What a $10k one month wellness retreat includes, vs luxury retreats

If you have been searching for a one month wellness retreat, you have probably noticed two things. First, most retreats last three to fourteen nights, not a month. Second, the prices look like phone numbers. This article puts The Quiet Month's US$10,000 programme fee next to real, published retreat prices, line by line, so you can judge the value yourself. No sales voice. Well, a small one at the end.

About the numbers. Every price below is a published "from" price I found in October 2026, linked to its source. Prices change often, and many places add service charges and tax on top. Check the source before you book anything, including with me.

The short answer

• The Quiet Month: US$10,000 for a one-month programme. That is about US$330 a day. Your private flat is extra, and you book it yourself.
• A week at a well-known luxury wellness resort is often several thousand dollars per person, and at the top end passes US$20,000, before flights.
• Month-long listings on retreat directories run from about US$1,000 to well over US$20,000. What "included" means changes wildly from one to the next.

So we are not the cheapest month on the internet, and we are nowhere near the most expensive week. The useful question is not "what does it cost?" but "what do I get for each dollar, and is it the thing I actually need?"

What luxury retreats charge for a week (or less)

Here are four well-known names, with their published prices. I picked them because people often compare them, not because they are bad. Most are very good at what they do.

Sources: Compare Retreats (Chiva-Som, SHA), healingholidays.com (Absolute Sanctuary), Hoffman Institute UK. Full links at the end. The Hoffman Process is a residential personal-development course rather than a resort, but people weigh it up alongside retreats, so it is here.

Now the per-night maths, using the lowest prices. US$2,215 for three nights at Chiva-Som is about US$740 a night before any service charge. The lowest SHA package works out at about US$860 a night. Absolute Sanctuary is gentler: the low-season sharing rate is around £257 a night.

One honest point before we go on: those prices include a room. Ours does not. I will come back to that, because a fair comparison is worth more than a flattering one.

What do these places do well? A lot. Beautiful rooms, spas, large teams, menus of extras, and at the clinic end, medical staff. If what you want is a massage every afternoon and someone to fold your towels into swans, a resort is the right call, and I mean that kindly.

What month-long retreats cost

Month-long stays are rarer. On BookRetreats, the month-long retreats listed in Europe ranged from about US$1,009 (a 30-day remote-work and life reset in Mallorca) to one 30-day listing in Serbia at over US$41,000, which looks like an outlier. Most of the listings I saw sat between about US$1,100 and US$3,700.

In the sober retreat category on the same site, two stood out for length: a 30 Day Sober Reset Retreat in the Valencia mountains from US$4,035, and a 28-day sober retreat on a remote Indonesian island at US$22,000.

Before comparing any two of these, it helps to ask every retreat the same five questions about price:

• Is the room included? If not, what will it really cost, and who books it?
• Which meals are included? All of them, or breakfast and "healthy options available"?
• What is extra? Service charges, tax, transfers, activities, spa visits.
• How many guests? Six, sixteen or sixty changes the feel of the whole stay.
• What are the refund terms, in writing, before you pay?

The spread is huge because "month-long" covers very different things. Some are co-living houses with a few group sessions. Some are courses, like yoga teacher training. Some are full board with a daily programme. A cheap month and an expensive month may have almost nothing in common except the calendar. Read the "included" list before you read the price.

What a one month wellness retreat with The Quiet Month includes

Here is ours, line by line. The same list is on the price page and in the written agreement.

Included in the US$10,000

• All shared meals, low-carb and keto-style. Everyone eats the same food: eggs, fish, meat, vegetables, olive oil, nuts and a little fruit. Allergies and medical diets are agreed before you arrive.
• Daily exercise together: walking, swimming, strength and stretching, at a pace that suits each person. Anything with real risk, like open water or a mountain hike, uses a licensed local guide.
• Daily meditation, 10 to 20 minutes, always optional. No long silent sessions, no breathing extremes.
• Activities and outings: nature, markets, culture, long walks. Whatever the place does best.
• Local transport during the month.
• Company. Up to three other guests and me, at meals, on walks and over coffee in the evenings. Share only what you want.
• One free day a week to rest, explore or do nothing at all.

Not included

• Your private flat. I choose a one-bedroom flat about ten minutes' walk from me and send you the listing. You book and pay it directly, in your own name.
• Flights to join and to go home, and any visas.
• Travel insurance with medical and evacuation cover. This is required.
• Personal spending.

