Image courtesy of Paws Up Montana
Safari requests come in all styles. Travelers—in particular, couples—who don’t have the PTO to get all the way to Africa are asking: where can we get the vibes without the flight time? Good news for them: tented-camp experiences have never been better, closer to home, or more popular. In fact, Fora advisors have booked more than 2.5x as many wilderness and wildlife hotel stays in the first three-and-a-half months of 2026 as they did in the same period last year.
From the dreamy beachside escapes of Lovango Resort & Beach Club in the U.S. Virgin Islands to the wild Pacific edge of Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, a surprising number of properties have cracked the code on bringing that safari-camp magic to North America, complete with outdoor showers and nature-led experiences. Read on for my favorite options, from true splurges to surprisingly accessible.
Resorts within the U.S.
Paws Up Montana
Greenough, Montana
Glamping season: mid-May through mid-October
Image courtesy of Paws Up Montana
Paws Up Montana has become the benchmark for American glamping since opening in 2005, and the experience has only deepened with time. The 37,000 acres of Montana wilderness along the Blackfoot River draws everyone from families ready to watch their kids trade screens for saddles to couples who are overdue for a week with nowhere to be. Its thirty-six tents are outfitted with hardwood floors, Montana-size showers, and a dedicated butler. By day, the activities include fly-fishing the Blackfoot, riding through open meadows on horseback, and taking an ATV out into the backcountry to scout remote terrain and catch wide-open views across the Blackfoot Valley. Come evening, executive chef Sunny Jin—whose resume includes time at French Laundry and El Bulli—helms a kitchen that turns chuck wagon dinners into events: huckleberry cocktails, Tomahawk steaks, and alfresco dining under a staggering number of stars.
Dunton River Camp
Dolores, Colorado
Image courtesy of Dunton Hot Springs
Colorado’s San Juan Mountains near Telluride is already a strong sell. But this adults-only property makes an even stronger case with eight canvas tents—each with its own porch above the river—built around a beautifully restored 19th-century ranch on the West Fork of the Dolores River. The all-inclusive rate covers guided fly-fishing, horseback riding, river rafting, and sound baths, plus meals paired with a wine list that runs to first-growth Bordeaux and bottles from their own Sutcliffe Vineyards. Eight tents is the right number for this place—the atmosphere stays properly intimate, and the service is attentive in a way that never seems forced. The overall effect is a place that feels like a true find, rather than a stop on the Rockies itinerary circuit.
Lovango Resort & Beach Club
Lovango Cay, U.S. Virgin Islands
Image courtesy of Lovango Resort & Beach Club
A 10-minute boat ride from St. John is all it takes to feel like the rest of the world has receded. Lovango Cay’s safari-style glamping tents are set into hillside gardens overlooking Congo Cay, an uninhabited bird sanctuary where brown boobies and pelicans are reliable sights—bring binoculars. Snorkel the resort’s coral nursery program, hike the island trails alongside iguanas, and end the afternoon at what’s legitimately one of the Caribbean’s best beach clubs. Relaxed but never boring, it’s exactly right for travelers—especially groups of friends—who want a USVI trip that feels different from what everyone else is doing.
ULUM Moab
La Sal, Utah
Season: March 26 through October 26
Courtesy of ULUM Moab
ULUM leans into its high-desert’s natural stillness through dark-sky-friendly design, open-air spaces, and programming calibrated to move at the setting’s rhythm. Fifty canvas tents are arranged across the red rock terrain, each with a private deck framing canyon country and some of the best star-viewing in the American West. The food leans Southwest and seasonal, with sage-rubbed bison and juniper-smoked trout among the options for alfresco dinners with live acoustic music several nights a week. The programming follows the same ethos with herbalist-led nature walks, sound baths, and yoga alongside guided climbing and rafting through Canyonlands and Arches. Wellness-focused travelers will feel right at home, but so will anyone who wants to spend real time in Moab rather than just pass through it.
Under Canvas Acadia
Surry, Maine
Season: May 7 through October 22
Courtesy of Under Canvas Acadia
Under Canvas has built one of the best accessible glamping networks in the country, and the Acadia outpost is among its most scenic—100 waterfront acres with more than 1,200 feet of Maine coastline, 35 minutes from Cadillac Mountain. Tents have king beds, hot showers, wood-burning stoves, and private decks; the Stargazer option adds a viewing window above the bed for the stargazers and foliage chasers. Moose, bears, whales offshore, seabirds—the wildlife here is serious. An Adventure Concierge can arrange kayaking, mountain biking, and guided Acadia hikes. Under Canvas is also opening a New Hampshire outpost in June 2026, one to watch for White Mountains fall foliage.
Resorts beyond U.S. borders
Don't want the long-haul, but don't mind breaking out your passport? These four are worth the extra effort.
Clayoquot Wilderness Resort
Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
Season: May 21 through September 27
Image courtesy of Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
The floatplane arrival should give you an immediate sense of what kind of trip you’re about to have. The camp, which welcomes guests ages 6 and up, sits along a wild ocean inlet on Vancouver Island’s outer coast—old-growth rainforest and snowcapped peaks at your back, waters alive with whales, bears, and bald eagles. Activities take full advantage of the setting, with options that include riding through the forest, surfing Pacific swells in the morning, and joining a wildlife cruise through the sound. The kitchen makes exceptional use of wild Clayoquot salmon and Dungeness crab pulled from these same waters.
Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort
Punta Mita, Mexico
Image courtesy of Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico
Thirty tented bungalows perched in the jungle above the Pacific at Punta Mita, each a private enclave with a plunge pool, outdoor shower, and Four Seasons service that makes all-inclusive feel genuinely effortless. Locally sourced meals from nearby fishing villages and farms, daily spa treatments, guided outings into the surrounding jungle, and access to one of Mexico's best beach clubs—all of it covered. Adults-only and intimate at just 30 tents, it's designed for couples who want a very high level of looking after, and it delivers on that completely.
Nekajui, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Peninsula Papagayo, Costa Rica
Image courtesy of Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Nekajui's treetop tent suites are among the most coveted accommodations in Central America. Each is a two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot canopy perch above the tropical dry forest of Peninsula Papagayo, with plunge pools, outdoor showers, and Pacific views that require seeing in person to fully appreciate. The resort sits within 1,400 acres of protected coastline in a UNESCO conservation area; howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, and the occasional peccary supply the background soundtrack. Ritz-Carlton Reserve service throughout. Best suited for a honeymoon or milestone trip where genuinely rare is the point.
Nayara Tented Camp
La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Image courtesy of Nayara Tented Camp
Nayara Tented Camp sits on a hillside above the Arenal Volcano and uses every inch of that setting. The 1,700-square-foot safari tents have four-poster beds, outdoor showers, and private plunge pools fed by natural hot springs—so you're soaking in geothermal water while watching mist drift across an active volcano. Wildlife encounters are daily and unhurried: sloths doze above the restaurant canopy, monkeys cut through camp at dawn, and over a thousand Guarumo trees have been planted on property specifically to support sloth habitat. The food is exceptional, served on a jungle terrace in a setting that borders on absurd. The right call for couples who want everything Costa Rica is famous for—the sloths, the volcanoes, the biodiversity—without trading down on comfort to get it.
