside one is actually usable.

Yurt-Style Construction (Astral and Eclipse)

A yurt-style tent like the Astral uses a center pole plus a ring of wall poles around the perimeter. The wall poles hold the canvas walls straight up vertically for the first five feet or so before the roof starts sloping toward the center peak. The shape is closer to a traditional Mongolian yurt: vertical walls all the way around, with a peaked roof on top.

That structural difference, the addition of wall poles, is what makes everything else about the interior experience different.

The Usable Space Difference

Here's where the comparison gets interesting. Take a 16-foot diameter bell tent and a 16-foot diameter Astral. On paper, both have about 200 square feet of floor area. In practice, the amount of that floor area you can actually use is very different.

In a Bell Tent

The walls slope steeply inward from the peak. By the time you reach the perimeter, the ceiling is at or near ground level. You can't stand up near the walls. You can't place a piece of furniture flush against the wall without the canvas pushing it back inward. Anything you want to use the tent for (sleeping, sitting, storing gear) has to happen in the center cone where the ceiling is high enough to function.

For a 16-foot bell tent, the practically usable interior (where headroom is over five feet and furniture can sit normally) is roughly 100 to 130 square feet. That's about 50 to 65 percent of the nominal floor area. The rest is space you technically own but can't really use without crouching or working around the slope.

In an Astral or Eclipse

The wall poles hold the canvas vertical for the first 60 inches on the 13 and 16-foot models, and 67 inches on the 20-foot. That means you can stand up comfortably near the walls. You can push a bed against the wall. You can place a nightstand, a chair, a luggage rack, or a clothing rod flush against the perimeter without the canvas getting in the way.

For a 16-foot Astral, the usable interior is essentially the full 200 square feet. You're not losing 70 to 100 square feet to a steep slope. Every part of the floor functions as livable space.

That's the math that gets glossed over in most glamping tent comparisons. Same diameter, same nominal floor area, but the yurt-style tent gives you nearly double the usable space.

Side by Side: 16-Foot Bell Tent vs 16-Foot Astral

Factor	Typical 16-ft Bell Tent	16-ft Astral
Floor area	~200 sq ft	~200 sq ft
Usable area	~100-130 sq ft	~190+ sq ft
Wall height at perimeter	0-24 inches (slopes from ground)	60 inches (vertical wall)
Headroom near walls	Crouching only	Standing comfortably
Furniture placement	Limited to center area	Full perimeter usable
Center pole	Yes	Yes
Wall poles	No	Yes (perimeter ring)
Skylight	No (most models)	Yes (stargazer)
Windows	Typically 2-4 small	3 large mesh-screened
Roof vents	1-2 small	3 wide-mouth vents
Built-in stove jack	Sometimes (varies by brand)	Yes, reinforced 4.5"
Built-in AC duct	Rarely	Yes
Electrical cord port	Rarely	Yes

Beyond Floor Space: Other Differences

Headroom

In a bell tent, the only place you can stand fully upright is within a few feet of the center pole. Move toward the wall and you're hunched, then crouching, then crawling. In a 16-foot Astral, you can stand upright across roughly 70 percent of the interior, and walk comfortably across all of it. The 20-foot version (67-inch wall height) gives even more standing room.

This sounds like a small thing until you've spent a few days in a tent. Constantly ducking to move around the space, to change clothes, or to reach for something on a low shelf, gets old fast. Real wall height is something you stop noticing because you're not fighting it.

Ventilation

Bell tents typically have one or two small windows and minimal roof venting. The Astral has three large mesh-screened windows, three wide-mouth roof vents, and a mesh-screened door. The Eclipse adds a second door and a fourth window. The ventilation difference is significant, especially in summer. Hot air rises and collects at the peak of a tent. Without dedicated roof vents, that trapped heat radiates back down. Our roof vents release it continuously.

Features Built In

Bell tents are simple. That's part of their appeal. But "simple" also means most of them don't include the built-in features that make a glamping tent function as a long-term setup: a reinforced stove jack for safely running a wood-burning stove, an AC duct for portable air conditioning, an electrical cord zipper port for running power inside, a sealed PVC groundsheet that locks to the tent body.

The Astral and Eclipse include all of these as standard features. You can run a wood stove in winter, a portable AC in summer, plug in lights and devices through the cord port, and the tent stays sealed against moisture and bugs from the ground up.

Stargazing

The Astral has a clear vinyl skylight at the peak. Customers consistently call out the skylight as one of the best features they didn't expect to love. Falling asleep watching stars from inside the tent is a glamping experience that very few bell tents offer (a few high-end models do, but most don't).

Where Bell Tents Make Sense

We're not anti-bell tent. There are use cases where they're a reasonable choice:

You love the classic aesthetic. The cone silhouette of a bell tent is iconic. If the visual style is what matters most to you and you're using the tent occasionally for short stays where you're outside most of the day, the limitations of interior space are less important.

You're on a tight budget. Entry-level bell tents from budget brands can be cheaper than premium glamping tents. If you're starting with very limited funds and willing to accept the tradeoffs, a budget bell tent is an entry point.

