7 Days Croatia: Wellness Yoga Retreat, Eco-Tourism, and Hidden Gem Europe

One of Croatian Coast.

The moment we launched our Croatia Yoga Retreat last year, we knew that it would be all about Sustainable Eco-Tourism! Our intention as we curated the itinerary for our Croatia Yoga Retreat was for the retreater to be able to experience healthy-mindful living during the retreat. What we mean by that is to experience living in a sustainable-eco-friendly environment, nourish ourselves with nutritious plant-based food throughout the week, and experience culture, tradition, and tours offered by the local experts while we stick to our wellness component which is yoga. And guess what! We manifested all of that into our very recent – for the first time in the year 2023 – Croatia Yoga Retreat: Recharge Your Senses led by the yoga teacher Claudette Stears.

Croatia is considered by many as an undiscovered hidden gem in Europe! Even though it looks small on a world map, Croatia consists of more than 1,000 islands. We are so grateful that we got to host our yoga retreat not in a busy-touristy area such as Zagreb, or Dubrovnik near the cost. Instead, we choose Vojnić, 75 km south-west Zagreb, about a 1.5-hour drive. Still in a strategic location close to the city center of Karlovac as well as other destinations within the itinerary.

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“I am so glad that we do not do yoga for 10 hours a day!” said Jullie, one of our retreater almost at the end of the week. The yoga retreat we want to offer is the balance between yoga practice, experience by adopting the local heritage and involving the local experts, as well as excitement to do outdoor activity in all inspirational destinations we host.

We stayed in the whole property of Ekodrom Estate! They have three fully equipped one and two-bedroom wooden houses on the land that previously was a plum plantation. Each house has its own: fully-equipped kitchen, hot tub, and hammock. Because it was built on a huge plum plantation, there were no other buildings nearby. The surrounding was green lust of a huge hilly landscape 180-degree view. Although the location or the concept of the property itself is eco-living, everything is very thoughtfully designed for wellness! They also got a sauna tube where we like to go after dinner and soon we realized becoming our ritual. The long table outside of the yoga studio, still under the same roof, is one of our favorite spots to hang out after the yoga class, during and after breakfast, or during the golden hour as the sun goes down.

We got Suzanna 24 hours who makes sure that we are doing well and that all of our needs are well taken care of. Tea who is a chef, cooks with good energy, love, and passion that you can taste in every bite that you enjoy. Tea never fails to surprise us with her creativity and skill to turn every plant-based ingredient into various freshly delicious meals. Azra, a four-legged furry being, despite its breed,is the most gentle and loving to interact with. Azra guards us day and night and, even on some occasions, guides our walk to the forest.

What we experienced during our retreat in Croatia was purely passion and good intentions. One of the highlights of the retreat was on our second day of the retreat when we went to Karlovac City to meet Nikola Tesla for a walking tour. It exceeded our expectations of a walking tour!

We were greeted by Nikola Tesla. To be exact, a man who embodied Nikola Tesla, the brilliant inventor and electricity engineer born in 1856 in Smiljan, Austrian Empire that we know today as Croatia. We could feel the passion as he explained every stage of Nikola Tesla’s life and his inventions while we were walking through some important spots in Karlovac City during the Austrian Empire and Tesla’s lifetime.
The tour ends with a profound message from Nikola Tesla “If you can do good for others, please do” which we summarized as the brilliant inventions of Tesla, raised by a father who was a Priest, gone unnoticed or undiscovered till later on his life because his intentions were pure, for the good of humanity, not the fame!

Later Nikola Tesla who guided our walking tour on that day, revealed his true identity! His name is Boris, he is an engineer himself. He prepared himself for years of study to offer the tour not only in Karlovac City but also in Zagreb and other cities in the future where Tesla has been.

The following days of the week are followed by activities adopting local heritage: one to mention is Wine tasting. The various Croatian wines were brought to us. As we sipped our wine, each explanation followed. Again, we tasted pride and passion as most of the wines in Croatia are made of indigenous grapes that have been cultivated in the country for centuries.

Still planted strongly in our memory each color of the water from 18 interconnected lakes that we saw in Plitvice National Park, the biggest National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage in Croatia. The National Park is divided into 2 areas, The Upper Lakes and The Lower Lakes. Each of the areas has its own cascades, waterfalls, and uniqueness. Maria, our guide patiently explained each of the areas within the National Park, named each of the lakes, took our photos, and good job of organizing the lunch for us during the tour. Electric boat rides on the lake, short and longer ones will be needed to take you across from one point to the other. Visiting Plitvice National Park requires you to be in fit condition because you do not want to miss each corner of the park. During the daytime, it can get crowded. Especially during summertime, put sunscreen on your body and make sure yourself well hydrated. The most important is to be a responsible visitor while visiting a vital destination like a National Park.

The River Kayaking at Mrežnica River was so much fun! Two people were paired together on a tandem kayak to the final destination after 6km of kayaking which we did for around 2.5 hours. The activity was professionally organized by Krešo and Luka from the Croatia Open Land Tour. They came with full equipment of safety gear and brand-new well-maintained kayaks. For some of our retreaters, that was their first kayak. Luckily, before we jumped on our kayak, Luka made sure that we knew what we are going to do and briefly explained how to kayak and how to strategize when we are sliding down the waterfalls.

In the beginning, it was all about adjustment, communication, and teamwork between individuals on each kayak. Some kayaks went circling while the others slowly flowed with the stream of the river. The good news was that we had all the river on that day for ourselves, which made us less nervous. We have to say thank you again to Jullie and Erin who were on the same kayak for making our day so much fun and complete! The kayak flipped as they slid down the waterfall. Everybody was fine, only Jullie and Erin got an extra dip into the freshly-chill water of the Mrežnica River.

Knowing that the closest beach from Vojnić is just a 1.5-hour drive, the retreaters took the opportunity to organize a day at the beach during their free time. It was all worthed. A day well spent at one of Croatia’s nicest beaches located on the Adriatic Sea, Crikvenica. The calm crystal-clear water, warm summer temperature, restaurants to try the traditional dish of squid, bars, and art shops.
The sun was elegantly set creating the golden color in the sky that was filled with the crosses of white lines from the planes that flew above the Adriatic Sea as we were going back home, was an absolutely perfect phenomenon to witness.

Claudette did something new in her way of teaching to close our Croatia Yoga Retreat. The fire ceremony was held as a symbol of releasement and a new beginning. During the retreat, she also encourages the yogis to journal their general well-being, emotions, past experiences, and deep reflection by proposing a profoundly different question each day. After some deep fears, grief, guilt, resentment, and sadness that each of us wrote on a piece of paper thrown to the fire, hopefully, we are now can strengthen our connection with the light that has been always guiding our spirituality as we detached ourselves from any negative blocks so each of us can come back home feeling well-rested and re-energized.

 Thank you, Croatia! For making our journey on your land so memorable, inspiring, and humble!