Last Updated on April 30, 2024 by Nikole

Are you steering clear of building that campervan because you are worried about not getting a good night’s sleep? Well, start building! We have a solution for making your camper van mattress give you the most comfortable sleep.

Well, I can guarantee that you will have some of the best sleep with these campervan mattress options.

Hi! Nikole and Clark here! We have been traveling around in our campervan for over a year now, and researching the newest best gear for our campervan. We are here to share our knowledge and expertise.

Specifically, today we will be going over campervan mattresses because we all NEED great rest. We all know that when it comes to great sleep one needs the perfect mattress and the perfect bedding!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

What to look for First

Before you purchase your mattress there are a few things you need to decide. Every campervan is so different and will require different sizes, shapes, and types of mattresses.

Breathability: Breathability is so so important when it comes to your campervan mattress. Because so many people have problems with mold under the bed, it’s a great idea to pay attention to this detail.

If you don’t have a breathable mattress (I will show you later which ones are most breathable) there are other ways to combat moisture which include; a fan, a dehumidifier, or a moisture-reducing matt.

Bed Frame: Everything about the size of your mattress will depend upon what type of bed frame you have.

There are some people that have a pullout slat bed that can get away with just cutting a slat down the middle so it bends as you push the bed up. Others have several cushions that can stack on top of each other.

I would suggest building your bed frame (or at least have measurements and an idea of what the bed frame will look like) before you purchase a mattress for your campervan. This will ensure you get the correct mattress. Typically most campervans are well suited for memory foam mattresses.

Size: Like I said, before you decide on the size of your mattress, you need to have in mind what your bed frame will be.

How thick should a campervan mattress be? You don’t want the mattress so thick that your head hits the ceiling when you are sitting on it. You also don’t want it so thin that it’s uncomfortable. We have an 8-inch mattress on our pull-out slat bed (which is way too thick) we can’t even sit up in our van when we have the bed pulled out. We also weren’t willing to compromise comfort for space, so we didn’t trim it down.

When considering the width of your mattress you need to think of who is traveling with you. Because we have two people traveling in our campervan, we went with a full-sized mattress. You can always cut down your mattress to fit your van. If you are traveling solo, you could get away with a twin size or even smaller.

When thinking about length, you want it to be a little bit longer than the tallest person in your group. My husband, Clark, has about one inch of play between the front and back of the mattress. If that is too long for your space, you can always trim the mattress.

Comfort: Comfort doesn’t always have to do with the thickness of the mattress. I have had a few mattresses about 4 inches thick that were fairly comfortable.

Personally, I prefer a foam mattress with a memory foam topper. We had to custom build ours to have it at our ultimate comfort level.

Flexibility: Flexibility may seem unnecessary when looking for a mattress, and sometimes it is. If you have a lift-away bed, for example, your bed will never bend or fold, and you could get away with purchasing a spring mattress.

Our mattress is NOT very flexible so we had to cut a slit down the back middle of the mattress in order for it to bend correctly.

Types of matresses

The type of mattress you purchase depends on the type of bed frame you may have. You need to have your bed frame installed before you purchase a mattress, or have an idea of which type of bed frame you would like to build.

Here are several different types of mattresses you can purchase according to the bed frames they will fit on.

Memory Foam

Memory foam is great for any type of camper van bed build. You can cut it in half for two cushions, you can cut it through the middle if it’s too thick, and for the most part, it’s fairly flexible.

The best part about foam mattresses is their breathability. Now, I’m not saying that foam mattresses will completely prevent mold from growing in your campervan, but it’s a great place to start.

Most mattresses will have a base of thick foam, with a little bit of “memory foam” at the top, I’m talking like half an inch. Make sure you know exactly what you are purchasing.

When we first got ours we thought the whole mattress was memory foam, but we were fooled. We ended up slicing the mattress straight down the middle and glueing a peice of cooling gel memory foam on top of that.

Gel Infused

The biggest difference between memory foam and gel-infused memory foam is the heat that it takes away from your body.

