for me cabin and camp are fairly synonymous
cottage is a fancy cabin
you can’t have a camp or cabin on the ocean, anything on the ocean is a cottage
I don’t mean “camp” like “kids summer camp” thing here. Think the size you’d take a family.
Go!
Am I in Maine or not in Maine?
Cabin: small, box like structure with limited service hook ups (no septic, probably have a propane tank or wood heat, very limited electric). Probably not built on a foundation. This is more a shelter than a home.
Camp: It’s a cleared and prepared patch of ground you park an RV or tent on. Maybe you have some structure like a lean to, wood shed, outhouse etc.
Cottage: similar to cabin but more refined with modern comforts. Has power, flushing toilets, proper kitchen. These range from fairly basic to super lux chalet type deals. More of a house than a basic shelter.
Cottage: style of residential dwelling. Traditionally English vernacular style.
Cabin: style of residential dwelling. Traditionally american frontier vernacular style
Camp: a place to part RVs or set up tents
Cabin - some rustic building in the woods, or your room on a cruise ship.
Camp - a verb. Been there, done that, don’t want to do it now (the outdoorsy kind). Camp as a noun - a swim camp or a womens camp at Xantusia, or the sports teams getting together for a training camp.
Cottage - a kind of cheese. Or a little house that’s probably way overpriced in East Nashville.
It depends on location!
In Montana, there is a chance you will get hantavirus if you stay in a cabin, which is a deadly virus and there is no cure for it. I think of Forest Service cabins.
In California, my in-laws lived in a cabin in Idyllwild. It had multiple guest bedrooms and bathrooms and was deluxe. The only thing lacking was hantavirus.
Cottage— that’s where a cute bunny family lives, and the mama bunny wears an apron and she teaches her 12 babies to help with the chores. She is a wise mama.
A camp involves tents or an RV, unless you are a 49-er during the Gold Rush. If you are a Gold Rush 49-er, your camp involves planks of wood fashioned into a shanty filled with hantavirus.
A shanty is a poorly constructed building that violates all building and safety codes.
A cabin is a small house in the woods or mountains.
A cottage is a small house in the countryside.
Camp is normally a verb, but as a noun it is a place where people camp. It isn’t a structure, but an area. An upscale camp or summer camp can include cabins, but usually just places to pitch tents or park RVs.
A cabin is a structure in the woods. A camp is the plot of land on which a cabin sits. A cottage is a cabin on a large body of water.
Cabin - no plumbing
Camp - tent and fire
Cottage - plumbing
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Cottage - a kind of cheese. Or a little house that’s probably way overpriced in East Nashville.
I lived in one of those back when the rent was $400/mo.
I think cheap rent now is somebody’s basement. Or maybe a camp
Cabin - varies by location/region/wealth. A frame is common, for small/cheaper examples. Could be on great lake. could be on large property, 10s to 100s of acres. Size varies. 500 sq ft to 5,000. As do the toys on the property. boats, snowmobiles, etc.
Cottage - often seasonal, again varies by wealth/region. Cottages are occupied mostly spring/summer/fall. No basement, screened in porch. lakeside often, but smaller inland, not often on a great lake. Small row boat or fishing boat in yard. At most 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. No dishwasher. Usually no garage. small yard/property. Buildings are usually older, at least 50 years old.
Camp - Midwest version is often used as “deer camp”. Often a modular/mobile home. Often off grid, no running water, electric generator. Multiple vehicles of varying disrepair in yard. See Trailer Park Boys or the Dancin’ Outlaw for examples.
Compound - contains cottages and cabins. Examples - Bush, Kennedy, Branch Davidians.
Shack - 1 room. no electric or water. Ted Kazcinski. Also Bunker. there was a guy found living in a self dug bunker in Milwaukee a few years back. Bunkers are also common in North Idaho.
A cabin is a small house in the woods or mountains.
A cottage is a small house in the countryside.
Camp is normally a verb, but as a noun it is a place where people camp. It isn’t a structure, but an area. An upscale camp or summer camp can include cabins, but usually just places to pitch tents or park RVs.
Just don’t use “cottage” as a verb around British people.
A cabin has a threadbare plaid couch of undetermined origin.
A camp is a plot of land for a tent
A cottage has a white picket fence and a rose arbor with a bunch of tall, swaying flowers flowers in the front yard
You drink whiskey in a cabin in a threadbare flannel shirt
You drink beer in a camp wearing an REI fleece
And you drink earl grey tea in a cottage while wearing a cardigan
My simple layperson gut reaction is in terms of creature comforts…
camp < cabin < cottage <<<<<< mansion
(excludes considerations like accommodations on a yacht, or cheese things, or training camp, etc.)
Cabin, the first thing that comes to my mind is an accommodation room on a ship
Camp, a piece of land where you set up a tent.
Cottage is something cutesy.
Love B&P’s description with bunnies 
I think my description of a cottage is pre-industrialization. That bucolic scene is a little outdated.
As I made my lunch in my tiny kitchen and looked out at my hedges and fruit trees in my tiny yard, I realized that I might live in a cottage (although it is not very cute. It’s merely nice and just right for me.)
Oh! Then I thought about my Mr. Bunny and his glasses that he wears. He and I will sit and read Slowtwitch, and then go do what bunnies do best. Wind in the Willows stuff.
for me cabin and camp are fairly synonymous
cottage is a fancy cabin
you can’t have a camp or cabin on the ocean, anything on the ocean is a cottage
I don’t mean “camp” like “kids summer camp” thing here. Think the size you’d take a family.
Go!
Cabin: Building in the woods
Camp: Not a building, a place where you have a tent or camper
Cottage: Building on a lake
For me,
A cabin is some permanent dwelling somewhere in a more remote location. That can range from a one room run down structure in the northern Sierras to a relatively high end rental in Lake Arrowhead.
A camp is temporary, with no permanent structure. Or a military base.
I’m not some prissy Brit, so I don’t know what a cottage is. I have made the cheese at home.
I really think it is a matter of where you live what these mean, where I am from a cottage is near the beach/ ocean, a camp is typically a hunting camp, rustic but in the woods, a cabin (ie log cabin) is a remote camp so likely made from material taken from the forest nearby.
for me cabin and camp are fairly synonymous
cottage is a fancy cabin
you can’t have a camp or cabin on the ocean, anything on the ocean is a cottage
I don’t mean “camp” like “kids summer camp” thing here. Think the size you’d take a family.
Go!
A cabin is in the woods, a camp is in the woods on water.