Travelers looking for a vacation in the great outdoors are turning to a nostalgic source of comfort and solitude: treehouses.
But these aren’t the treehouses of their childhood. Like the travelers who are booking them, the treehouses have matured too.
Modern treehouses are more luxury homes than kid hangouts — with a price to match. Treehouses constructed by professionals can easily cost six figures to build.
“A fully appointed treehouse with kitchen, bathroom, heat and air conditioning … we’re building those around $200,000,” Pete Nelson, the star of Animal Planet’s TV show “Treehouse Masters,” told CNBC in 2014.
Treehouses that are built for people to live in now average around $240,000, according to HomeAdvisor, a website that connects homeowners with home services.
Since then, prices have risen along with demand, a situation further propelled by the global pandemic and a desire for offbeat, outdoor accommodations.
Grand entrances
Aside from a worn-out patch of grass in the backyard, old-school treehouses didn’t typically incorporate much of an entrance. Modern ones do, some with gated walkways, stone staircases and ramps built for wheelchairs and pets.
One such treehouse is the Chez’ Tree Rest Treehouse in upstate New York, which is accessible via a 60-foot footbridge that begins at a heart-shaped gate. Another 30-foot-long cable bridge connects the treehouse to a separate relaxation deck.
Owner Tom Wallace discusses the treehouse’s construction in a video tour of the treehouse where he also provides tips for a comfortable stay.
Rates start at $285 per night.
New heights
Treehouses for children should be between six and 12-feet tall with railings that are at least 36 inches high, according to Tree Top Builders, a custom builder based in Exton, Pennsylvania. Those heights also assume a mulch or wood chips are placed below the treehouse to soften a potential fall.
Treehouses built for big people aren’t constrained by these standards, as evidenced by the three-story Punta Jaguar jungle treehouse in Matapalo, Costa Rica.
What the house lacks in walls, it makes up in style. Sinks and water faucets are made of seashells, and a separate ground-level bungalow comes with colorful swivel windows and electric drawbridge-style dropdown decks. It has a caretaker and private path to the beach, according to the website. Guests are encouraged to be 7 years old and above.
Rates start at $255 per night.
Guests at Peru’s Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica treehouse sleep 70 feet above the rainforest floor.
Courtesy of Inkaterra Hotels
Thrill-seekers can sleep in the Amazon rainforest at Peru’s Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica ecolodge. The lodge’s sole treehouse is located more than 70 feet above the rainforest floor at the end of a series of seven suspended bridges.
Programs start from $492 for a two-night stay, plus an additional $660 to sleep in the treehouse.