The honest maths: about US$330 a day, plus a flat

US$10,000 divided by 30 days is about US$333 a day for the programme: food, exercise, meditation, outings, transport and company. Longer stays cost less per month: two months are US$19,000 and three months are US$27,000.

Then add your flat. Flat prices vary a lot by city and season, so I will not put an invented number here. What I can promise is that you see the real listing, and the real price, before you book or pay anything. So the true total for your month is the programme fee plus a flat you have already looked at.

Put next to the table above, the comparison looks like this. For roughly the published price of one week in a sea-view suite at a famous clinic, you get a whole month of a calm daily routine, with your own front door. And two peak-season three-night stays at a top Thai resort, once the service charge is added, come to about the same as our programme fee for a whole month. Different products, of course. But if the thing you want is time, the maths is on the side of the month.

What you don't get (on purpose)

A fair comparison lists the gaps too. Here are ours.

• No spa menu. No massages or beauty extras are included. You can book them yourself locally if you like.
• No doctors or medical team. This is a healthy-living month. It is not therapy, and not medical or psychological treatment. I am self-taught in nutrition, and I am not a doctor. You keep your own doctor, and you bring a doctor's fit-to-join letter.
• No crowd. Never more than four guests. If you want a lively group of twenty, this is not it.
• No published location. I never publish where I am. After our video call, if we both want to go ahead, I tell you the country and city before you sign anything.
• No promised results. I can promise breakfast. I cannot promise who you will be on day 30, and I won't pretend to.

A week or a month: which do you actually need?

A week away is a lovely pause. In my own experience, though, the first week of any new routine is mostly noise. You are learning where things are, missing old habits, and sleeping in a new bed. By the time it starts to feel normal, the week is over and your old evening routine is waiting by the front door.

A month gives the routine time to stop feeling new. That is the whole idea. It is not a scientific claim, just a practical one: thirty mornings are more practice than seven. Whether that is worth more to you than a beautiful room and a spa is a personal call, and both answers are reasonable.

Who should choose a luxury resort instead

• You want pampering: spa, room service, massages on demand.
• You need any kind of medical supervision. Then a clinic, or your own doctor, is the right place to start, not us.
• You only have a week, and that is fine.
• You want complete solitude, with no group at all.

Who might prefer a month with The Quiet Month

• You want a long, real break from alcohol, smoking and late nights. The rule is simple: no smoking, no alcohol, no drugs for the month. Prescribed medicine is always allowed.
• You like small groups, early mornings and good conversation. (Mostly the conversation.)
• You want your own space: your own flat, your own key, your own passport and phone.
• You are 21 or over, your doctor is happy for you to join, and you have travel insurance.

The full rhythm of a day and a week is on the month page. If you are weighing a sober month against other options, I wrote a separate guide: sober month retreat, sober living or a rehab centre.

How paying works, so nothing is a surprise

1. Apply, then a Zoom call. Free, with no commitment on either side.
2. Country and city. If we both want to go ahead, I tell you where.
3. A written agreement with my full legal name and details.
4. A US$1,000 deposit by bank transfer. It is part of the fee, not extra. Then I send the exact address and you book your flat.
5. The balance in two halves: on day 1, after you arrive and see everything, and on day 15.

There is also a 7-day fit promise: either of us can say "this isn't a fit" by day 7, and unused weeks are refunded minus anything non-refundable. Every detail is in the terms, which you read before paying anything.

That is the whole price story. No hidden extras in the programme fee, no card form, no "limited places left" timer. If it suits you, apply. If a week at a resort suits you better, I hope it is a wonderful week.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Compare Retreats: Chiva-Som 3 to 14 night stay (3-night prices, service charge note)
2. Compare Retreats: SHA Wellness Clinic 7 to 14 night programme (7-night package prices)
3. healingholidays.com: Absolute Sanctuary 7-night programme (seasonal prices 2026 to 2027)
4. Hoffman Institute UK: price (2026 and 2027 prices)
5. BookRetreats: month-long retreats in Europe (listed price range)
6. BookRetreats: sober retreats (30-day and 28-day listings)

Prices and facts were checked on 23 October 2026. Prices change; always check the source before you book anything.