The 8 Best Yoga Retreats of 2020

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Our Top Picks

Best Overall: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

"It has offered a variety of yoga retreats and lessons on its serene 125-acre property in the Berkshires for close to 50 years now."

Best for Outdoor Lovers: Anamaya Resort and Retreat Center

"This tranquil, Costa Rican resort offers customizable yoga retreats, with add-ons like surfing, horseback riding, and relaxing spa treatments."

Best for a Caribbean Getaway: Jewel Paradise Cove

"There are three retreats a year with daily yoga and meditation, as well as hiking and water sport activities."

Best for Mindfulness: Miraval

"With a digital device-free motto that's strictly enforced, you can unplug and thoughtfully focus on yourself."

Best for Art & Culture: The Floating Leaf

"From Bhakti meditations to Balinese purification ceremonies, this resort has something to offer everyone."

Best for Yoga & Surfing: Cala Luna

"Cala Luna is the ideal retreat location if you're looking to spend some time on both your yoga mat and your surfboard."

Best for Friends: Yasodhara Ashram Yoga & Nature Retreat

"The benefits of bringing a buddy include witnessing the other's growth and deepening your friendship with one another."

Best for Disconnecting: Blue Cliff Monastery

"It offers participants retreats in mindfulness, that include sitting and walking meditations through the property's verdant surroundings."

Our Top Picks

Best Overall: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

A stalwart in the U.S. retreat scene, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health has been offering lessons since its very first ashram opened in 1972. Since it first opened its doors in 1983, the 125-acre property in the rolling hills of Stockbridge, Massachusetts has been welcoming students.

Today, a variety of retreats are offered year-round, including yoga, sound baths, movement lessons, hiking, and being one with nature among the lush forests of the Berkshires. Gentle, intermediate, and vigorous yoga classes are simultaneously offered daily depending on your level.

Kripalu YogaDance, an official practice developed by the center, is a low-impact, aerobic experience that blends stretching, yoga, and dance. In the summer, access to the private lakefront beach is perfect for soaking up the sun, while meditation along the lake is common practice in the spring and fall.

Retreat prices vary depending on the duration and time of the year. Kripalu's R&R retreat ranges from about $85 to $95 per day and includes accommodations and three daily meals. Plus, you can enjoy expert-led workshops, daily yoga sessions, and access to the property's numerous amenities like the fitness room, sauna, marked hiking trails, and more.

Best for Outdoor Lovers: Anamaya Resort and Retreat Center

If you're looking for a yoga retreat that combines not just time spent outdoors on the beach but hiking and zip-lining through lush jungles, as well, consider booking a retreat at Anamaya.

Set atop a hill overlooking the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Nicoya, this tranquil Costa Rican resort offers customizable yoga retreats with add-ons like surfing, sea kayaking, snorkeling, horseback riding, nature walks, and spa treatments.

Week-long retreats that run throughout the year are perfect for all levels, whether you're a beginner stepping onto your yoga mat for the first time or are an advanced practitioner. You can focus on connecting guests with nature and, most importantly, yourself.

Expect to begin your days with energizing, 90-minute-long vinyasa classes with incredible views of the ocean. You can spend afternoons practicing yin yoga, relaxing in the saltwater infinity pool, at the spa, or off exploring the rich Costa Rican countryside.

Base rates for a seven-day retreat at Anamaya depend on the season and occupancy rate. A double room rate begins at around $1,095 and includes accommodation, as well as three meals a day. Yoga classes are offered at about $12 per class or approximately $96 for 10 classes. Other fees may apply for additional excursions, workshops, and gratuities.

Best for a Caribbean Getaway: Jewel Paradise Cove

Jewel Paradise Cove's retreats focus on a variety of classes, including grounding Hatha, centering meditation, breathwork, and calming yoga nidra sequences. Immersing yourself in the idyllic beauty of Runaway Bay, a coastal, Jamaican town is just icing on the proverbial cake.

Held three times a year, the retreats offer unlimited access to not just yoga, meditation, and Pilates classes, but the property's waterfall excursions, watersport activities, and Reggaelates sessions, taught by spa director and founder, Sienna Creasy. Reggaelates is an energetic mashup of yoga and Pilates poses practiced to the tune of dancehall beats.

