An honest, independent travel service for healthy holidays

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Interested? Enquire or ask our advice.

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Queen of Retreats offers expert advice and honest, independent reviews of spas, retreats & healthy holidays around the world written by published writers with a proven passion for healthy travel and a critical eye. We also offer a booking service for those retreats we would hand-on-heart recommend after a visit – there are many that don’t make the cut. You won’t find any retreats on this site we don’t have experience of, and no one pays to be listed. Read about OUR EXPERIENCES, or browse the RETREATS WE LOVE by type, location, budget, feeling or date. Wherever you are on the site, you can book a recommended retreat or ask our advice. You will never pay more than going direct – often, you end up paying less.

Retreat at home: meditation coaching via Skype with Sara Campbell

Retreat

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Taking time out to meditate © Elly Godfroy

Want to learn to meditate in the comfort of your own home? Kundalini yoga and World Champion freediver Sara Campbell offers runs one to one meditation coaching via skype. Let Sara help you to let go of the negative thought patterns and beliefs that hold you back, and to cope more easily and efficiently through stressful and challenging periods.

Current favourite, UK: surf & spa at Watergate Bay Hotel, Cornwall

Retreat

In Short: This unpretentious but cool family-friendly hotel set right on the beach at Watergate Bay has lovely rooms decked out with oak floors and coastal colours and a natty ‘Swim Club’, otherwise known as a spa. There’s a fabulous outdoor hot tub, an indoor lap pool, no-fuss, decent treatments, pilates and spinning classes and a funky Ocean Room for smoothies, healthy bites and inspirational views of the sea. It’s an inspiring, relaxing place to while away the weekend or get a decent deal midweek with a friend, your lover or family – learn to surf or brush up on your skills, go coastal walking, horse ride in nearby countryside, play on the beach or just lounge inside staring at the views.

Prices start from £125 per room per night in low season (family suites from £200) to £235 per room per night in high season (ocean view suites £385). Full body massage £60 for 60 minutes; Introduction to Surfing £30 for half a day.

Read about our experience of Watergate Bay Hotel

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Watergate Bay Hotel hot tub

This unpretentious but cool family-friendly hotel set right on the beach at Watergate Bay offers contemporary rooms decked out with oak floors and vibrant, coastal colours and a natty ‘Swim Club’, otherwise known as a spa, with a fabulous outdoor hot tub, an indoor lap pool, no-fuss, decent treatments, pilates and spinning classes and a funky Ocean Room for smoothies, healthy bites and inspirational views of the sea. It’s an inspiring, relaxing place to while away the weekend or get a decent deal midweek with a friend, your lover or family – learn to surf or brush up on your skills, go coastal walking, horse ride in nearby countryside, play on the beach or just lounge inside staring at the views.

A word from the king on Hotel Fidazerhof, Switzerland

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The sauna at Hotel Fidazerhof

‘This was the first time I’d tried a sauna. It was hot’ – designer & creative director John Brennan – other half to Queen of Retreats contributor Louisa Carter – experiences his first ever spa at Hotel Fidazerhof at near Flims in Switzerland

Current favourite, Europe: yoga holidays on Silver Island – £50 off!

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The view from Caroline's room, Rhea, on a yoga retreat on Silver Island in Greece

Silver Island in Greece is one of the most authentic, peaceful yoga retreats we’ve been to in a long long time – get £50 off if you enquire about a yoga week here with us

Treats: we road test the Cosmolite suitcase

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Ready for every eventuality...

Looking for a case that won’t hurt you? We road test a Cosmolite, the lightest case that Samsonite make, and find it’s awfully good

Current favourite, worldwide: Escape to Shape, Hudson, NY

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Hiking in the Hudson near New York on an Escape to Shape holiday

Escape to Shape is an excellent ‘travelling fitness spa’ that combines a week-long body workout with cultural experiences in interesting countries all over the world. This healthy holiday in Hudson, New York aims to get results and rebalance your body’s digestive system.

Healthy travel tip: Stress-free travel insurance

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flip flops

What a joy to discover that good old John Lewis does travel insurance – and that it’s damn easy to take it out in one session online.

We love this June: Wildfitness healthy holiday in Andalucia, Spain

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The 17th century Cortijo you'll stay in during your Wildfitness holiday in Spain

This 7-day healthy holiday in the Andalucian countryside is based around the brilliant Wildfitness philosophy that nature provides everything we need to stay fit and well. You’ll stay on a peaceful rural estate near Arcos de la Frontera, where they cultivate their own honey, grow herbs and produce olive oil. The 17th century cortijo is gorgeous 
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Where in the world are we?

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Akal Ki, Mexico April 2006 - 06

As you read this the Queen of Retreats team are checking out spas, health retreats, yoga holidays, buddhist retreats, boutique spa hotels and fitness breaks of all kinds and budgets all over the world. We’ve recently visited retreats in Cornwall, Yorkshire, Austria, India and the Caribbean, and are scurrying away between having a life to get 
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