Find private campsites & glamping across America.

Private camping in America is having a moment — but it isn't really a trend so much as a correction. For years, camping meant one of two things: a public campground booked the instant reservations opened, or a patch of woods with no bathroom and no one to ask for help. Private landowners have filled the space between those extremes, and this directory exists to map it.

What “private” actually means

What “private” actually means is simple: land owned by a family, a rancher, or a small company, opened to guests for a fee. Marketplaces like Hipcamp and Tentrr made the idea mainstream, but many of the best stays — the Hill Country yurt with its own cedar hot tub, the Big Bend dome with a clear ceiling for the Milky Way — run their own bookings and never appear on the big platforms. We list those too.

The booking math

The booking math is the real reason to care. Campgrounds on Recreation.gov typically release sites six months out, and the desirable ones — Big Bend, the Rockies, Joshua Tree — can sell out within minutes of release. Private sites play by different rules: many take reservations a year ahead, but they also turn over constantly. Midweek openings in peak season are common, and finding a weekend site within two hours of a city, booked on a Tuesday, is genuinely realistic.

What it costs

On cost, expect roughly $40–$120 a night for a basic private tent site or a yurt on working land, $150–$350 for glamping with real beds and private bathrooms, and $350-plus at high-end desert and wine-country properties. That reads as expensive next to a $25 state-park site — until you price in the private bathroom, the hot tub, the actual mattress, and not setting an alarm for 6:59 a.m. six months in advance.

Crowds, dogs and campfires

Crowds and rules are the quieter half of the pitch. Private land is calmer by design: fewer sites, more space between them, and rules set by the owner rather than an agency manual. Dogs are welcome at far more private sites than public ones; campfires often are too. The trade-off is honest: no federal agency maintains the trailhead, cell service may be thin, and you're trusting the host's reviews rather than a government map. Read recent reviews, confirm what's included — towels? bedding? toilet paper? — and arrive before dark your first time.