The Best Yoga Retreats in Croatia

A yoga and adventure retreat wrapped up into one, Five Elements is a rollicking health-adventure holiday set within the breathtakingly beautiful Italianate city of Rovinj in Istria. The course leader, Marin, is an adventure guide as well as a yoga practitioner with over fifteen years experience. The six-day long retreat includes tutored kayaking, windsurfing, biking, hiking, cave exploring, and fire gathering – bookended by a morning and afternoon yoga practice. Set in the lovely Five Elements guesthouse, a bohemian hang-out with earthy colours and bamboo furniture a short walk from Rovinj’s cobblestoned centre, guests are encouraged to mingle and cook together, resulting in a more communal, sociable experience all round.

This seven-day retreat nicely blends yoga practice and hiking in Kvarner Bay, set in a beautifully crumbling Mediterranean stone house perched on the hills of Kvarner, with expansive views over the bay. The retreat is based in the village of Lovranska Draga, but guests also have the opportunity to explore the forested foothills of Ucka Nature Park, as well as swimming in the crystal-clear waters surrounding the bay.

Situated on the gorgeously bucolic island of Vis, the most remote of the Dalmatian islands accessible from Split, this retreat aims to get your creative juices flowing alongside daily yoga practice in a private and peaceful location. The luxuriant villas are set within sun-dappled olive groves and vineyeards, in two 19th-century stone houses, artfully restored and decked out in stylish furnishings. There’s also an expansive swimming pool and jacuzzi, and a game room with billiards and a large movie screen. Probably not the most conducive to getting your zen on, but the extra indulgences are entirely optional, and the retreat receives rave reviews from guests.