The Best Places for Glamping in California

This chic campsite, two hours from Los Angeles, offers bring-your-own-tent options, but opt for one of their Shelton Huts instead. Each of the five canvas-covered huts is perched on a trailer and furnished with linens and electricity (making for some Instagram-worthy photos of your glowing accommodation). They are all double-occupancy, though you can bring your brood and ask for an in-room cot. The site itself is on 267 acres of high desert, between the Sierra Madre and Caliente mountains, and offers all-season activities like biking, hiking, horseback riding, off-roading, and climbing.

Along the approximately 90 miles of central California coast that make up Big Sur, bluffs drop off into crashing waves and sandy beaches. You don’t exactly need a destination to want to drive this stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway (or Highway 1), but Ventana Big Sur, an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property tucked into a redwood canyon, gives you one anyway. Set away from the main resort area, tent cabins are constructed on platforms between whispering trees, with wooden beams forming their structure. Each has a porch with a set of lounge chairs, and glampers are welcome to bring their dogs; in fact, they’ll be treated to their own beds.

Joshua Tree National Park, saddling the Mojave and Colorado deserts, gets its name from the famous gnarled trees that give the desert its distinctly Martian aesthetic. The Castle House Estate features two “guard towers,” both of which are available for bookings, that give the appearance of a castle in the middle of the sand. It doesn’t count as glamping if you sleep in a castle though, so go for one of the yurts, which each sleep four, or the Shasta Trailer, which sleeps two. Before you tuck in for the night, spend some time stargazing. The park is officially designated as an International Dark Sky Park, which means it has “an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights.”

If your summer sleepaway camp got an adult upgrade, the result would be the bungalows at Costanoa Lodge. Simple metal and wooden beams stretched with white canvas, unpretentious wooden furniture and crisp white linens make for a nostalgic vibe. There are a handful of “villages” onsite, with varying accommodation options, including side-by-side bungalows for families. The typical hike and bike options are available here, but Costanoa also offers some true summer camp throwbacks, with falconry presentations, bird-watching tours, stargazing, and even tie-dye workshops. 

Fully furnished yurts offer ocean views at this family-run Big Sur campground, or, for an extra treat, book the “autonomous tent.” The cornucopia-shaped structure sprouts from the side of a mountain and includes a king-sized bed, a clawfoot tub, and a private deck. Lunch and dinner are both available daily at Wild Coast Restaurant and center around local produce. There’s also a 16-course Omakase tasting menu guests can enjoy on property at The Sushi Bar. Of course, if all this is just a bit too glam, you can try the human nest, a woven bird's nest-like structure where you can truly sleep in the great outdoors, albeit with a tent nearby in case it rains. 

If you’ve ever dreamed of the classic, all-American road trip in a silver Airstream, you can do a (stationary) test run at AutoCamp Yosemite. The charming caravans have comfortable beds, stylish, modern bathrooms, and patios. Though the Airstreams are the show-stealers here, luxury tents and cabins are available, too. Onsite, there’s a pool, fire pits, and plenty of amenities to help glampers unwind, though of course, visitors should also plan excursions to nearby Yosemite National Park, with its giant sequoia trees, towering rock formations, and world-famous hiking trails.  

An hour and a half north of San Francisco is another AutoCamp site: AutoCamp Russian River in Sonoma County. Accommodation here include Airstreams, luxury tents, and a Shelton Hut (designed by the same architect as those at Blue Sky Center), surrounded by redwood forest. The Airstreams are the focal point of this site, too, and have the same gorgeous interiors as those in Yosemite, meaning plush beds and chic bathrooms. Take a short walk to the river for swimming and canoeing, or into Guerneville, for shops and restaurants. And don’t miss out on exploring Russian River’s beer and wine scene, or venture inland to Napa Valley tasting rooms in Healdsburg, Calistoga, and St. Helena. 

Parking is nice, but have you ever heard of a ‘Camp Fire Valet’? At Mendocino Grove, you can focus on perfectly toasting your marshmallow after a Camp Fire Valet does the more tedious work of getting the flames going at your fire ring. There are plenty of tents here, but separated into groups, so you’ll have a limited number of neighbors. Each sleeps between two and six people in heated beds. Morning coffee and hot chocolate are provided in the communal area, and there are also hammocks, yoga, and bocce ball for guests to enjoy. If you can pull yourself away from the leather chairs on the redwood deck of your tent, go for a hike, or take a canoe out on the nearby river.