5 California Campgrounds Where You Can Glamp In An Airstream

The Caravel, the Flying Cloud, the Bambi, the Argosy — all Airstream trailer models with cult-like followings. As a culture, we're a bit obsessed with the riveted aluminum travel pods. Just ask the hosts of The Airstream Podcast. Or the curators at the Airstream Heritage Center museum in Ohio.

The Airstream was invented in the 1920s by a magazine publisher named Wally Byam. Wally's wife wasn't as crazy for camping as he was, so he built a swoopy aluminum trailer on an old Model T chassis to entice her. In 1931, he opened a factory in Culver City, California to manufacture the first model, dubbed the Torpedo. But the silver bullet we know and love — that curvaceous, riveted aluminum lozenge, didn't come into its own until the post-Word War II economic boom. With 70% of the Airstream trailers ever produced still on the road, these durable little California-grown "silver bullets" have persisted for decades, becoming as much a symbol of the American Dream as a slice of apple pie. And thanks to the rise of glamping, you can now indulge your Airstream fantasy by renting one at a stylish resort, rather than risk alienating your own significant other by bringing home a dubious Craigslist find.

We've chosen five California glampgrounds where you can rent the dream, but there are many more tucked away on vacation rental sites like Airbnb and Glampinghub. If you've got mad driving skills and are looking for one to pull behind your vintage Ford pickup on a road trip through California's National Parks, you can rent a travel-ready specimen on Outdoorsy or RVshare. And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can rent a modern Airstream paired with a burly tow vehicle from letsgosilver.com.

If your parents neglected to send you to summer camp when you were a kid, now is the time to make up for that cruel deficit, and Hicksville Trailer Palace in Joshua Tree is the place. This cartoon-like property is full of charm and dripping with hipster irony as it celebrates all that is kitschy and trashy (in a good way) about camp life. The central swimming pool is surrounded by lurid green astroturf, and fiberlgass lounge chairs invite you to bask under an actual Baywatch-style lifeguard tower.

After you've ventured out to see the ravishingly scenic desert on a hike of the Panorama Loop, you can spend the rest of the day in this kidults-only playground, where you'll find archery, marshmallow-roasting around a fire pit, a poolside jukebox, and best of all, an adult-sized ball pit straight out of Chuck E Cheese. You can dive into without worrying about squashing a sixth-grader, because kids are only allowed on the property during a handful of designated family weeks.

Hicksville has three Airstreams among its vintage trailer offerings, including the Sweet, which transports you back to the 70s with swoopy couches, yellow walls and a working record player, while the teeny, tiny Integratrailer invites you to stage your very own alien abduction. If those don't float your boat there is also an actual boat – a houseboat planted right in the desert sand — or a covered wagon or a carnival caravan, among other vintage trailers, each with its own gonzo theme.

If you're heading for a wine weekend in Sonoma County, skip over-hyped, over-crowded Healdsberg for charming, underrated downtown Petaluma, where you'll find one of the most unique boutique hotels in California. The Metro Hotel may be gloriously funky and whimsical (most of its rooms have details like bedside lamps made out of plastic geese, and chalkboard headboards inscribed with clever sayings), but it doesn't skimp on luxury, and the two Airstream trailers on its grounds are as well-appointed as they are delightful. 

Expect high thread count sheets, high speed internet, and a mini bar. The trailers, tucked snugly behind a blue picket fence, aren't funked-up vintage campers, but modern, with sleek built-ins. Choose between the 30-foot Honeymoon Suite, with neon fuchsia wall–to-wall carpet, and the snug 20-foot Bambi decorated with a red cherry retro theme. You'll be walking distance to all the charms of Petaluma, from wine tasting rooms to a dock where you can rent kayaks.

In the morning the Metro's on-site cafe has hot coffee and all-you-can-eat breakfast crepes, and in the evening, s'mores around the fire pit. Looking for a novel way to tour the local wineries? The Metro recommends renting a vintage Rolls Royce, complete with driver, to do so. It's not as extravagant as you'd think, and a whole lot cheaper than getting a DUI if no-one in your party relishes the idea of being the designated driver. And getting to say "Take us back to the Airstream, Jeeves!" at the end of a long day of tippling? Well, that's priceless.

