A double buggy is one of the bigger, more expensive purchases a family with two young children makes, and the tandem-versus-side-by-side decision affects daily life more than most other specification choices on the buggy. The two layouts are genuinely different tools, suited to different situations, rather than one being a straightforward upgrade on the other.
Side-by-Side: What It Actually Offers
A side-by-side double buggy seats both children next to each other, at the same height, with equal access to the view ahead and to each other. This layout tends to work particularly well for twins or siblings close in age, since both seats are typically the same size and carry similarly high weight limits, so you are not choosing which child goes in which seat based on size or weight restrictions the way some tandem configurations require.
Side-by-side buggies are generally easier to fold than tandem buggies, but this comes with a real practical cost: a noticeably wider footprint. This matters for doorways, shop aisles, buses and narrow pavements, where a side-by-side buggy can be genuinely difficult to manoeuvre through gaps a single buggy or a tandem would pass through easily.
Tandem: What It Actually Offers
A tandem buggy seats children one in front of the other, and its main practical advantage is width: a tandem is typically around the same width as a single buggy, which means less conspicuous manoeuvring, less pavement space taken up, and easier passage through doorways, shop entrances and onto buses compared with a side-by-side model.
Tandems also separate the two seats physically, which is a genuine practical benefit if you specifically want to reduce hair-pulling, prodding or general winding-each-other-up between two children in adjoining seats — a side-by-side layout puts children within easy arm’s reach of each other in a way a tandem’s front-and-back arrangement does not. A tandem is also useful for getting a sleeping child through the front door and into the house without disturbing them, since manoeuvring a narrower buggy through doorways is generally easier.
The trade-off with many tandem designs is that the two seats are not always equal: depending on the specific model, one seat (often the rear or “second” seat) may not recline as fully as the front, and may carry a lower weight limit than the front seat. This matters directly for deciding which child sits where, and for how long a given tandem model will remain suitable as both children grow.
Choosing Based on Your Actual Situation
- Twins, or siblings very close in age and similar size: side-by-side is generally the better match, since both seats offer equal recline and weight capacity, avoiding the “which child goes in the smaller seat” problem some tandems create.
- Regularly navigating narrow doorways, busy shops, or crowded pavements: a tandem’s single-buggy-width footprint is the more practical choice day to day, even though folding is often less convenient than a side-by-side.
- Two children with a meaningful age gap, where one still needs a fully reclining seat and the other is older and more upright: check the specific tandem model’s seat specifications carefully, since not all tandems offer full recline and a high weight limit on both seats.
- Children who wind each other up when seated close together: a tandem’s front-and-back separation reduces this in a way side-by-side seating cannot.
Whichever Layout You Choose, the Harness Matters Equally
Regardless of layout, both seats on a double buggy need a properly fitted five-point harness for each child, used correctly on every trip — the safety basics that apply to a single pushchair do not become optional or secondary just because there are two children and one buggy to manage rather than one of each.
Sources
- MadeForMums. “Twin or tandem – which should you choose?” madeformums.com