Memory foam mattresses tend to hold more heat due to their density. Gel-infused memory foam helps pull your body heat away from you. If you tend to sleep hot, gel-infused is best for you!

Gel-infused mattresses are also the BEST options for controlling the never-ending mold problem in camper vans. Unfortunately, this is the pricier option, but they can last up to 10 years.

Camper van Specific Mattress

You could always go to an RV shop and have them custom make a mattress. The big downside to doing this is the cost. Some of these places will charge you a lot of money for something you could’ve easily done by yourself.

Mattress Insider has a great build your own mattress guide. You can use their tool by inputting the measurements you need for your mattress, and they will cut it for you and ship it. Considering all of this is done for you, it’s not a bad price.

Here is a great tutorial on how to cut your campervan mattress perfectly if you would like to do it yourself.

air mattresses for Camper Vans

Yes! an air mattress is an option for your campervan. Although this is not the most ideal option, as they tend to get holes in them very quickly. Imagine having a flatbed when you are out in the middle of nowhere, talk about the worst night’s sleep ever!

We did originally use an air mattress in the back of our campervan until we decided to build our bed platform. This is a great option to use while you are building your platform and are unsure of which mattress to get.

Inner Spring Mattress

A camper van mattress can also have springs, obviously, with cushioning surrounding it. This is one of the cheaper options for a camper van mattress, but it’s not the most convenient. You cannot cut spring mattresses to custom fit your campervan.

Matress toppers

Sometimes a camper van mattress just isn’t as comfortable as we thought it would be, and that’s where a topper comes in. You can still cut a memory foam mattress to fit your already existing mattress.

This is a great option for upgrading your already existing campervan mattress.

How to cut a Camper Van matress

The only tool you will need to cut a memory foam mattress is a bread knife. I know, that’s the strangest item. We used several other kitchen knives, tools, and scissors and none of them worked as well as the bread knife did.

Don’t worry too much about getting things super perfect. Obviously, get them cut as close as possible to the size you need, but memory foam is fairly flexible and will fill spaces where you messed up. When you cut the mattress down in height remember that when you lay on the top you really can’t notice the roughness of the cut on the bottom of the mattress.

Dealing with Mold under your Camper van Mattress

As I have already mentioned several times, mold can be a huge issue with campervan or RV beds. Some of these have proved to work for others, whereas some of them have not. You may need to play around with some of the ideas.

Anti-condensation mats?

This Polypropylene matt is easily installed under your campervan mattress for a dryer sleeping experience. You may have to cut the roll into different sections for it to fit your custom-sized mattress.

Fan under the bed: A fan under the bed is one way to get more airflow to your mattress. Small fans take up very little energy, and some may even be used by your vehicle’s battery. You can even find some that are solar or battery-operated.

You don’t even need the fan running all the time. Try running it when you aren’t using your van for a few days. Have it pointing under your mattress.

Dehumidifier: I’ve seen where some people have a small dehumidifier to pull the moisture out of the air. The only problem with this is the power usage. You can always find ones that are battery-operated like the one below. We haven’t tested this option yet, but I have seen others have success with it.

Drill holes on the bed frame: This is where our sliding slat bed comes in handy, there are plenty of breathable areas between the slats under the mattress.

If you made a bed frame with a straight piece of board under your mattress, you can get that anti-condensation matt I mentioned above. Or you can drill holes in the board to allow more breathable room. Or you can do both!

How to Cover your Camper Van Mattress

Odds are you will need custom fitted sheets for your campervan mattress because it is probably custom sized. You can either sow your own, by using this tutorial. Or you can find a professional to sow them for you.

You could also do what we do, and just get these sheet tighteners we mentioned in our campervan bedding post and use them on a fitted sheet that is somewhat the size of your bed.

You can also put a top sheet down, which is what we did for a while until we discovered the tool above.

Where to Purchase a Good Camper Van Mattress

I’m not even going to recommend a specific place to purchase a great mattress at the moment because most places like Walmart or even Amazon are super pricey. You can find NEW mattresses on Facebook marketplace just as easily, but with half the price.