The Best RV Mattresses for Cross-Country Road Trips

From skiing the Alps to backpacking across South America, COVID-19 has caused many international winter plans to come to a screeching halt. However, over the past few months, RV travel has increased exponentially and the winter season affords many opportunities to explore the American landscape. And choosing the right mattress for cozying up in your RV is crucial.

“Make sure you’re getting a true RV size mattress,” says chiropractor Rick Swartzburg, head of product development for popular RV mattress brand Snuggle-Pedic. An RV queen size is usually 60 x 75 inches and an RV king size is usually 72 x 75 inches, whereas a standard queen and king is 60 x 80 inches and 76 x 80 inches, respectively.

Comfort is also a big factor in selecting a new mattress for your RV. “As an avid camper and owner of several vintage motorhomes and travel trailers, I am intimately acquainted with just how uncomfortable RV mattresses can be,” says Joe Alexander, founder and CEO of Nest Bedding. “Many higher-end RVs have a simple dense foam with a fabric cover that’s supposed to pass for a mattress. The tip I give people is that if you have a mattress at home you’re comfortable with, try to replicate that as close as possible in your RV.” Alexander recommends choosing a mattress with two inches of support base foam and two inches of memory foam for both back and side sleepers.

Although there are brands specifically tailored to fabricating mattresses for RV’s-like Snuggle-Pedic and Brooklyn Bedding, you can get away with choosing a bedroom mattress as long as it’s not too heavy and the sizing works for your vehicle (always measure the inside of the RV to make sure the specs work for your new mattress). Lastly, make sure the new mattress is made with comfortable material. For example, NuSeasons offers a gel mattress, while Nest Bedding and Casper are both made with foam.

As more Americans are hitting the road this year, here are five options for mattresses that have benefits that range from relieving your pressure points while you sleep; foam support layers; cooling fabrics; to innovative hybrid varieties.

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