Glamping is a growing trend. Here are 12 spots to try at or near the NC coast

If the thought of spending your beach vacation at a hotel makes you claustrophobic but the word “campground” makes you itch, consider a type of accommodation in between.

Glamping — camping with a touch of glamour — continues to grow in popularity, and North Carolina travelers are finding it’s a great way to experience the state’s natural beauty without coming home smelling like wood smoke and insect repellent.

Glamping setups range from rustic to resplendent, so if you can’t start your day without a cup of French-press coffee or sleep without air conditioning, check the host’s provisions before booking your trip. Glamping is loosely defined and notions of luxury are subjective.

Glamping options are now available from one end of the state to the other. Here are some places at or near the North Carolina coast where sleeping is part of the fun.

A bell tent in Calabash

Up to four adults can sleep on three beds inside this tent shaped like a giant water droplet perched on a wooden platform on a private estate outside North Carolina’s favorite seafood town. It features a private bath, a kitchenette with quartz counter tops, and has an outdoor grill.

A houseboat in Beaufort

Why sleep near the water when you can sleep on it? This houseboat on the Intracoastal Waterway near Beaufort can host up to four people in two bedrooms. It boasts plush linens, a full bath and an eye-level view of passing boat traffic. Fish off the front porch and cook your catch in the kitchen.

A vintage travel trailer in Wilmington

If you didn’t get caught up in the vintage camper craze a few years back, enjoy it now even if you don’t have a trailer hitch by renting this 1973 Holiday Vacationer parked in Wilmington. It has a queen bed, a sofa bed, a compact kitchen, a composting toilet and both indoor and outdoor showers. Fully renovated, and Wifi and a window-unit air conditioner bring it up to date.

Modern trailers near Surf City

▪ Campgrounds are just little subdivisions where the homes are on wheels. If you’ve wanted to try one out, you can rent this 2024 Della Terra model at The Inlet at Lanier Point, a campground across the Intracoastal Waterway from Topsail Island. The camper has a bright interior with a full kitchen, bath and sleeping space for five.

▪ If you don’t want the instant neighborhood of a campground, there’s this camper on a wooded private lot near Hampstead, about 15 minutes from Topsail Island. It has one bedroom, a bathroom and a full kitchen.

▪ At least two owners of campers parked at Surf City Family Campground, across the street from the ocean at North Topsail Beach, rent out their units. This one has room for six guests and is available in winter as well as summer. This one has two bedrooms with a bath and a half.

Pretty on the Pamlico

This modern travel trailer on private property along the Pamlico River in Washington, N.C., can host two people and offers kayakers and fishermen quick access to the water. It includes a fire pit for cool evenings.

Heaven on wheels in Salter Path

Between Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle sits nearly an acre of land facing Bogue Sound with two camping trailers for rent. One is a 2019 model and the other is a 2020. Each has one bedroom, one bedroom nook and a futon plus a full bath. They share a dock. The kitchens are stocked with “all the basics,” including Starbucks coffee.

On safari at Holden Beach

A couple of years ago, Holden Beach RV Campground carved out a section of woods to install three canvas glamping tents that feel worlds farther away from the rest of the property than they really are. Set on wooden platforms under a canopy of live oaks, the tents bring that on-safari feel with sisal rugs and solar panels. The campground is on the mainland, a short drive to the beach.

Camping cabins: like tents, but drier

Several campgrounds near the N.C. coast offer cabins for rent that provide a different glamping experience. Visitors typically need to bring their own bedding and maybe a camp stove and cooking gear, and be prepared to use a central bathhouse as there is no bathroom. Some, but not all, have electricity.

Think of these as hard-sided tents, but you don’t have to set them up and they don’t leak if you get too close to the walls during a thunderstorm.

How glamorous your camping experience is at these will depend largely on your own creativity.

▪ Carolina Beach State Park has six cabins at its campground along Snow’s Cut. Each cabin can sleep six people in two rooms, and campers must provide bed linens. The cabins have air conditioning. Cooking must be done outside. Pay attention to rigorously enforced gate-closing times.

▪ The Cape Hatteras KOA has a canvas glamping tent on a platform with a queen bed, a set of bunk beds, a partial kitchen and a full bath. This oceanfront Outer Banks campground also has two log cabins with two bedrooms each. The cabins have air conditioning, but no bathrooms and no kitchens except for charcoal grills and fire pits.

▪ Frisco Woods Campground on the Pamlico Sound in Frisco on the Outer Banks has one- and two-bedroom cabins with air conditioning. These have no kitchens or bathrooms but it’s a short walk to a nice bathhouse.