Glamping: Back to Nature in Comfort and Style

Exclusive Luxury Canvas Cabins in Olympia, Washington, courtesy of glampinghub.com – click photograph for details

What is it about this photograph that calls to me? The outdoors? The beautiful setting that makes me feel like I’m alone in the wilderness? Staying in a tent, as I did when my family would camp? Or perhaps it is simply how comfortable the bed looks.

If I were to choose a romantic getaway, it would be to a spot like one of these. I’d find one set apart, sweetly isolated, and enjoy the sound of crickets and birds, the bubbling stream, the fresh mountain air, the sense of being away in the forest or near the ocean. Outside, yet sheltered.

Our tent never looked like these! Nor did we have mattresses, unless you count the little inflatable ones that we would use in a pool.

Times have changed. In this particular case, I am all for it.

Luxury Cattle Ranch Resort with High-End Safari Tents in Montana, courtesy of glampinghub.com – click photograph for details

ENTER ‘’GLAMPING…”

I don’t know who first decided to glamp—or who came up with the perfect name for it–but what a fantastic idea! You can enjoy the comfort of a bed yet still be in the wilderness (ideally).

I love to camp. Partly because it was so much fun when growing up. Those memories stay with you. If you have children, I hope you will spend time with them this way. The adventure of it, playing outside in the forest, swimming in a stream, fishing, equal pure joy for most children. Don’t forget to roast marshmallows for s’mores at the fire pit!

Part of it is that it takes you away from the bustle of life and sets you in the wild and uninhabited. Normally camping means you are in a beautiful location, enjoying relative solitude of nature. I’m not a city person, so anytime I can be in a forest or in the mountains, I feel at peace.

DON’T LIKE TO CAMP?

Of course, not everyone likes to camp. Sleeping on the floor on a thin pad or mattress doesn’t appeal. It often sounds cold and uncomfortable. If that is how you feel, glamping is an excellent solution. These beautiful furnished tents—and beds–solve what is often the main hindrance. Camping means the outdoors to me. You don’t have to sleep on an air mattress to get away from home and its demand. In one of these unique locations you are still ‘away’ enjoying nature.

Glamping is available worldwide. Besides luxury tents, you might find a treehouse or teepee, a yurt, a remodeled travel trailer or even a train car or caboose. In some countries you can stay in a cave. There is something for every imagination. Amenities vary between locations as much as the views: queen size beds with luxury bedding, private decks overlooking beautiful views, hiking trails, hot tubs, planned activities, spas. Wouldn’t a massage be a treat after time spent hiking?

Sleep in a Unique Caboose near Beautiful Glacier National Park, Montana, courtesy of glampinghub.com – click photograph for details

DISCONNECT FROM TECHNOLOGY

We spend too much time watching television or on computers or phones. You can forget to look up and see all that was here before us, and all that will still be here after we have gone on. Yet nature and its variety of incredible beauty outshines any movie or video game. You can imagine the past, who walked before you on the same path. You can meditate on the quiet, on the sound of nature. You can explore forests, meadows, riverbanks.

The majestic mountains of a park like Yosemite, the giant redwood trees that are thousands of years old in Sequoia, the waterfalls, the hiking trails, all make you realize how big nature is, how magnificent and untouched a forest can be. It gives you a taste of what Lewis and Clark or John Muir might have seen when they explored and saw the beauty around them for the first time.

If you have a family, plenty of glamping accommodations have multiple beds available. Can you imagine how much fun children would have on an adventure like this?

Go glamping. Enjoy being away. Enjoy some alone with each other or with your family. Leave the technology at home or at least turned off. Enjoy the remarkable beauty found in nature.

Luxury Tents near Wallowa Lake in Oregon, Photographer Jorge Jiménez Herrera, courtesy of glampinghub.com – click photograph for details

Special thanks to Katie Stearns, Marketing Manager at Glamping Hub for her kind assistance and for her permission to use the photos included here. Glamping Hub offers a huge variety worldwide with details and photos to make your selection that much easier.

Header photo is of Luxury Tents Nestled in the Mountains of Wyoming 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Merry Citarella, often writing as Merrci, writes on a wide range of topics. Recently relocated to the Oregon Coast in the northwest United States, she frequently writes travel features on the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She specializes in health and aging, Alzheimer’s Disease, food, lifestyle, and book reviews. For more information you can see her on The Writers’Door. You can read more articles here or at her websites Alzheimers HQ and Simple Living Ideas