Why You Can Trust CNET Best RV Mattress for 2024
You don't have to sacrifice good sleep while out on the road. Our sleep experts tested and selected the best mattresses for RVs -- here are our top picks.
If you’re all about the van or RV life, then you’ll need the best RV mattress you can afford. Enjoying life on the road is much easier when you can enjoy a good night's sleep in the RV. With the best RV mattress for your space and your sleep style, you'll find it a little easier to catch some z's while making memories. Space can be tricky when trying to fit more things into an RV, so make sure to measure before going through with your purchase.
What is the best overall mattress for RVs?
The best overall bed for RVs is the Brooklyn Bedding Signature Mattress, and it was a pretty simple choice. Our team of mattress experts loves the Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress for its combination of near-universal comfort, hybrid design, firmness options and value price.
Not only is it a great hybrid bed, but it, along with many mattresses from Brooklyn Bedding, is easily available in non-standard sizes, which we don't typically see with other brands. Odds are that there will be a size available that works for your RV, including three RV king-size mattresses, short full and Olympic queen, among others.
I have actually recommended this mattress to people in my personal life, and it's always been a hit.
Best RV mattress: Video
Best mattresses for RVs of 2024
Mattress price scale:
$ = Budget: $799 and below
$$ = Average: $800 to $1,699
$$$ = Premium: $1,700 and up
These reflect MSRP or list prices. Sales might make a mattress less expensive, but are always changing.
Why we picked the Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress: This bed is already one of our most highly regarded mattresses on the market, so much so that it's featured on our overall Best Mattresses list. It is about 12 inches thick, and features pocketed coils as its main support layer. Coils provide some extra bounce and airflow compared to a mattress with foam support, and the coils offer more long-term support and durability.
The top comfort layers blend proprietary foams from Brooklyn Bedding, and those plus the coils give the Signature mattress an accommodating neutral, hybrid feel that most people like or can at least get by on.
The biggest reason we chose this mattress, is that it comes in a large variety of sizes beyond the standard twin, full, queen and king. It has three RV-specific sizes that are common for many RV manufacturers, as well as alternative full and queen sizes. The specific dimensions are available on Brooklyn Bedding's website, so you can be sure of the fit.
The Signature also has an optional "cloud pillow-top" that'll cost you a little extra. We have a whole video on this optional feature on the Aurora Luxe Mattress you can check out. It's nice to have but not really necessary, and it will increase the height of the mattress, which isn't always ideal for an RV or camper.
Pros
- Accommodating feel
- Three firmness options
- Unique sizes for RVs
Cons
- Could potentially be too tall for certain RV setups
Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid
Why we picked the Dreamfoam Essential mattress: Dreamfoam is a sub-brand of Brooklyn Bedding, and the Essential mattress is the most affordable bed from Dreamfoam. It also features a plethora of size options.
It has 10 different RV-specific sizes, including "RV King" and "RV Bunk" sizes, in addition to alternative full and queen sizes. I would be surprised if you can't find an appropriate size for your RV with the Dreamfoam Essential.
It also comes in various height profiles ranging from 6 to 14 inches, so you can choose the one that best fits you; however, the height profile will significantly affect the firmness profile. The thinner profiles will be firmer than the thicker ones.
The feel of the Dreamfoam Essential is a classic memory foam that you'll sink into and get a body-conforming quality that is also slow to respond.
Pros
- Huge variety of sizes for RVs
- Multiple height profiles
- Affordable price point
Cons
- Thinner models (6 and 8-inch) are quite firm
- All-foam design makes it not ideal for heavier people
Dreamfoam Essential Mattress
Type: Latex foam
Firmness: Medium-firm or 7
Trial: 120 nights
Warranty: 10-year warranty
Price: $
Why we picked the PlushBeds EcoGreen 8-inch mattress: As a brand, PlushBeds is more known for its organic full latex beds, the Botanical Bliss and the Natural Bliss, but it also has a set of RV-specific mattresses.
Full disclosure: we have yet to get our hands on this specific mattress. We chose the EcoGreen 8-inch because it has virtually the same design and uses the same materials as the beds we have tested, but it comes in RV-specific sizes.
The latex foam in this mattress will have a springy, spongy feel that will provide plenty of comfort and cushion while also being super responsive. Latex foam has a dissimilar feel to memory foam, so if you love the sink-in quality of memory foam, then a latex bed might not be for you. For everyone else, I think you'll find it comfortable.
Pros
- RV-specific sizes
- Natural latex foam
- Affordable price
Cons
- Latex foam feel isn't universally comfortable
- All-foam design makes it not ideal for heavier people
Type: Memory foam
Firmness: Medium to Medium-firm or 6
Trial: 100 nights
Warranty: 10-year warranty
Price: $
Why we picked the Leesa Studio mattress: Leesa is one of the most popular online mattress brands, and the Studio mattress isn't one they tend to emphasize on its website.
The bed's construction is similar to the more popular Leesa Original, only instead of memory foam being in the middle layer, the memory foam is the top layer. This means the mattress has a responsive memory foam feel that fans of the sink-in sensation should enjoy, but I also think that people who don't love memory foam should be able to sleep fairly comfortably, too; it has a nice balance.
Its firmness profile is also accommodating, landing between a medium and a medium-firm in our testing, so most people should be able to sleep comfortably in any position on the Leesa Studio.
