VW California with a Baby

viajar3 · Nov 12, 2025

Hi,
We have a VW California and are expecting a baby in the new year. We would love to do some trips while they are still little next year. Any tips for travelling / sleeping in a VW California with a baby? It will be myself and my partner and the baby. Maybe we could sleep in the pop top and leave the baby downstairs but what should the baby sleep in? Open to ideas, but I don’t want to cosleep with the baby, unless they are in some sort of travel cot that goes on top of the bed.
Any tips welcome thanks

RedWhiteMonkey · Nov 12, 2025

We used a pop-up travel cot on top of a front seat mattress. Some strategically placed sheets covered the gap between the driver's and passenger's seat backs as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deryan-including-self-inflating-mattress-seconds/dp/B01HEUPSU0/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3VRXQ0MV50PTE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qFKySSambUW_UJ7lilgB9d7JMiacdhSEQ174C7Tj_cHqjqqwceb2ZnES11iagPqxZcp0_XQowB6kR0Gnbt4fuMgT_gb7rrNQcpulREjpk2fmfWiOLJOXPK3hvllYKWhWJpNdlm1IidZbcF-XXMkXsxqlNZGKb6zdB0azXfVAF-MgMY8R8wOxoagkEF785vX2eZ-UzNR1VQY40JKnAeOjkQO4SX0pmAbTdtaW4BHnZSju5IaFgDKIwULCv6NgSbbV37-GWIS4HVk6QLUGgKWiw6yiERr84X0DBpOYh0beYrI.0sWD0IBaVlAEGY23csXHnAsxdcJTT2W2dgaMhDw7SFU&dib_tag=se&keywords=Deryan%2BToddler%2BTravel%2BCot&qid=1762953828&sprefix=deryan%2Btoddler%2Btravel%2Bcot%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1-spons&aref=h2w4PTNYte&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Athas · Nov 12, 2025

We are in the same situation, Expecting a baby in January. Watching with interest.

pchmlk · Nov 13, 2025

I wish we’d had a Cali when our two were little. Numerous times we’ve said it’s the perfect vehicle for this. In long journeys you’ve got fridge for milk, ability to warm it up. Lots of room for changing etc. perfect!!

dspuk · Nov 13, 2025

When our 2 year old was born we just put her pram carrycot across the turned front seats and she slept in that. As she got bigger we bought the smaller version of the Deryan above and she would sleep down and we would sleep up. Now she is 2 she sleeps up in the bigger Deryan of the same design and we sleep down, but could work either way. In a year or so we'll just be able to use the child net (which we use with the Deryan up anyway) and no pop up cot. The challenge outside of the cot and just with a mattress like above is that toddlers don't like to sit still and need to be enclosed else they off. Also lose a lot of space to move about.

The Deryan has proved it's worth when travelling as well and just sits on the floor on a mattress in hotels or AirBNBs.

A small pop up tent a godsend as well to hide away prams and baby seats when on site.

dirtyboy · Nov 13, 2025

My two are 20 and 18 now, but when they were diddy, we had a bunk that sat on the driver and passenger sills for one and then the travel cot on the floor for the youngest.

Didn't have a pop top back then, that came when they were about 7/8. Got to the point we were sleeping like sardines (full width R&R bed made up with kit bags...god we roughed it back then, great times) we could pop them in sleeping bags in the top when we got that fitted.

Ultimately, as long as they can fall off something, make do.

I can only imagine how 'cushty' our lives would have been in a Cali back then, but forking out £6k for a T4 back then seemed like it destroyed our savings lol!

We're even struggling with how much we paid for this van! It's 11 years old and cost more than our first house. Times change.

Your little one will have an ace time, doesn't have to be perfect, just has to be safe and fun.

AdventureX · Nov 17, 2025

viajar3 said:
Hi,
We have a VW California and are expecting a baby in the new year. We would love to do some trips while they are still little next year. Any tips for travelling / sleeping in a VW California with a baby? It will be myself and my partner and the baby. Maybe we could sleep in the pop top and leave the baby downstairs but what should the baby sleep in? Open to ideas, but I don’t want to cosleep with the baby, unless they are in some sort of travel cot that goes on top of the bed.
Any tips welcome thanks

We are expecting our first baby in March and are hoping to go away in the van later on in the year. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep watching this thread for more.

diyhell · Nov 17, 2025

We're bought our original camper (T4 Westfalia) when our youngest was 1.5 and our other son 3.5. We always slept one adult with one child up and the other downstairs. Still so (despite them being 17 and 19 and huge) in our T6 Ocean. Totally get the co-sleeping concerns. The benefit of the young one being next to a parent (whilst camping only) was that if they woke early we could stroke their heads and get them back to sleep. We had some of the best sleeps in that van when they were small!

Goose1 · Nov 17, 2025

Hi

We have an ocean and did a tour around Scotland/Spain/Italy/France this summer with our 8-9month old. He slept downstairs behind the back seat most of the time, and a few nights cosleeping downstairs when poorly.

Main issue was sun/heat; it was very hot in southern Europe (inc at night) which made for some sweaty nights for him; much better in the Alps or anywhere further north or with forest (like the Black Forest), and in Scotland at night. He was in his normal sleep suit / sleep bag, and occasionally (for Scotland) we’d put on the heater.

Generally - he was easier to travel with when a bit younger and then became more active with crawling which involved more work for us!

We met a German couple travelling with two little ones (1&3 yrs I think) and they slept all 4 downstairs in a coast.

Best of luck!!

Ps we had a pop up tent cot for staying in occasional hotels/apartments but it was big inside the van so not ideal for an ocean in any case - probably better for other models with a wider lower bed.

oceanson · Nov 17, 2025

In my opinion, the best California to sleep with a baby is the Beach two seater, the downstairs bed is huge and the two parents and the baby sleep perfectly. We have a 1,5 years old baby and travel all over Europe in it. So far it has been great, we bought a portable high chair for the meals outside and she loves it

Spigot · Nov 17, 2025

A few years ago while driving down through western Spain to Sevilla we stopped for the night at an Area de Autocaravanas in Casceres where I noticed a German Cali nearby.
In the morning, a young couple emerged with a baby & a buggy, then a toddler & then 2 dogs!!
No idea how they crammed that lot in but shows that it's possible!

Flower Power · Nov 23, 2025

Some years ago... in a T4 LWB our team was a young Mama, young Papa, two girls between 6 and 9 plus two large dogs. It worked better than now 2 (large) adults and two large dogs. Not the same dogs but look like the same and with the same names.