Winning tip
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Quinta Mimosa Yoga Retreat
Posted by mary46

Quinta Mimosa, Portugal, 20 min from Faro. A stunning yoga holiday in the beautiful Algarve, Quinta Mimosa is rural Portugal at its best! We would wake up to yoga classes with Bea, then wander down to the orange groves to pick fresh oranges to squeeze before heading off to brunch, where everybody gathered mid morning as the weather hotted up. Then we could swim in one of the two pools; head off to the sea or visit the local market in the lovely town of Loule. This July will be the third time I am visiting this retreat. I loved sitting quietly for meditation by the pool. The yoga sessions are inside a well-equipped studio, which is cool and tranquil; I could only hear the buzzing of the bees as we relaxed at the end of an enjoyable session. Returning from one of the afternoon excursions, there is an expert Pilates class before dinner! This retreat is well thought out, there is time to practice and time to play, it is very reasonable with great food and tuition. Shared accommodation from £430 to single acc £580.

20 minutes from Faro Airport, Algarve.
www.beayogi.co.uk or www.quintamimosaalgarve.com
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Moon Beach Retreat
Posted by annakhall

Tiny resort on the western coast of the Sinai peninsula, about halfway between Sharm and Cairo (you can fly to either, and then it's a fairly long drive though they will send someone to pick you up).

It is mainly a windsurfing place but they also run yoga courses which are really good, and also cheap - about £400 for a week half-board, including the yoga but excluding flights and drinks. It's a three star place but clean and with nice airy chalets dotted around the grounds, and a beach-front bar. Food is good and plentiful.

The yoga sessions (when I went a few years ago) are held for 1.5 hours every morning and evening in a shady room just off the beach. Mats and other cushions are provided and you can hear the sea as you practise.

The teachers change every couple of weeks so aim to go at a time when a teacher who interests you is going. The one just before I arrived was very meditation/breathing focused apparently (which wouldn't have suited me) but my teacher was fantastic - very position-focused and good at explaining what you were trying to achieve, so you're actively in the pose and not just standing there with your arms out. So make sure you check out which teacher will be there when you want to attend.

I was travelling alone and really enjoyed the social aspect. The yoga class was very small when I stayed (off-peak) and we always went into breakfast or dinner together after class, and met in the bar later. When I was there they let you bring your own booze for the week and store it in the windsurfing bar so you could drink more cheaply too!

I also did their trip up Mount Sinai to watch dawn at the top, and that was a very spiritual experience which fitted in brilliantly with the yoga ethos. It was about £35. They also had a lady doing massages a couple of days.

The windsurfing/yoga resort is part of a larger place which Egyptians use at weekends, so it got much busier and less 'Western' then, which was an interesting thing to be a part of - we got chatting to some young people from Cairo and played cards with them, which was a great night.

Bring lots of books as there isn't a huge amount to do between yoga sessions. You can snorkel (they lend you equipment) or try windsurfing, but it is often quite windy (there's a reason why it's wind-surfing centre) so I mostly read on sun-lounger behind a wind-break.

www.moonbeachretreat.com
Fly to Cairo or Sharm-el-sheikh
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Surya Thejus Advaitha Yoga Centre
Posted by Sissi

Forget fashionable yoga retreats, the Surya Thejus Advaitha Yoga Centre is both affordable and authentic, with not a chakra-aligning celebrity in sight.

Tucked away in a serene green corner of Kerala, with forests and the peaceful river Poorna to inspire your inner guru, the centre is in Kalady, a shrine to Adi Sankara, one of India’s foremost philosophers.

The secluded setting feels refreshingly ‘real’ rather than a boutique bolt-hole, with only 3 rooms, each clean and comfortable, and Yoga classes taught by expert teachers.

It was a great place to de-stress and unwind - the teachers were kind and helpful to wobbly beginners, and even my skeptical partner was chanting by the end.

We left feeling several stone lighter, thanks to healthy (but delicious) food served up in the Kerala Vegetarian Canteen, and at around £24 a night, you don’t pay through the teeth for Zen-like calm.

