Hilleberg Allak 3 Tent Review

We recently made the plunge and invested in a Hilleberg tent. Are they worth the cost? Here’s my take in this review of the 3P Hilleberg Allak 3…

There’s a reason why the word “sleep” is in “Eat Sleep Wild.” One of my all-time favourite things is to immerse myself in a landscape by staying overnight in a tent. Over the years, I’ve become a big fan of Big Agnes tents for their copious space, lightweight design, and ease of setup (see my review of the Big Agnes Copper Hotel). However, since moving to northwest Scotland and becoming more immersed in its ever-changing conditions, it has become clear (through experience!) that a more robust tent is needed for year-round camping.

So the hunt began for a 4-season tent for Mark, me, and the dogs. We invested in a Nordisk Oppland 3P UL Tunnel Tent, which was seriously palatial and would be a great tent for more stable conditions (I’ll review that later). The problem with the Nordisk Oppland? It let us down on one major ground: the tent only works if you set it up facing the wind. The problem, of course, is that wind direction changes. We found ourselves at 11 p.m. on Beinn Dearg packing up to evacuate because the tent had literally flattened itself in higher winds. All of a sudden, space and weight became secondary to key comfort factors like stability and warmth, whatever the conditions. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted a tent with enough space to sit up comfortably, with room to cook and enjoy the camp. But it also needed to stand up to the changing elements.

Why We Chose a 3P Tent for 2 People

Most 2-person tents are really 1.5-person tents at best. If you’re sharing with a partner and want space for gear—or, in our case, gear and two small dogs—then a typical 2P tent starts to feel cramped. Comfort is a priority when sleeping outdoors, so when looking for a 2-person tent, we focused on 3-person tents to ensure enough room for a good night’s sleep without feeling restricted.

The Tent Wish List

So, a new list of tent needs was born. The tent of dreams needed to be:

• Light enough and packable to carry comfortably on multi-day backpacking trips
• Big enough to sit up in comfortably
• Spacious enough in the porch area to cook in
• Sturdy enough to stand up to wind—so geodesic rather than tunnel-shaped, and freestanding so it’s easy to reposition if needed
• Outer pitch first (i.e., you should be able to pitch the whole tent at once, rather than inner then outer, which is a nightmare in rain and wind)
• Big enough to sleep two people and two small-ish hounds
• Warm and free of drafts for cold-weather camping, but also…
• Well-ventilated to avoid condensation on the tent inner

After a bit of deliberation, we settled on the Hilleberg Allak 3 tent, and took it on its first voyage to the Reay Forest in northwest Scotland, near Arkle and Foinaven (just us and the dogs). The first night offered a good test, with driving wind and hail, followed by a second night in woodland—the stuff of wild camping dreams.

First Impressions of the Hilleberg Allak 3

• Size: Upon unpacking, the tent is huge! Though it’s possible to pack it down a bit with a stuff sack, expect this tent to take up a lot of pack space. I’ve read of people using this as a one-person tent, but there’s no way I could hack that. Shared between us, it was okay.
• Ease of Setup: The tent was reasonably easy to put up, even in the wind. There are three poles of equal length, with colour-coded pockets that they slide into. The tent is quite tall, so clipping the tent to the poles in the centre was a bit of a stretch for a shorty like me. The Allak 2 and 3 have a “storm cover,” which was the only point of annoyance—it’s a flappy bit that straps to the top of the tent and becomes a sail in high winds.

Performance in the Field

• Space & Comfort: I loved the space in the tent. Being able to sit up comfortably in a tent is a must-have for me, and in this Allak 3, I could almost stand up in it (I’m 5’1”). The Allak 3 is, to me, the perfect size for two people. I can imagine it being a bit of a tighter squeeze with the dogs, but it would work.
• Vestibule & Cooking: The vestibule space has plenty of room to cook in. My only gripe is that, with two side doors, cooking becomes a bit “antisocial”—I ended up cooking with my back facing Mark the whole time. It’s more convivial to cook in a tunnel tent with one front door, but the cooking setup becomes a moot point when your tent is being blown over by the wind. So I was grateful to the Allak 3 for providing solid shelter for cooking, even in high winds.
• Stability: The tent was certainly noisy but undoubtedly stable on that windy evening. One peg did come out of the very soft ground, and in the future, I’d look into upgrading pegs for these conditions.
• Warmth & Ventilation: We were very warm all night long (tent combined with the Rapide SL double sleeping mat and Sea to Summit Spark -9 C double-wide sleeping bag). We got the venting wrong (in that we forgot to open the vents), so there was a bit of condensation, but I can’t imagine this being an issue if we actually used the vents properly!

