This Girls’s-only Summer time Camp within the French Countryside Had a ten,000-person Waitlist

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 ladies’s-only camp in southern France this summer season.

The submit, which has extra 24 million views so far, is a temper board of the French nation idyll: days spent swishing round a fairy-tale medieval château in floaty attire with a unending 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 using, kayaking, yoga, and making jam.

“I stayed at a ladies’s-only summer season 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, informed Journey + Leisure. She forwarded it to her good friend, Zurn, who additionally booked on the identical day.

For Zurn, the camp felt refreshingly completely different from a typical trip. With their departure shortly 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 dwelling within the French countryside.”

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

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

Girling has hit on a successful formulation: a magical setting, fully faraway from the on a regular basis; actions ladies can dip out and in of as they want; and the possibility to bond with different ladies—all in a secure, judgement-free atmosphere.

“Our mission was to create this pretty, enjoyable area the place ladies may come and really feel like they might take off all of the masks they need to put on and never work on themselves as a result of they had 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 strain on the waitlist.

Made up of solo vacationers, teams of pals, and mother-daughter duos, round 80 p.c of the campers are from North America, and the demographic is broad. “We’ve folks coming of their 20s and their late 70s,” she stated. “We’ve loads of younger ladies on the toes of older ladies, listening to their knowledge, and older ladies listening to youthful ladies share their enthusiasm and power for all times.”

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

Camp Château will 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 associate Lua Andersen, the pair has their first ladies’s-only summer season camps deliberate for later this 12 months.

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

Anderson, who’s at the moment 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 desires others to really feel its magic. “It’s a spot the place you are able to do loads of belongings you would by no means do in your on a regular basis life,” she added. Like Camp Château, Château du Tremblay’s summer season 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 can even be doable.

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 12 months was Meagan Rose, who visited with a gaggle of content material creators in September 2024. “I had no thought what to anticipate. I simply knew I used to be going to remain on this stunning fort, and it really modified my life,” she stated.

“On daily basis, you had the chance to decide on your individual journey, whether or not you needed to enroll in each exercise or sit again and chill out by the pool all day,” she added. Horseback using, baking bread, excursions to native villages, and a watercolor portray class had been a few of the electives Rose participated in.

Her finest recollections, nonetheless, are the friendships she created. “I genuinely consider I’ve discovered lifelong pals via this, and I am nonetheless in contact with these women to this present day. 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 worth 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 personal chef), and electives. 5 nights at Château du Tremblay will set you again €1,950 ($2,200), additionally together with lodging, meals, and actions.