Ayahuasca Retreats in Europe

Retreats with Sinchi Runa

Our retreats are an opportunity to connect deeply with the heart and what is sacred in each one of us. With love and care, we seek to create a sacred space that facilitates this opportunity in all respects.

From staying close to nature, where we can connect with the healing energy of our Mother Earth, the wind, the birds, and the sun, to the healing food, meditations, activities, and discourse talks with Maestro Sanango, everything at the retreat is carefully chosen to create a space that opens our opportunity for introspection, healing and awakening.

If you’d like to understand more about the philosophy of Sinchi Runa and Maestro Sanango, and how we work with the gift of plant medicine, then we recommend listening to recorded retreat discourses, or reading our articles.

“Ayahuasca is a portal to the essence of humanity, a portal where all the memories and dreams of the species can be found.This opening can bring an understanding of the higher Self and the purpose of being, not only as an individual, but as humanity as a whole. Ayahuasca is a chance to heal the soul and reach the truth that lives within each one of us.”

Plant Medicine Retreats With Sinchi Runa

“Ayahuasca is not fugitive pleasure, fortune or adventure. It’s a seed for the wiracochas. Ayahuasca is a door, not to escape, but to enter these and other natures. To tour the provinces of the night, without distance, boundless.”

Silence & Contemplation in Nature

 
Retreats with Sinchi Runa use the tool of silence to allow each person to interiorize and go inward in their process. We seek to free ourselves from the need to constantly ‘do’, and instead begin to ‘be’, to feel ourselves, our hearts and the plants speaking to us.

Silence is the most important part of the retreat and in deepening the work with the master plants, but speaking is always allowed with Maestro Sanango or facilitators if in need of assistance.

A retreat is a precious opportunity in search of truth, understanding and healing; an opportunity to begin observing and knowing ourselves, our minds and our reactions. This requires a discipline of constant awareness and a search for silence. This search is manifested outwardly in refraining from all forms of contact (verbal, written, visual eye contact, and conserving our personal space) to allow the inward search for silence to unfold.

It is important to be able to detach from the usual “day-to-day” routines, habits, personal stories and external noise, in order to be able to integrate the healing and wisdom through one’s process with the plants. Disconnection with the exterior allows us to concentrate all of our energy on the healing process and gives space to observe our lives without interference from the elements that one way or another have created the circumstance we are living in. We nurture and provide the space for self-observation, introspection, and contemplation.

The opportunity of a process with master plants is to become aware of and release what causes one harm, and to understand oneself and one’s relationship to the entire movement of life and existence. This is a beautiful and challenging process of comprehension, reflection and silence that requires great willpower, dedication, honesty, sacrifice and purity of intention.

The Shamanic Diet ("La Dieta Chamánica")

The Shamanic Diet is a cornerstone of healing and understanding with amazonian plant-medicine, and one of the most important and transformational healing processes within this system of medicine. 

This process is not a dietary cleanse, such as a fast or a change in our nutritional regimen, but rather a deep and sacred process of communion, healing and understanding through the ingestion a particular Amazonian Master Plant that is selected for your individual case.

Many of our retreats, and all of our Immersion processes, offer the opportunity of a diet alongside with Ayahuasca ceremonies. 

The shamanic diet is a spiritual exercise that works through the guidance and intelligence of one or various master plants, of which Ayahuasca is one of many. It is one of the most important rituals and elements within Amazonian shamanism. Through a process of isolation and solitude (that is always carefully overseen by Maestro Sanango), the voice of these plant masters guide the heart, to find solutions to complexes and deeply rooted suffering, and emotional or physical pain. They open memories to cleanse the heart of reactions, healing deep scars to achieve healing through understanding, self-observation, and letting go.

The diet is delicate work, because it demands discipline of silence and isolation. It is for many a definitive step in life towards change, to leaving afflictions that accompany our existence, and truly open the heart to life.

Optional Pre-Retreat Detox, Preparation & Full Kambo Initiation

3-day add-on to our 8-day & 11-day retreats.

We offer a deeper preparation before entering the work with Ayahuasca for those who wish to join a 3-day Detox & Preparation program for our shorter 8 or 11 day retreats. You arrive a few days early at our center, to go through various plant medicine purges, cleanses and a process of introspection, intention setting and grounding in preparation for the retreat. 

