Need a Break from the Digital Grind? Head for a Tree House!

Almost everyone knows—and grew up envying—the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. With its suspended walkways, complex system of ropes and pulleys, and basic indoor plumbing, it’s the ultimate aspirational home in the treetops.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, tree houses represent a return to a more analog way of life. Foster Huntington, a former designer at Ralph Lauren, left the concrete jungle of New York City in 2011, and after four years of nomadic living in a Volkswagen van, he built a tree-house home (called the Cinder Cone) in western Washington State.

If you’re like Huntington and seeking an escape from the proverbial rat race, there are some very chic tree houses—that is, “tree hotels” and “tree restaurants”—across the globe. And these days, you can fully immerse yourself in nature while still enjoying creature comforts. Some of the tree houses below resemble those of childhood fantasies, while others are more futuristic, but all of them put to shame the meager ropes and pulleys of the Swiss Family Robinson—and make for truly heightened experiences in nature.