Balance is all about work(out) hard, play hard, and at Compare Retreats, we love nothing better than a good party—especially one with wellness at its core. We’ve searched around the globe for some of the best wellness festivals in 2019 that bridge music and dancing with spa sessions, yoga practice and outdoor adventure. For good vibes around the globe, check out our top picks for the wellness festivals in 2019 worth travelling for.
January 23: GoodFest NYC ‘Sober Curious Experience’
If you’re kicking off the year with a dry January (or have been thinking about it), the keynote speaker of this festival will resonate: Ruby Warrington talks about alcohol in American culture and how to build healthier habits and relationships with alcohol. The one day festival includes a wellness marketplace, goodie bag, crystal and tarot readings, and dinner. The GoodFest will also be in LA on February 23rd, and Austin on March 23rd, so if you can’t make the first event of the year there’s opportunities later on.
January 26-27: Edinburgh Wellbeing Festival
Edinburgh’s only festival dedicated to wellbeing, held at the George Street Assembly Rooms, is a gathering of industry experts delivering talks, workshops and wellness classes over a weekend of wellness focussed fun. Alongside the marketplace, expect yoga, meditation, HIIT and Pilates classes for all levels, as well as seminars on nutrition, mental health, natural beauty, stress and burnout, and parenting.
edinburghwellbeingfestival.com
February 27-March 3: Envision Costa Rica
This four-day spiritual yoga and arts festival in Costa Rica is a hippy haven perfectly situated between the beach and jungle for the ultimate ‘best of both worlds’ experience. Based around the eight pillars of movement, spirituality, music, acceptance, community, permaculture, health and art, the festivals rounded approach will leave you feeling renewed inside and out–plus their VIP accommodation includes unique treehouses and or chic cabanas. Join a week earlier for one of three retreat immersions before the festival itself: choose from a mini boot camp, a herbal first aid training, or Yoga Girl® Retreat.
February 27-March 3: Wanderlust O’ahu
Located in Turtle Bay on the North shore of O’ahu, Hawaii, this surf spot will be transformed for four days into a wellness paradise with yoga instructors, fitness trainers and meditation gurus from around the world. Big names like Elizabeth Gilbert and Corrine Bailey Rae will be making an appearance for some of the utterly unique workshops and classes going on over the long weekend, as well as a new full-day Thursday immersion and outdoor excursions in the area for a richer, deeper experience.
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March 20-25: Restival X Morocco
Held over the spring equinox, this festival gives a spring clean to your spirit and emotions with an unplugged journey over the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert. Stay in an abandoned Kasbah (a traditional Moroccan fortress) and a luxury boutique camp and experience the beauty of the stars away from the light pollution of cities. With an astrologer on hand to guide you through the secrets of the stars at night with campfires and live Medatronic music, your days will include yoga, meditation, and workshops on the ‘Future Self Method’ with Peter Oppermann, astrology masterclass with Francesca Oddie, and a writers workshop with Richard Hamilton of the BBC.
March 24-31: Bali Spirit Fest
Could there be anywhere better to realign and rebalance than the spiritual centre of Bali itself? Just 15 minutes south of the jungle yogi haven of Ubud, the Bali Spirit Fest welcomes world-renowned teachers for a week of music, healing, and transformation through yoga, meditation, and dance. Soul connection is the name of the game here, so it might be best to leave your phone at home.
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March, TBC: IRIS Hong Kong
IRIS: Your Wellness Escape, Hong Kong’s first yoga and wellness festival, is like a who’s who of wellness experts in the 852. Organised by the Hybrid group, the weekend festival takes place twice a year and offers seven distinct ares—the yoga mainstage, the zen garden, the playground (for kids and families), the silent disco, IRIS Insider, and the open-to-all wellness marketplace. Offering an array of wellness classes and hosts, from healers to HIIT instructors, there’s a little bit of something for everyone at this festival. Watch this space for a confirmed date.
May 10-12: Balance Festival London
Hosted at the Old Truman in London, this festival gathers nine of the city’s best boutique fitness studios under one roof to give you the chance to try them all. From boot camps to spin to Cross Fit, there’s enough variety that you certainly won’t get tired testing out the fitness offerings here. Along with that, there’s a live cooking kitchen, marketplace, meditation dome, skin wellness clinic, and much, much more.
May 11-12: Wellfest Ireland
Ireland’s biggest health and fitness event invites over 150 fo the top wellness experts from home and abroad to share their wealth of knowledge over a two day festival in the outskirts of Dublin. Focussing this year on fitness, nutrition and good mental health, it’s perfect for anyone looking for a little guidance to make sustainable, healthy lifestyle changes.
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June 27-30: Telluride Yoga Festival, Colorado
It’s one of the world’s most renowned yoga festivals, and with good reason. The four-day Telluride Yoga Festival has a lineup of offer 100 workshops and classes, from yoga to meditation to hiking. High in the mountain peaks of Colorado, it offers an escape from the daily grind for guests to really focus on themselves and immerse deeply in their practice and realigning mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
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July 19-21: LoveFit, UK
The adrenaline of working out isn’t so different to the euphoria of a night out—so why do they have to be separate? LoveFit Festival in Kent, UK, combines the two for an experience where fitness isn’t the end goal, but part of the music festival experience. Performers, athletes, surfers and climbers are just some of the attendees at this festival, helping to reframe the narrative on wellness and find new ways for us to live more healthily.
August 1-4: Wilderness Festival, UK
A boutique music festival in the Oxfordshire countryside, Wilderness Festival is four days of easy-going folk festivities in one of England’s oldest woods. Last year’s lineup included indie band Bastille and Swedish folk group First Aid Kit, as well as yoga, paddle-boards and a lakeside spa. Previous attendees have included actor Benedict Cumberbatch, comedian Russell Brand, and Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington, so chances are you’ll be keeping some A-list company too.
August 16-18: Soul Circus UK
Another festival taking advantage of the temperate British summer, Soul Circus is a three-day spiritual wellness festival in the Cotswolds. With a host of international ‘soul teachers’ hosting sessions in yoga from aerial to hip hop, it’s the ultimate yogi fest to try out something a little different or deepen your practice under expert guidance. With a spa, soundscape sessions and DJs for the dancefloor too, there’s plenty to keep you occupied over the weekend.
September 4-8: Útiliv Adventure Festival, Faroe Islands
In the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Norway, the volcanic archipelago of the Faroe Islands is the ideal destination for adventure outdoors types—so this adventure festival, comprised of trail running, hiking, surfing, sea-kayaking and of course, the obligatory pre- and post-race party. Plus, this remote island festival has an eco-conscious heart and includes a beach clean, and talks and films on sustainability, environmental issues, and outdoor adventures.
December 12-16: Wonderfruit, Thailand
One of Asia’s biggest wellness festivals, Wonderfruit hardly needs an introduction. The four-day campsite at the Fields in Pattaya offers an eclectic array of experts on everything from crystal healing to astrology to yoga to ayurvedic detox. With international artists from around the world, the festival delivers on the music front too, meaning you can party the night away, and spend the day recovering with healthier habits.
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