Why adults are going back to summer camp

After dinner, the marshmallows came out. A group of nurses and support staff from a New York City clinic gathered around the campfire, sharing stories about childhood and how they got into the field. Above them, the upstate New York sky was full of stars. For a few hours in July 2026, the clinical titles and workplace hierarchies that normally defined this group of US health professionals disappeared.

Aleksey Aronov, CEO of VIP's IV, had brought his team to Camp No Counselors for a four-day weekend to unwind and bond.

“A lot of my staff members were new, and some were quite shy,” Aronov said. “But after the camp experience, everyone felt comfortable around one another, got to know each other better and bonded seamlessly.”

His team had arrived together. Other campers go looking for a group to belong to.

For adults heading to summer camp, the draw goes beyond childhood memories. Some are turning to camp experiences to network or mitigate burnout, while others are seeking a way to make new friends. Whatever their reason, an increasing number of people around the world are finding that the summer camps of their youth are the perfect antidote to the pressures of modern adult life.

Mia Morin, 29, of Toronto and her husband attended YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth on Beausoleil Island in Ontario, Canada in May 2025 to meet new people.

“We wanted to gather around interesting people, exchange ideas and do things together,” Morin says. “Going to YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth was easy because nobody there was random. Since everyone has already selected the same thing, you have a starting point with something in common.”

Once a niche getaway for nostalgic campers, adult camps have exploded in popularity, offering weekend and weeklong retreats where grown-ups trade screen time and their comfy beds for campfires, sports, arts and crafts, and bunk beds. Unlike the children’s day and overnight camps, however, today’s adult versions often include grown-up perks, such as open bars, wine tastings, chef-prepared meals and wellness programming.

Yelp’s 2025 Trend Forecast showed searches for “adult camps” were up 347 percent from September 2023 through August 2024, compared with the previous 12-month period. The online directory of the American Camp Association (ACA) lists 85 adult camp programmes in the United States, and while the ACA does not track the number of adult camps year-over-year, it confirms that there has been positive growth in adult camp programming over the last decade.

As of 2026, the concept has expanded well beyond the US and Canada, with camps launching in destinations ranging from the Swiss Alps to the United Arab Emirates.

“The rising popularity of adult camps reflects a larger movement toward meaningful, in-person experiences we’ve been seeing through Yelp,” said Yelp’s trend expert, Tara Lewis.

“People are looking to unplug and foster connections in shared physical spaces. These camps give adults the chance to go analog, rediscover favourite activities, focus on wellness and make genuine connections," she added.

Just how much has the concept grown? When founder Adam Tichauer pitched Camp No Counselors to the reality TV contest Shark Tank in 2016, the sharks didn’t bite. Fast forward 10 years, and all the Camp No Counselors dates through 2027 have waitlists.

Remedy for loneliness and burnout?

Adults across generations — from Gen X to Millennials to Gen Z — are embracing camp life as a remedy for two major ills of modern life: loneliness and burnout.

“Hundreds of millions of people every day feel a gap between their level of connection and where they want it to be, for a variety of reasons: social media and AI leading to feeling disconnected, not going into the office, living far away from their families, not having connected neighbourhoods,” said Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky, a keynote speaker and author who specialises in human connection and workplace culture.

Poswolsky’s career naturally grew out of his experience as an adult camp counselor at Camp Grounded from 2013 to 2017.

“I think the idea of adult camp might initially produce an eyeroll. ‘Why would an adult need camp? It’s childlike; we’re too old.’ But it’s the exact opposite,” said Poswolsky, who met his now-wife, Ali, at Camp Grounded.

“It’s the very thing many adults are missing the most — this chance to play and opportunity to connect with people that’s not related to networking, your career, your title.”

In 2023, Melanie Kelly, 44, felt burnt out from her work running marketing and communications for a solar company. A former painting major, she signed up for a weeklong art-making camp at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado in the US, to see if she could rediscover the “flow state” she remembered from painting that she rarely experienced at work.

Overnight, Kelly’s days went from being spent answering emails and staring at her computer screen to creating tangible art and sharing workshop space with like-minded campers.

“I was always trying to be more productive in a work sense or seeking professional development aligned with my work,” said Kelly. Art camp was the antidote to that tendency.

“It feels like there’s a bit of release in these types of moments or activities because you’re allowing yourself to rest,” she said. “Rest isn’t sleep. The opposite of work isn’t sleep; it’s play.”

Outside of workshop time, the art programme at Anderson Ranch also organised meals and activities for attendees to make socialising as frictionless as possible. While many of these camps are attended by couples, groups of girlfriends or, in Aronov’s company’s case, coworkers, they also cater to solo campers looking to meet new people.

At Michigan’s Camp Forever Fun, founder Joel Reisig actively encourages single attendees with the promise of a safe, fun and connected experience.

