Drive twenty minutes east of downtown Austin and the city loosens its grip. The road opens, the pasture widens, and somewhere past the fence line a couple of donkeys look up from the grass to watch you arrive. This is Rancho Moonrise, 36 acres of Texas ranch land where the tents have proper beds and the pool has a bar, all of it arranged to make you forget how close you still are to a major city.

When you look closer at the details, at the hand-carved river-rock sink in the bathhouse, the woven textiles in the shop, the custom rugs in the tents, a different story starts to show itself. Rancho Moonrise is not just a campsite that got dressed up.

The Designer Behind the Ranch

The person behind the aesthetic is Ashley Ludkowski, a textile and interior designer who also runs an Austin design business called Selva Studio. Her work centers on handmade textiles produced with artisans in Mexico, custom weavings and pieces made slowly and by hand. Her fingerprints are all over the ranch, and once you know to look for them, you cannot unsee them.

Her design lineage explains why Rancho Moonrise feels considered in a way most glamping properties do not. The Lodge, the social heart of the property, has a stone fireplace, leather couches, and a small shop stocked with the kind of artisan finds regulars admit they cannot leave without. Guests reviewing the ranch reach for the same words again and again: thoughtfully designed, beautifully considered, funky and bohemian in the best way. That is not an accident. That is a designer's eye applied to every corner of 36 acres.

More Than a Place to Sleep

Underneath the pool parties and the live music, Rancho Moonrise has quietly built a genuine wellness rhythm. The ranch hosts events such as a Yoga and Mimosas morning: an all-levels vinyasa class on the open pasture followed by an afternoon at the pool. There are sunset sound baths. There have been spring equinox ceremonies blending yoga with intention-setting, ceramics workshops in the open air, and full wellness day retreats built around rest and reconnection.

The setting does a lot of the work. Practicing outdoors on actual ranch land, no mirrors and no studio walls, just central Texas morning air before the heat sets in, is a different experience from a class in a converted storefront. And because everything sits on the same 36 acres, there is no shuttling between a studio, a restaurant, and a hotel. You move from the mat to the brunch table to the pool without ever getting in your car. For groups, the ranch takes private wellness bookings too, which is how the occasional yoga studio, bachelorette party, or company offsite ends up out here for a weekend of something more intentional than a bar crawl.

Where You Actually Stay

There are two ways to sleep on the ranch, and both come with air conditioning, heat, and beds dressed in real linens. The hand-crafted cabins are built for two, with a queen bed, floor-to-ceiling windows framing the pasture, and a private covered deck with a fire pit. The canvas safari tents run larger, sleeping two to four across queen, king, and bunk configurations.

The bathroom situation is worth understanding before you book, because it shapes the experience. The premium safari tents have private ensuite bathrooms. The cabins and the standard tents share the communal bathhouse, a cedar-and-metal building with river-rock sink. It is clean, well kept, and a short walk from your site.

Every stay opens up the rest of the property: the resort-style pool, the Lodge with beer and wine, snacks and WiFi. The donkeys, for the record, are not a scheduled activity. They show up at the fence line when they feel like it, and they are the reason guests often find themselves out walking the property after dawn.

Why It Works

What makes Rancho Moonrise worth the short drive is that it refuses to be just one thing. It is a design object you can sleep inside and a pool day you can bring the kids to, a wellness morning and a live-music night on the same patch of land. The through-line is the care taken with it, the sense that someone with a real aesthetic point of view sweated the details so you would not have to.

Happening Next: Horses & Pilates

If you want a taste of the ranch's wellness side before committing to a full weekend, the next one lands on Saturday, August 22, 2026. Horses and Pilates runs from 10 AM to 6 PM, with the mat Pilates class starting at 10:30.  

Elizabeth Alanoori leads the hour-long mat Pilates class, and after you have found your center, you will trade the mat for the saddle on a 15-minute guided horseback ride around the property. The ticket also includes a day pool pass so you can stay and swim through the afternoon, goodies from Lona Beauty, a complimentary sparkling wine from Summer Club (or a non-alcoholic option), and a carrot to feed the horses.

Bring water, a mat, a swimsuit and towel, and closed-toe shoes for the ride. It is a low-commitment, high-charm way to meet the ranch, and exactly the kind of design-meets-wellness afternoon that makes Rancho Moonrise worth knowing about. Tickets available here.

The Details

Where: Rancho Moonrise, 20117 Lockwood Road, Manor, TX 78653

Closest airport: Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS), roughly a 20 to 25 minute drive from the ranch.

How to book: Overnight stays in the cabins and safari tents book directly through the reservation link at ranchomoonrise.com. Pool day passes for non-guests are handled separately through ResortPass. Weddings, corporate retreats, and private events start with a venue tour rather than an online package.

Website: ranchomoonrise.com

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All photography courtesy of Rancho Moonrise.