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/india/kalady/17718/
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Yoga retreats in PariaShakti
Posted by tonixandra

A yoga retreat on a cocoa plantation, next to a small chocolate factory. Run by a Californian Venezuelan, you can practice yoga and meditation, have a massage, wander through the plantation, swim in the splash pool, and relax watching the humming birds.
Food is excellent and imaginative, while chocolate is not obligatory, but recommended. Outings can be arranged to palm-shaded sandy coves or hot springs.
Just four self contained rooms at a very reasonable all-in price, especially if you make sure to take dollar or euro cash, rather than credit or debit cards to Venezuela.

Formerly known as Hacienda Bukare, PariaShakti is five miles from Rio Caribe, a pretty fishing village you can reach in half an hour by communal taxi or bus from Carupano on the north east coast.
www.pariashakti.com
or write to Greta Sanchez at reservaciones@yahoo.com.
Tel: 0058 0426 8196035
or 0058 0294 4163678
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Dhanakosa Buddhist Retreat
Posted by ruthpimenta

Fantastic loch-side location for yoga retreats at affordable prices.
Set in the beautiful Trossachs, I've spent many a week in a warm and friendly atmosphere learning yoga, eating delicious vegan food, walking in the Trossachs without having to go through customs!
Prices are suggested as voluntary donations and start at £165 unwaged.
Future dates for yoga are 22 May, 19 June and 17 July for a week.
I have been many times and am still not a Buddhist much to my surprise!
Cant recommend it highly enough. You can also do meditation, photography and hill-walking retreats there amongst others.

www.dhanakosa.com
Go green by train to Edinburgh then Stirling. Onward by bus to Balquidder and the last leg - round the loch by minibus - stunning!
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La Roane: yoga retreat/holiday
Posted by janelondon

Yoga at the level of your choice: one, two or three times a day; stunning natural surroundings; delicious imaginative vegetarian/vegan food; a swimming pool; a nearby river to swim in/canoe down; traditional markets in medieval hilltop villages? Yes, please! La Roane near Toulouse has all this and then some (a treehouse, sauna, massage). Nigel Shamash (your host) is a wonderfully warm and open-hearted man, with much experience of life, and a mad sense of humour. He is a clown and a musician, but like many artists has a quiet reflective side as well.

La Roane is set in 20 acres of peaceful meadow and woodland, away from roads and neighbours. It’s peaceful and secluded with wonderful woodland walks to explore, a paradise for nature lovers. It is Nigel Shamash’s home, and when you stay there it feels as though you are staying with a friend. People (a maximum of eighteen at any time) go there to enjoy the activities of the week’s course, and to spend time in a relaxing environment where there are few rules. If you want, your greatest responsibility is to decide whether or not to eat another peach. Bring your books, your diary, and your computer, or your swimsuit and your running shoes, or none of them. It’s up to you.

La Roane offers one-week yoga retreats/holidays (as well as other holistic-themed weeks) during the summer months. There are three houses, a hundred metres or so from each other, set in a huge meadow and surrounded by woodland, all Nigel’s property. In the grounds are also a tree house, a swimming pool, a sauna, a huge swing in the forest, ping-pong tables, croquet and badminton facilities, and bicycles to borrow. The nearby medieval town of St Antonin has a thriving community, with a lively market on Sundays. The town nestles on the Aveyron river, surrounded by both the spectacular sheer cliffs of the Aveyron gorge and rolling hills of lush green countryside. It is exceptionally charming, and peaceful too. In the heart of the village is the oldest civic building in France, which dates from the 12th century. You can wander through the maze of alleyways and enjoy the patchwork houses which bear witness to centuries of life. Coffee and croissants are never far away.

Each yoga course is run by a carefully-chosen and experienced teacher. There’s usually an early-morning session, another before lunch, and one before supper. There’s plenty of equipment – mats, blocks, belts, bolsters etc. The sessions are held in the converted barn; it’s cool and airy with a smooth wood floor and doors on three sides lead to the garden. Your teacher helps you to work at your own level, beginner or expert.