In cowboy lingo, a "greenhorn" is a newbie cowpoke or horseback rider, someone who doesn't know their way around a ranch, and if you happen to be one of those, this is the Airstream destination for you. The 600-acre Greenhorn Ranch in Quincy, amid California's rugged and remote Lost Sierra, not far from Lake Tahoe, is a dude ranch where you can lose your innocence and become an old hand at whatever outdoorsy activity you like — in style. Adventure travel guru Richard Bangs named the Greenhorn Ranch one of the best hotels in the world. 

You don't come to the Greenhorn Ranch to relax, but to jump on a horse or a fat tire electric mountain bike, or to strap on a pair of waders and head for an icy mountain river. The wood-paneled lodge is filled with comfy leather couches and wagon-wheel chandeliers, and its cozy lodge rooms and creekside cabins are all kinds of inviting. But why stay in a square box, when you can cowboy up and sleep inside a silver bullet instead?

There is only one Airstream on the property, but it's a beaut. The fully-restored 1972 model is done up in crisp farmhouse modern style, with luxurious details like a hammered copper sink, rustic wood accent walls, black industrial cage lighting with Edison bulbs, and fine linen bedding. A pair of deep Adirondack chairs on the expansive deck wait for lounging with a beverage at the end of the day's adventuring. "It was a perfect slice of heaven. Comfy bed, quiet creek side location, and gentle creek babbling to lull us to sleep," writes one Airstream-dweller on Tripadvisor. "From the horseback ride to the karaoke songbirds, everything was wonderful.

The tranquil, rural hamlet of Ojai, nestled in the hills of Ventura County just an hour-and-change from LA, has long been called "the verdant valley" for its fertile farmlands. Today it's also a secret getaway for Hollywooders who eschew shopping on Rodeo Drive for shopping at produce stands. That's why, when you visit the Airstream-themed Ojai Caravan Outpost for a weekend and borrow one of the complimentary bicycles (pictured) to ride around town, you might just run into longtime Ojai residents Ted Danon and Mary Steenburgen at the local farmer's market.  

The 11 Airstreams on this downtown property are arranged in a circle, like spokes on a wheel, but jungly, semi-tropical vegetation lets you bask in a sense of seclusion. Remodeled to be clean, sleek, and modern, the trailers have shiny cabinets and boldly patterned wool coverlets on the beds. When it comes to evening entertainment, be aware that your Airstream oasis won't come with a TV, to encourage you to mingle with your fellow travelers sipping wine. 

By day, you can lounge in a hammock in the botanical garden complete with a pagoda, and there are complimentary bicycles you can use to get to that farmer's market — with handlebar baskets to bring home your haul. Given its high-design and upscale approach to a clever concept, in a highly sought-after location to boot, this place has received notice from Outside, The New York Times, Dwell, and Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop, as well as rave reviews from visitors. "Absolutely delightful experience in every way! Immaculately clean, quiet, comfortable, well-appointed, great location, super-cool vibe," writes one Tripadvisor visitor.

If you're a design nerd — the kind of traveler who thinks of the Airtream as the ultimate expression of Mid-Century Modernism — then you shouldn't miss AutoCamp. This NorCal-based national glamping chain provides a high-end experience in a setting that looks torn from the pages of Dwell or Architectural Digest. It was hard to choose among Autocamp's California locations at vacation destinations like Joshua Tree and Russian River, but the Yosemite location is its largest, with 80 custom-built trailers on 35 acres, making this a full-blown resort property — so there's enough to do here to make it a destination. 

We're talking complimentary yoga and meditation in the clubhouse, outdoor movie screenings, stargazing nights, and live music around the communal fire pit. The pool is heated, and you can hit the trail directly from the property, either on a complimentary mountain bike or on foot. The dog and kid-friendly property offers camps and classes, and guided tours of the area's attractions. There's even something called a hammock grove — which sounds like something every resort should have, right?

A stylish kitchen whips up breakfast burritos, pizzas, and craft cocktails, or you can DIY dinner with ingredients from the on-site general store in your fully equipped Airstream galley (that's what you call a kitchen on board a land yacht). If you happen to be a nuclear family, this glampground offers a pretty sweet family-friendly "mini-suite," consisting of a luxuriously appointed Airstream for the parental units, and a cool little teepee with two twin beds for the junior set. Note that while this camp has "Yosemite" in the name, it's actually an hour from the park, however the public shuttle bus stops here, to make your visit to Yosemite as easy, sleek, and shiny as your accommodation.