8 Luxury Wellness Retreats for Food and Wine Lovers

Set in the winemaking heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Veritas Winery offers three-day wellness reset retreats, which combine yoga and hiking in one of the country’s most gorgeous settings with wine education, cooking classes, vineyard tours, and farmhouse dinners. (Massage or horseback riding can be incorporated as well, for an additional cost.) Accommodations are in the property’s well-appointed farmhouse, built in 1839 and converted to a six-room guesthouse, or in the nearby two-bedroom cottage. Retreats take place throughout the year; single-day “mini retreats” are also on offer, with a morning that features yoga, brunch and an afternoon spent with a vineyard tour and wine tasting. From $2,000 per room for extended retreats; $150 for a single-day mini retreat; veritasretreat.com.

Thailand’s Museflower resort offers their signature spa and yoga retreats throughout the year for 3, 5 or 7-night stays in the lush countryside just outside of Chiang Rai. An on-site Aquaponics system and organic garden provide most of the produce for the resort’s organic lacto-ovo vegetarian meals, which are light and healthful but hardly bland—think red curry with eggplant, stir-fried zucchini with young coconut, and fried mushroom salad. Indulge in daily yoga and meditation during your stay, along with spa treatments, therapeutic massages, a dip in the Himalayan crystal salt water spa swimming pool, and other wellness activities like qigong and guided walking tours. From $540 for a 3-night stay; musefloweretreat.com.

The Napa Valley Relais & Chateaux property, well-known for its spectacular spa, offers both three- and five-night wellness retreats for wine lovers, both of which include a health and nutritional consultation with a Certified Health Coach, wine tastings and excursions, a bike ride, spa treatments, fitness classes, and one or two private fitness activities. The longer retreat adds a cooking class and an afternoon with the vintner and winemaking team of nearby ADAMVS winery. Guests can add experiences like private yoga sessions, spin classes, guided hikes, and additional spa treatments if they wish, or use downtime to rest and relax. From $3,100 for three nights and $5,675 for five nights; meadowood.com.

A restored medieval castle is the setting for this four-day, five-night wine and yoga retreat in the Tuscan countryside. For those interested in going beyond simple vineyard tours and afternoon tastings, this retreat includes WSET level 1 or level 2 course material—with a special focus on the wines of Italy—led by Emily O’Hare, former wine buyer and head sommelier at The River Café. There’s plenty to give you a well-rounded reset, too, like a daily morning yoga practice, cooking master classes, hikes in the surrounding countryside, a trip to a nearby ancient thermal bath, and, of course, languorous dinners with plenty of good wine. The WSET Level 1 courses take place 2-7 October 2018; WSET Level 2 courses take place 12-20 October 2018. From $2285 per person; potentino.com.

Legendary wellness retreat Golden Door offers several food and wine-focused retreat weeks every year at their 600-acre ryokan-style property in Escondido, California. Food and Wine Weeks include demonstrations by Chef Greg Frey, Jr.; ingredient workshops; and wine pairing dinners. Their Vintners’ Week also adds wine tasting and pairings by some of California’s best winemakers to the usual menu of spa treatments and fitness classes and culminates in a wine dinner set on the property’s organic garden. Cooking School weeks offer a hands-on culinary experience for guests, with mornings devoted to sessions on knife skills, stocks and sauces, ingredient sourcing and preparation, and organic farm and apiary tours with Executive Chef Greg Frey, Jr. and the Golden Door culinary team. Afternoons allow time for the spa’s other offerings: hiking, yoga, cycling, massage, skin treatments, and more. From $8850 for a one-week program, goldendoor.com.

If some time in the wilderness appeals but you still crave the luxury of a spa vacation, Blackberry Farm’s wellness program in May might be the perfect escape. Three days of yoga, relaxation, forest walks, and foraging expeditions, cooking demonstrations, spa experiences, and meditation kick off with yoga in the woods and a dinner featuring the exceptional farm-to-table cuisine that has made Blackberry Farm famous. From $900 (room reservation additional); blackberryfarm.com.

The Finger Lakes region offers an ideal setting for a restful and reflective winter retreat. Aurora’s historic property brings back its popular women’s wellness retreat for its third year in 2018. The three-day weekend, based in the Inn’s Rowland House, includes yoga, intention-setting practices, wellness activities, meditations, and group wine pairing dinners. The menus for the event take their cue from Executive Chef Patrick Higgins’ farm-to-table approach, featuring dishes inspired by retreat hosts Liz Price-Kellogg and Kristen Taylor’s book For the Love of Food and Yoga: A Celebration of Mindful Eating and Being. $950 per person for single occupancy; innsofaurora.com.

Exotic Yoga Retreats founder Gayle Olsen hosts 15–20 retreats a year in various locations around the world with a focus on health, wellness, and yoga combined with gourmet cuisine and wine. Her September offering, in Umbria, is particularly suited for food lovers: Days begin with a morning walk, meditation, and yoga class in a 16th-century chapel, followed by lunch and afternoon activities such as a cooking class and wine tasting—or free time to explore. Sunset brings more yoga and pranayama, and then the day concludes with an aperitivo and a leisurely group dinner. Guests are housed in a 10th-century castle turned luxury villa with a pool, jacuzzi, and organic garden.  From $2,245 for a shared room, $3,245 for a single; exoticyogaretreats.com.