Can Amonita, Ibiza
This six-room, white-washed modern finca overlooking the San Lorenzo valley has a lovely pool and a large wooden yoga deck shaded by a cream sail. From May to September book into a week-long yoga or mindfulness retreat or hire the villa for a house party. Between September and May, Can Amonita offers B&B stays, and year-round there’s the chance to book various classes and activities (the life drawing classes with US artist Joel Rice are a real highlight). Owner Lizzy Webster is a Bowen therapist and can also arrange for other holistic therapists to treat you in-room. Lizzy and her husband Dominic also host retreats here for those in recovery.
• From £45pp per night B&B, £795pp for a week’s retreat, whole house available to rent on request. 0034680303114, ibizavillaamonita.com
Serenity Retreat, Greece
Serenity Retreat was set up by Zen Buddhist meditation teacher Kim Bennett, who is relaxed and fun with an infectious sense of humour. Retreat-style holidays take place from May on the island of Lefkada in Greece and combine personal development courses with excursions, therapies, meditation sessions and guided walks. Relax on the beach, potter around the village, spend time alone or meet like-minded people. The courses are optional, and are designed to nudge you into new ways of thinking about your life.
• From £379pp per week in Greece, including accommodation, transfers from most flights, a welcome lunch, guided meditations and walks. Food is self-catering. 01698 542787, serenityretreat.co.uk
Joie de Vivre Retreats at Yobaba Lounge, France
These rejuvenating five-day breaks are held at an arty, renovated château in the south of France and offer an unusual blend of yoga, meditation, holistic treatments, nutritional consultations, gourmet healthy meals, local wines and an immersion in the local history of the Cathars. They’re run by former fencing athlete and massage therapist Gertrud Keazor, who’s an interesting, caring hostess and a good chef – her meals are inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi‘s cook books. The château’s rooms are comfy and individually decorated, and the retreats take no more than eight guests at a time. The next runs 15-19 March.
• From £850pp for four nights in a shared room, all inclusive. 07834 96 3000, yobabalounge.com
Mobile Mermaid pilates retreats, Spain
Hove-based pilates teacher and holistic therapist Susie Mermaid runs boutique retreats six times a year for just six guests at a time. They’re held at Finca Amorosa, a restored farmhouse in Andalucia, and feature 90-minute morning and evening pilates sessions on the terrace, massage treatments, guided walks and cultural excursions. There’s a pool, and meals use locally sourced ingredients – the finca produces its own olive oil and is surrounded by fruit trees.
• This retreat is no longer operating
Discover Your Depth retreats, Egypt
The four-times freediving world record holder Sara Campbell is also a talented kundalini yoga teacher who runs retreats in the relaxed seaside village of Dahab on the Red Sea. From 29 March to 5 April , she joins forces with top Danish instructor Joern Noertoft to offer a week-long break, mixing twice-daily yoga and meditation with snorkelling sessions and a two-day safari into the Sinai desert. You stay at the cosy, beachside Amanda Hotel and Art Café, which serves up veggie and vegan food. Year round, Sara also offers well-being retreats based at her own villa in Dahab with yoga and meditation, life coaching, desert excursions and optional diving/freediving tuition.
• The group retreat costs £670 for seven nights’ B&B, all yoga classes, a welcome dinner, the desert trip (fully catered) and a guided snorkelling session. +20 122 744 5646, discoveryourdepths.com
Yogashala, Kerala, India
This simple place in Kovalam offers private and group yoga classes on a rooftop platform near the Light House Beach with owner Padma Nair, who fuses sivananda, iyengar and ashtanga in her teaching. Combine her classes with a 10-day programme of daily chavutti thirummal, the distinctive Indian foot massage, and you’re likely to leave a transformed person. She also offers dedicated yoga holidays. Stay in the simple Pink Flowers guesthouse, or Padma can help arrange more luxurious accommodation nearby.
• From €20 (£17) pp per night for accommodation and yoga; €300 euros for a block of 10 massages. +91 9895 882 915, yogashala.in
Reclaim Your Self, various locations
Reclaim Your Self offers healthy holidays that combine yoga, healthy eating, holistic therapies and cooking around the world. Holidays this year include a yoga holiday on an organic farm in Cambodia (March), a yoga and digital detox weekend at a Grade II-listed Tudor house in Suffolk (October), and a cooking and yoga retreat at a renovated 16th-century farmhouse in rural Gascony in France (September/October). The French retreat features daily cooking classes with health-concious chef Hayley North and a daily yoga workshop with Scaravelli yoga teacher Helen Noakes. The company offer monthly payment plans for all their holidays.
• From £350 for a yoga weekend in Glastonbury to £775 for the week in France, including everything except travel/flights. 0208 350 8943, reclaimyourself.co.uk
The Pomegranate, Turkey
A lovely little hotel shaded by fruit trees and vines, and overlooking the craggy coast of south-west Turkey, this is an alternative retreat to big sister resort Huzar Vadisi, for those who want a few more creature comforts with their yoga. Book a yoga week with visiting teachers between April and October – various styles are on offer. The yoga shala is lovely – open-air and circular. Food is mainly vegetarian (although they do serve chicken and fish sometimes) and everything is fresh and local, cooked by owners Siggi and Mickey.
• Costs range from £655 to £895pp per week, including yoga, accommodation and food. huzurvadisi.com/venue_p
The Clover Mill, Worcestershire, UK
Inspired by her visits to ayurvedic retreats in Sri Lanka, Julie Dent left a successful career as a scientist and spent four years meticulously renovating the this 17th-century water mill to bring her vision of an ayurvedic spa to life. She’s a great hostess – attentive without being overbearing. Come for a personally-tailored programme, with daily yoga classes, authentic ayurvedic treatments and home-cooked organic meals. You sleep in gorgeous eco-lodges with decking and under-floor heating (powered by a wood pellet biomass boiler).
• From £499pp for two nights, including all meals, daily yoga classes and ayurvedic treatments. 01886 880859, theclovermill.com
Freely Given Retreats, Devon, UK
This charity offers meditation retreats to newcomers and dedicated meditators alike on a donation basis, so you pay only what you can afford. Retreats teach “insight meditation”, a form of mindfulness, and are held mainly in silence. The charity is supported by Jenny Wilks and Kirsten Kratz, experienced Buddhist teachers from Gaia House in Devon, and retreats are held at High Heathercombe, a simple, peaceful place inside Dartmoor national park. The next retreat, How To Make a Life, by teacher Ken Jones, runs 25-31 May.
• Suggested donation of at least £150pp per week for accommodation, full board and teaching, freelygivenretreats.org
Caroline Sylger Jones is the editor of queenofretreats.com