The oceanfront property also consists of a private, white-sand beach, multiple pools, and 12 dining options. Spend a day aboard a glass-bottom boat discovering the marine treasures of the Caribbean Sea, or pamper yourself at the spa with a Jamaican body scrub. And, best of all? The property is adult-only.

An all-inclusive, week-long retreat begins at about $290 per night and includes dining, alcohol, watersports, and unlimited classes.

Best for Mindfulness: Miraval

If you're looking for a yoga retreat focused on mindfulness, Miraval has just the package for you. During September, aka the National Month of yoga, both their Arizona and Austin locations offer a chance to explore your body, mind, and spirit through a curated selection of their classes.

A core tenet of Miraval is its "Life in Balance" mission, which focuses on inspiring a sense of mindfulness that participants cultivate on-site and continue to nourish after leaving the resort.

With a digital device-free motto that's strictly enforced, you can unplug and thoughtfully focus on yourself. While there are designated areas throughout the property where you can use your devices, if you need to, the resort really encourages you to be mindful of the choice to do so.

Whether you're a new, intermediate, or advanced yogi, you can select from a wide range of offerings that include morning yoga and slow flows to New Age, celestial sessions and inversion-focused, aerial yoga classes. Since most sessions are included in the cost of booking, you can participate in as many or as few as you want, therefore, trying out several different options.

While there is no minimum stay on the properties, Miraval recommends a three- or four-day trip to have maximum impact. At Miraval Austin, rates begin at around $579 per night, including all meals, workshops, infinity pool, and fitness center access, as well as a resort credit that can be used toward private sessions, wellness lectures, and spa treatments.

The rates are significantly higher at Miraval Arizona at about $859 per night, including meals, complimentary workshops, access to the fitness center, three pools, and hiking trails.

Best for Art & Culture: The Floating Leaf

Welcoming students from all around the world for over a decade, The Floating Leaf is a tranquil, wellness-focused resort on the Indonesian island of Bali. Surrounded by rice paddies, the serene property hosts an average of 50 retreats every year, where guests can focus on a lot more than just yoga.

From Bhakti meditations and traditional Balinese purification ceremonies to cooking classes and batik art lessons, the resort has something to offer, no matter the activity level. Their six-day Path to Happiness retreat focuses on yoga and meditation, offering participants a chance to connect and go within to discover joy. A 2,000-square-foot, open-air yoga studio overlooks the peaceful rice paddies that Bali is known for and offers diverse views of both Mount Agung, an active volcano and the Indian Ocean.

Rates for a retreat range from about $1,200 to $5,000 and include accommodation, three meals a day, yoga and meditation sessions, and airport transfers. Also included are the extracurricular activities like Balinese healer sessions, Indonesian cooking courses, art classes, coffee plantation, and village tours. Check out their upcoming retreats for dates and availability.

Best for Yoga & Surfing: Cala Luna

With direct access to Langosta Beach, Cala Luna is the ideal retreat location if you're looking to spend some time on both your yoga mat and your surfboard. This upscale Costa Rican getaway offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean, all while being quietly tucked inside Las Baulas National Park.

In addition to open-air yoga classes, surf lessons, snorkeling, and fishing, the boutique property only has 39 rooms, guaranteeing an intimate getaway. Sustainability is key at Cala Luna, with an on-site, organic farm that grows its own produce used to feed guests.

The property also has its own water conservation system, makes use of solar-paneled, water heaters, as well as biodegradable cleaning products and toiletries. A two-and-a-half acre labyrinth—one of the largest in the world—sits serenely inside a 74-acre forest, allowing guests who walk its two-mile-long path to find a sense of peace.

On average, Cala Luna hosts approximately three yoga retreats each year that are suitable for whichever level you consider yourself to be at. If you're staying on-site you'll have access to a complimentary breakfast, a sunset happy hour, and bike tours to the local town. Fees vary for retreats hosted at Cala Luna and depend on the time of year, length of stay, add-on amenities, and more.

Best for Friends: Yasodhara Ashram Yoga & Nature Retreat

Founded in 1963 by Swami Sivananda Radha—a German yogi who traveled to India in search of enlightenment and discovered it in guru Sivananda's ashram—Yasodhara is a relaxed yoga retreat set alongside the Kootenay Bay in British Columbia, Canada.