Reisig, a movie producer, had the idea to open an adult camp about a decade ago, after filming a movie about a group of girls attending horse camp. After shooting wrapped each day, the cast and crew relaxed by stargazing, petting horses and having dance parties.

“I thought to myself, adults need a summer camp break every bit as much as kids do,” Reisig said.

“It is very hard to make new friends after college. You are generally interacting with a few neighbours and a couple of people you work with. A weekend at Camp Forever Fun is a time to relax, climb the rock wall, sit in a kayak, ride a horse and actually have real conversations and possibly friendships with other stressed-out adults.”

At Camp Forever Fun, it’s 100 percent socially acceptable to introduce yourself to every single person at camp with zero fear of rejection. That’s not something most adults are able to find at a bar or coffee shop — and certainly not from the comfort of their couch, where people are increasingly spending their time. (According to a 2024 study, from 2003 to 2022, the average time Americans spend at home on a typical day has risen by one hour and 39 minutes.)

Alyx van der Vorm, 25, is a John Harvard Scholar who studied neuroscience and is the founder of social connection platform Clyx. She attributes rising rates of loneliness in part to how easy it’s become to get what we need without ever leaving home.

“So many things have been made frictionless, from laundry to ordering food, that when it actually comes to making plans, it seems like a bit of a mountain,” she says. “Add the fact that not everyone wants to be reaching out and initiating, and you suddenly have people spending a lot less time in person.”

That erosion of boundaries extends beyond social life: home, work and leisure are increasingly bleeding into one another. Since 2020, work increasingly follows people home, a recipe for burnout. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March 2026, 22.6 percent of American workers teleworked, compared to just 17.9 percent in 2022. Telework was so rare before the coronavirus pandemic that the agency did not even measure rates prior to that.

“Many adults are now working in environments that constantly ask them to produce, multitask and stay connected,” said Matthew Leahy, a licensed clinical psychologist who has spent years designing and running camp programmes. “AI has only increased this. Even our downtime often becomes another form of consumption through our devices.”

Camp programmes and spending time in nature interrupt that cycle, Leahy said.

“Instead of focusing on productivity, at camp we encourage presence. People spend time outdoors, try new things, laugh, play and engage with others simply because it’s enjoyable.”

Adult camps “offer a container”, explained Sarah Boss, psychiatrist and clinical director of The Balance clinic, in Mallorca, Spain. “In that container, normal rules are suspended. Permission is given to be silly, to be bad at things and to talk to strangers. And that permission does a lot of the therapeutic work.”

Leahy believes that people aren’t necessarily looking to escape adulthood so much as environments where every hour feels like it has to be productive or plugged in.

“I don’t think adults are trying to relive childhood so much as recover some of the emotional experiences that childhood offered — wonder, awe, playfulness and genuine connection,” he said.

Loneliness and burnout aren’t just affecting people in the United States; the adult camp trend is growing globally as well.

Sarah El Nabulsi, a licensed clinical psychologist based in Dubai, is seeing this same burnout among her patients. Adult camps are also on the rise in the UAE, like the Bear Grylls Explorers Camp in Jebel Jais, Ras Al Khaimah, which opened in 2021 as a collection of nine recycled shipping container cabins and has since expanded to 16.

Meanwhile, the broader outdoor adventure market is also attracting visitors. Hatta Resorts and Wadi Hub, a glamping and outdoor-adventure destination in Dubai’s Hajar Mountains, welcomed more than 351,000 visitors between September 2023 and April 2024 — a 40.4 percent increase over the previous season, according to Dubail Holding.

“What I see in session, repeatedly, is that adults aren’t burned out from work alone; they’re burned out from the absence of unstructured, low-stakes social contact,” El Nabulsi said.

“Adult life strips out almost every context where people used to make friends without trying: no assigned seating, no shared schedule, no built-in repetition of seeing the same faces. Camp reintroduces exactly that structure, low-pressure, physical, screen-free and bounded in time.”

A camp for everyone

Some adults choose to go to camp to satisfy an interest or hobby they have harboured since childhood but were not able to pursue at the time, often due to financial constraints.

Stephanie Hamilton, 38, is an elementary school librarian in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the US. The self-described “absolute science nerd” wanted to attend Space Camp as a child, but it was too expensive for her family. Through her school —where she designs many space- and weather-related modules for her students — Hamilton learned about an Alabama state programme that funds Space Camp attendance for librarians. She applied and was selected to attend in 2022.

The experience changed the course of Hamilton’s life. After meeting an archivist at camp who works in curation at the US Space & Rocket Center, Hamilton was inspired to start a museum studies certification programme and hopes to ultimately work in space archives or curation one day.

“I learned there are still opportunities for me as a librarian to entertain that science passion that I’ve always had,” said Hamilton, who still keeps in touch with her fellow campers.

