Glamping in Friesland for a little get-away in the Netherlands. Sleeping three nights in a tent house at Smûk in Echtenerbrug with my family and our dog. It doesn’t sound like the most glamorous holiday destination ever. And probably it’s not. But actually, it was everything I was looking for. Realness and rewilding, spending time outside, walking barefoot and just be. Slow Travel. Staring at the ever changing landscape.
Sleeping at Smûk isn’t a five-star stay — there’s no daily housekeeping, the water runs cold until you boil it, and you’ll settle your farm-shop bill on an honesty board. What you get instead is real rewilding: three unplugged nights in a wood-and-canvas tent house, barefoot mornings, and a landscape that does the entertaining for you. It’s the kind of getaway that works best for families with young kids (and dogs) who want a short, low-effort break close to home — not a polished resort experience, but an authentic one. Ninety minutes from Amsterdam, it’s easy to do over a long weekend or as a gentle in-between-holidays reset.
Table of contents | On the move
Glamping in Friesland
Glamping at Smûk (the Frisian word for ‘a cosy feeling’), means you have all the basic luxuries. Perfect for a non-experienced camper like me. You got yourself a double bed plus a bunkbed for the children. A kitchen with cold water, an electric cooking plate, a water boiler, a coffee maker, a bench with table, a heater for colder days, and an outdoor shower with warm water. Optionally you can book yourself a hot tub as well (I would highly recommend, it’s part of the whole glamping experience at Smûk Friesland that I loved so much).
Besides the tent houses, Smûk also offers fully decorated bell tents and tiny houses (not available for dogs). Another option is to take your own tent or camper van. What I like about Smûk is that the location is still small scale. And although you got a few tent houses next to each other, it still feels quite privately, thanks to the green in between.
As soon as we arrive at the little tent house, the energy shifts, and we’re all in outdoor modus. The children are collecting wood for the fire and are sharpening branches so they could use them for roasting marshmallows and for their popcorn maker. We’re walking barefoot, enjoying the wideness of the Frisian landscape, watching geese fly over. We roast hamburgers above the fire and prepare us a nice meal with sourdough buns and kimchi that we took from home.
At Smûk, they have a bread service for the morning, and they have a little shop at the farm, where you will find some essentials to prepare yourself a nice, simple meal. They sell for example meat (like the hamburgers we roasted), milk, eggs, butter, ice-cream, a mix for making pancakes, drinks, nougat, tea and the owners of Smûk, Christa and Gert, also sell some vintage stuff, like bowls and vases. You can take what you want and write it down on a paperboard. You will pay afterwards, like an honesty bar.
Oh, and don’t forget to make a reservation for the pizza baking on Friday evening. You can choose the ingredients yourself and then Gert will bake the pizza’s in the wood oven. Another evening free of duty, that’s also part of the holiday.
Things for Kids to Do at Smûk
Kids will love to play at Smûk. For the little ones, next to the chickens and the goats, there is a sandbox with pans and bowls from enamel to play with. Inside the main house, there are games available and there’s a toy kitchen. Guests can also enjoy a coffee over here or use the space on rainy days. There’re big skelters to use and there is also a swing in the barn, made of a tractor tyre, to swing from one side of the haystack to another. This is the place where child’s memories are made.
In the morning, the children can search for eggs in and around the chicken coop. Besides, the owners of Smûk have kano’s for free use and guests can rent a sup board or an electric boat to go on the Frisian waters. There’s a canal close by. You will just follow the path between the meadows, surrounded by wild flowers, and you will reach the little Smûk ‘beach’ along the water.
My favorite spots in Friesland
Petra’s Sommerkafé
When I was looking for nice coffee places in Friesland, I soon discovered to my delight that Friesland offers quite some tea gardens. One of my favorites is Petra’s Sommerkafé in Langelille. This one is very close by Smûk in Echtenerbrug. Petra’s Sommerkafé offers homemade cakes, cinnamon buns with berries, coffee, ice-cream and lemonades.
When I visited the place last time- the lovely owner baked about five (!) different cakes (quite impressive if you ask me), cinnamon buns and brownies. It all looked so good and it was hard to choose. In the end, I chose the cinnamon bun and bought some extra for on the road. You can sit outside at their terrace (dogs are allowed, mine got a bowl of water from the owners), or pick a place inside.
