Roofwander aims to make rooftop-tent road trips more accessible in Belgium
Belgian startup Roofwander has created a peer-to-peer marketplace where rooftop-tent owners can rent out their equipment to other travellers. The goal is to make road trips more affordable and accessible while helping owners make better use of tents that often sit unused.
Belgium
By Sebastian de Biolley · 14 September 2026
Falling in love with road trips
For the past five years, road trips have been a big part of my summers.
What I love most is the simplicity. You leave with an idea of where you want to go, but you do not need to plan every detail. You can change direction, stop somewhere unexpected, sleep close to nature and discover places you probably would never have visited on a more traditional trip.
Over time, I completely fell in love with this way of travelling and knew I wanted to work in this world somehow.
Discovering rooftop tents
That is also how I became increasingly interested in rooftop tents.
I liked the idea that you could take a normal car and, with relatively little equipment, turn it into something that gives you much more freedom to travel.
But there was an obvious problem.
The problem we wanted to solve
A rooftop tent can cost several thousand euros. That is a big investment for someone who has never tried one or who might only use it for a few weeks every year.
At the same time, there are already many rooftop tents sitting unused for most of the year.
It felt strange that on one side there were people who wanted to experience this type of travel but did not want to buy all the equipment, while on the other side there were owners with perfectly good tents that were hardly being used.
That became the starting point for Roofwander.
Building Roofwander
Together with my co-founders, we started building a marketplace where rooftop-tent owners can make their tent available when they are not using it and where travellers can find one close to them for a weekend or a longer trip.
In simple terms, it works a little like Airbnb, but for rooftop tents.
Owners can list their tent, choose when it is available and earn some money when they are not using it. Travellers can discover tents nearby, compare different options and try the experience without having to buy one first.
Making road trips more accessible
The first value behind Roofwander is accessibility.
We want more people to be able to discover road trips without needing to spend thousands of euros before their first trip or pay the cost of renting a full campervan.
For us, renting is a simple way to lower that barrier. Someone can try a rooftop tent for a weekend, understand whether they enjoy the experience and then decide what makes sense for them.
Try before you buy
We also strongly believe in trying equipment before buying it.
Rooftop tents can look quite similar online, but in reality there are many differences: size, comfort, opening system, setup time and how they fit different cars or types of trips.
Renting gives people the opportunity to experience a tent in real conditions before making a bigger purchase decision.
Making better use of what already exists
Another important part of the idea is utilisation.
Many rooftop tents are only used for a few weeks every year. Instead of sitting in a garage for the rest of the season, they can be used by another traveller.
For owners, it is a way to get more value from equipment they already have. For renters, it means access to equipment without needing to own everything themselves.
More than just a listing website
We also want Roofwander to become more than just a place where people list equipment.
Rooftop-tent owners have a lot of experience that new travellers can learn from: how to mount a tent, what equipment is really useful, how to prepare for a first trip and what they wish they had known before starting.
That knowledge and trust between owners and travellers is an important part of what we want to build.
Still at the beginning
We are still early in the journey and learning a lot from every owner and traveller using the platform.
The product will continue to evolve, but the idea that pushed us to start Roofwander has stayed the same: make road trips easier to try, more affordable and accessible to more people, while making better use of the equipment that already exists.
Source: https://roofwander.com