Robin Soprano, VP of Space Camp, said that many adult campers are “almost brought to tears at the end of the weekend,” because they challenged themselves and stepped outside their comfort zone.

Some adult camps are geared toward particular demographics. Divya Vaid, founder of Catskills Camp, has built a camp experience in the US Catskill Mountains specifically for adult women. Rather than a traditional wellness retreat packed with self-improvement programming, the concept returns women to the simplicity of summer camp: shared meals, outdoor activities, crafts, games, exploring the area and enjoying unstructured time together.

“I’ve been particularly interested in creating an experience that feels welcoming to women traveling solo who want connection and adventure without having to plan an entire trip themselves,” said Vaid. For women accustomed to managing every moment of their family’s lives, it’s a reprieve to simply show up.

There are no clocks in Vaid’s camp, and that’s by design. Instead, the house is stocked with games, puzzles and activities, as well as outdoor games and spaces that encourage guests to use the full property.

While not every camp is right for everyone, everyone can find a camp that caters to them. Club Getaway in Kent, Connecticut in the US offers themed camps for everyone from Generation X to Jewish professionals. Peace activist and entertainer Wavy Gravy runs a weeklong circus arts camp, Camp Winnarainbow, in Northern California every summer, where attendees can learn trapeze, clowning, juggling and more. At Central New Jersey’s Zombie Survival Camp, campers can learn specialised skills ranging from crossbow to advanced first aid.

“People often think camp is magical, and maybe it is, but in reality it’s also incredibly intentional,” said Leahy. “The strongest camps are designed to create belonging and small moments of awe. Shared meals, cabins, traditions, campfires, group challenges and repeated interactions all create opportunities for people to connect over time.”

Costly getaways?

Adult summer camp is a remedy for many of the issues that ail people in 2026 — but it also comes with an adult price tag.

Some of the more affordable camps include overnights or quick two- or three-night stays. Big Cedar Lodge, located on nearly 2,025 hectares (5,000 acres) in the US's Ozark Mountains, for example, offers a wilderness getaway for around $280 per night. Connecticut’s Club Getaway offers three-day all-inclusive getaways from $459 per person.

The $950-plus price tag for three nights at Camp No Counselors, which currently offers camps in California, Michigan, New York and Texas, is also for an all-inclusive experience, including alcohol.

The high end of the spectrum sees two trends collide: adult summer camp and glamping. The Green O in Montana features 12 luxury “hauses” that go for around $3,900 per night. Add-ons include horseback riding and fly-fishing excursions.

Brady Gill, Camp Grounded co-creator and the founder of Custom Camps, which hosts play-based corporate retreats and events, says camps are most often funded one of three ways: attendees pay for themselves, their companies pay for it, or they win a contest or receive a grant, like Hamilton did with Space Camp.

“Accessibility is a big deal,” said Gill. And when a company is paying for camp, it allows people to access the benefits without having to spend money. On the other hand, “people are more bought in when they’re paying for it themselves”, he said.

Gill is running a revived iteration of Camp Grounded in October 2026 called The Reunion, and he and his team have been “hyperconscious” of keeping costs reasonable. Early bird tickets went for $400, and the top-ceiling ticket is $500. “You can’t do a weekend away with friends anywhere for under $400,” Gill said.

Because his camp work is not a full-time job, Reisig does not need to focus so much on profits. This helps Camp Forever Fun run with very small margins, making it half the price of some competitors.

“I truly want adult summer camp to be a joyous experience that is available to everyone,” Reisig said.

There are camps at every price point, much like hotels, but the all-inclusive camps are naturally more expensive, ranging from $400 to $1,200 per weekend.

Whether they’re all-inclusive or a la carte, many adult camps have one thing in common: they are heavy on alcohol.

On one hand, it makes sense; the ability to attend a whisky tasting or sip craft beer by the bonfire is probably the element that most distinguishes the adult camp experience from childhood. On the other hand, with the percentage of Americans who drink alcohol hitting historic lows in Gallup’s nearly 90 years of tracking, a camp experience that revolves around drinking may ironically leave attendees feeling more isolated.

Though late founder Levi Felix founded Camp Grounded as a digital detox camp, it was also completely substance-free. Gill and his fellow organisers are keeping that commitment with The Reunion.

“I’m personally not a fully sober person, but I love throwing fully sober events,” Gill said. “There is an unending amount of opportunities to socialise with alcohol … but shockingly few opportunities without it.”

Adult camp may come with a decidedly grown-up price tag, but its growing popularity suggests people are willing to pay for something modern adulthood has made increasingly scarce: unscheduled time and space to simply be with other people.

“There’s a quote attributed to Plato that says, ‘You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation,’” Gill said.

That sentiment is at the heart of what adult camps are trying to accomplish.