It doesn't come in any RV-specific sizes, but if you have the space for a standard-size mattress in your RV, it's a great option at an affordable price point.
Pros
- Responsive memory foam feel
- Leesa is a certified B corporation
- Budget-friendly
Cons
- No RV-specific sizes
Type: Hybrid (varies by mattress)
Firmness: Varies by mattress
Trial: 100 nights
Warranty: 10-year warranty
Price scale: $$
Why we picked the Helix Core mattress collection: Helix is one of my personal favorite brands, and it's easy to recommend to people because it has so many options.
In total, it has 19 different Helix-branded mattresses on its website, which sounds like a lot, but it's pretty easy to understand. It has six different mattresses in its "core collection" and upgraded "luxe" and "elite" versions of those beds. They also have a sleep quiz you can take to help narrow down which of the six beds should work best for you.
We chose to recommend the core models because there should be one that works for every sleeping preference. They're the thinnest of the three collections to better fit in RVs, and they're pretty affordable.
Helix beds don't come in RV-specific sizes, so keep that in mind if you're interested.
Pros
- Huge variety of options
- Sleep quiz to help you find the right mattress
- Hybrid design
Cons
- No RV-specific sizes
What to consider when buying an RV mattress
You should ask yourself a few questions when considering a new mattress for your RV, trailer or camper van. Finding something comfortable is priority No. 1 because even if you seldom sleep in your RV, you should still be comfortable.
Mattress size
Size is probably the most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for an RV mattress. Space is much more limited in a vehicle or trailer, and depending on the manufacturer, it might not accommodate standard sizes like queen or king.
Before buying anything, make sure you precisely measure your available space for a mattress and decide accordingly. If a standard mattress size doesn't fit, that would eliminate quite a few options.
The height of the mattress is also something to consider. If the mattress space in your RV is in a loft, for example, a thicker, taller mattress could make you feel cramped and uncomfortable, so choosing a thinner mattress would be better.
Durability
The durability of a mattress is something we strongly consider when recommending beds, which is why we often recommend coil beds. Durability is still an important factor for RV beds, but it will be less of a factor depending on how often you actually sleep in it.
If you live in an RV, trailer or camper full time or spend months at a time on the road, a less durable mattress isn't a great idea, but if you only sleep in it a few weeks out of the year, then you can probably afford to go with a super affordable foam mattress like the AmazonBasics.
How we tested the best mattresses for RVs
Our team of experts has a very extensive mattress testing process. You can read about it here.
For this particular list, we looked at a variety of factors and paid special attention to mattresses that are available in non-standard sizing specific to RVs.
Mattress feel
Probably the two most important things we test for are a mattress' firmness rating and feel. The feel of a mattress is dependent on its construction, especially the top layers, although we don't always agree with what the brand says their bed feels like.
Getting an idea of your preference for feel can be a little tough without trying a huge number of beds. If you're unsure of what feel you prefer, going with a mattress we describe as "neutral" is generally something most people like because it's unspecific.
Mattress size
Only a few brands we test have non-standard sizes or RV-specific sizes available, so the ones that do have priority for this particular list.
Brooklyn Bedding and their sub-brand, Dreamfoam, has many mattresses that come in RV king and RV bunk sizes and "Olympic queen" size, which is slightly wider than a standard queen (66 inches x inches" versus 60 inches x 80 inches), a "Short queen" size which is slightly shorter (60 inches x 74 inches) and "Short full" (48 inches x 74 inches versus 53 inches x 75 inches).
Other brands like PlushBeds have RV sizes (and possibly others we still need to test), but Brooklyn Bedding has the widest variety, which is why they are well represented on this list.
Other mattresses we've tested
For all of our best lists we have to make the cutoff somewhere, but here are a few picks that we considered but didn't quite make the cut but are also solid picks.
AmazonBasics Mattress: This is one of the most affordable beds we've ever tested, and it's solidly comfortable, especially for the price. Our concerns with this bed are primarily with durability as it uses "egg-crate" or "convoluted foam," which we don't often see and doesn't come with a traditional 10-year warranty.
I don't recommend the AmazonBasics mattress to folks intending to sleep on it every night (unless you just need the most affordable mattress available), but if you're going to be sleeping on it only occasionally, then I feel good about recommending it.
DreamFoam Doze: The Doze is more affordable than the DreamFoam Essential (depending on the thickness you select), and I find it a bit more comfortable, but that's subjective. It also comes in some RV-specific sizes, just not as many as the Essential. It's a great option at a very low price point, but we felt the Essential was a slightly better pick.
Plank Mattress: This mattress has a flippable design, and both sides are meant to be quite firm, so it's really only appropriate for back and stomach sleepers. If you're looking for an ultra-firm mattress for your RV, this has a handful of RV-specific sizes and an optional cooling cover
Best RV mattress FAQs
What is the best type of mattress for RVs?
No one type of mattress is best for RVs. It comes down to your personal preferences for firmness and feel to get optimal sleep in whatever RV you might have.
What size mattress should I get?
This will depend on the space you have available for a mattress inside your RV. It's possible it can fit standard mattress sizes, or it might require something more specialized. Make sure to measure your space before purchasing.
How do I clean a RV mattress?
Certain mattresses feature removable and machine-washable covers, but most of the time you have to spot-clean it if the cover gets dirty.