7 Best Places to Take a Cannabis Vacation

We’ve come a long way from Reefer Madness and the War on Drugs to the rampant legalization of recreational marijuana. It’s not only happening in the U.S. and Canada, but all around the world. The easing of restrictions has led to the rise of a new buzz term in the bud industry—cannabis tourism—which includes everything from pop up hash bars and themed consumption lounges to farm visits and luxury hotels specializing in sativa-induced sleep.

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According to Cannabis Travel Association International, cannabis tourism is a growth industry, not only in North America, but in places like Spain, Mexico, India, Uruguay, and Thailand. While cannabis tourism operates legally, it’s still a bit of an underground thing. In many states and countries, you can grow or buy weed, but consumption is only legal on private property. In response, cannabis-friendly hotels and home rentals, as well as cannabis-featured farm tours, private catering, yoga sessions, painting classes, and gourmet meals are proliferating. After Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, a study found that nearly 50 percent of tourists visited due to the new Rocky Mountain High-friendly legislation.

Ready to join the party? Here are our favorite cities and areas in and around the U.S. to design your first cannabis vacation.

Best Places to Take a Cannabis Vacation

Las Vegas

It’s no surprise that Sin City is on the forefront of cannabis tourism. Not only are consumption lounges becoming a thing, but so are guided “trips” that include everything from cannabis tours from the Grand Canyon to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to helicopter flights over the Strip. You’ll want to check out Planet 13, a 112,000 square foot warehouse that’s reputed to be the world’s largest dispensary. With 64 checkout stands, the “Costco of Weed,” is open 24/7. One of the first consumption lounges is the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace on Las Vegas Paiute tribal land north of downtown. Native Reservations operate independently from federal law, and were some of the first to embrace cannabis tourism.

There are few people in the cannabis entertainment industry as enthusiastic and knowledgeable as proprietor Maxine Fensom, founder of Las Vegas Cannabis Tours and Las Vegas Cannabis Weddings. Sign up for the Stoner Tour to visit three dispensaries, take the Get High and Fly helicopter tour, or the Grass and Glass option to create your own glass-blown dabber. Fensom (an ordained minister) also has created Las Vegas Wedding Tours, where you can say “I Doobie” inside Planet 13 or in the privacy of a cannabis grow house, complete with cannabis-leaf bouquet.

Stay at the Lexie Hotel, which bills itself as the spot for cocktail, cannabis, and cabana connoisseurs where you’ll find velvety banquettes, poolside vignettes, and well-dressed rooms and suites that “cut loose from the status quo.”

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Los Angeles

There are plenty of cannabis tours in L.A., but perhaps the most unique experience is the Cannabis Supper Club. The Supper Club hosts private events that focus on gourmet meals that are paired with locally grown, high-end weed. There is a “tasting bar,” an infused-food menu created by celebrity chef Chris Binotto. The organization hosts a handful of culinary/cannabis experiences throughout the year, including a Halloween extravaganza called the Spooktacular Bash, followed by Danksgiving, and a New Year’s Eve party. You can get on their mailing list for updates of upcoming events or buy tickets to individual dinners on the website. Locations are kept secret until 48 hours before each event, which run from $250 to $350 per person.

New York City

Located in the heart of SoHo, The House of Cannabis (THC NYC), is a 30,000-square foot immersive, multi-sensory experience that explores the plant’s impact on art, music, history, and social reform. The property offers three floors of interactive installations, including the Euphorium, a hazy, light-soaked room furnished with a giant spinning record which guests can laze upon while listening to trippy music. The facility is designed to educate people about the history of cannabis, as well as to cultivate an appreciation for the plant. It also houses a luxurious private event rooftop lounge. Plans include an on-site dispensary, plus a variety of cultural events and programming.

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Arizona

In Tempe, AZ, head to the Mint Café. It’s attached to a dispensary and has a kitchen that makes cannabis-infused food. The Weed Pizza is pretty amazing, as are the gourmet chicken wings, street tacos, and fries and tot options (garlic parmesan, lemon pepper, or truffle oil). Stay at The Clarendon Hotel and Spa, a cannabis-friendly hotel with its own consumption lounge, luxury transport, and tours for all sorts of activities.

San Francisco and Northern California

It’s not surprising that there’s a “Cannabis Trail” in Northern California. This verdant part of the state has been the world’s budbasket for years. Now that recreational use of pot is legal, it’s the perfect destination for high adventure. Emerald Farm Tours offers full-day tours from San Francisco to some of the state’s most interesting cannabis farms. You’ll meet the farmers and extractors, taste and sample the local flavors, and come away with a newfound understanding and appreciation for the history (and future) of the cannabis plant.

In Mendocino County, there are “Puff & Paint” sessions (getting “baked” fresh daily) at Fort Bragg’s The Bakery that features artisanal cannabis products. In Ukiah, visitors can tap into The Plantshop for a stash of local sun-grown herb or a medicated yoga session. On site, a half-acre consumption lounge provides a safe and communal environment for imbibing. Nearby, the Compassionate Heart offers a standout selection of local green, along with a playful alfresco smoke lounge. For a collective high, check out Kure Wellness, with three outposts that provide hip, shaded smoking lounges and locally sourced product. Farther north, Willits is home to the Cannabis Culture Museum, providing over 50 years of insight and ephemera on the ancient use of marijuana as medicine, hemp culture, and cannabis counterculture.

