Classic Sleepaway: camps for adults
The original article: a rented kids’ camp, bunks, color war, campfires, and a bar. No angle beyond doing summer camp properly, for grown-ups. We track 14 camps here, 11 of them running. The 3 that aren't stay listed with a label, because half the internet still recommends them.
Not sure which camp?
Five questions, 60 seconds, one honest recommendation from the 68 camps still running.
Take the quizActive camps
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Camp BYOB
Ananse Events runs Camp BYOB as Chicagoland's 21+ summer camp weekend at a lakeside camp in Ingleside, blending nostalgia programming, nature, theme parties, and the 'power of play' into a sleepaway format.
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Camp Chief Ouray Adult Camp
The century-old YMCA camp at Snow Mountain Ranch runs a dedicated adult session pitched largely at campers 50 and up, with lodge accommodations at 8,750 feet in the Colorado Rockies.
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Camp Forever Fun
The Midwest's answer to the coastal adult-camp brands: a 21+ all-inclusive weekend in southwest Michigan with archery, a high ropes course, canoe races, a climbing wall, and a giant swing by day.
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Camp No Counselors
The Shark Tank-famous brand that turned adult summer camp into a category, Camp No Counselors runs three-night, all-inclusive weekends at rented kids' camps in New York, California, and Texas.
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Camp Tamakwa: Not For Kids Only
Storied Algonquin camp Tamakwa (the setting for the film Indian Summer) runs 'Not For Kids Only,' an adults-only long weekend each September with the full Tamakwa program: sailing, canoe trips, crafts, campfires, and dining-hall meals on South Tea Lake.
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Camp Tanamakoon September Adult Program
When the kids leave, this century-old Algonquin Park girls' camp runs six-day adult weeks for campers 55+, with canoeing, swimming, crafts, and lakeside downtime on Tanamakoon Lake.
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Camp Wildfire
The UK's benchmark adult summer camp, staged in a heritage pine forest 40 minutes from London and once pitched on Dragons' Den.
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Camp Wylo
A low-pressure New England adult camp that relocated from the Berkshires to lakeside Camp Cobbossee in Maine for 2026.
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CK Afterhours
An Australian adults-only camp weekend at Adekate Camp in regional Victoria: cabins sleeping 7-13, all meals and drinks included, a licensed bar, zip line, arts and crafts, beer olympics, themed dress-ups, and a DJ. It pitches itself as childhood camp nostalgia with grown-up privileges.
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Grown-Up Getaway Camp (Sierra Nevada Journeys)
Outdoor-education nonprofit Sierra Nevada Journeys opens its 400-acre Grizzly Creek Ranch campus to adults for a weekend of ziplining, archery, crafts, and campfires in the Sierra foothills near Lake Tahoe.
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Two Islands Weekend
Ontario's flagship adult camp weekend, taking over the 1,100-acre Camp Timberlane on Lake of Two Islands for 300-plus campers each September.
On hiatus, unverified, or no longer running
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Camp Halcyon
Wisconsin's flagship adult camp takes over Camp Lakotah in Wautoma for Thursday-to-Sunday weekends that pair beach yoga, archery, and axe throwing with wine, cider, and whiskey tastings.
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Camp Bonfire
Founded by Philly theatre artist Benjamin Camp and poet Jacob Winterstein, Camp Bonfire took over a boys' camp on Lake Owego in the Poconos for 21+ weekends of archery, ropes courses, kite-making, and nightly bonfires, with a distinctly artsy, no-self-improvement ethos.
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Camp Throwback
Author and body-acceptance blogger Brittany Gibbons launched Camp Throwback in 2013 as a boozy, unapologetically nostalgic 21+ sleepaway in rural southwest Ohio, complete with drunk field day, theme parties, and crafts.
Missing a classic sleepaway camp? Suggest it.