Offering multiple retreats all year long, Yashodhara is one of the oldest ashrams in Canada and an excellent choice if you're seeking to discover a connection both with nature and yourself.

In addition to week-long retreats, the ashram also offers a yoga teacher training and a series of self-guided retreats for artists, writers, as well as working professionals like teachers, scientists and architects, to help de-stress, recharge and tap into your innate potentials. Most participants, either before or after the retreat, spend time at Ainsworth Hot Springs, a nearby collection of natural, mineral water hot springs.

The benefits of bringing a buddy—something that Yasodhara strongly encourages—include witnessing the other's growth and deepening your friendship with one another, and a discount for both is an added bonus. A 10-day retreat costs about $1,228, and includes shared accommodations, three meals, morning yoga sessions, and workshops throughout the day.

Best for Disconnecting: Blue Cliff Monastery

Contrary to what most believe, yoga is more than just asanas or physical postures. At the Blue Cliff Monastery, a Zen Buddhist center in upstate New York, participants get to experience two equally important parts of yogic philosophy: meditation and breathing techniques called pranayama.

Founded in 2007 by renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk, activist, and poet, Thích Nhất Hạnh, the monastery offers retreats, along with work exchange programs and a rigorous five-year monastic training throughout the year. Mindfulness is key to not just their retreats, but daily life at the monastery, as well.

You are encouraged to practice mindfulness during the sitting and walking meditations, as well as during communal dining. A typical daily schedule often includes a 5 a.m. wake up, followed by a sitting meditation and exercise before breakfast at 8 a.m. The rest of the day is spent in workshops or on walking meditations, while evenings are reserved for personal time and silence before bed.

Open to a variety of income levels, Blue Cliff offers a sliding scale for all the retreats at their serene southern Catskills property. Prices range from around $60 to $110 per person per day for simple, dorm-style accommodations, while children under the age of six stay for free.

Camping is also available if you want to bring your own tents and gear. All meals, 95% of which are predominantly vegan, are included in the cost of the registration fee. Check out their calendar of events to find out about retreat details throughout the year.

How We Chose the Best Yoga Retreats

For our top picks for yoga retreats to attend in 2020, we made sure that the getaways were both international and national picks that suited a variety of styles and practices. Whether the practice of yoga is new for you, or you're a seasoned yogi looking for a mindfulness and digital detox getaway, we found the best yoga retreats suggestions for everyone.

To do this, we evaluated the best yoga retreats through a variety of factors, including the time of year, the number of retreats offered, size, accessibility, location, pricing, and past reviews. Each retreat selected is perfect, regardless of practice level. Beginners, intermediates, and advanced practitioners of yoga, will all find something to gain from each yoga retreat in our selections.

Each yoga escape offers something different to participants, whether it be location, outdoor activities, or mindfulness lessons.

How do I pick the best yoga retreat?

Our list includes a variety of yoga styles, locations around the world, and amenities offered, but at the end of the day, choosing a yoga retreat is highly individualistic.

Consider why you are looking for a getaway and go from there. Some retreats offer a chance to digitally detox, while others are located in lush, Costa Rican jungles or right up on the beach, providing prime access to the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea.

What’s included in an all-inclusive retreat?

For many yoga retreats around the world, what’s included in the rate can differ. For some, all-inclusive means the cost of weekly yoga classes, room, and meals are included. Additional activities like surfing, diving, or tours are all offered for an extra fee. But this differs from one retreat to the next, so it’s best to research rates and add-ons before selecting your preferred escape.

Do I have to take every yoga class offered during the retreat?

While some retreats may be more class-intensive and require complete participation, most are casual and completely voluntary. It’s best to check with your getaway organizer on what the rules for skipping a session are, and if you can take the morning/afternoon off if you need to.

Should I purchase travel insurance?

A week-long yoga retreat is much more than just an investment in your well-being. Depending on the retreat you pick, it can be a significant financial investment as well.

And, while you may hope that everything goes according to plan, unexpected events do occur, which is why purchasing travel insurance is highly recommended. In the event that something gets in the way of your upcoming yoga retreat, having travel insurance will help cover trip fees and even medical expenses, in case you get into an accident.