By type
Best retreats for first-time solo travellers
The hardest part of a first solo retreat is not the flight or the language; it is the first dinner. Around 40% of retreat guests arrive alone and every one of them remembers night one, which is why a hosted welcome dinner matters more than any activity on the list. Pick with three questions: your ideal 7am, your honest energy level, and what you want to bring home.
- Arrive alone
- About 40% of all retreat guests
- Group size
- 6 to 12, everyone booked solo
- First night
- Hosted welcome dinner on every route
- Rooms
- Your own, always, with no single supplement
3 routes that fit
May to October
Alentejo Women's Week
Alentejo, Portugal · 6 nights · $1,690
Women-only week on a whitewashed farmhouse estate: coastal hikes, pottery, wine-country picnics.
April to October
The Ubud Reset
Bali, Indonesia · 7 nights · $1,890
Jungle-ridge lodge, sunrise yoga, two Balinese healing sessions and a digital-detox track.
December to August
Koh Phangan Unplug
Koh Phangan, Thailand · 7 nights · $1,290
Seafront wellness resort: daily meditation and yoga, two Thai massages, herbal sauna.
Questions people ask
Will I have to eat dinner alone?
Only if you want to. The first dinner is hosted, so the host seats people and starts conversations. After that the communal table is there every night and so is a table for one, with nobody commenting either way.
What if I do not like the group?
Groups are six to twelve, so there is room to find your people, and the afternoons are unscheduled. Every route also sits somewhere you can walk out into: a town, a beach, a trail.
How far ahead should I book my first one?
Two to four months is comfortable. It gives you a fixed date to plan around, which in our experience is the single thing that turns a maybe into a trip taken.
Not sure which one?
Six questions, sixty seconds, and a match out of eight countries. Or check any retreat's price against our benchmarks first.