The dark retreat runs Friday to Friday. Check-in is 4:00 PM in winter and 5:00 PM in summer. After tea and a conversation about your diet and how much contact you want, you settle into the cabin and decide when to switch the light off. From then on your sight is effectively switched off, and your attention turns inward. The hosts describe this kind of sensory deprivation as a route to insight and clarity, and say people's experiences vary a lot. Some guests cry, some feel joy, some see images, and some simply sleep and think.

Daily life is very simple. Breakfast is crunchy muesli with nuts. Fresh fruit, nuts and biscuits are in the cabin all week. Lunch and dinner come once a day in insulated containers, along with a flask of herbal tea. Drinking and shower water comes straight from a mountain spring and isn't chlorinated. Because the shower water drains back into the land, the hosts ask you not to bring shampoos, shower gels, perfumes or antiperspirants. A fragrance-free and dye-free shower gel is available if you need one.

What sets this place apart from a typical wellness retreat is that it's one-to-one and very small. There are only two cabins, so at most two separate retreats are running at once. The hosts are on hand throughout. One past guest walked here from Kraľovany as part of the Camino de Santiago route. He asked for a guided music-therapy meditation on his second-to-last day, and the hosts did it. Past guests mostly mention Ivka and Kamil by name and talk about feeling looked after.

If you want, the hosts can suggest breathing exercises during your stay. After you leave, they can arrange an online homeopathy consultation of about 1.5 hours. Herbal tinctures (lady's mantle, peppermint, marjoram) and dried mushrooms are for sale at the end of your stay. You keep your bamboo spoon as a small gift.

The setting is the Malá Fatra area of northern Slovakia, with forest and mountains all around and no streetlights or urban light pollution. On the nature-retreat option you can hike well-known local trails: Rozsutec, Stoh, Osnica and the ladders and waterfalls of the Jánošík Gorges. Parking is right next to the cabins, and international guests can get a pick-up from the bus station.

The price for international guests covers English-speaking support and help with travel planning, so it suits people coming from abroad who don't speak Slovak. Gift vouchers are available if you want to book a stay for someone else.

What's included

- 7 nights in a private blacked-out cabin (or 14 or 21 nights on multi-week bookings) - Welcome herbal tea and an arrival talk with the hosts - Daily breakfast of crunchy muesli with nuts - Lunch and dinner delivered daily in insulated containers - Fresh fruit, nuts and biscuits throughout the stay - Organic herbal tea from local mountain herbs, delivered daily - Vegetarian, vegan, raw or gluten-free meals on request - Farewell breakfast on the final Friday morning - Daily support and conversation with the hosts, as agreed - Breathing exercise suggestions during the retreat - Clean towels and bedding - Dishes, cups and toilet paper - Yoga mat, meditation cushion, bean bag chair and massage roller - Musical and rhythm instruments - Mountain spring water for drinking and showering - Fragrance-free, dye-free shower gel if needed - English-speaking support for international guests - Help with travel arrangements - Bus station pick-up - Parking next to the cabins - Bamboo spoon to keep

What's not included

- Travel to and from Slovakia - Travel insurance - Herbal tinctures and dried mushrooms (for sale after the retreat) - Post-retreat online homeopathy consultation (about 1.5 hours, by arrangement) - Extra services requested beyond the standard stay (by prior agreement) - Personal snacks and treats