Girls’s-only Summer time Camps within the French Countryside Are Going Viral

Inside 24 hours of content material creator Allison Wolf posting a reel of her time at Camp Château, each Kimberly Inexperienced and Lindsey Zurn had booked a keep on the girls’s-only camp in southern France this summer time.

The put up, which has extra 24 million views thus far, is a temper board of the French nation idyll: days spent swishing round a fairy-tale medieval château in floaty clothes with a endless glass of rosé. Wolf spoke of waking as much as deer grazing within the fields every morning and collaborating in a pick-and-mix type of actions, together with horseback driving, kayaking, yoga, and making jam.

“I stayed at a girls’s-only summer time camp at a château within the French countryside, and sure, it was as dreamy and magical because it sounds,” Wolf stated within the reel. She referred to as it “probably the most enjoyable, healthful journey expertise.”

“As soon as I noticed Allison’s Instagram reel, I knew the camp was going to go viral, so I booked instantly—inside half-hour,” Inexperienced, a 31-year-old artwork director from New York, advised Journey + Leisure. She forwarded it to her pal, Zurn, who additionally booked on the identical day.

For Zurn, the camp felt refreshingly totally different from a typical trip. With their departure rapidly approaching, she’s “excited to disconnect from on a regular basis stresses, join with new folks, and immerse [herself] in every thing from French classes to cooking and artwork—all whereas residing within the French countryside.”

5 days after Wolf’s put up, Camp Château was formally offered out for 2025. Final summer time, it had greater than 10,000 girls on its waitlist. When 2026 dates have been launched on the finish of summer time 2024, the season offered out in seven minutes (900 locations over 9 weeks).

Camp Château’s founder, Philippa Girling, admits the unimaginable reputation of the camp has taken her without warning. Born in the UK and having lived in Los Angeles for 3 a long time, she and her youngsters had fallen for a château on the market within the village of Béduer, north of Toulouse within the little-known however totally enchanting Lot Valley, a spot the place she vacationed as a baby. “We didn’t want a château, however we felt like girls did, so we rapidly went from falling in love with the constructing to a dialog a couple of summer time camp for girls the place they might come to this stunning a part of France and simply be,” she advised T+L.

Girling has hit on a profitable system: a magical setting, utterly faraway from the on a regular basis; actions girls can dip out and in of as they need; and the possibility to bond with different girls—all in a protected, judgement-free surroundings.

“Our mission was to create this beautiful, enjoyable area the place girls might come and really feel like they might take off all of the masks they must put on and never work on themselves as a result of they have been already superior,” Girling defined.

Attendees both sleep in bunks within the château or glamping tents on the grounds. It is capped at 50 folks per session, however a second property opening in a equally fairy-tale French setting, within the Ariège area of southwest France, in 2026 will hopefully ease a few of the stress on the waitlist.

Made up of solo vacationers, teams of associates, and mother-daughter duos, round 80 % of the campers are from North America, and the demographic is broad. “We’ve got folks coming of their 20s and their late 70s,” she stated. “We’ve got a number of younger girls on the ft of older girls, listening to their knowledge, and older girls listening to youthful girls share their enthusiasm and power for all times.”

Girling stated the very best aspect of individuals comes out over the course of the camp. “While you take 50 girls, put them collectively, and inform them they’re sufficient and that they deserve a break, they’re extremely sort to one another,” she stated.

Camp Château would be the authentic, however others are actually popping up round France following the identical premise: for girls solely, with an emphasis on curating your individual expertise in a fascinating French setting. Lower than three hours from Paris, Château du Tremblay has been in Louis d’Armaillé’s household because it was constructed within the mid-14th century. With accomplice Lua Andersen, the pair has their first girls’s-only summer time camps deliberate for later this yr.

“We’re going to supply a number of inventive actions: portray, cooking courses, French classes, and crafts the place you possibly can embellish your individual image frames, hair clips, hairbrushes—small gadgets you possibly can deliver dwelling as recollections,” stated Andersen. What’s extra, the household has its personal winery, so loads of wine tastings and excursions will even be on the schedule.

Anderson, who’s at present juggling establishing the camps with a company job in Paris, says the château is the place she reconnects with nature and recharges her batteries on weekends—and needs others to really feel its magic. “It’s a spot the place you are able to do a number of stuff you would by no means do in your on a regular basis life,” she added. Like Camp Château, Château du Tremblay’s summer time camps will final 5 days. Visitors will sleep in one of many property’s 17 bedrooms in teams of two or three, although single rooms will even be potential.

If there was one nook of France primed for such an expertise, it is the lavender-scented landscapes of Provence. In an aristocratic residence close to Cassis on the Mediterranean coast, Camp Joli is prepping itself for its second season.

Among the many inaugural attendees final yr was Meagan Rose, who visited with a gaggle of content material creators in September 2024. “I had no concept what to anticipate. I simply knew I used to be going to remain on this stunning fort, and it actually modified my life,” she stated.

“Day by day, you had the chance to decide on your individual journey, whether or not you needed to join each exercise or sit again and calm down by the pool all day,” she added. Horseback driving, baking bread, excursions to native villages, and a watercolor portray class have been a few of the electives Rose participated in.

Her finest recollections, nonetheless, are the friendships she created. “I genuinely imagine I’ve discovered lifelong associates by means of this, and I am nonetheless in contact with these women to today. I am so grateful I received to expertise it,” she stated.

Arguably what’s additionally driving the recognition of those camps is worth for cash. Six days, 5 nights at Camp Château in 2026 prices €2,400 ($2,800), a value that features lodging, meals, snacks, drinks, three-plus electives per day, and two-plus excursions. In the meantime, Camp Joli begins from €1,999 (about $2,350) for lodging, meals (ready by a non-public chef), and electives. 5 nights at Château du Tremblay will set you again €1,950 ($2,200), additionally together with lodging, meals, and actions.