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Imagine camping under the stars in a spacious tent pitched on a real wooden floor instead of hard-packed dirt. Leave your sleeping bag and air mattress at home. This tent comes with a comfortable bed with a state-of-the-art mattress and top-of-the-line bedding. Fall asleep under a luxurious comforter and wake to the sounds of nature while brewing your morning coffee. In the evening, relax in an Adirondack chair on your own private deck and watch the sunset over the mountains. Now, that’s camping in style.
It’s called glamping – a trend that is right at home in the Catskills. A clever combination of two words - “glamour” and “camping” - the word perfectly describes an elevated camping experience ideal for those who want the adventure and joys of traditional camping without the “roughing it” part. Glamping sites have sprung up throughout the Catskill region, offering additional types of accommodations along with platform tents. Air stream campers, tipis, tree houses, small cabins and circular-tents called yurts, have all come under the glamping umbrella.
Prices vary according to the level of amenities offered. Private bathrooms, showers, and fully-equipped kitchenettes are available at many sites, with others offering additional perks such as hot tubs, saunas, soaking tubs, and yoga facilities. Hosts often require a two- or three-day stay and reservations are a must, with accommodations filling up fast in the busy spring/summer season.
Check out these options for a unique glamping experience:
Bellfire in the Catskills, Roxbury
At Bellfire in the Catskills, an artist-inspired glamping site in Delaware County, guests can choose from four very different types of accommodations, each with its own personality. The off-grid, back-to-nature retreat is home to a luxurious platform tent, a spacious tipi with cedar floor, a Victorian-style caravan and a small dwelling, painstakingly crafted from scratch by the owners themselves.
Bellfire was born ten years ago when artists Richard Tazzara and his wife Mina Teslaru realized that they had outgrown their Brooklyn digs. The couple had always dreamed of moving to the country. They purchased an historic 19th century farmhouse nestled on ten acres of woodland and wildflower meadow In Roxbury’s Meeker Hollow, an area cited as one of the state’s best stargazing spots.
Walking the grounds, the couple envisioned creating an artists’ retreat and hideaway where people could relax from daily pressures while reconnecting with nature. Tazzara, a master woodworker and media artist, and Teslaru, a fine art photographer, combined their talents to make their vision a reality, designing structures from their own drawings, then doing the construction work themselves, using reclaimed and locally sourced materials.
“We were neophytes and had never done anything like this before. We learned from the ground up,” Teslaru recalls. A visiting friend came up with the name Bellfire - marrying the flickering flames of an evening spent around the campfire with an old iron bell spotted on the property.
Teslaru, raised in Romania, has drawn on her artistic and design background, plus her love of vibrant color, in creating decor for the four structures. The interiors of Forest Belle, the romantic platform tent, and the bright red Victorian-style Caravan reflect her passion for vibrant color, as do the bold colors and strong graphic designs native to Sioux Indians that she has used in the tipi. Unique design elements in the small structure known as the Birdhouse include a whole wall of antique windows and an oversized skylight perfect for stargazing.
Each dwelling comes with a private loo, fire pit, grill, picnic table, and Adirondack chairs, as well as access to a solar-powered shower, sauna, and a large floating deck in the wildflower meadow, perfect for yoga. Guests from all parts of the world return again and again.
“One of the best parts of running a glamping retreat is meeting new friends,” says Teslaru.
In addition to singular reservations, Bellfire also books groups for glamping getaways, corporate retreats, art retreats, wellness workshops as well as photo shoots. Group bookings start as early as March.
email mina.teslaru@gmail.com
607-326-6193
www.bellfirefarm.com
Stony Creek Farmstead, Walton
When Kate and Dan Marsigiio took over the management of his parents’ farm more than fifteen years ago, glamping was a trend still in its infancy. The couple brought to the farm not only lots of muscle, but new ideas, among them the thought of creating farm stays for guests in comfortable, roomy tents with real wooden floors and space for many of the comforts of home. “We started glamping long before it became a hot new trend,” Kate recalls.
Located on 90 acres of beautiful farmland just outside of Walton in Delaware County, Stony Creek Farmstead was ideal for this undertaking. A real working farm with beef cows, sheep, pigs, innumerable chickens and ducks, Stony Creek had everything needed for an enjoyable farm stay. Guests can hike the fields, lounge by the creek, visit farm animals, gather eggs from the hen house for breakfast, or participate in any of the farm activities whether it’s just watching, feeding the animals or help tending the garden.
Set back in the woods and accessible across a wooden footbridge, just steps away from the farm’s 100 year old red barn, are six spacious plush-rustic platform tents. Each accommodates up to six people in a comfy bunk bed, cabinet bed and king size bed.