• Materials & Durability: There’s no questioning the quality of the materials. They’re also more robust and with a higher hydrostatic head than other models I looked at (see comparison table below). Of course, with that robustness comes more weight, but who really cares if you’re comfortable? Something I thought on this first camp – the material of the tent bottom was thick enough that it made me rethink packing the extra footprint. I think you could get away without the footprint in most conditions.

What is a Hilleberg Red Label Tent?

The Hilleberg Allak 3 tent is a Red Label tent, meaning it is designed for all-season use in harsh conditions while balancing weight and durability. Hilleberg categorizes their tents into four labels:

• Black Label: The most robust, expedition-grade tents for extreme environments.
• Red Label: Lighter than Black Label but still strong enough for challenging weather, making them ideal for backpackers who need durability without excessive weight.
• Yellow Label: Designed for three-season use, focusing on weight savings for milder conditions.
• Blue Label: Specialized tents for professional or military use.

Being a Red Label tent, the Allak 3 is perfect for year-round use where high winds, snow, and rain are common—exactly the kind of conditions you might expect in the northwest Highlands.

Allak 3 vs. Other 2-3 Person 4-Season Tents

There are lots of 4-season 3P tents out there and it would be unfeasible to compare them all. But here’s a few other tents I looked at and how the Allak 3 stood up (let me know if you think there are other tents I should have considered). Here were some particular selling points:

• The strongest fly and floor fabric, with the highest hydrostatic head (HH)
• Large floor area (topped only by the MSR Remote 3, but that one fell quickly off the short list for its weaker fabric and poles and inner pitch first design)
• Generous headroom, again topped only by the MSR
• Reasonably sized vestibules on both sides

Main con of the Hilleberg Allak 3: Undoubtedly its higher cost

	Hilleberg Allak 3	KUIU Storm Star 2P	Hilleberg Staika	MSR Remote 3	KUIU Mountain Star 3P	Fjällräven Abisko Dome 3
Season Rating	4-season	4-season	4-season	4-season	4-season	4-season
Capacity	3-person	2-person	2-person	3-person	3-person	3-person
Minimum Weight	~3.3 kg	~2.7 kg	~3.9 kg	~3.1 kg	~2.5 kg	~3.2 kg
Packed Weight	~3.7 kg	~2.9 kg	~4 kg	~3.3 kg	~2.8 kg	~3.6 kg
Floor Dimensions	235 x 160 cm	218 x 127 cm	230 x 150 cm	224 x 173 cm	224 x 142 cm	230 x 145 cm
Floor Area	3.7 m²	2.7 m²	3.2 m²	3.7 m²	3.1 m²	3.5 m²
Vestibule Area	2 x 0.9 m²	2 x 0.7 m²	2 x 0.6 m²	2 x 1.1 m²	2 x 0.8 m²	2 x 0.85 m²
Peak Height	110 cm	112 cm	100 cm	114 cm	107 cm	110 cm
Doors	2	2	2	2	2	2
Freestanding	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Fly Fabric	Kerlon 1200 HH: 5000 mm	30D ripstop nylon HH: 3000mm	Kerlon 1800 HH: 5000mm	68D Ripstop Polyester HH: 1500mm	15D ripstop nylon HH: 1200mm	40D Triple Ripstop Nylon HH: 3000mm
Floor Fabric	70D Nylon HH: 15000 mm	40D Nylon HH: 5000mm	70D Nylon HH: 15000mm	40D Nylon HH: 10000mm	30D Nylon HH: 1500mm	70D PU-coated Nylon HH: 6000mm
Poles	3	3	3	4	3	3
Setup	Outer pitch first	Outer pitch first	Outer pitch first	Inner pitch first	Inner pitch first	Outer pitch first
Price	$$$$$ £1535 (ultralightoutdoorgear.com)	$$$$ £643 (www.kuiu.com)	$$$$$ £1450 (nordicoutdoor.co.uk)	$$$ £1045 (N/A)	$$$ £643 (kuiu.com)	$$$$ £1000 (fjallraven.com)

Final Thoughts

This Hilleberg Allak 3 tent review confirmed that this is a solid 4-season tent that meets all my key criteria: spacious, sturdy, and well-ventilated. While it’s not the lightest or cheapest tent around by far, it’s a reasonable trade-off for a shelter that can truly handle the elements. This trip confirmed that the Allak 3 is an excellent investment for year-round adventures in Scotland’s unpredictable weather. We’ll keep this post updated as we learn more about this tent on future trips. Will it stand the test of time? If you own a Hilleberg tent, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!