Antidotes to our world
Fancy learning how to look after yourself, or helping others do the same? Naturopath Amy Rachelle runs online courses in holistic nutrition and detoxing as well as raw food detox workshops and retreats throughout the year in Bali, New York and Australia. Take a course for your own personal growth, or to help others.
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.
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
This March detox holiday with Jiva Healing is a well-run juice fast detox retreat with yoga and classes at The Mandrem Beach Resort in Goa. You’ll stay in well furnished cottages with sea views located next to three miles of un-spoilt beach, woodland and coconut groves. A nutritionist will support you throughout the fast, which incorporates organic fruit
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In Short: Six Senses Zighy Bay is the only Six Senses resort to offer dedicated wellbeing breaks – choose 3, 5 or 7 night stays which combine a daily choice of activities and spa treatments and focus on slow living, de-stressing, fitness, detox or adventure. Or simply come for a relaxing holiday and dip in and out of treatments. The location is stunning – set on a private bay and backed by the Hajar Mountains in the northern tip of the Musandam Peninsula, it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere and in a country we don’t hear very much about. A glorious, supremely comfortable place to retreat.
From £1740 per person for a 5 night wellbeing programme - ask us for deals and offers.
Six Senses Zighy Bay offers dedicated wellbeing breaks – choose 3, 5 or 7 night stays which combine a daily choice of activities and spa treatments and focus on slow living, de-stressing, fitness, detox or adventure.
In short: Set up by American psychologist Dr Dina Glouberman and Greek journalist Dr Yannis Andricopoulos, these holistic holidays inspired Jimmy Carr to give up his job with Shell and get into comedy, and continue to be mighty popular with people from all walks of life. There are summer holidays on Skyros island in Greece, short breaks all year round at The Grange on the Isle of Wight, and winter sun breaks in Cuba, Thailand and Cambodia. Skyros holidays give you the chance to create the kind of holiday you really need, whether that be something creative, healing or fun. Pick writing, art, psychology, spirituality, music and dance, yoga and meditation, even abseiling and walking, and be led by experienced, talented and often well-known coaches, teachers and facilitators from all over the world. At its most profound, your experience can be an incredible journey of personal discovery that can change your life. In its simplest form, it’s a deeply relaxing break with good food, new friends and (often) a spot of sunbathing on the beach.
From £90 per person for a weekend in the Isle of Wight and £595 - £695 person for a week in Greece to £1,145 per person for a two week trek around Cambodia.
Set up by American psychologist Dr Dina Glouberman and Greek journalist Dr Yannis Andricopoulos, these holistic holidays inspired Jimmy Carr to give up his job with Shell and get into comedy, and continue to be mighty popular with people from all walks of life. There are summer holidays on Skyros island in Greece, short breaks all year round at The Grange on the Isle of Wight, and winter sun breaks in Cuba, Thailand and Cambodia. Skyros holidays give you the chance to create the kind of holiday you really need, whether that be something creative, healing or fun.
In Short: Wildfitness offer highly inventive fitness holidays that use outdoor, natural surroundings to get you fit so you feel as far from an urban gym as you possibly can. They were created in 2001 by all-round athlete Tara Wood, who’s warm, funny and lovely to be with, and are run by a hand-picked team of trainers. There are 9 day, 2 week and intensive 24 day fitness holidays on the gorgeous Watamu coast in Kenya, week-long fitness breaks in Spain and short fitness and cooking breaks on the Isle of Wight. It’s not a problem if the last time you did anything like this was when you were five, as you’re encouraged to go at your own pace and rest when you need to. Your body is pretty much designed to change shape for the better, and you’ll feel it.
The next Wildfitness holiday dates are:
8 – 15 June 2013 – 1 week Boost course, Andalucia, Spain
4 – 7 July - 3 day Energiser, Isle of Wight
13-21 July 2013 - 9 day fitness holiday, Kenya
Browse all Wildfitness holiday dates
Wildfitness holidays cost from £690 per person for 3 days on the Isle of Wight, from £1970 per person for a week in Spain, from £2250 per person for a 9 day course in Kenya.
Wildfitness offer highly inventive fitness holidays that use outdoor, natural surroundings to get you fit so you feel as far from an urban gym as you possibly can. There are 9 day, 2 week and intensive 24 day fitness holidays on the gorgeous Watamu coast in Kenya, week-long fitness breaks in Spain and short fitness and cooking breaks on the Isle of Wight.
In Short: This is a privately-owned, peaceful and civilized health spa an hour’s drive from London with an unpretentious, holistic approach to health. It’s set in 47 pretty acres, and adjoins 700 acres of National Trust land. Your base is a gorgeous manor house which the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson rented in the 1860s, and a less attractive 1970s extension which ivy makes less obtrusive with each passing year. Come for a simple, two night rest with treatments or book onto a more specialist retreat. People wander about in white robes – you’ll get into it after an hour or so. The place has been tending to people’s heath since the 1960s – regulars have included British actors such as Judi Dench, Roger Moore and Joan Plowright. Indeed, one lady loved it so much she actually gave up her house in Surrey to live here permanently (she must be loaded!).
A stay at Grayshott spa costs from £435 per person for an all-inclusive 2 night à la Carte stay, inclusive of all meals and 3 spa treatments, based on two people sharing a standard room.
This is a privately-owned, peaceful and civilized health spa an hour’s drive from London with an unpretentious, holistic approach to health. It’s set in 47 pretty acres, and adjoins 700 acres of National Trust land. Your base is a gorgeous manor house which the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson rented in the 1860s.
7-10 June – Scaravelli-inspired yoga weekend with Helen Noakes in Barcelona 23-29 June – Anusara-inspired yoga retreat with Lisa Sanfilippo, France 11-15 Sept – Mind Spa holiday in Tuscany with cooking and life coaching 1-7 Sept – Anusara-inspired yoga holiday with Lisa Sanfilippo, Tuscany 2-6 October – Beyond Bootcamp in Tuscany 14-23 October - South Pacific Whale Safari 22-24
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Wildfitness run inspired fitness holidays in Kenya and Spain, and Northcourt is their UK base, a Jacobean manor houses set in 15 acres of gardens in the island’s peaceful Downs. Here, the 3 or 6 day Energiser breaks are the vision of Wildfitness duo Ro and Netta Pakenham, who grew up exploring the wilder side of the island with a father who lived life barefoot and a mother who had a vegetable patch.