In Sonoma wine country, Mine+ Farm is set on 2.5 acres along the Russian River, and housed in the 117-year-old historic Ridenhour Ranch. The property cultivates small-batch cannabis from seed to harvest to share with guests in the form of special wine and weed-infused dinners and "elevated" yoga events to custom, complimentary pre-rolls shared onsite.

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Colorado

Colorado has more than 3,000 marijuana businesses according to the Denver Gazette’s last count, and the industry keeps growing. In fact, sometimes it feels like Denver is the weed center of the universe, offering all-inclusive pot vacations and various weed tours at a quick glance. High among them, Colorado Cannabis Tours will pick you up at the airport and deliver you to your hotel. The company’s Original Colorado Cannabis Tour will then board you onto a party bus bound for some Denver's famous dispensaries. Other tours include trips to Red Rocks Amphitheater and Lookout Mountain for a surreal sunset experience.

Canada

Western Canada has been called the Disneyland of cannabis culture, with Vancouver especially on the cutting edge of cannabis tourism. In neighboring Alberta mountain country, join a tour with Cannanaskis (the name is a play on Kananaskis Country, the outdoor sports playground near the town of Banff) run by founder/owner Dave Dormer, an award-winning journalist and expert on weed culture. He’ll take you to a classically Canadian dispensary, and then, after a smoke break, guide you through the magnificent mountains and valleys of Kananaskis. You can also sign up for a myriad of puff and paint classes offered weekly in Calgary. For an overview of Canadian cannabis laws, go to the Canadian Cannabis Tourism Alliance (CCTA) website. 

Cannabis History: The Evolving Story of Marijuana

Marijuana, Mary Jane, bud, reefer, weed, dope, ganja, grass, skunk, blunt, whatever you want to call it, has a long and checkered past. The use of hemp (the same plant species as cannabis, but not bred for its THC content) for ropes, sails, and clothing dates back tens of thousands of years. Archeologists suspect the plant (and its use) originated in the Altai Mountains of Central Asia and Western China. In Europe, nearly two pounds of THC along with the bones of a man thought to be a shaman were found in a grave dating to about 750 B.C. And, scholars point to passages in classic works of literature including Homer’s Odyssey, and essays by Herodotus and Pliny the Elder as describing the psychoactive qualities of the plant.

Weed also has a long history in North America. In the early 1600s, Virginia required farmers to grow hemp and it was used for legal tender in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. George Washington grew hemp. By the 1800s, marijuana was a common ingredient in medicines designed to treat everything from skin rashes and migraines to depression. It wasn’t until after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, when Mexican immigrants headed north en masse, that recreational weed gained notoriety. It’s thought that racial prejudices, fueled by the work shortages of the Great Depression, led to stiffer sanctions. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed the plant. In 1937 the Federal Marihuana (sic) Tax Act significantly decreased public access, although due to its quick-growing nature, weed still thrived along highways, on riverbanks, and in secluded backyards.

In 1970, with Nixon’s War on Drugs gaining speed, the plant was included in the Controlled Substance Act as a Schedule 1 Drug, putting it in the same category as heroin. That didn’t stop consumption by any means, but it did give the government the opportunity to arrest many a “troublemaker.” By 1973, Oregon and Texas decriminalized the drug, making possession of less than an ounce a misdemeanor, which set the stage for the medical marijuana revolution of the late ‘70s. Marijuana was gaining a following not only by jazz musicians, rock and rollers, beatniks, hippies, and teenagers who were “dropping out and turning on,” but also by cancer and MS patients for its ability to help fight pain and nausea.

Cut to the late 1990s, groups like NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) had gained traction. California, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington originally legalized the medical use of the plant.

Today, 24 states (plus Washington D.C., three U.S. territories, and six tribal nations) have sanctioned not only medical marijuana, but also recreational use. Now, cannabis is a 30-plus billion-dollar industry in the U.S., involving thousands of “grows,” dispensaries, edible manufacturers, and new consumption lounges where people can gather and party. With recreational cannabis consumption being at an all-time high, it’s no wonder that cannabis tourism is flourishing.

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Top Cannabis Tourism Tip: Get a Guide

For both novices and the initiated, like in all potentially hazardous activities, having a knowledgeable and responsible cannabis guide provides a safe, fun, and educational way to expand your vacation experience. A good guide knows where you can combine activities, food, and education into a fun experience while providing situational awareness and savvy in a new environment. They can chaperone you to a luxury hotel offering cannabis infused spa and sleep experiences, or to a private event run by a professional chef/budtender. Whether it’s having a designated driver for a “bud-crawl” or a local expert who can put together a day of activity and adventure enhanced by a curated crop, a quality guide service is your ticket to a successful cannabis vacation.

Know the Laws: Don’t Get Busted

It’s important to remember that while recreational possession and consumption of cannabis are legal in many states, it’s still illegal in others—and still listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the U.S. federal government. You can’t take it on commercial flights, and it’s banned on federal lands such as national parks and forests (home to many ski areas), BLM lands, and national monuments. The same goes for cruises in U.S. waters. It can’t be legally transported across state lines, even if both states allow it for recreational use. Marijuana is legal in Canada, but you can’t transport it in or out of the country. Smoking in public is generally prohibited. Always do your own homework on the cannabis rules for your intended destination. Again, this is where a cannabis guide can make life a lot less stressful in many ways.