Julia Ingersoll Retreats
 

 Sumptuous, handcrafted soulful travel experiences that delight and inspire.

 
 

Savor a fantastic journey off the beaten path, a delicious slow-travel experience full of genuine culture and local color.

Welcome to our unique and intimate well-being adventures to some of the world’s most beautiful places. You’ll experience them in an active, fulfilling and genuine way

If you love authentic, active, immersive travel experiences full of local culture and nature, and heightened with meaningful yoga–

…AND you also enjoy the delights of excellent food, wine, company and sumptuous creature comforts –

...you’re in the right place!

Come voyage with us.

 
 
People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life...I think what we’re really seeking is to actually feel the rapture of being alive.
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
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Renew your natural ability to savor life.

Bring: your laughter,wonder, curiosity, and sense of fun. Uncover your strength, your joy, your own self.

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You’ll explore, savor the good life, and be active in gorgeous nature; you’ll gain insight into another culture; and you’ll reconnect to your inner well of creativity that nourishes and enlivens your being. You’ll engage with local people, enjoy the best food and wines, meet artists and craftspeople, make friends, and experience a genuine connection with the spirit of these places.

You’ll get to slow down and delight in physical and cultural experiences, and also have time to yourself to contemplate and simply have fun.

This is a vacation from which there will be no need to recover. You’ll energize, restore, relax and re-balance – and emerge inspired!

 

Selected upcoming retreats

June 3 - 10, 2024

island adventures - yoga - authentic local culture

FULLY BOOKED

(but there’s still room on our Greek Summer Retreat!)

October 3 - 10, 2024

bike/e-bike - yoga - food & wine - genuine local culture

near Ostuni, Puglia, Italy

AND…continue on the Salento Retreat Extension!

October 10 - 14 – deluxe bike/ebike down the coast of the Salento

Bali: Mirror of Soul Retreat

October 23 - November 2, 2024

authentic local culture - yoga - island adventures

North Coast & Ubud

Umbria Passion

2024 dates TBA
September 2025

yoga - bike/hike - food & wine - genuine local culture

Gubbio, Italy

 
 

Explore our artfully curated retreats.

Our trips are to extraordinary places where retreat leader Julia Ingersoll has either lived full-time or visited in-depth over many years, cultivating friendships and meaningful connections to the places.

Previous yoga experience is not required. Just bring your willingness to explore. While participation in the yoga program is fully optional, yoga is a potent and soulful ingredient of each retreat: it offers effective techniques to deepen presence, to strengthen our bodies, focus our minds, create great camaraderie, and access deeper layers of of understanding of ourselves and the world. It’s a powerful and delightful enhancement to slow-travel!

On each trip the focus is simple: to enjoy, have fun, savor, explore, be yourself, and feel fully alive.

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All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
— Martin Buber
 
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We'll celebrate life and the bounty of this earth through fabulous artisan food traditions, heritage, culture, history, landscape, bringing our whole selves to the experience.

 
 

Find a deeper connection.

Passion and love for what we do is what motivates and distinguishes all of the wonderful people we work with on retreat: our guides and local staff, and all the artisans, cooks, restaurateurs, and hosts in each place we visit. Expect to be fabulously taken-care of, and inspired by their energy and dedication.

 
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Meet Julia

I’m here to welcome you on a journey to discover fabulous places, passionate people, fun inspiring experiences - and feel fully alive!
I have spent my life traveling throughout all of my interwoven careers (as a national-team cyclist, a professional painter, a yoga teacher), and exploring what I love through culture, art, nature (and food).
Two decades of leading small-group trips abroad. Thirty years practicing and teaching yoga. And I feel like I’m just getting started!
Come with me and a small group of fellow adventurers to share and spark our sense of wonder together.

 

Praise from past participants.

“This was the most perfectly organized trip I have ever been on and I travel and do tours all the time! Absolutely fantastic in every way. I’m coming back next year!”

– Michelle Y, CO

“I always feel like the retreat has been made for me. Julia knows what each person is interested in: art, history, mythology, food, wine, nature activities or shopping, swimming, cycling, yoga. You are catered for and cared for. You can delve into what you have passion for while on the retreat.

The activities we engage in are seamlessly organized. It’s like you are going out for a bike ride with your pals, except someone has created a fabulous experience for you by organizing every detail in an iconic yet undiscovered location– and you just enjoy!

You’ll feel you have been brought to amazing places and people by a person with genuine knowledge and passion  of the cultures and places and activities. Genuine knowledge. Genuine passion. 

You go to places where sometimes many tour groups also go to, BUT you get a deeper, local experience. I can’t explain how she does it. So that’s why I go again and again. It’s a vacation with friends and you are there to relax and enjoy the genuine experience for you to take part in.

The reason I keep coming back is because I feel like I’m going on a trip with a group of friends, including Julia. That is what happens! You make friends with the other wonderful people who also keep coming back. It never feels like an organized tour group. We gather for meals, we socialize, we take off on bike rides, we visit historical sites, we relax on a beach, we meet local folks and become friends with them too and look forward to seeing them again next time.

-Juli T., CA

“Julia’s trips are an adventure, with someone very trustworthy to lead you, off the beaten path, through the cultural innards of a place, to meet real people and see authentic things in nature and eat exquisite local foods, plus move your body, in yoga, walking, dancing, swimming — whatever the surroundings offer. Plus there’s a gorgeous, luxurious place to stay, all the travel arrangements are made, and there are multiple curated shopping opportunities!! 

For us Power Moms, this is heavenly—we turn over our lives for a few sweet days to Julia to lead us, and we just put down our planners and our reins, and all there is left to do is breathe and learn and move and enjoy. And remember what carpe diem is all about.”

—Amy B., DC

“The organization and leadership are amazing - every single planned outing has been carefully thought out - from restaurants to spa visits to sights that not just anyone would pick.  You also plan for the unexpected and are a truly lovely, kind person - anyone would want to be your friend!

I came home and wanted to know when I could book the next one! I ohmmmed for the first time. It was a magical experience just being in Puglia and biking where the ancient romans walked. I learned a lot about the local food from the area, some roman history.

The yoga was amazing. I travel a lot, so I know what I’m talking about. You get to be yourself- no need to try to impress anyone!”

-Lizzie D., VA

“I always return from a Julia Ingersoll Retreat feeling years younger; in mind, body, and spirit. No doubt, a large part is attributed to the sheer pleasure of spending time with Julia and the wonderful people who surround her.

What isn’t to love about her adventures! The destinations alone are breathtaking, but Julia brings you right into the fabric of the land (and sea). The active days are filled with yoga and amazing sights that are always experienced with a wonderful combination of nature and culture. Activities are balanced with time for relaxation and reflection. The accommodations are perfect and the food is an amazing experience of fresh, local specialties. Evenings are spent with great wine, laughter, and fabulous storytelling.

My travels with Julia have been some of my lifelong highlights, and I can’t wait to pack up my watercolors and biking shorts for my next adventure with her.”

–Patricia M., NY

 
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Your Retreat Gives Back

Your retreat fee includes a generous donation to Young Cultural Leaders with Spiritual Insight, our non-profit foundation supporting youth education in Bali, founded with Julia’s help, by Balinese teacher Sumayana.

 
 
 
...The sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth...
— Rabindranath Tagore
 
 
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