Snow Peak Opens Luxe Campground and Spa on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula

Image: Courtesy Campfield
A visit to Long Beach campfield is a bit like stepping into an ad for high-end camping equipment. The luxe campground, located on a coastal sliver of wetland just across the Columbia River from Astoria, is the work of Japanese outdoor gear brand Snow Peak, and it couldn’t be further from your stereotypical American campground. Instead of neon tents and dinged-up Coleman stoves, Campfield is a sea of earth-toned tents, bamboo-topped tables, and classy titanium cookware.

Image: Courtesy Campfield
Snow Peak, which has its North American headquarters and a retail location in Portland, has 13 camping properties in Japan and one in South Korea. But this 25-acre location on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, which opened earlier this summer, is its first outside Asia. It’s quite transparently brand promotion, with an onsite store offering a full suite of products for sale. But according to Noah Reis, vice president and chief operating officer of Snow Peak USA, the team also wants to introduce Americans to a different way of camping, one that’s more about comfort, design aesthetics, and staying put.
“Unlike American-style camping, which many times serves as a base camp for activities, for us camping is the destination,” Reis says. Yes, Campfield sits just a few miles from scenic spots like Willapa Bay and Cape Disappointment, but Snow Peak wants its campsite to be the main attraction, with fancy amenities, a Japanese-style spa, mini cabins designed by an esteemed architect, and picturesque grounds—all showing off the company’s gear in the process.

Image: Courtesy Campfield
To facilitate camping-as-destination (and to give visitors an opportunity to try out some merchandise, all for sale in the on-site store), eight of the campground’s sites come equipped with two-room tents, pre-assembled and furnished with cots and sleeping pads (BYO bedding), plus modular standing kitchens, a firepit, table, and chairs. Think of it as turnkey camping. The sites, which can accommodate two to four people, start at $120 per night.
Neon tents and Coleman stoves are welcome at one of the 43 basic sites, which start at $85—and offer the option of a la carte rentals, such as a kitchen kit for $59 per day or an inflatable mattress for $15 per day. All campers share bathroom and dishwashing facilities that are a big step up from KOA: think rain showers, individual toilet rooms with private sinks, and elegant hardware flourishes.

Image: Courtesy Campfield
Those who prefer an actual roof overhead, meanwhile, can book a minimalist micro cabin with a bathroom and kitchenette. These prefab cottages were designed by Kengo Kuma, the superstar architect also behind the Portland Japanese Garden’s 2017 expansion; they start at $149 per night.

Image: Courtesy Campfield
Another notable feature not generally seen at American campgrounds: a spa. Included for all overnight guests is access to its open-air Ofuro Spa, inspired by traditional Japanese bathhouses. Ofuro includes a large soaking pool—kept at 104 degrees, it sits beneath a cantilevered wooden roof overlooking an alder grove—alongside a sauna built from fragrant Japanese cypress and a cold plunge. (The spa is also open to day visitors; a two-hour pass is $35.)

Image: Courtesy Campfield
A camp store, housed inside a sleek and airy building with floor-to-ceiling windows and a wood-burning stove, sells just about any Snow Peak product you could want, whether it’s a $1,900 tent or $38 titanium chopsticks. There’s also a variety of snacks on offer, from Japanese vegetable chips and Botan rice candy to brioche from Dylan’s Cottage Bakery in Long Beach, plus beer on tap and a café serving coffee and tea. Summer has so far brought a robust event lineup, including concerts and breathwork classes, which Campfield plans to continue into the fall and winter.
If a sea of earth-toned tents is where this ad opens, it closes on the takibi, the communal campfire lit on Friday evenings. Guests gather. A band plays. Orb-shaped lanterns flicker and glow. And maybe, at least for the weekend, this ad feels awfully comfortable.