This process of preparation and detoxification often in itself leads to very important healing, shedding and self-understanding, and in our experience makes the rest of the retreat with Ayahuasca and Plant Dietas deeper and more productive. 

This pre-retreat program includes:

  • The Full Kambo Initiation (3 ceremonies in total within the lunar cycle)
  • Satvic Ayurvedic Dietary Cleanse – helps purify and balance the physical body, cleanses the digestive system, helps reduce inflammation and calms the mind. 
  • Plant Medicine Diuretic Cleanse – helps to purify and flush the urinary tract 
  • Preparatory Meditation Practice to be deeply prepared for the work with the plants: finding silence, intention setting, navigating fears or difficult states in a way conducive of healing, and embodied integration for ceremonies. 

While we recommend this 3-Day Preparation to all participants, in the case of participants who have previously been using anti-depressants or other strong pharmaceuticals, substances & narcotics this detox is very strongly recommended. 

A Safely Guided Process

Work with Ayahuasca & Master Plants is a profound and vulnerable process of opening to our internal light and shadows, healing our pain, learning to trust and re-define ourselves and who we are in the world, while cleansing the heart of the “hardness” we once built as an attempt to protect ourselves.

Everything in our processes are designed to assist the healing process, and Maestro Sanango and our team of experienced facilitators, being deeply acquainted and dedicated themselves to a continous process of healing and awakening, are present to guide you through every step, from preparation to integration, to ensure the lessons from the plants can take real root in your life. 

Pre-Retreat Safety & Preparation

During the Transformational Retreat

Post-Retreat Integration & Aftercare

Upcoming Retreats

8-Day Ayahuasca, Tabaco & Kambo Retreat

11-Day Traditional Ayahuasca & Master Plant "Dieta"

8-Day Ayahuasca, Tabaco & Kambo Retreat

23-Day Ayahuasca Immersion

Yachay Ñawi Vision Quest

1-3 Month Deep Immersion

with Master Plant Ayahuasca Deep Immersion

Practical Details

  • Where is Sinchi Runa located?
    Our retreats are held in a uniquely beautiful forest-garden in Andalucia, Spain, in the quiet countryside of Huelva. It is a majestic space immersed in the silence and aliveness of nature.
  • Where will I stay?
    You will stay in a private, spacious and comfortable ‘glamping’ bell tent, complete with a bed, mattress and duvet. Each tent is immersed in the countryside’s natural beauty and view, with conditions conducive of reconnecting with oneself, with nature and with the spirit of the plants.
  • What facilities do you have?
    It is an integral part of the work to be in stillness with nature, to be able to hear the birds, feel the wind, the sun, and to see the stars.

    Through that stillness to begin to hear ourselves, our hearts, and the wisdom of the plants. For the duration of the retreat, we put aside some of our accustomed comforts to bring us closer to what is essential inside us.

    Our facilities (kitchen, bathroom, shower) are outdoors, though for some winter retreats we may open indoor facilities depending on weather conditions.

  • What will I eat?
    We will prepare you nutritious, natural, home-cooked meals that are in line with with plant-work every day of the retreat.
  • Transportation
    On arrival and departure day we provide a transfer service to and from Huelva. You’ll need to make your way to the pick-up location on arrival day – we’ll share all the details you need after signing up for a retreat.

Our Latest Testimonials

The most amazing experience of my life

11/04/2025

My stay at Sinchi Runa was a magical experience. I was sceptical at first since it was silent and completely cut out from the world. It was giving me anxiety especially not being able to check in on my family. I did feel guilt for doing this, but after speaking to Andrea she said I could share her number and if there was an emergency they could reach me through her. When arriving at Sinchi Runa I was taken aback at how beautiful and peaceful it was. All the guys seemed really nice and on their own journey, so I respected the silence and embraced it myself. The tobacco purge followed by the kambo built me up to my first ceremony to which I had many emotions, but a clear intention to go in with.

The scene of the first setting was perfect, and my first encounter was more overwhelming than I could have ever imagined. By taking advice to sit still and embrace the pain whilst crossed legged and sitting up, at times really helped guide me through tricky times during the ceremony; knowing the only thing real was my breath helped so much.

