For those whose idea of roughing it involves a stay in a hotel without room service, glamping may just be the only way to experience the great outdoors. “Glamping” is short for glamorous camping and it’s a trend that’s taking hold from New Zealand to Jordan and everywhere in between. The New Zealand Herald posted an article just this week about Kiwi camping and adventure outlets catering to well-heeled foreign travelers who want to get close to nature without all the inconvenience of a normal camping trip.

In today’s economy it’s tough to imagine spending top dollar for a luxury camping trip but Tourism New Zealand sees it as a way to maximize tourism dollars while the number of tourists visiting the country is actually declining. One tourist interviewed in the story remarked, “I enjoy camping at the best of times but this was something else. It’s probably the highlight of my life so far.” A pretty good endorsement if you ask me.

MSNBC has a list of the top 10 luxury camping trips in the world and destinations include seaplane camping in The Maldives, igloo tents in the Chilean Andes, and sleeping with the chimpanzees in Tanzania. While none of the articles we read mentioned the cost of a top-notch glamping experience, we imagine nightly rates easily top those of 5-star hotels. For most campers a glamping trip is a once in a lifetime experience. We’re just afraid after glamping once we could never go back to plain old camping

Related posts:

1. Glamorous hiking in luxury
2. The Celebrity Camping Experience
3. Farm Camping
4. Camping in Sydney Harbor
5. Top 5 Camping Essentials

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 5:36 am and is filed under camping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.