4 Boutique Trailer Hotels for Your Next Socially Distant Getaway

In the age of socially distant travel, the auto campground has new appeal. Here, four drive-in properties where you can rent a trailer (or bring your own) to enjoy vintage vibes and plenty of breathing room.

AutoCamp Cape Cod - Falmouth, Massachusetts

AutoCamp’s first location outside California — its existing properties are in the Sonoma Redwoods and Yosemite National Park — will open on the East Coast this spring. The Massachusetts outpost on Cape Cod’s western shore will feature 108 lodgings, including Airstream trailers, modern cabin-style suites, and seasonal canvas tents just a short drive from the beach. Each will have walk-in showers (never a given, especially in a tiny trailer), toiletries from skin-care brand Ursa Major, and views of Little Sippewissett Marsh. Between cider tastings and walks through the wooded, art-studded grounds, visitors can peddle to the beach along the nearby Shining Sea Bikeway or hop the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard.

Bay Point Landing - Coos Bay, Oregon

The campground goes high-design at this property on Oregon's southern coast, the vision of architecture firm OfficeUntitled (the team behind Portland's Woodlark Hotel) and PDX-based interiors studio JHL Design. Opened in May 2019, Bay Point Landing offers 13 Airstream suites — complete with TVs and stocked kitchenettes — and 147 open RV sites with full hookups for those bringing their own wheels. (There are also 11 sleek cabins for those in need of a bit more space.) The views of the water are serene and unspoiled, but there's plenty of activity close by: golfing, clamming, craft distilleries, and, during normal times, the property's own fitness center and indoor saltwater pool. By-the-week rates and wifi upgrades are now available for the "work-cation" set, and new cabins are launching this spring.

The Range Vintage Trailer Resort - Bristol, Texas

The area just south of Dallas is known as wildflower country and the epicenter of the state’s famous bluebonnets, which reach their peak each April. The newest place to enjoy the blooms is The Range, on the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail. This sprawling resort offers six midcentury trailers with 1960s-inspired interiors, patios with propane firepits, and modern comforts like air-conditioning and Nespresso machines. (There are also 15 open sites with electricity and water hookups.) You can grab a Texas microbrew at the Airstream-turned-bar, but the ultimate luxury is space: wide lawns, stocked ponds for fishing and row-boating, and more than 30 acres of hiking and biking routes on the grounds.

The Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Court - Bisbee, Arizona

This venerable motor court 90 minutes southeast of Tucson has been a favorite roadside attraction for nearly a century, hosting road-trippers along Highway 80 since 1927. But while the heyday of the San Diego-to-Savannah route is long gone, the Shady Dell remains. And, thanks to new ownership, it’s gotten a much-needed update: its 13 permanent vintage trailers (and a tiki-themed bus...and a repurposed yacht...) are fully decked out with period prints and furniture, plus black-and-white televisions and copies of Life magazine. For an off-property adventure, guests can lean into the campiness — a “ghost tour” in the old mining town of Bisbee, an O.K. Corral gunfight reenactment in nearby Tombstone — or head into Coronado National Forest to explore the cactus-studded of the Sonoran borderlands.

A version of this story first appeared in the October 2020 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "Embrace Wide-Open Spaces."