Vale de Moses

30th September - 5th October 2024 | Portugal

Join the Yoga Quarter team for a yoga retreat in the mountains of central Portugal. Spend five nights at the award winning Vale de Moses where you can relax and reenergize with twice daily yoga, nourishing Ayurvedic and plant-based meals, and the beauty of nature at your doorstep.

Vale De Moses is a family-run, eco-conscious yoga retreat centre nestled in the forested mountain valleys of Central Portugal. It has been listed as one of the best yoga retreat centres in the world by NatGeo UK Traveller, Forbes Magazine, The Guardian, OmYoga, and Yoga Journal. 


This yoga retreat offers you space to disconnect from the business of life, and reconnect with yourself in the breathtaking Portuguese wilderness.

Retreat Dates & Investment 

Monday 30th September - Saturday 5th October

Investment ranges from £900 to £1,050.00, depending on the room you choose. You’ll find the rooms and descriptions here.

Payment plans are available. A deposit of £200 reserves your place.

50% of your remaining balance is due by 1st July and the remaining balance after that is due by 1st August.

Yoga Practices, Treatments & Activites

This yoga retreat is the perfect opportunity to deepen your personal yoga practice. 

Daily yoga practices will be offered in the stunning onsite shala, led by a highly experienced yoga teacher. Each morning will begin with a Vinyasa Flow practice. A Yin practice will be offered in the afternoon. Practices will be accessible to a range of experience -- beginners and seasoned yogis are all welcome. 

Yoga mats and props are provided. 

This yoga retreat package also includes a trip to the local village and a swim in the nearby river.

Location

Vale De Moses is a family run, eco-conscious retreat centre located in the incredible remote forests of central Portugal. It is listed as one of the best retreats in the world by NatGeo, UK Traveller, Forbes Magazine, The Guardian and several yoga magazines. Every year Vale de Moses welcomes over 500 people from 60+ countries around the world, all looking to take time to be with themselves in a natural, wilderness environment - abundant space to breathe and feel.

Accommodation

Accommodation options at Vale de Moses include four Xisto stone cottages that have been restored with great care and respect to the old local Portuguese traditions of building with natural materials: clay, lime, stone and wood. You can choose from private double bedrooms in the main farmhouse (none have ensuites), or a place in one of the shared, open-plan cottages in the river valley below. If you prefer a glamping experience, sleep in one of several belle tents each mounted on separate stone terraces, with hammocks hanging in the shade of strawberry fruit trees. 

Wherever you stay, you will have nearby access to a selection of indoor and outdoor bathrooms and showers. All beds are quality Portuguese-made mattresses with memory foam toppers, cotton sheets, blankets, mosquito nets, good pillows and duvets. Restorative sleep is an essential part of your retreat with us.

All accommodation features the following amenities: 

  • Storage space for your clothes

  • Hot water bottles

  • Easy access to hammocks or sun loungers

  • Fully furnished with carpets and lighting

  • Good quality pillows and duvets

  • Heaters or wood burning stoves

  • Mosquito nets

  • Nearby access to indoor bathrooms

  • Nearby access to 3 outdoor showers

  • Personal towels for the week

  • Personal bathrobe for the week

  • Beds are either quality mattresses or superb Portuguese made futons

  • Memory foam toppers, cotton sheets and blankets

You’ll find descriptions of the room options here.

Food

You won't be hungry at Vale de Moses! 

We believe it's important to nourish your body while on a yoga retreat, so three delicious and nutritious vegetarian/vegan meals are lovingly prepared every day. The talented plant-based chefs at Vale de Moses have years of experience with vegetarian and vegan food in a variety of settings around the world. Their fusion of ingredients, spices and flavours, according to the principles of Ayurveda, mean every dish is not only tasty but also easy to digest.

We start the day with warming tea, fruit and nuts to fuel us for our morning yoga practice. After practice we then serve a nourishing breakfast of rice, millet, quinoa or buckwheat porridge with fruit salad, toasted nuts and seeds, and freshly squeezed juice. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day when our stomachs are best able to digest. Dinners are light to help us sleep more deeply. Food is plentiful at Vale de Moses. 

Please let us know any specific dietary requirements you may have and we will ensure those are shared with the chefs at Vale de Moses.

What’s Included?

  • Accommodation for five nights 

  • Transport to and from Vale De Moses from Lisbon airport

  • Three freshly prepared, nourishing plant-based meals a day

  • Daily yoga practices, as well as access to indoor yoga studio, mats, and props

  • One-hour holistic treatment 

  • One trip to the local river and village

What’s not included?

  • Flights

  • Travel insurance 

  • Supplementary food or drinks 

  • Use of the on-site wood burning sauna (This can be arranged at an additional cost)

Susan sitting in sukhasana in the studio

About the Teacher

Susan McEwen, Retreat Host & Senior Yoga Teacher

I have been practicing yoga for almost twenty years and can honestly say that it was exactly what my body and mind had been searching for for a long time.

As a vinyasa teacher I hope to make yoga accessible to everyone. I love guiding practices that work from a theme as I believe that what we practice on the mat helps us gain perspective balance and strength for what we practice in life. I am keen to journey with people as they discover yoga for themselves. I love both the Asana practice but my training has also prompted a desire to delve into the deeper teaching that sits alongside of the physical practice.

I hope my classes will be fun, offer challenge but ultimately encourage those who come to see yoga not just as a thing they do a few times a week but rather as part of their lives that helps them do life well and come home to themselves.’

FAQs

  • There is a RyanAir return flight from Dublin to Lisbon at 10am on Monday 18th September, and 5.45pm on Satuday 22nd September that would work well with retreat transportation times.

    Many guests also choose to arrive the night before the retreat begins and/or get a late flight home in order to enjoy some time in Lisbon!

  • Group transportation will leave the Lisbon airport at 2pm on Monday 18th September, arriving at Vale de Moses around 4.30pm. Group transportation will leave Vale de Moses at 10am on Saturday 23rd September, arriving at the Lisbon airport around 12.30pm.

  • Accommodation, three plant-based meals a day, teas and coffees, transportation to and from Lisbon airport, and daily yoga practices are all included. Flights are not included. Use of the onsite wood-burning sauna is available for an additional cost.

  • Practices will be accessible to a range of experience - beginners and seasoned yogis are all welcome.

  • Please bring comfortable clothes for the week, personal toiletries, swimwear and walking/hiking shoes. Vale de Moses is fully equipped with yoga mats and props. You are welcome to bring your own mat if you’d like. Personal towels and a bathrobe for the week will be provided. Your accommodation will also have quality pillows and duvets, hot water bottles, and mosquito nets.

  • WiFi is available in certain locations at Vale de Moses. If you need consistent access to WiFi while away, we recommend booking the Moses Cottage as it is the only accommodation with WiFi. Some communal areas have WiFi as well.

    Mobile phones are allowed but we encourage you to disconnect as much as possible. We ask that yoga practices and group activities are phone free.

  • We know that everyone uses their retreat time a little differently - so to ensure everyone is able to have the experience they need from this time away, we respectfully ask that alcohol is not consumed in communal spaces. On the last night, we’ll offer wine with dinner. Other than that, there are lots of private spaces on the grounds where you are more than welcome to have a drink.