Is it time to escape from real life and get working on your downward dog? From sumptuous private Greek islands to cosy Cornwall and off-grid hippie Costa Rican havens, I’ve picked eight of the world’s coolest yoga camps and best yoga retreats. They’ll sort out your chakra in incredible wild places and send you home a little more flexible and a lot more zen.

Eight of the best active yoga retreats around the world

1. Soul and Surf, Sri Lanka
Perfect for: surfers
Get up. Surf. Yoga. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. No shoes required – it’s astonishing how quickly living barefoot begins to feel totally natural at Soul and Surf Sri Lanka, a minimalist haven by the coast with a huge white shala open to the tropical trees below. Food is fresh and healthy and twice-daily yoga and meditation sessions will have you feeling strong, supple and calm in no time.
From £820 per week, Soul and Surf

2. Adventure Yogi, Cornwall, UK
Perfect for: winter yoga weekenders
There’s no need for a stressy long-haul flight in order to find inner peace – the wild coast of Cornwall is a magical place to relax, restore and re-energise. Adventure Yogis stay in St Agnes, surrounded by calming ocean and rolling farmland – in summer you can stretch out on the terrace, or cosy up by the log fire in winter.
From £425 for three nights, Adventure Yogi

3. Girls-only Yoga and Surf, Taghazout, Morocco
Perfect for: your girl gang
Gentlemen, read no further – this is strictly for the ladies. Get up for sunrise yoga, then learn to pop-up on a wave with a gaggle of girls and a female instructor on Morocco’s beautiful, palm-lined coastline (just watch out for passing camels). Spend the afternoon exploring the souks and the evening calming tired muscles with a sunset yoga session.
From £660 per week, Surf Maroc

4. Huzur Vadisi, Turkey
Perfect for: wannabe hippies
Need to really get back to nature? Paradisical Huzur Vadisi’s yoga yurts are hidden in a secluded mountain valley, surrounded by pine forest and fig groves. Life here is simple and ordered – practice yoga on the shaded wooden platform, sample the retreat’s legendary food (all fresh and locally sourced) and then chill out by the natural stone swimming pool.
From £770 per week, Huzur Vadisi

5. The Yoga Farm, Punta Banco, Costa Rica
Perfect for: escaping reality
Get completely off the grid and escape civilization at the Yoga Farm – it’s 100% solar powered, accessible only by foot and totally worth seeking out in its remote rain forest location. Rain water is harvested on site and fresh fruit comes straight from the garden. Explorers who find their way here practice yoga in the morning, surf in the afternoon and sleep out on the yoga deck under the stars at night – the Costa Rican recipe for Pura Vida at one of the country’s best yoga retreats.
From £195 per week, Yoga Farm Costa Rica

6. Kali Yoga, Puglia, Italy
perfect for: foodies
A slice of la dolce vita with added asanas, Kali Yoga’s Puglia retreats include daily Ashtanga yoga sessions in an open-air shala, healthy veggie takes on Italian food and a gorgeous country setting including a walled swimming pool, a lavender garden and a donkey to cuddle. Stay in unique circular stone cottages and cycle to nearby villages to catch the weekly markets when you aren’t in the shala – yoga heaven, italian style.
From £875 per week, Kali Yoga

7. Silver Island Yoga, Silver Island, Greece
perfect for: castaways
Fancy escaping to your very own sundrenched Greek island to get a bit bendy? Silver Island accepts only nine guests at once onto a 60 acre island surrounded by turquoise ocean – that’s a lot of space to lose yourself in. Practice yoga in an open-air shala overlooking the mountains, sit around the fire pit, explore the coastline in a kayak or nap in a hammock under an olive tree – it’s Mamma Mia meets meditation.
From £1,300 per week, Silver Island Yoga

8. Travel Yogi Iceland
Perfect for: explorers
The Travel Yogis like to jet all over the world to refresh their chakras, but my pick of their globetrotting retreats is Iceland. Its chilly glaciers and boiling geysers might not be the first landscape you picture doing a peaceful warrior in, but there’s geothermically-heated hot water for your post-practice cuppa and the famed Blue Lagoon to relax tired muscles in. If you’re looking for a short-haul yoga camp you can combine with a travel adventure, Iceland is the dream.
From £2,900 per week, the Travel Yogi

Want some vitamin sea instead? Try my best surf camps for beginners