Four-Day Women-Only Yoga, Pilates & Sound Therapy Retreat in a Brussels Apartment

The apartment is in a quiet residential building in Brussels, and the retreat is built around the fact that you barely leave it except when you want to. The living room becomes the studio: there are mats, straps, blocks and cushions already there, and that's where the morning yoga and Pilates classes, the evening Yin sessions and the sound baths all happen. Off the open-plan kitchen is a long dining table where every brunch and dinner is eaten together. There's a terrace facing the private gardens at the back — good for a hot drink in the morning or reading in the afternoon, with birdsong rather than traffic. Wifi exists but the hosts will gently push you to leave it alone.

The daily shape is roughly the same each day, which is part of the point. Wake between 7 and 8.30, herbal tea and fresh fruit, then a 9am class that starts with nasal cleansing using a Neti pot before moving into conscious breathing, joint articulation, flexibility work, deep stretching, Pilates exercises, yoga postures and muscle strengthening. It runs about 90 minutes and is pitched so that beginners and experienced practitioners can both work at their own level. Brunch follows — vegetarian, seasonal, gluten-free, dairy-free, and generous.

What sets this apart from a standard city yoga weekend is the three afternoons. One takes you by private van to a château 20 minutes from the apartment where you get the run of a heated pool, jacuzzi, hammam, sauna and a flotation bath, with the evening left completely free afterwards for that reason. Another is a nature afternoon: shinrin-yoku forest bathing and a silent walk, designed to slow your pace and get you breathing properly. The third is unstructured time in Brussels itself — the Grand-Place, the historic centre, the cobbled streets, wherever you fancy. Evenings are Yin yoga on bolsters and then a sound session with Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, drum and tuning forks. Guests are told to go to bed early on those nights because the sound work tends to drop you into deep sleep.

Lila Makhlouf founded the retreat company in 2021 and runs these trips across France, Brussels, Morocco and Algeria. She's an actress as well as a yoga instructor, and reviews repeatedly mention how much individual attention she gives — one guest wrote that she was at a low point and found somewhere that "took care of my body and gut." The cooking is done by a travelling chef and gets its own mentions in the reviews; one guest singled out "Fatima's wonderful cooking" by name.

Group size is capped at five, which means the bedroom doesn't feel like a hostel dorm and the classes get real correction. The flat is spread over generous rooms with high ceilings, and each sleeping spot comes with a personal basket, storage and a wardrobe, plus individual lockers in the bathroom. It's an unusually comfortable setup for a shared-room retreat, and the whole thing is priced from €630 for four days and three nights.

What's included

- 3 nights accommodation in a shared apartment - 3 daily meals: brunch, dinner and snacks - Water, tea and coffee throughout the day - Welcome drink - Daily yoga and Pilates classes - Yin yoga and relaxation sessions - Sound therapy sessions (Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, drum, tuning forks) - Afternoon spa at a château: heated pool, jacuzzi, sauna, hammam, flotation bath - Forest bathing and silent walking excursion - Guided Brussels city time - All transportation during the retreat by private van - Professional event photos - Luggage storage - Wifi connection

What's not included

- Airport transfers - Flights - Travel insurance - Visa fees - Additional treatments - Paid street parking