Silence
Booking a Retreat Venue: The Checklist
Short answer — There are around thirty questions to ask before booking a venue for your retreat. The decisive ones are not about price but about what photographs cannot show: how many single rooms there are, the real floor area of the hall, what you can hear from the bedrooms, who will be present during your stay, and what happens if you have to cancel. This article gathers those questions in the order to ask them, with what a good answer looks like.
You have shortlisted three or four venues. The photographs are beautiful, the prices are comparable, and you have no idea how to choose between them.
We have been hosting retreats for twenty-seven years, and we receive these enquiries every week. Some organisers ask three questions, book, and discover the rest on arrival. Others send a precise list and know exactly what they are buying.
Here is that list, from the point of view of those who answer it.
Before you write to the venue
Three things to settle about your own project, without which the answers will be of no use.
How many participants, as a range. A venue will not answer the same way for six as for fifteen.
Which dates, with an alternative. Good venues book four to six months ahead, particularly April to June and September to October.
What kind of practice. A dynamic yoga retreat, a sharing circle and a silent retreat have neither the same space requirements nor the same demands for quiet.
The hall
This is the element most often oversold, and the easiest to verify.
What is the exact floor area, in square metres? A wide-angle photograph tells you nothing. Allow roughly 4 m² per person for moving practice, 2 m² for seated practice. A 60 m² room suits eight people doing yoga, not fifteen.
What is the ceiling height? Below 2.4 m, a room quickly becomes stifling with ten people.
Is the floor usable as it is? Stone, tile, wood, carpet: each changes what you need to bring.
Is there natural light, and from which direction? A south-facing room becomes difficult on summer afternoons.
How is it heated? A decisive question from October to April. An unheated stone building is freezing in the morning, even in the south.
What does the venue provide? Mats, cushions, blankets, chairs, sound system, board. Every missing item is weight in your car or a line in your budget.
Is the hall reserved for your group alone? Some venues share it between stays. Check explicitly.
The bedrooms
Exactly how many single rooms? Not total capacity: the number of people who will be able to sleep alone. This is the most important question on the list, and the one most often forgotten.
On a silent retreat, sharing a room is a genuine problem: you cannot adjust schedules together, nor clear an awkwardness through conversation.
Is there a single-room supplement? If so, how much, and do you pass it on or absorb it?
How many bathrooms, and are they shared? Eight people to one bathroom turns mornings into a negotiation.
Are bed linen and towels provided? If not, your participants need to know in the practical information.
Is there heating in the bedrooms? Same remark as for the hall.
Meals
Who cooks? The venue, a caterer, or you? It changes everything about your workload on site.
Are dietary requirements accommodated? Gluten-free, dairy-free, allergies. Ask how far the flexibility goes, and by what date you must submit the list.
How many meals a day, and at what times? Dinner at 8 pm does not suit a retreat where everyone goes to bed at nine.
Are the first and last meals included? This is the most common source of misunderstanding. A "four nights" package may start with dinner on the first day and end with lunch on the last — or not.
Is there access to a kitchen, or to hot water, outside meal times? Your participants will want tea.
The place and its surroundings
What can you hear from the bedrooms? A road, a farm, kennels, building work. None of it appears in photographs, and it is what ruins a silent retreat. Ask the question word for word.
Are there other groups at the same time? A venue hosting two retreats simultaneously is not yours.
Can you walk from the venue? A path, a river, a forest. Many participants will spend their free time outdoors.
How do you get there without a car? Station, airport, transfer. Not all your participants will drive, and the question will come up.
Is there phone signal and wifi? Counter-intuitive but useful: you, the organiser, will need it. And you may want to be able to switch it off for the others.
Practical arrangements
Who will be present during your stay? Some venues hand you the keys and disappear. Others stay available. Neither is better — but your workload is not the same.
What are the arrival and departure times? Arriving at 3 pm and leaving at 2 pm is standard. Check whether you can arrive the day before to prepare.
