Plan an urban campout! It’s not as scary—or illegal—as it sounds.

Friday and Saturday nights in July and August, families (children are required for this option) can join the Urban Park Rangers for a free camping experience at parks within the five boroughs. Start with a cookout, then enjoy activities like stargazing and night hikes in some of the city’s largest and best-loved parks. There’s a lottery for camping spots and parks; some of the more interesting parks include Wolfe’s Pond Park on Staten Island, which has a swimming beach, forest and bike trails though its urban location retains plenty of urban grit. Central Park, Prospect Park and Fort Greene Park are favorites, of course. The Junior Rangers Day Camp program gives Junior a chance to camp out as well.

You can also camp within city limits at an actual public campground: There’s one at Floyd Bennett Airfield in Brooklyn. Reservations for the 5 campgrounds at the vintage Army Air Corp Base can be tough to get, as the field is sometimes reserved for groups (though this may be changing soon: The US Secretary of the Interior recently announced a plan to transform Floyd Bennett from an abandoned municipal airport into “America’s largest urban park campground,” with up to 600 campsites). (via matadornetwork.com, Nathan Kensington, NY Daily News).

The Boy Scouts have a private 143-acre Staten Island oasis just for camping. Local artists can sometimes be counted on to pitch a tent on the grid: In 2009 Lisa Kirk created a timeshare shantytown called House of Cards within the Brooklyn Navy Yard; Anyone could pay $199 per week for a share in the almost-open-air shantytown/installation and get full access to explore the abandoned Navy Yard (via Nathan Kensington).

If you want to see the sky in the morning but really don’t want any of the pesky privations of camping out—like not having room service or a s’mores-bearing butler—the Outdoor Bedroom at the AKA Central Park Hotel awaits, for $3,000 a night (Urban Daddy).