Under Canvas Acadia — Hotel in Surry

We just finished up a 2-night stay at Under Canvas Acadia. With tents priced like luxury-accommodation the resort is as remarkable for what you get (nice tents, pretty views, fireflies and helpful staff) as for what you don’t (room service, breakfast, or any guarantee that your tent will be habitable during hot weather).

For a bit over $1,300/night, (the most, by far, we’ve ever spent on a single night of lodging), we got a nice 2-tent suite connected by a wooden porch.

It was the most “affordable” way to accommodate our family of 2-adults, and 5-kids at the resort. It was also (by a mile) the most-expensive nights of our entire vacation, about 2-3x the per-night cost the 4-star hotels we enjoyed in Boston and NYC during the rest of our trip.

We normally wouldn’t think of a spending that amount on a single night’s lodging, but we convinced ourself that it was worth a splurge. After all, it’s been a very long pandemic, we’ve cancelled several other vacations, and why not “go big” for a couple nights?

We should, perhaps, not have gone big at this particular location.

The beds were comfortable, the staff (mostly College-age kids working a summer job) was very friendly and helpful, and the location was beautiful. The tents were very cool, and the furnishings were, as West Elm furnishings tend to be, appropriately trendy.

What wasn’t cool at all was the temperature in our tents. During a (I am assured) rare late-June Maine heatwave where midday temperatures peaked above 90F, our tent was uncomfortably warm by 8 AM, and downright miserable by 9. It didn’t really get habitable until the early evening, and wasn’t properly comfortable until the sun set around 8PM.

By my math, our tent was uninhabitable for around a third of our 2-night stay. Which means that after splurging on some luxury accommodations, we had to figure out how to stay away from them for a good chunk of our stay to avoid heatstroke.

Of course, you are likely to have much better weather during your stay, but it’s frustrating that Under Canvas’ cancellation policy (essentially “tough luck” inside of 30-days) doesn’t give you any options to change your plans should this occur.

It’s also worth noting that the camp is a fair-distance from the National Park it’s named for. Getting from the camp to the main park-entrance is about a 35-minute drive. And, for the price, it’s wild that “daily housekeeping” isn’t included.

Now, for some good. First, I think the cost-structure of the accommodations are less punishing for smaller families than ours. Second, the tents are very neat. Our kids loved them and called them “Harry Potter Tents”. The (hot) showers, comfortable beds and flushing toilets are a delight compared to traditional camping experiences. And the staff really were eager to help.

Some advice for other travelers: the camp is broken up into two “types” of locations. The bulk are situated along a long open clearing that stretches up about 500-yards from the oceanfront, while a few are hidden back in the trees. The tents back in the forest offer far more privacy and seclusion than the “ball-field” tents, and they’re what I’d book if I was going back.

At a price that doesn’t scream “luxury” quite so loudly, and with a more flexible cancellation policy that took into account the fact that weather can make or break your stay, I would have been completely satisfied with our accommodations. As it is, I’ll be on the lookout for other “glamping” experiences, but probably not with Under Canvas at the...

Other than the price, this is a fun experience. The clubhouse with fire pits, coffee, tea, and food is nice. The staff, mostly camp counselor style seasonal young people, are cheery and helpful. Objectively, a bed with a wood stove and hot running water is nicer than sleeping on the ground in a tent.

Unfortunately, the price is absolutely obscene. Keep in mind, you basically can’t find a hotel or bnb in Bar Harbor that doesn’t cost $100+ less a night than this place, and Bar Harbor is where you actually want to be. This is absolutely priced as a luxury experience.

With that context, there are several aspects of the experience that don’t deliver luxury.

The bed is a king size mattress on a queen size bed. The mattress itself is very cheap. The shower is one temperature: very hot. It uses a pulley system so you don’t use too much water. Good for the environment, but not costly. The firewood they provide is not seasoned, so it’s very smoky and doesn’t light easily. Every night, multiple fire alarms go off (if not in your tent, then in your neighbor’s tent). Even the matches they give you are like the cheapest matches you could possibly find. They take several tries to light.

As for the property in general, there are sixty-something sites (seriously, do the math on that), so it’s not very private. The sites are probably 3-4 times further from neighbors than a standard tent camping ground. Each site does not have its own fire pit, and this is actually the only straight downgrade from normal camping. If you like to spend a day hanging by the campfire, then you can go to the public space, or you can sit inside with your wood stove. The food isn’t bad, but it’s super expensive. There is free water, coffee and tea, as well as smores at night. The entertainment was hit or miss. One night there was “trivia” which turned out to be 15 questions in a row about Maine. It took 20 minutes. The next night there was live music for 3 hours. It was just a guy and his guitar, nothing complicated, but he sounded good. The plot of land itself is pretty and right on the coast. It is very far from Acadia though. Like 30 minutes to Bar Harbor and 45-60 minutes from any given attraction in the park.

We had a nice trip overall and it’s not like the price surprised us going in. The price set my expectations high, and after adjusting them much lower, there is plenty to appreciate here. But it really feels bad to be ripped off just from a financial perspective. I can’t point to any luxury touch that made me think “wow these people really care about me and the guest experience”. If you’ve ever spent this kind of money on hospitality in the past, you should know that this is the expectation. If you have never spent so much, and you’re hoping that this will be that once in a lifetime experience, please save your money for something...

While the concept of glamping may sound wonderful and even look wonderful, my husband and I were disappointed in our 2 night stay. For $500 per night you aren’t allowed to check-in until 3pm and then early checkout at 10am so you aren’t even getting a full day for that absurd price. Bookings are non refundable and when you arrive you’ll find there is very little to no service, you are not allowed to drive up to your tent - you park in a lot and load everything onto a golf cart to then unload at the base of your mini driveway to then carry up to where you’ll be staying. No fires are allowed outside so this is nothing like a campground vibe. On the plus side you have a sink, toilet and shower in your canvas. For your shower you need to pull down a chain the entire time you’re using it. To heat the water they have a propane heater connected to a propane bbq tank in the back which they only know needs a replacement if someone all of a sudden runs out of hot water. Not great!

There isn’t electricity so they have little battery packs you can use to charge your phone. They worked for about a day and half before we needed new ones. There is also no wifi on site, and the cell networks are all very poor. Don’t plan to do any work while you’re there. Since they don’t allow fire pits outside they have a wood stove inside but they are so small that they don’t have a vent. We used the stove for heat during the two nights we stayed but the room ended up so smokey that we had to sleep with the tent open for circulation.

We couldn’t help but compare this experience to the Getaway House in NH which we go to quite often. Getaway is a more affordable mini cabin-like camping approach that offers everything that the Under Canvas does but it also includes a range and an outdoor fit pit making it feel much more like a Mother Nature experience! It doesn’t have a reception tent with food and drinks so that park of Under Canvas is more unique.

On a final note, the staff at Under Canvas is...