Moganshan Yoga & Meditation Weekend: A 3-Day Nature Escape in the Bamboo Forest

The retreat runs on fixed dates, 14th to 16th December, and the structure is built around two full morning yoga sessions and one evening session each day. Mandy Soetopo teaches everything. She's a 200-hour Yoga Alliance registered teacher (200 RYT) with seven years of practice, and she grew up between Canadian, Chinese-Indonesian and Ukrainian roots — she's taught in Canada, Thailand, Indonesia and China. Her classes are described as focusing on listening to the body and building mental focus, working out the right level of challenge for each person in each pose rather than pushing everyone to the same shape.

The Saturday schedule is the busiest day, and the standout activity is the Moganshan hike from 12:00 to 14:00, where you walk into the mountain's bamboo forest and up to the peak with a local guide. Mogan Mountain sits in Zhejiang province and is known for its bamboo groves, cool mountain air and old stone villas. It's two and a half hours by road from Shanghai, which is why the trip uses the train plus a private van rather than driving the whole way — Friday's 16:00 train to Deqing takes about two and a half hours, then the van meets the group at Deqing Railway Station Exit D at 19:30.

Accommodation is at He Inn Villa, and two nights in a clean double-occupancy room are included in the price. Rooms are allocated first come, first served. If you want a room to yourself, single occupancy costs an extra 300 RMB total, and there are only three single rooms available. If you're travelling alone and don't mind sharing, the organisers help pair people up in the order requests come in.

Meals are mostly vegetarian, with vegan available on request. The page also mentions non-vegetarian options at brunch and lunch, so if you eat fish or meat you won't be stuck with salads — but the headline is plant-based cooking, and the evening meal is vegetarian. You eat brunch around 10:00, lunch around 14:30 and dinner around 19:30, which lines up with the yoga and hiking blocks rather than the usual restaurant hours.

What separates this from a generic yoga weekend is the combination of a real hike in the bamboo forest with two vinyasa sessions a day, plus pranayama and meditation, all within a two-and-a-half-hour trip from Shanghai. It's short, cheap and logistically simple — the group size is capped at 16, and the whole thing is a three-day turnaround. The trip goes ahead with a minimum of three people, and if that number isn't reached it's cancelled with a full refund. Notes to bring: passport, yoga mat, hiking shoes, long trousers and long-sleeved tops for hiking, warm layers for chilly mornings and evenings, swimming clothes in case the weather allows a dip, your own toothbrush, a refillable water bottle, mosquito repellent and rain gear.

What's included

- Transport to and from the destination - 2 nights accommodation in double-occupancy rooms - Vegetarian meals as per the itinerary (vegan on request) - Non-vegetarian options at brunch and lunch - Daily yoga sessions (vinyasa, yin, restorative) - Daily meditation and pranayama sessions - Guided forest hike in the Moganshan bamboo forest - Guiding and coaching throughout - Insurance

What's not included

- Personal expenses - Fapiao fee - Unlisted activities - Single-occupancy supplement (300 RMB if you want a room alone) - Travel to the departure point in Shanghai