-Petra’s Sommerkafé, Kerkeweg 95, Langelille. Open from April till September, only at Saturday, Sunday and Monday- from 11.00 till 17.00.
Farsk Britswert
I’m also a big fan of Farsk Britswert, a natural campsite where you also can have a drink as a non-guest. The inside of the barn with it’s enormous hight (the typical stulp farm) is beautiful, a joy to look at. With plants inside, a play area for the kids and a coffee corner. They also have a glasshouse and several terraces outside. For the kids, they have a sandbox, a trampoline and a swing. Leashed dogs are welcome too. I enjoyed a coffee at their terrace and went for the matha cheesecake. Go and explore, it won’t disappoint you.
-Farsk Britswert, Klaesterdyk 2, Britswert
It Flinkeboskje
It Flinkeboskje in Hemelum is another personal favorite. They organize vintage markets over here, with food trucks and options to have a drink. It’s also possible to rent (a part of) the house as well. You can find the market days (mostly on Sundays) on their website: www.tflinkeboskje.nl.
-It Flinkeboskje, Flinkeboskje 1+2, Hemelum
FAQ- everything you need to know about glamping in Friesland
It’s summer, but evenings and mornings can still feel a bit cold. So bring a sweater, a nice pyjama and something that works against mosquitoes (you’re close to water, so how good you try to keep the tent closed, they nonetheless will find a way to come in. And yes, they’re annoying. But, we take them for granted). Also on the packing list: a box of matches to make a fire, I took our popcorn-maker with us (we got the one from Huckleberry, it’s a great one, also a nice gift for children- and there’s an extra play element in it, because you have to find a fitting branche first) and some extra lemonade and drinks.
I think 3 to 4 nights are perfect for glamping at Smûk in Friesland. While glamping, we spoke about prolonging this year, but in the end we decided it was also good to go home (we have the beach near by, also a luxury, see my Haarlem with kids post for recommendations). You only have cold water in the tenthouse, so every time you’re dishwashing, you need to cook some water first (that’s also part of the charm and experience). In the end, you will experience, that you don’t need all the luxuries from home. And once I came home, I missed being outside all the time. Three nights are enough to totally unwind and have the full glamping experience.
The best thing is, you don’t need to do much here while staying at Smûk. Slowing down goes easily here. Ofcourse you can plan a visit somewhere (I can highly recommend places like Petra’s Sommerkafé, Farsk Britswert and It Flinkeboskje) but also make sure to have a day without doing anything. The day will unfold itself. Picking up bread from the main house, making tea, having breakfast, staring at the landscape, walk a round with the dog, doing the dishes. Laying in the grass, read a book, go for a dip in the hot tub. This is life.
Would I Go Back to Smûk? | on the move
You don’t need to travel far to have a fabulous time with your family. Sometimes, a really good holiday destination is near by, exploring a different part of your own country. In this case, glamping in Friesland in The Netherlands. In summer, we all think we need to go southwards, go to similar places. Drive miles and miles, with traffic jams and crowded filling stations. And yes, I also love to explore, and I love the southern part of Europe as well. But beauty can be found in many places, and it is also such a pity to totally skip the summer in your own country. So yes, glamping at Smûk in Echtenerbrug is a winner for me. I’m glad I found this place and there might be a good chance that I will return next summer. Thanks Smûk for having us ♥
More pages that might suit you:
- Slow travel & family travel
- The best things to do in Haarlem with kids
- 7 top Camping Spots for Giethoorn adventures
- The Netherlands travel guide
Lotte is a journalist, storyteller and our newest writer at Dutchbloggeronthemove. She’s been curious about the world since childhood — long before social media, she was sending letters to pen pals across the globe. What drives her travels today is the same thing that drove those letters: a genuine curiosity about people, places and the stories behind them. She travels with her family and their golden retriever Oscar, always at a slow pace, always with room for detours. For Lotte, the best travel moments aren’t planned — they’re the stars you watch from a terrace, the bakery you stumble upon, the conversation that changes your perspective.
