AutoCamp Just Announced Its First East Coast Location

Hint: You'll be able to smell the ocean

October 5, 2019 8:00 am
AutoCamp Just Announced Its First East Coast Location
Rendering Courtesy of NoTriangle

Last June, I spent a few nights at AutoCamp Yosemite, the largest and then-newest addition to the SF-based brand’s list of luxury Airstream hotels. I’ll leave the “Pft, glamping?!” sneers to far more rugged men and women. After a grueling seven-mile hike in the Sierra Nevada sun, I felt little shame tucking into an amber ale at the mid-century modern clubhouse, or resting my bones on a Tempur-Pedic mattress.

AutoCamp wants to strip camping of its gung-ho, knot-tying intensity, and add a few creature comforts along the way, assuming you’re willing to shell out some cash. The company now has its own assembly line at the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio, and commissioned over a 100 custom “suites” for the Yosemite camp, which contain bathrooms on par with what you’d find at an upscale New York hotel. Seriously. I couldn’t stop showering.

I chatted a bit with some AutoCamp movers and shakers while at the Yosemite branch, and they teased an upcoming East Coast location but wouldn’t tell me exactly where. At that point, there were three spots: Yosemite, Russian River (Sonoma) and Santa Barbara. Well, this week AutoCamp dropped its big news: the first Atlantic AutoCamp will be on Cape Cod.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Nlm3ZogUF/

Opening Fall 2020, AutoCamp Cape Cod will be five minutes from downtown Falmouth and the village of Woods Hole, an area in Barnstable County, the extreme southwest of the Cape. Yosemite touts over 100 accommodations, and AutoCamp is going big again — Cape Cod will have 108, a blend of the brand’s custom Airstreams with safari-style tents and tiny homes. Each stay will come with the brand’s trademark private amenities (fire pit, outdoor patio) while the greater property will feature a clubhouse and wooded grounds with art installations.

As for nature, it’s nothing that John Muir would necessarily write home about. But as anyone who’s spent time there knows, the Cape can be a quiet, restorative place, and visitors will have direct access to the 11-mile Shining Sea Bikeway, plus proximity to miles of beaches. There are also daily ferries from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard, though the AutoCamp campus could keep you busy in its own right. I took a yoga class while I was at Yosemite, and Cape Cod will offer them too, along with beer and cider tastings, and live music.

Obviously, next autumn is a ways away. You probably haven’t even figured out New Year’s plans for this year yet. But if you’re so inclined, AutoCamp is offering a few early bird packages; if you put down a $250 deposit now, you’ll join the “Explorer Club” and have early access booking (the deposit goes towards your room — we’d expect that to cover a night.) If you put down $750, you’ll gain entry in the “Summit Club” and get first access booking, plus exclusive invites to AutoCamp events, a welcome gift upon arrival and complimentary room upgrade, assuming availability. Oh yeah, and a tote. It’s that kind of place.

Whatever you decide, we’re interested to see how AutoCamp’s first truly cold weather location fares. Its first three locations remain pretty temperate year-round, and Cape Cod … does not. You could probably snag an Airstream in January for a good rate, though. And finally finish your godforsaken novel.

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