Is cleaning included? During, and afterwards.
What happens in case of a medical problem? Ask where the nearest health centre is. It takes five minutes, and you will never think about it again — except on the day it matters.
Money and the contract
What is the price, and for exactly what? Ask for a written quote listing what is included. As a benchmark, our rate is €4,480 for eight people over four nights, hall and meals included — that is €560 per participant.
What deposit, and when? Between 30% and 50% at booking is standard.
What are the cancellation terms? The question that protects you most. Up to what date can you cancel and be refunded? What happens if you have four bookings instead of eight?
Can the number of participants be adjusted, and until when? Some venues charge a flat rate, others per person. It completely changes your risk.
Will the venue hold an option? Many will hold dates for a few weeks without commitment, giving you time to test demand with your group.
How do they invoice? A serious venue issues a proper invoice with a VAT number. That too is an indicator.
Three warning signs
The venue asks you nothing. If it accepts your booking without knowing who you are or what you are offering, it will accept any other group the following week — including during your stay.
Answers stay vague on numbers. "A large bright hall" is not an answer to "how many square metres". A venue that knows its property answers in figures.
Cancellation terms are not in writing. No verbal agreement will protect you if you have to cancel six weeks out.
The list, all at once
To paste into your first message to a venue:
Hello, I am preparing a retreat for X to Y people, from [dates] or [alternative dates]. Could you tell me: — the floor area of the hall and what it contains; — the number of single rooms and any supplement; — the number of bathrooms; — what meals include, and how dietary requirements are handled; — what can be heard from the bedrooms, and whether other groups are hosted at the same time; — arrival and departure times; — the all-inclusive price, deposit and cancellation terms. Many thanks.
A venue that answers this message point by point is one you can work with.
Our organisers' offer
Casa Lotus Azul is at Rendufinho, in the Minho, twenty minutes from Braga and on the edge of the Peneda-Gerês national park.
Two granite quintas: Quinta Maria da Paz, with the hall and communal spaces, and Quinta Lotus Azul, with nine bedrooms and room for up to eleven people. A hectare of garden, a river, mountains all around, and no neighbours.
€4,480 for eight people, five days and four nights — arriving at 3 pm before dinner, leaving at 2 pm after lunch. Use of the hall, nights and meals included, plant-based cooking from the kitchen garden. One guided meditation is offered to the group.
Special terms are available for the organiser — please ask.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should I book? Four to six months for sought-after periods, April to June and September to October. In low season, two to three months is usually enough.
Should I visit the venue before booking? It is not essential, particularly when the venue is abroad. A video call during which they show you the hall and a bedroom is an adequate substitute — many venues prefer to send recent photographs, which works just as well.
Can the price be negotiated? Rarely the rate itself, more often what surrounds it: an extra night for the organiser, a transfer, an included session. Ask what is possible rather than for a discount.
What if I don't get enough bookings? Set a minimum threshold and a decision date from the start, and tell the venue. Most are willing to discuss it if you are transparent early — it is far harder three weeks out.
Can the venue host my participants before or after the retreat? Often yes, and it is worth asking: some participants will want to extend their stay, and it costs nothing to know.
Do I need insurance? Professional liability cover is essential as soon as you are leading people. Check that your policy covers activities outside your own country — many do not by default.
Who collects payment from participants? Usually you: you take the full price and settle with the venue. Some venues accept direct payment for accommodation. Clarify at the first exchange — it changes your cash flow.
Planning a retreat in Portugal? Write to us on WhatsApp — we answer point by point, including questions not on this list.
This article is informative and does not replace medical advice. In case of recent bereavement, a painful separation or psychological fragility, please speak to a health professional before booking.
Also worth reading
Your First Silent Retreat: 10 Fears, and the RealityOur “Return to Self” retreat
Three days in noble silence, in a group of no more than eight, in the heart of the Minho. €360 per person, all inclusive.
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