The tents also come with a flushing toilet, fully-equipped kitchen, cooking stove, and a dining area where families can enjoy meals prepared with homegrown meats and produce purchased at the farm’s on-site store.
Stony Creek supplies each tent with the works: towels, linens, kitchen equipment, dining utensils, cooler with ice packs, outdoor hibachi grill, LED lanterns and lounge chairs. Nearby is the spa-like shower house, built by Dan from cedar.
Guests and locals gather on Saturday night at outdoor picnic tables set up in a secluded grove for a popular all-you-can-eat, wood-fired pizza and fresh salads event. Ingredients are picked that day from the farm’s garden. Book online the preceding Friday or by calling the office for reservations.
607-865-7965
www.stonycreekfarmstead.com
As the popularity of glamping has grown, so too have the number of sites in the Catskill region. For more options, look into these unique spots for a memorable glamping stay.
Wolf Hollow Camp, Andes
Tucked away on 40 wooded acres is an off-grid glamping site conceived by Gary Feazell, a New York-based figurative artist and clothing designer. Wolf Hollow Camp has custom canvas tents on elevated cedar platforms - each outfitted with wood burning stoves, comfortable queen-size beds, Adirondack chairs, and café tables. Names for each tent were drawn from the indigenous language of the Lenape Indians who once inhabited this area.
Campers are welcomed upon arrival with a complimentary bottle of local cider. In the morning, a light breakfast with coffee or tea is served. Staff is very helpful, making campfires for your enjoyment upon request and providing grills and charcoal for outdoor cooking. Sitting outdoors at night is a pleasure as the woods are softly illuminated with LED lanterns.
By day, guests can hike up the mountainside, forage for mushrooms, dip in the stream or splash under a secluded waterfall. Amenities include a heated spring-fed outdoor shower and modern composting toilet.
917-497-7670
www.wolfhollowcamp.com
Coyote Hollow Park, Mount Vision
Coyote Hollow Park in Mount Vision has two glamping platform tent sites in a beautiful cleared meadow on the camp’s 50 acres. Guests can hike the property, stopping to take in the reflective trout stream and small pond. Coyote Hollow Park has 200 blueberry bushes with an additional 50 plants added to the strawberry bed this season. Guests can pick their fill.
The first tent site has a queen-size bed, two twin beds and a foldout futon in the second. The hosts provide basic necessities such as linens, towels and soap. There is an outdoor shower house with hot and cold running water and a flush toilet. Guests can relax in the outdoor soaking tub. Free breakfasts are included in the price of your stay.
717-623-7751
at Vrbo, Hipcamp or Airbnb.com
Treetopia Campground, Catskill
Treetopia in the Hudson Valley has literally taken glamping to new heights. While the site offers traditional camping facilities, it is their glamorous tree-top tents that provide an extraordinary glamping experience - one that could be said to bring out the child in its guests. Climbing the stairs to a spacious elevated platform tent is, for many adults, like revisiting treasured childhood memories of a beloved treehouse and often a new experience for children as well.
Treetopia’s two-story treehouses have an open-air camp kitchen and living room on the lower floor. The platform tent on the second floor can accommodate three guests in a queen-size bed and cot. Regular ground-level glamping platform tents come with a double bed or two twins. A bathhouse with toilet and shower are just steps away.
Guests can also stay in airstreams - a standard with a double bed plus dinette convertible bed, or a jumbo with queen, double, twin bunk or convertible beds. Both the standard and jumbo have kitchenettes. The campsite has a pool, playhouse, game room and store on its grounds for guests’ enjoyment.
518-943-4513
www.treetopiacampground.com
Willowemoc Wild Forest Yurt, Livingston Manor
Start your glamping adventure in a yurt and get back to nature. You’ll feel at one with history as these circular tents were used by nomads in Mongolia, Turkey and Siberia for thousands of years. Modern versions are built on a wooden platform and are covered in high-tech fabric. Comfortable and spacious, today’s glamping yurts have many modern-day amenities.
The Yurt at Willowemoc Wild Forest is impressive. Set in the forest on a raised platform, it has a large deck with a barbecue grill, outdoor wash sink and picnic tables. Inside the yurt are two sets of queen-size bunk beds made of logs cut from trees on the property, and a queen-size sofa bed. A bathroom with a composting toilet, shower and sink is inside the yurt as well.
Guests can also choose to stay in a light, airy safari-themed tent. It has a double bed and a separate bathhouse with shower and composting toilet nearby. In addition to the site’s 50 acres, guests have exclusive access to the Willowemoc Wild Forest’s 14,800 acres for hiking.
845-439-4367
www.willowemocwildforestyurt.com
