This New Polished Aluminum Camper Is Cooler Than Any Airstream, But Its Price Will Make You Faint

The Airstream camper is a worldwide phenomenon. Everyone can identify an Airstream, even if they don’t like RVs. No other RV company has the cachet of Airstream. But there is a camper out there that I think is cooler than an Airstream, and it comes from a name that’s technically older than Airstream. This is the new Bowlus Endless Highways Frontier Edition. It’s a trailer that’s built like a plane, polished to a mirror-like shine, and nails the vintage look perfectly. It’s also so expensive that I hope you’re sitting down when you read the price.

I got to tour the Bowlus Endless Highways Frontier Edition at the 2026 Florida RV SuperShow. Seeing its inclusion made me so excited that I surprised myself. The modern Bowlus has been around for a while now, but its exposure was mostly online. For years, I never saw any new Bowlus in person. I even got to see an original 1930s Bowlus Road Chief years before I ever saw a new Bowlus. The folks behind the RV are finally bringing their trailers to more traditional RV shows, where real people can see and touch them.

Now, I make a huge claim there in the headline. I’ve been pretty transparent that Airstream is one of my favorite RV brands. Given a lot more money than I’d have now, I’d buy Airstream’s Stetson trailer in a heartbeat. So it’s pretty serious when I say that there’s something even cooler out there. I don’t want you to confuse “cooler” with “better,” here.

I don’t think a Bowlus is better than an Airstream. Instead, Bowlus just takes a different route to get the same destination of a modern retro aircraft-inspired trailer, and the end result had me saying “wow” every time I looked closely at a detail. Let’s look at why the Endless Highways Frontier Edition did that to me.

Rebirth

The modern incarnation of Bowlus sort of exists in a world of technicalities. Bowlus predates Airstream and is often reported to be the inspiration for Airstream’s first aluminum trailer. If you want to read how the original Bowlus came to be, click here to read my previous coverage.

What you need to know is that Hawley Bowlus gave up on making trailers in 1936 after only 80 units were built. He would go back to the world of aviation, where he came from. Nobody would make a new Bowlus trailer for a whole 78 years. That would change in 2011 when 28-year-old Wharton graduate Geneva Long decided to act on her dream of a future where electric cars pulled electric campers. Her inspiration came from helping her parents restore a 1935 Bowlus Road Chief. She decided to revive the Bowlus name in 2013.

The new Bowlus trailers share only their visuals with the trailers of old. A modern Bowlus features a TIG-welded aluminum frame and a body made out of 2024-T3 aluminum and is fastened together with thousands of real rivets, each spaced an inch apart. Another departure from the original trailers is the interior. The originals were a little more function over form, whereas these trailers are supposed to feel like yachts inside.

Can Campers Be Art?

The Endless Highways debuted in 2019. Back then, Bowlus CEO Long called it “the most refined travel trailer ever created,” which is certainly a big claim. The trailer was pitched as the ultimate RV for people who want everything. To put that into terms that aren’t buzzwords, it meant luxury and a large battery system.

The Bowlus Endless Highways Frontier Edition that was at the RV show was an impressive unit. Its aluminum had a mirror-like finish, and I couldn’t find a single imperfection worth noting. Bowlus trailers are unique for their rear taper and door right in the nose. The photos honestly don’t do the Endless Highways justice. It’s 27 feet of raw beauty. I would not normally call a camper an art piece, but a Bowlus is definitely an exception.

The attention to detail on this trailer’s exterior is insane. Take a look at the taillights. Yes, they’re sort of generic LED units, but they’re shrouded in riveted aluminum. The backup camera also gets its own aluminum box. That bumper goes perfectly with the trailer’s theme, too. Also, have you seen a propane tank holder that looks half as awesome?

I was especially impressed with the entry door. It’s a multi-layered lump of aluminum with more rivets and a neat window that has a bronze mesh screen. It feels like it’s nearly a century old when it isn’t.

Another very nice touch with the exterior is a system that Bowlus calls AeroMove. This system consists of a pair of electric motors that reach out and turn the tires of the camper using friction-based rollers. This allows you to detach the trailer and use a remote control function to park it. Apparently, these motors are strong enough to park the trailer on an incline or off-road. These motors do not help propel the trailer down the road. They assist only in parking so you can fit the trailer into a tight space.

Other gear includes torsion axles, a tongue with a jockey wheel and a built-in scale, and a neat outdoor dining table.

One Of My Favorite RV Interiors

The interior is where the Bowlus has its greatest departure from something like an Airstream. Unlike an Airstream, which has layouts that feel pretty close to a normal travel trailer, the Bowlus feels very compartmentalized, like a boat or aircraft. There’s a kitchen right up at the front, a lounge and dining in the middle, a bathroom, and then the bedroom. This layout honors Bowlus’ heritage as the old Road Chiefs were like this inside.

The galley features a two-burner induction cooktop, a fridge/freezer, and a sink. The countertops and sink are stainless steel,  while the cabinetry is aluminum. You get a choice of a microwave or a convection oven, and the microwave option can run on the trailer’s battery system.

The rest of the trailer comes with pretty much every option box checked. There are birch wood ceiling panels, walnut walls and trim, skylights, bronze mesh screens, roll-up curtains, hand-stitched leather, a dinette, a sofa that turns into a bed, and armchairs that turn into another bed.

Aft of there is a dry bathroom that is divided across the center aisle. On one end is a “hotel-style shower,” and on the other sits a cassette toilet. There’s also a stainless steel sink and a heated bathroom fan. Apparently, the shower head extends outside so you could wash something off before coming inside.

