Classic Sleepaway: camps for adults
The purest form of the genre: rented kids’ camps, bunks, color war, campfires, and a bar where the tuck shop used to be. These camps recreate the full summer-camp experience for grown-ups, no gimmick required. We track 14 camps in this lane, 11 currently active. The 3 that are on hiatus or gone stay listed and clearly marked, because half the internet still recommends them.
Active camps
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Camp Wylo
A low-pressure New England adult camp that relocated from the Berkshires to lakeside Camp Cobbossee in Maine for 2026.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.