Caravan

Just months after debuting the X1-H with integrated hard-top tent, Australia's Patriot Campers is breaking its tent options wide open. In place of an integrated tent, the all-new X1-N features a built-in roof rack for use with any roof-top tent (RTT) ... or no tent at all.

Rooftop camping is a common topic here at New Atlas, but typically it's focused on tents mounted atop motor vehicles. A new hotel opening this year in Hamburg, Germany is broadening the conversation, supplementing its standard rooms with a rooftop caravan campground.

One of the more intriguing campers in the modern surge of adventurous teardrop trailers, the Escapod Topo combines rugged construction, compact design and killer graphics. A few months after discovering it last year, we took one out for a long weekend to see what the teardrop craze is all about.

A compact toy hauler and dedicated efficiency apartment, the Sportcaravan Cube is fully equipped for adventure and living. It fits its garage and four-sleeper living space together like a puzzle, fully separating snoozing campers from the jet ski or bikes on the other side of the wall.

The new AntiShanty trailer is more than meets the eye, a part-time cargo box, part-time tiny cabin. You could call it a mobile mountain hut for surf bums and dirtbag climbers, carrying everything from an ATV, to boards, to a mess of camping gear before converting over to a high-ceiling mini-lodge.

More stylish than any bus-size fifth-wheel, but with room for the family, the new Trail Ridge caravan from Dunraven brings clean design and cozy living to camp. The 18-foot (5.5-m) aluminum box trailer is designed for families that want to experience the outdoors, not just park a trailer there.

Usually a camping trailer tongue box will carry a battery and maybe some tools, but the innovators at Australia's HUTrv have managed to pack an entire kitchen and bathroom into their caravan's upsized tongue box.

We've seen a number of angular teardrop styles, from the fairly common squaredrop to the much rarer faceted polygon. French startup Carapate Adventure tries something different with its eponymous mini-caravan — a rolling wooden trapezoid with rounded corners, vibrant color and plenty of style.

Earth Traveler is developing a different teardrop trailer, a skeletal archway made of lightweight composite. The range-topper will be carbon fiber, but the more interesting version will use a composite made of chicken feathers, for a trailer that's featherlight.

Teardrop trailers are natural head-turners, but an Australian camper startup takes things to a new level. Making the already curvy teardrop even curvier before splashing it with bright paint, Cool Beans builds a teardrop that simply refuses to be ignored.

The recently launched Bruder EXP-6 GT replaces the pop-up roof of the standard EXP-6 with a raised hard roof, crawling behind your tow vehicle as a stormproof, go-anywhere boutique motel with custom adjustable air suspension, burly composite shell and cushy interior.

No matter how many teardrop trailers we cover, there's always another startup with its own variation. Evolve is the latest to mosey across our radar, offering teardrops with a bit of extra curvature, doors with full-size windows, and off-grid power with roof-mounted solar.