The place is full of flowers, both cultivated and wild. The local wildlife list is long and as well as deer includes jay, hoopoe, nightingale, buzzard, honey buzzard, glow-worm, edible dormouse, rabbit, hare, badger and fox. There are frogs and fish in the pond, and an occasional harmless snake. There are literally hundreds of species of butterfly and moth and zillions of insects, but no mosquitoes!

The pool, always clean, is set in the meadow and surrounded by flower and bushes that attract butterflies. A modern system has done away with the need to add chlorine. There are plenty of sun loungers and you can move them into the shade if you want.

All the bedrooms are comfortable, with rustic décor, not luxurious. But there are enough hangers for your clothes, and towels are provided. There’s a washing machine in each house and washing lines for drying.

Some afternoons, members of the local community arrive to give excellent shiatsu and aromatherapy massages. On Sunday morning you can visit the market in St Antonin, and twice in the week Nigel offers an optional excursion at no extra cost. On these trips you might go for a walk in the local countryside, picnic by and swim in the river, visit a local town for tea or a beer or an ice cream, or a group might go canoeing down the river.

Nigel’s philosophy is that you are on holiday, and if you don’t want to do an activity then you don’t have to do it. But going off to get drunk at a different bar each evening and turning up late for meals every day is not considered acceptable.

The food is exceptionally good! Breakfast (at 09.00h) is a help-yourself affair of seasonal fresh fruit, fresh bread, local cheeses, jams, cereals, yogurts, with an endless supply of tisanes, fresh coffee, tea, rooibush etc. If what you want isn’t there, Nigel will try to get it, or you can bring your own. You eat breakfast wherever you want: in a sunny spot in the garden, or a shady spot if it’s very hot, or inside if it’s raining; with or without others, as you wish.

Lunch and supper are taken on the terrace of the manor house, weather permitting. If it’s wet you eat in the big room of the big house. These two meals are prepared by Enzo, an Italian chef who has lived in the village for 20 years. He describes himself as an artist whose medium is food. All vegetarian, every meal begins with a smooth vegetable soup: turnip, beetroot, a broth with dulse, leek, nettle, courgette... whatever was in the market that morning. The main course will include a grain (rice, couscous, quinoa, barley etc) cooked in an interesting way; a protein (a pulse or two, local cheese, soya, eggs) and plenty of fresh local vegetables exquisitely cooked with herbs from the garden (a courgette/tomato/potato/rosemary bake, or grated carrot with anise) or a vegetable curry. His crepes don’t last long! Pudding at lunch-time is fresh fruit if you want it. In the evening, Enzo makes a desert: tarte aux pommes, chocolate mousse to die for, banana-and-coffee cream, fruit pancakes… You can help yourself to tea, coffee, fruit juice and biscuits throughout the day. Good local wine is served in the evenings.

If you have special dietary requirements Enzo will happily accommodate you: no wheat, no sugar, no dairy, no eggs, no problem!

There’s always enough to eat but you never leave the table feeling too full. Enzo studied food phytology and combines his ingredients with knowledge and intelligence. And what’s more, your plate always looks divine, decorated with herbs and flowers from the garden and blazing with colour. Enzo frequently gets a round of applause at the end of a meal!

The courses are held only in the summer months. Like all of northern Europe, the weather can be unreliable. If you’re lucky, you’ll get long hot summer days and long warm evenings; if not you might get a terrific electric storm or a few cool rainy days. In the summer it’s never cold.

I keep returning to La Roane. Fresh air and nature, peace and quiet, solitude, company, riotous laughter – all these are easy to find. The surrounding countryside is as beautiful as anywhere in the world. Nigel takes great care of his guests. His community is warm and welcoming and in the course of running La Roane he provides many local people with work. There is also always a wonderful new friend to be found and each group has a different flavour, depending on the personalities who come. La Roane is like the best box of chocolates!

www.nigelshamash.com
phone: 0033 563 68 23 67
nearest town: St Antonin Noble Val
nearest airports: Toulouse, Rodez
nearest station: Caussade
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