Shamballah Yoga Retreats

Where Atlantic winds meet ancient forests, and a monastic-rooted practice becomes a way of life.

Best for: solo travellers, couples, and small groups seeking an intimate yoga and meditation experience with easy access to surf, sea, and the mystical landscapes of Sintra.

Shamballah Yoga Retreats Portugal Overview

Tucked into the folds of Sintra National Park, Shamballah Yoga Retreats is a home-turned-sanctuary founded by Zarqa and Patricia, two Portuguese-born “citizens of the world” who share more than 48 years of combined experience in yoga, meditation, and bodywork. After spending years living in a school of meditation, the pair created Shamballah as a place to share what they learned — and, quite simply, to continue living the practice themselves.

The result is a retreat that feels less like a booking and more like an invitation into someone’s carefully considered daily life. Small groups, thoughtful co-teaching, homegrown food, and a deeply embedded ecological ethos define the Shamballah experience.

Retreats & Programs

Shamballah runs a rolling calendar of week-long retreats out of its Sintra home, with additional off-site programs on the Azores islands. Current offerings include:

• Yoga & Meditation Retreat in Sintra — reset, move, and restore balance
• Surf & Yoga Retreat in Sintra — energise and reconnect with joy
• Yoga & Life Coaching Retreat in Sintra — cultivate clarity and meaningful change
• Yoga & Meditation Retreat in São Miguel, Azores
• Yoga & Meditation Retreat in São Jorge Island, Azores

The teaching approach

Patricia — a certified Vinyasa and Hatha teacher, Zen Shiatsu therapist, and Pilates instructor with more than 30 years of bodywork experience — leads yoga classes that weave anatomy and chakra work into slow, considered sequences. Each week explores individual chakras through postures, mudras, breathing exercises, and mantra, alongside restorative sessions with blocks, bolsters, blankets, and straps.

Zarqa, who has studied with Spiritual Master Tony Samara since 2001 and lived a monastic life from 2009 to 2015, guides the meditation and breathwork — offering practices that can be energising or profoundly relaxing. He is also trained in a specific style of Ayurvedic massage, which he has been practising since 2004.

Together they create a genuinely complementary co-teaching model: physical and energetic, grounding and expansive.

Accommodation

The retreat house sleeps up to 13 guests across five bedrooms: a spacious master room with four beds and a private terrace, one triple ensuite, and three twin rooms. Three bathrooms serve the house, one of which features a large Jacuzzi used as part of the program.

Light-filled and generously sized, the home has quiet corners for reading, sofas for slow afternoons over Ayurvedic and organic teas, and 350 square metres of lawn where birdsong mingles with the distant sound of the ocean.

Amenities & Facilities

Shamballah is set up so guests can simply arrive and settle in. Key amenities include:

• Dedicated yoga space with all props provided
• Sauna and on-site massage room
• Mini gym, pool table, and table tennis
• Living room with comfortable sofas and a large outdoor terrace
• Beautiful garden and extensive lawn

Food

Meals are a highlight guests return to again and again in their reviews. The kitchen is vegetarian, drawing on fresh, mostly organic ingredients — much of the fruit and vegetables are homegrown — with freshly baked bread daily and seasonal produce shaping menus that borrow influences from around the world.

Add-on activities

Beyond the core program, guests can book forest therapy, sound journeys, guided walks, voice therapy, and Ayurvedic massage. Free time invites surfing, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, or joining organised excursions to Sintra town and the national park.

The Setting

Shamballah sits in the village of São João das Lampas, within Sintra National Park — a landscape of sacred hills, lush countryside, and dramatically eroded Atlantic coastline. The retreat is a 10-minute walk from one of the wildest stretches of coast in the park, where Praia da Aguda’s cliff-backed sands lie within easy reach. Two kilometres in either direction bring you to Magoito beach — known for consistent surf — and the cinematic clifftop village of Azenhas do Mar.

Ten minutes’ drive inland is the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape of Sintra, with its palaces, forested parks, and layers of myth. The climate is mild and Atlantic: fresh, breezy, and comfortable for practice year-round, with warm dry summers and gentle, cooler winters.

Guest Experience

Guests describe Shamballah as a place where the structure is invisible but everywhere — where “every guest can experience a ‘I’m exactly where I want to be’ feeling.” Reviewers repeatedly note the personal touch of the hosts, the “excellent, varied and soulful” yoga classes, and evening meditation sessions that leave guests set up for “a perfect night’s sleep.”

Group sizes hover around eight people, described by one guest as “just perfect” for connection. Solo travellers, in particular, single out the warmth of the atmosphere: “I went to this retreat on my own and I didn’t feel a moment of loneliness — it was wall to wall kindness and love.”

A quietly sustainable home

Sustainability at Shamballah is woven into daily life rather than displayed as a badge. All electricity comes from renewable sources, showers are heated by solar panels, cleaning products are organic and ecological, and food is sourced organically or locally. The hosts drive an electric car, and three trees are planted through a reforestation project for every guest who attends.

Practical Info

Pricing

Sintra retreats run Mondays to Saturdays throughout the year from €1,100 per person. Azores retreats start from €1,200 per person (São Jorge, September 2026), with the São Miguel 2026 retreat priced at €1,750 (sold out). A 30% deposit secures a reservation, and free cancellation is offered up to 30 days before the retreat start date.

Getting there

The nearest major airport is Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport, roughly 28 km away. By public transport, take the metro from the airport toward Rossio, then the Sintra-bound train to Portela de Sintra station, where a bus continues to Fontanelas or Azenhas do Mar. The retreat is just outside Sintra town, about an hour from central Lisbon.

Address: R. do Chão Velho 10, 2705-627 São João das Lampas, Portugal.

Best time to visit

Retreats in Sintra run year-round, beginning every Monday. Late spring and early autumn offer the most reliable warmth for beach days and surf, while winter months bring an atmospheric quiet to the coast and forest — ideal for those drawn to introspective practice. Azores retreats follow a seasonal schedule, typically clustered around the milder Atlantic months.