Travel
Chic & Unique: Unusual Glamping Stays Around The World
Comfortable yet outdoorsy. Catered yet uncrowded. Intimate yet socially distanced. From yurts to tree houses, these unique stays tick all the boxes for a safe summer escape
Ready to return to travel, but not quite prepared for business as usual?
Glamping hits the sweet spot between a luxurious getaway as we once knew it and a pandemic-safe, socially distanced escape. Some may take issue with the name, but it does what it says on the tin. Whether you’re staying in a geodesic dome or a tree house, a yurt or an airstream trailer, ‘glamorous camping’ offers the best of both worlds: the nature experience of camping combined with the comfort of a hotel, the amenities of a resort without the crowded indoor areas, the feeling of adventure without breaking a sweat. Best of all, you don’t have to travel abroad to find a glamping holiday to suit your taste. We’ve selected five types of unique accommodations, and highlight examples from different parts of the world to help you plan your perfect summer escape.
Tents
African safari camps offered glamping before the word even existed. Back in the days when recreational travel was for the selected few, camping was the only way to explore remote nature in places with sparse infrastructure. Of course, the moneyed elite did so in style, setting a high bar for what we consider a luxury safari today. At the upper end of the spectrum, they still offer stellar service in spectacular surroundings, but thanks to a democratisation of the travel market, you’ll find comfortable tent camps at varying price points. The original tent camps in Africa also inspired similar offerings on other continents.
Legendary Serengeti Mobile Camp, Tanzania
Most luxury safari camps in Africa these days are permanent structures, but this mobile camp moves with the migrating wildebeest across the Serengeti. Not only does that give you the sensation of a true wilderness adventure, you are also likely to have the wide plains all to yourself, with just a handful of fellow travellers, as well as a small staff of hospitality experts and dedicated wildlife guides to help create the holiday of a lifetime. The canvas tents lend the camp an old-world appearance, but en-suite bathrooms, comfortable beds and electricity will satisfy all your modern-day needs.
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Sal Salis, Western Australia
In terms of geography, infrastructure and climate, Australia has enough in common with Africa for the luxury safari concept to transfer effortlessly. Large swathes of sparsely populated outback and sprawling national parks – often difficult to access – paired with unique wildlife watching and weather that lends itself to outdoor living (at least in season) make it the perfect continent for glamping. At Sal Salis on the Ningaloo Reef, tents are pitched right on the beach. Visitors can snorkel the reef, which lies just a few metres off the shore, swim with whale sharks in season, watch turtles lay their eggs, and on occasion, share their terrace with the local kangaroos.
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Galapagos Safari Camp, Ecuador
Famously restrictive and hard to access, a trip to the Galapagos Islands is the holiday of a lifetime for most people who plan to visit. To truly make it count, and keep your footprint small, a tented camp is the perfect place to stay. Centrally located on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Safari Camp is as convenient as – and more comfortable than – overnighting on board a boat. The tents are nestled in the rainforest, but the common areas, including the restaurant, bar and plunge pool, are all raised above the vegetation, offering stunning views across the island and coastline.
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Domes, Bubbles And Pods
With only a translucent sheet of plastic between you and the sky, this is as close as you’ll get to literally sleeping under the stars without compromising on comfort. Domes, bubbles and pods come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from spacious, solid, insulated structures with en-suite bathrooms and separate lounge and bedroom areas to minimalist inflatable ‘skins’ with little more than a bed and a heating system for chilly nights.
Bubble, Iceland
Of course, you can see the stars from your bed in this bubble hotel near Reykjavik, but if you’re really lucky, you’ll even see the Northern Lights. Winter is, of course, peak Aurora season, but you could see the dancing lights illuminating the night sky as early as August and as late as April. The inflated bubble rooms are cosy and comfy, but you’ll have to brace yourself for the walk through the forest to the bathrooms. A stay can be booked as part of a guided tour or self-drive holiday (car rental included).
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Whitepod, Switzerland
Thanks to their beautiful location and tasteful décor, these geodesic domes are amongst the world’s most photographed, shared and liked on social media. Located in the Swiss Alps, high above the valley below, with views of the peaks beyond and surrounded by peaceful meadows and forests, Whitepod offers a serene escape – and is less than an hour from Lake Geneva. In summer, the main activities are hiking and mountain biking, while in winter you can go snowshoe hiking, dog sledding and skiing. Meals can be enjoyed at the communal pod house or delivered to your own pod.
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Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp, Jordan
The desert is one of the best places in the world for stargazing. At Wadi Rum, you can see the unobstructed night sky from the comfort of your king size bed – if you book the Full of Stars rooms offered by this glamping resort near Petra. The bubble rooms are fully air conditioned and come with a private bathroom and deck. After drifting off while counting the stars, the next highlight is waking up to the desert sunset. For a more authentic experience, minus the stellar view, the camp also offers Bedouin tents.
Tree Houses
The idea of spending a night atop a tree is inextricably intertwined with childhood memories. That’s why tree house glamping feels so magical and special. A hotel room that requires climbing a tree and sleeping high above the ground will inevitably force you to leave your routines behind and adapt your perspective. While many hotels that offer what they call “tree houses” merely have self-contained huts on raised platforms perched between trees, others actually build their accommodations into or around tree trunks, with branches offering support or at least adding decorative elements. Either way, checking in will allow you to release your inner child.
