Algarve Surf & Yoga Escape: 7-Night All-Inclusive Retreat with Therapies

The retreat runs out of Quinta Agave in Almádena, a 20-minute walk from Burgau and about 15 minutes' drive from Lagos. It's a whitewashed farmhouse with vines around the doorways and fig trees in the garden — a bit wonky in places, and they're upfront that it's a work in progress rather than a finished hotel. There's a pool, communal alfresco dining, and a yoga shala on site. Rooms are in the main house and in apartments, some of which share a living room.

The daily rhythm follows the ocean rather than a fixed timetable. You're up around 6:30am for coffee, fruit and a light breakfast, then out to whichever beach has the best conditions that day — the south coast beaches near Burgau for smaller, cleaner waves or the west coast around Sagres when the swell is bigger. Lessons run with a coach, in a group, and progress over the week rather than resetting each day. Lunch is back at the quinta around 1:30pm. Afternoons are free: pool, massage, the 'Soul of Surfing' workshop, a nap, or a trip into Lagos. Sunset yoga and pranayama run around 5pm, then dinner.

Surf coaching is the core of it. The team runs a surf school on site as well, so equipment and instructors aren't outsourced, and there's a stated focus on 'progressing together as a group' — meaning the same coach sees you across the week and adjusts what you're working on. Yoga is taught in a separate shala and is real yoga, not a stretch class bolted onto a surf camp: sunset sessions include pranayama, and there's a teacher on the team who's around all week.

Food is a bigger part of this than at most surf camps. Three meals a day are cooked in-house by Ben, the resident chef, and the kitchen leans on local Portuguese produce — the kind of food that gets a whole paragraph in guest reviews. Breakfast is fruit, coffee and pastries (pastel de nata included, on principle); lunch and dinner are hearty rather than spa-sized, eaten communally outdoors.

The location is the other draw. Almádena sits between the gentler south coast — Burgau, Luz, Lagos, all coves and caves — and the wilder western Atlantic coast near Sagres, which is where you go when you want bigger, more open waves. That gives the coaches genuine options on any given day, rather than being stuck with one beach break. Faro airport is an hour away; Lisbon is around three hours by car or four by bus/train for €20-30.

What's included

- Accommodation at the quinta (3, 4 or 7 nights) - Three meals daily: breakfast, lunch and dinner - Daily surf lessons with a coach - Surfboard and wetsuit for lessons - Daily sunset yoga and pranayama sessions - 'Soul of Surfing' workshop sessions - Early-morning coffee, fruit and snack packs for surf days - Use of the pool and communal areas - Alfresco communal dinners - Access to the on-site surf school coaches across the week

What's not included

- Flights - Airport transfers (taxi, shuttle bus or car hire from Faro) - Travel insurance - Massages and spa treatments - Drinks at local bars in Lagos - Meals eaten away from the quinta - Extra beds or cots for children (charged separately) - Personal expenses