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Review: Tiny Cabin Glamping Across the U.S.

Authored by: Jessica Pawl

Our Quick Take: If pitching a tent doesn’t exactly sound like a relaxing start to your weekend, may we suggest booking a tiny cabin instead? You’ll get all the benefits of a remote escape, including serene wooded views and your own bonfire pit, but with the comfort of a cozy queen bed, kitchenette and private bathroom.

This summer, I planned my first solo-parent trip with my four-year-old son and timed our weekend with a few fellow friends. The result? A quick and convenient escape that checked all the boxes: Nature trails, s’mores, late nights and core memories. Best of all, perhaps, is that you can find a location within a two-hour drive from most major metro areas. Called Getaway, these just-far-enough-away properties feature dozens of mini cabins that sleep up to four guests in two queen beds.


Getting Down to Details:

Guestrooms: The highlight of each tiny cabin is a bedside floor-to-ceiling window that peers out into your natural surroundings. It makes falling asleep to fireflies and waking to slow sunrises a dreamy reality, and from the comfort of a cozy white duvet dressed bed. In cabins that sleep two, a queen size bed bumps right against the window, while in the cabins that sleep up to four guests (admittedly a tight squeeze!), you’ll find a queen bunk-style set up that offers similar partial views.

Within each is a small table with a chair or two, a mini fridge, two-burner stove, kitchen sink and limited selection of cooking necessities and dinnerware. A chargeable lantern hangs on the wall, near your door, and a very small bathroom offers a toilet and shower that will get you five minutes of hot water. (You’ll want to wait 30 minutes in between showers to let the water heater get back to temperature.)

Outdoors, every cabin has its own picnic table and bonfire pit with Adirondack chairs. A supply of wood and fire starters is available for a fee.

Kid-Friendly Amenities: Let’s start with the obvious. A low-key and adorably compact cabin in the woods is the perfect environment for kids who love to explore. The novelty of a tiny space with tiny things isn’t lost on tiny people. Nothing in these small accommodations is too precious, and kids will particularly enjoy the children’s book tucked into each reading stack, as well as s’more kits available within each cabin. At some properties, Explorer Kits are an available add-on during booking that include all the kids gear needed for getting dirty outside.

Most properties offer easy nature trails that wind throughout, perfect for “I Spy” and leaf collecting. But the most family-focused part of all of it just may be the mandatory proximity and fun of not-really roughing it.


What to do at a Getaway House:

First, consider a one-on-one kiddo trip. I’m so glad that this was the trigger to plan a special vacation with just one child, and even more glad that I did it alongside three other solo parents with similarly aged kids in tow. Together, the kids tromped through the wilderness and wove scary stories around the bonfire, while we kept a watchful eye and sipped on wine.

While the goal of the getaway was to avoid an itinerary, we had loads of fun tackling the below activities:

  • Bonfire Bites: We dined out one evening, but cooked most meals over the bonfire, including kabobs for dinner and pizza pockets made in cast-iron camp cookers (definitely recommend!). Naturally, every meal ended with s’mores.
  • Nature Hikes: Equipped with nature scavenger hunt booklets for each child (thanks to our genius friend who ordered them from Amazon), we trod through the well-marked trail and tried to spy and collect different colored leaves, twigs, feathers and more.
  • Spooky Stories: Does it really count as camping – ahem, glamping – if there’s not a scary story told around the campfire? We went round robin and let our creative four year olds add a sentence of two to each kid-friendly fable. Handy story-starter cards make kicking off a fun narrative quick and easy.
  • Cozy Evenings: When it was time to head into our respective cabins, we relied on a huge stack of new-to-us library books to wind down. (Note that cell service can sometimes be spotty, and you won’t find Wifi or TVs at these properties.)


Where to find a tiny cabin near you:

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