By Maddie Cowell

With summer approaching, everyone is going to start booking their weekend getaways and trying to find campsites or unique places to stay. This can become a hassle if you’re like us and hate staying in crowded campsites where you can’t surround yourself with nature or have peace and quiet in the mornings. What if I told you there is an app that lets you choose from some of the most unique and beautiful places to stay in the world?

Hipcamp is an app and website that offers over 300,000 unique stays all over the country. They are considered to be the “Airbnb for campsites.” Hipcamp overs a variety of options to stay in, including tiny houses, tropical hideouts, wine country glamping, tent camping, cabins, and they even have camp sites for those with a van, overlander, or RV. So, whether you’re up for roughing it for a night in a tent or want more of luxury stay in a tiny house, Hipcamp has it all, and is our go to favorite travel resource to use!

How to Use

When you first open the website, you will notice how appealing it is to the viewer; their whole website has this rustic vibe to it that makes you want to plan and book your trip right away. If you don’t know where to start, they have a discover page that can help lead you in the right direction. HipCamp has an Instagram type of feel to the website and navigates the same as AirBnb.

Choose Your Stay

Camping

Once you have entered your dates and location, it will bring you to all the available camp sites. Under “Camping” you will find plots of land you can stay on that either have tents already available to you, or you might need to bring your own. When I say plots of land, I don’t just mean a random field in the middle of nowhere; most of the campsites are on farms, wineries, national and state parks (close to it – not directly in the parks), or just somewhere with an awesome view!

Glamping

 Glamping is for anyone who isn’t into the whole “roughing it” thing, and would much rather stay in an actual house instead of a tent or RV. This option is where you find so many unique stays. From tiny houses, cabins in the woods, old trains converted into a house, and even tree houses. This option is going to be more expensive then the “pitch-a-tent” campsite, but they have their pros. In pretty much every house or cabin you stay in, they include a full bath, kitchen, and dining area.

RV Stays

This option is perfect for people traveling with RVs, pull-behind campers, or anyone living the “van life.” This option is our favorite! We live full-time out of our pull-behind camper and are always on the lookout for new places to stay; we prefer not staying in crowded campsites that only have a picnic table and a fire ring with no view.

When you are putting in your date and location, you will also see a “length” and “hookups” filter. Enter in how long your camper is and what hookups you will need (sewer, water, electric), and it will give you all the available spots that can accommodate you.

HipCamp for Nomads

When it comes to finding the best places to stay, HipCamp will always be our favorite website to find them. We love staying in extraordinary places over hotels, even though that means spending a little extra money. It’s always worth it in the end.

Another reason why we love Hipcamp is because it gives job opportunities to travel lovers. If you’re like us, traveling full-time from spot to spot, Hipcamp offers a photography job. This job allows you to stay at a spot for FREE and all you have to do is take photos of the place you stayed and write an honest review. Then they pay you anywhere from $75-$100 per assignment. Best part about it is there is no limit to how many you can do!

Maddie at Wanderus Living travels around North America with her dog Hazel, in a Jeep and trailer full-time, focusing on unpopular and overlooked destinations. Wanderus Living is all about exploring new off the beaten path destinations while sharing tips, guides and travel stories along the way.

If you want to read more about van life, try Vanlife, Bikes, Verbier.

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