You only need it for a few weekends per year. For occasional personal use where the tent isn't your primary outdoor setup, the simpler design and lower cost can outweigh the interior space limitations.

But if you're using the tent for rental operations, extended stays, family glamping, full-time off-grid living, or anything where interior comfort and livability matter, the yurt-style construction wins on every measurable factor.

Where Yurt-Style Wins Outright

Rental operations. Guests pay for usable space and amenities. A yurt-style tent gives you more of both, which justifies higher nightly rates and earns better reviews.

Family glamping. Families need real interior space for cots, kids' gear, and movement. The bell tent slope wastes too much square footage to function well for families.

Cold-weather operation. Yurt-style tents with built-in stove jacks, sealed groundsheets, and full ventilation control let you run a wood stove safely all winter. Bell tents without these features struggle in serious cold.

Hot-weather operation. The Astral and Eclipse have multiple windows, roof vents, and AC ducts. Bell tents typically don't have the airflow to stay livable in summer heat.

Extended use. If you're sleeping in the tent multiple nights in a row, the difference between hunching near the walls and standing comfortably becomes a quality-of-life issue, not a cosmetic one.

A Third Option: The Jellyfish

Worth mentioning: if you want to skip the bell-vs-yurt question entirely and maximize usable interior space, the Jellyfish ($1,249.98) is our inflatable air beam tent that has no center pole and no wall poles. The 16-foot diameter is fully open from edge to edge with a 10-foot peak height. It's essentially a 200 square foot dome with no structural obstructions inside.

If interior space efficiency is your top priority, the Jellyfish is the most space-efficient tent in our lineup. It also sets up in about five minutes with the included air pump, which is dramatically faster than either bell tents or pole-and-frame yurt tents. The tradeoff is that it's a different aesthetic, and the 16-foot size is the only option currently available.

Honest Bottom Line

If you've been weighing a bell tent against a yurt-style tent like the Astral or Eclipse, the question really comes down to whether you value the classic look of a bell tent more than the practical livability of a yurt design. For most use cases (rental operations, families, extended stays, four-season operation, premium guest experiences) the math doesn't favor bell tents. The same diameter gives you a fraction of the usable space, fewer built-in features, less ventilation, and a steeper learning curve for setup and furnishing.

We're biased, obviously. We build yurt-style tents because we think they're the better tool for what most people want to do with a glamping tent. But the structural advantages aren't a marketing claim. The geometry is what it is. Vertical walls give you more room than sloped walls every time.

Get Started

Browse the full tent collection to compare the Astral and Eclipse side by side, see interior photos, and review the built-in features. If you want to talk through which model fits your situation, contact our team. We've answered this exact question for a lot of customers and we're happy to walk you through it.

For a broader comparison across our full lineup, our tent size guide covers 13, 16, and 20-foot options across the Astral, Eclipse, Jellyfish, and Pyramid.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a yurt and a bell tent?

A bell tent has a single center pole and canvas that slopes from the peak down to the ground or near-ground, with no wall poles. A yurt or yurt-style tent has a center pole plus wall poles around the perimeter, which hold the walls vertical for several feet before the roof slopes up to the peak. The structural difference creates dramatically more usable interior space in the yurt-style design.

Are yurt-style tents better than bell tents?

For most glamping use cases, yes. The vertical walls give you nearly double the usable floor area at the same diameter. Yurt-style tents also typically include more built-in features (stove jacks, AC ducts, electrical ports, larger windows, roof vents) than traditional bell tents. Bell tents have a classic aesthetic some people prefer, but the practical living experience inside a yurt-style tent is meaningfully better.

How much usable space is in a bell tent compared to a yurt tent?

A 16-foot bell tent has about 200 square feet of floor area but only 100-130 square feet of practically usable space, because the walls slope steeply inward and you can't stand or place furniture near the perimeter. A 16-foot Astral has the same 200 square foot footprint but roughly 190+ square feet of usable space because the wall poles hold the canvas vertical for the first 60 inches.

Can you put furniture against the wall in a bell tent?

Not flush against it. The canvas slopes inward, so any furniture placed near the perimeter gets pushed back into the usable interior or won't fit upright at all. In a yurt-style tent with vertical walls (like the Astral or Eclipse), you can place beds, nightstands, chairs, and shelves flush against the wall, which maximizes the floor area available for movement and additional furniture.

Are bell tents good for winter glamping?

They can work for occasional winter use if they include a stove jack, but most bell tents lack the built-in features (sealed groundsheet, AC duct, electrical port, full ventilation control) that make four-season operation comfortable. Yurt-style tents like the Astral include all of these as standard, making them better suited for year-round and serious cold-weather use.

Why do you not sell bell tents?

We built our lineup around yurt-style construction (and added the inflatable Jellyfish) specifically because we wanted to offer tents that solved the practical limitations of bell tents. The wall poles, larger windows, roof vents, and built-in features in our tents are direct responses to what bell tents typically lack. We think the yurt-style design is a better answer for the way most people actually use glamping tents.