Finally, we reach the bedroom where there are two twin beds that convert into a king bed, a lot more wood, and another heating fan. The taper of the trailer meets back here, and it feels really warm and cozy.

I have almost nothing negative to say about this interior. Every single material that I touched felt top-notch, and the theming was well thought out and cohesive. Maybe I’m crazy, but the materials in this actually felt a lot better than that $1.8 million motorhome I recently wrote about.

This was a trailer that, in person, looked and felt like something that was handmade in the 1930s. I felt like I was sitting in an RV that was carved out of a vintage business jet or something.

Honestly, if every RV company built their interiors to the level of quality as a Bowlus, I’m not sure anyone would complain about garbage RV interiors again. Of course, this nice interior will make a whole lot of sense once I tell you the price.

The only negatives I have here are the 4.5-gallon cassette toilet, which feels like totally the wrong choice for a hyper luxury RV, and the shower, which will be cramped for tall people.

The list of equipment is pretty impressive, too. There’s a 19 kWh LiFePO4 battery, 400W watts of solar, a three-inch lift kit, all-terrain tires, two-stage water filtration, an instant water heater, and a HEPA air filter. Warmth comes from a hydronic heating system that makes the floors toasty and feeds heat to fans and radiators. Cooling comes from an air-conditioner that can run for at least eight hours in 100-degree weather from the on-board batteries. That battery system can also be used as an emergency charger for an EV to restore over eight miles of range. The heating system can also run on propane if you run out of juice.

The Endless Highways Frontier Edition

The new Bowlus seems to be taking from Airstream in that it’s coming out with sweet limited editions. The Frontier Edition is supposed to be a bit of a celebration of the Old West. From Bowlus:

True to its lineage, the Frontier Edition carries forward a legacy born on a California ranch, where the very first Bowlus was crafted by hand nearly a century ago. Hawley Bowlus built his early designs surrounded by open fields and wide skies, shaping each rivet and curve with the same pioneering spirit that defined early aviation. Today, that spirit endures, refined and ready for the next frontier of luxury land travel.

The Frontier Edition pays homage to the ranching traditions and wide-open landscapes that have long symbolized American freedom. Every curve, surface, and material honors Bowlus’ heritage, born of aviation and perfected for the modern trail. Like the cowboys and explorers who first charted the West, the Bowlus Frontier Edition empowers travelers to roam without boundaries. It is quietly luxurious and wildly capable.

The Frontier Edition, which is limited to 25 exquisite travel trailers, includes the following packages and options: Adventure Package, Luxe Package, Off-Grid Power Package II, Maneuvering Package and the stunning exquisite Bowlus screen door. The Bowlus screen door, a work of art, takes over 100 hours to create – almost double the amount of time spent manufacturing an entire traditional RV – and is exclusively on the Frontier Edition. The Frontier Edition pushes artistry even further with handcrafted design elements that evoke the rugged sophistication of the West. Each Frontier Edition is badged, numbered and is available in the Dusk or Dawn color stories.

I think you can see what I mean when I say that a Bowlus is cooler than an Airstream, but not necessarily better. It sort of depends on what you’re looking for. The level of detail here is phenomenal, and the trailer feels like a time machine. It’s a trailer that I have no doubt will turn heads wherever it goes.

It’s As Expensive As A House

But now I have to deliver the bad news. At a starting price of $185,000, a Bowlus Endless Highways is purely a trailer for people with money. You’re actually catching the Endless Highways at a good time for its price tag. The price went up to $215,000 in the early part of the 2020s and has since come back down to $185,000.

Oh, right, but this isn’t just any Endless Highways, but the Frontier Edition. Alright, are you sitting down? The trailer I toured starts at $256,000. In fairness, the Frontier Edition does come with most option boxes checked. It has the most luxurious interior option, the biggest battery, the remote control system, the lift kit, and Starlink. Pretty much the only option it doesn’t have by default is the kitchen upgrade with more storage space and the convection oven.

The interior materials also make sense, given the price. I mean, over 100 hours of work just to make a door is something else. It’s just built to a different level than even a typical luxury RV. The other specs are good, too. The empty weight of an Endless Highways is as low as 3,200 pounds, and the gross weight goes no higher than 4,400 pounds. This fancy version comes with a 50-gallon water tank and a 30-gallon gray tank. too.

Honestly, if you have the cash that a new Bowlus commands, I’m almost certain that you won’t regret it. This is sort of a special boutique sort of thing, like a Bimota motorcycle or maybe one of those coachbuilt supercars. I know I would be smiling every time I looked at it!

I do, however, wish the marketing didn’t have so much puffery. Bowlus says its trailer “is the most aerodynamic RV, and the Endless Highways is extraordinarily light, between 4,000 – 4,400 lb depending on the configuration, which gives the Bowlus the most extended EV towing range of any full-size RV.”

Technically, this claim is disputable. Yes, this trailer is aerodynamic, but you will still lose range while towing it. Maybe this statement was written before the Pebble Flow and the Lightship AE.1 self-propelled aerodynamic travel trailers went into production, because both of them actually extend EV range by helping the tow vehicle.

Marketing aside, I was blown away. The level of cool dripping off this thing basically made my head spin. I wasn’t alone, either, because I always saw a crowd at the Bowlus display. In a world of boring white boxes and tropical plywood, I wish more companies were like Bowlus and Airstream. If a camper can be considered art, I think a Bowlus would be worthy of any gallery.