Treehotel, Sweden
This is the place that made tree houses cool, the first to put design objects in forests and have adults everywhere wanting to sleep between the leaves and branches. The Treehotel in the Arctic Circle offers a choice of individual accommodations, each dreamed up by notable Scandinavian architects. As a result, the experience is as much of a design inspiration as it is an outdoor adventure. The seven ‘rooms’ all look strikingly different and offer various highlights like a private one-way-mirrored balcony, a net terrace or a fireplace. All guests have access to shared facilities like the forest spa, the river hot tub or the acclaimed on-site restaurant.
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Tranquil Resort, India
Located on a working coffee plantation in Wayanad, Kerala, this beautiful resort proves that tree houses can also blend in with more traditional accommodation options. Harking back to colonial times, the hotel offers regular suites and rooms, along with a spacious tree villa and a cosy tree house. Surrounded by lush rainforest and the neighbouring plantation, this is the place for long nature walks and birdwatching expeditions.
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Hoshinoya Fuji, Japan
Part of the Hoshinoya chain of resorts, this cluster of cabins is billed as Japan’s first glamping site. The views are the main attraction here, nestled in the wooded hills overlooking Lake Kawaguchi and facing Mount Fuji, so each of the minimalist wooden structures features panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows and a terrace. Complementing the sleek, contemporary look of the cabins, the communal areas offer a more rustic camp site feel. A series of wooden platforms connected by stairs offer different seating arrangements and a bonfire that is kept burning day and night.
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Trailer Parks
No longer a byword for life on the lowest rung of the social ladder, trailer park holidays have become a coveted experience for a tribe of travellers who value uniqueness over standardised comfort, experience over branding and retro-cool over flawless design. The whimsical aesthetic translates well to Instagram, so this is what to seek out if you’re looking to make your friends and followers jealous.
Autocamp, USA
Airstream trailers are the most recognisable type of caravan in the world – and arguably the sleekest vintage design around. The iconic American design is most often found in locations that have seen a recent gentrification of alternative, off-grid living (think California, Utah, Oregon), but also finds urban uses, for example in food trucks. Airstream trailer parks have become popular enough to sustain several franchises, such as AutoCamp, a small chain of parks which will be in four locations across the USA by the end of the year.
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Belrepayre Airstream & Retro Trailer Park, France
Of course, the Airstream has travelled beyond its American roots, so you’ll also find it in locations like the South of France. Like at Belrepayre Trailer Park, just off the well-beaten tourist track, within proximity to the Pyrénées, as well as driving distance from the Spanish border and both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. Three lovingly restored and decorated trailers are comfortably furnished and outfitted in eye-popping colours and vintage designs.
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Camping Ambach, Germany
Not every vintage camper is an Airstream. At this idyllic campground on Lake Starnberg near Munich, the trailers are colourful and quirky on the outside, while the interiors are equally unique and charming, if a little more restrained. Its location on the shore, with sweeping views of the shimmering lake and the nearby Alps, is striking and bucolic, but the city is only a short ferry and train ride away.
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Yurts
These half-tent-half-house hybrids have been around for at least 3,000 years. Yurts are the traditional homes of nomadic steppe and desert populations across Central Asia. In Mongolia they are known as ger, and more than half of the population still lives in this type of semi-permanent accommodation, even in cities. Like tents, they are quick to set up and dismantle, but their construction is a lot more robust and often features interior dividing walls. The squat, circular shape and thick felt cover make them better suited to harsher climates, where they withstand wind, rain and cold better than most other tent structures.
Three Camel Lodge, Mongolia
For a truly authentic experience, the best place to stay in a Mongolian ger is, of course, Mongolia. Three Camel Lodge, the only luxury glamping site in the Gobi Desert, ticks all the boxes. The remote setting lets visitors get a sense of nomad life, the latticed wood supporting the gers is hand-carved and hand-painted by local artisans, all staff are Mongolian, and the food is locally sourced and based on traditional recipes. Visitors can further immerse themselves in local culture on horseback expeditions across desert valleys and sand dunes, by taking nomadic archery lessons and even by participating in the raising of a ger.
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Patagonia Camp, Chile
On a private reserve on the shores of Lake Toro, a short drive from the main entrance of Torres del Paine National Park, this camp combines comfort, convenience and low-impact eco-tourism. The camp offers particularly luxurious yurts, featuring windows, a domed skylight, central heating and en-suite bathrooms. Some are even equipped with a private outdoor jacuzzi. All-inclusive rates cover full board, open bar, daily excursions and the national park entrance fee.
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Chléire Haven, Ireland
A quiet bay on an island off the Western coast of Ireland – it doesn’t get much more secluded and serene than that. Cape Clear is a Gaeltacht island connected to the mainland by a regular ferry. If you pack light, you can simply walk across the hill to the other side of the island, where fully equipped, self-catering yurts and tents are set on a slope, with views of the clear Atlantic water below.
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