My visions I got from the 1st ceremony gave me clarity and some form of self-control which wasn’t what I was expecting. I think in life I have obsessed over certain things that were really not worth obsessing about. The things I have done in my life that I have let others down really came out. Feeling other people’s pain and seeing it through their eyes really got to me and showed me so much clarity. After the sunrise and the ceremony inside came to an end we had to go back to our tents which seemed impossible to walk with the rain and through the mud and grass. When I got outside, I felt compelled to take off my socks and feel the land on my feet. I walked around for hours with my thoughts, whilst looking at the birds and the beautiful nature trying to figure everything out.

It was the most amazing experience of my life. I was the warrior of the land! The food was AMAZING, I thought I would miss meat, but I can honestly say it was the best food I have had in my life. The silence was bliss and the practice of meditation whilst sitting up following your breath when thoughts become too loud, is the key to peace and living life without the worry of technology or what other people think about you.

Everyone was so lovely, it felt like one big family, even the dog, cats and crazy (but very sweet and loving) chicken!

I would highly recommend anyone considering coming here to go, you will not be disappointed.

I will be back soon one day with friends and family ❤️

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Stephen

A journey of Discovery, Healing and Stillness

01/04/2025

I entered the ayahuasca retreat with the weight of unresolved issues—family wounds, fears, regrets, and guilt. One of my core intentions was to explore my relationship with my son. I wanted to break the generational cycle of trauma passed down from my parents and theirs, and make sure I wasn’t repeating the same patterns.

Over the course of three ceremonies, the experience unfolded in three distinct phases: discovery, healing, and stillness.

Ceremony One: Discovery

The first ceremony was powerful. Almost immediately after the journey began, I felt something shift. Without any intention or prompting, I just knew—I no longer needed alcohol or recreational drugs. I realized this was the experience I’d been chasing all my life. That need for excess, the constant search for highs—it all fell away. Since that night, I haven’t touched a drink, nor felt the urge.

The experience was emotional in every sense. I moved through shame, joy, sorrow, fear, compassion—every feeling, every nuance. I relived moments with my son—times I could have responded with more love but chose frustration or anger instead. I cried deeply. I also experienced pure joy.

For the first time, I truly forgave my parents. I had been trying to do this for years. But in that moment, it finally released. What I learned was simple but life-changing: all I need is to create space—space to respond with compassion, space to be present. That is my truest self.

After the ceremony, walking back to my tent, I felt so light I was almost skipping. Then I burst into laughter—uncontrollable, hysterical laughter—at the absurdity of my old ways. I realized how exhausted I was from constantly leading, deciding, performing. I just wanted to be, to rest. And for the first time in a long while, that felt okay.

Ceremony Two: Healing

Going into the second ceremony, I was apprehensive. The first one had been so intense, and I didn’t know if I was ready for more. But what I received was very different—gentle, powerful healing.

As the medicine took hold, I saw something at the edge of my vision—geometric patterns, colors, dimensions. When I finally turned my attention to it, we locked eyes. It was her—Mother Ayahuasca, or maybe Mother Nature, or God—however you want to define it. She knew I needed healing. She wrapped herself around me, held me, protected me, and told me: Even if you can’t see me, I’m always here. And when you need me, return to nature.

Through that ceremony, I practiced going in and out of deep meditation. Every time I dropped back in, she returned with another message. At one point, I felt like a little boy again—laughing, crying, wanting to be taken care of. That’s what I needed. To just be loved. And that’s exactly what I received.

Ceremony Three: Stillness

My intention for the third ceremony was clear: stillness. I wanted to stay in deep meditation and silence.

And I did. For the first time in my life, my mind was quiet. Truly quiet. I was at peace—completely, effortlessly. No fear. No stress. No noise. Just pure stillness and an overwhelming sense of love emanating from within.

I was honestly shocked by how peaceful I could feel. That this kind of inner calm was even possible—especially considering how fast-paced and demanding my life is. And it came from within me. That was the most profound realization.

Integration: Carrying It Forward

Coming back into the real world, I felt fragile—open, vulnerable. I worried about slipping back into old patterns. But I’ve been using the tools I brought back: the music, the chants, daily meditation. Even if I’m stuck in traffic or standing in a queue, I’ll put on the playlist, breathe, and recenter.

