What size mattress fits in a camper van? UK, EU and US sizes against every base van

Lengthwise over the wheel arches, every large panel van takes a UK king (150 cm) or a US queen (152 cm), and most take an EU 160; the Fiat Ducato family takes a 180 cm super king. At floor level between the arches, only the Ducato and a front-wheel-drive Sprinter take a UK double once the arches are lined. Across the van, no standard mattress fits any van — the widest has 181 cm between the finished walls, and the shortest standard mattress is 190 cm long.

So the honest answer to “what size mattress fits in my van” is: it depends which way the bed goes in, and whether it sits over the arches or between them. A mattress is a rectangle; a van is a rectangle with two steel humps at the back and walls that lean in. Below is every standard size against every base van, from the same van database the planner uses.

Standard mattress sizes

These are the common retail sizes; individual makers vary by a centimetre or two, and camper-specific mattresses are usually cut to order. A UK double is 190 cm long, an EU 140 is 200 cm — that 10 cm is the difference between a bed that fits a 2.0 m gap and one that does not.

The table: every base van, three ways in

Width over the arches is the width between the walls from the van database minus 6 cm for insulation and panels (3 cm a side, the planner’s default build-up) — the width a raised bed has. Between lined arches is the floor-level width with the same 3 cm on each arch, using the narrower drive where it differs (the wheel-arch post has bare and lined figures per drive). Floor left is the load length minus a 190 cm bed, for the shortest and the longest variant; ✗ means the bed is longer than the load floor. A mattress that fits wall to wall leaves no aisle — plan for one unless the bed is at the back of the van and you climb onto it.

Lengthwise over the arches: the usual answer

A bed raised above the arches gets the full width between the walls. A UK king or US queen fits in Fiat Ducato, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Ford Transit, VW Crafter, Renault Master, Iveco Daily, Ford Transit Custom, Renault Trafic, VW Transporter, Mercedes-Benz Vito, Peugeot Expert, Toyota HiAce, VW Caddy Cargo; an EU 160 in Fiat Ducato, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Ford Transit, VW Crafter, Renault Master, Iveco Daily, Ford Transit Custom, Renault Trafic, VW Transporter, Mercedes-Benz Vito, Toyota HiAce. The catch is length, not width: a lengthwise 190 cm bed in a Transit Custom leaves 0.66 m to 1.02 m of floor for everything else, and in a Transit Connect L1 it does not fit at all (1.75 m of load floor). In the small vans a lengthwise bed only works with the cab seats moved forward or the bed extending over them.

Bed height decides what goes underneath. A bed above the arches is at least as high as the arch box, and a garage under it needs more — the bed height vs garage post and the bed height calculator work out the trade against sitting headroom.

At floor level between the arches

A floor-level bed, a rock-and-roll bed or a mattress on a low platform is limited to the gap between the arches. Lined, that is 136 cm in a Ducato — a UK double — and 133 cm in a Transit, which takes a UK small double (120 cm) but not a double. A front-wheel-drive Sprinter is the other van that takes a double at floor level, by a millimetre; the rear-drive Sprinter’s deeper arches cut it to 129 cm. In a Transporter, Trafic or Vito the gap is about 120 cm lined, which is why their rock-and-roll beds are three-quarter width.

Across the van: always a custom mattress

A transverse bed saves half a metre of van length, but it has to fit between the finished walls: 181 cm (71.3 in) in a Ducato, 177 cm in a Crafter, 173 cm in a Sprinter, 172 cm in a Transit. None of those reaches 190 cm, so every across-the-van bed is a mattress cut to the van — and whether it fits you is a height question: the sleep-across post has the verdict per van for 1.70, 1.80 and 1.90 m sleepers, with and without wall flares.

Before you order one

• Measure at mattress height, not at the floor: walls lean in, and a Sprinter or Transit loses several centimetres of width towards the roof.
• Check the mattress goes through the door. A rolled or folding mattress gets in anywhere; a sprung one needs the rear door opening — see door opening sizes by van.
• Count its weight. A foam mattress is light and a sprung one is not; either is small next to the rest of the build, but it sits high and at the back, over the rear axle.
• If the bed converts to seating, the cushion depth that sleeps well is rarely the depth that sits well — the fixed vs convertible bed post has the numbers.

In the VanPlot editor the bed is placed in your actual variant, so you see the arches, the aisle and the floor that is left before you buy anything. VanPlot AI (beta, included with the licence) can place a bed of the size you name — “a 140 × 200 bed lengthwise at the back” — in your variant and read back the payload and what the design checks flag; see planning a layout with AI.

FAQ

Related: van database · Murphy beds