One of the biggest lessons came from that second night—the experimentation. It showed me that staying in this state of peace takes work. Practice. Intention. Stillness. The truth is, all the answers are already within me. They always have been. But accessing them requires quieting the noise of the world, again and again.

Ayahuasca didn’t give me anything I didn’t already have. It just reminded me of who I am—and who I’ve always been beneath the noise. A man capable of love, of compassion, of peace. A man healing for himself, and for his son.

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Elie

Multumesc Sinchi Runa

31/03/2025

A few years ago, the solid ground on which i believed i was standing, shattered. I didn’t knew anymore what was real and what was fantasy. A frantic search for understanding begun, but more importantly, it was a search for meaning, a search for filling the hole i felt in my chest, a search for love.

One day i was crying uncontrollably in my car, driving back from work, thinking that i can not live this life anymore, but feeling completely trapped, in an unfulfilling job, in an unhappy marriage, living a fake life, feeling fake myself and wanting to run away from it all.

At the same time, i was spending all my free time trying to make sense of it all, reading and researching on all topics that had to do with the nature of existence, from philosophy to physics, to psychology, from aliens to conspiracy theories to channeling to spirituality to psychedelics.

I felt i had a better mental understanding of the world i was living in, but at the same time, that hole, that emptiness i felt inside myself was still there. Covering it up with addictions was not working anymore, not when i knew , theoretically at least at that point, that there is something else out there, a different way of being, a different way of feeling, a different way of thinking.

That led me to the point of this story, my first visit to Sinchi Runa for a 3 week long Ayahuasca retreat. This was happening about 4 years ago, in Autumn, in Portugal.

I still remember my first Ayahuasca ceremony, which was and still is, the most intense, the most unbelievable, the most beautiful experience i ever had in this life. I remember the disbelief, i could not believe that such a thing was possible.

I was crying tears of joy the entire time. I remember after it was finished, i was thinking, if i would have to give everything i own to have this experience, i would do it and it would be worth it.

That first experience and that place i was in, that place of love and acceptance felt more real than anything in this life, more than this, it felt familiar, it felt like i was there before, it felt like home.

Over the years i found that place again, it’s always accessible, by opening my heart, so i want to thank Master Sanango for giving me the tool to do that, that tool being sound, mantras, icaros, music that raises my frequency and connects me to divinity and to my own divinity.

Thank you also, Master Sanango, for everything you do during the ceremonies, for showing us the path with the chanting, for the beautiful smells, for your care of each of us when we are having a hard time. Multumesc Master Sanango.

After that first experience there were many others, during the 3 retreats i had at Sinchi Runa, some were beautiful, some were funny, some were hard to go through, but they were always useful and always what i needed.

Ayahuasca will always show me where the trouble is and how to fix it, but it will not fix it for me, that i had and i have to do myself.

It is hard, painful sometimes, frustrating some others, having to face my fears, to start being truthful to myself, to keep my word to myself, to quit my addictions one by one, to stop judging people, to stop worrying about anything and everything.

It is hard, but the payoff is unbelievable, to be at peace, to see the beauty and the love that is all around, to cry of joy, to feel that emptiness being slowly filled with love, love for everyone and for everything, to be silently aware. Silence is happiness.

Lastly i would like to thank all of you there who were my teachers.

Thank you Arjuna, the statue :), it was a joy chanting with you, thank you for the socks, they kept me warm, even though i put them through war, they acquired some holes :). I hope you will get to see India soon, i think you will love it there.

Thank you Madhava, you were my teacher through your actions, you gave us what we needed, according to our behavior, i had this thought, Kambo is the price we have to pay for Ayahuasca :). Thank you for the beautiful homa fire and for your energy, your presence always makes me smile.

Thank you Ananda, thank you for the discomfort, you helped me learn a very important lesson, the one about chasing pleasure and running away from pain. They are the two faces of the same coin. Thank you for the silence.

To end this, thank all of you at Sinchi Runa, you are family.

Multumesc

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Cristian

Peter

23/03/2025

Hello👋.

My name is Peter. I came back home from this resort last week.

I highly recommend Sinchi Runa center. An amazing experience, great team, very good service and a high class shaman with a lot of experience👍👍. I felt safe and looked after there. I will definitely go back there next year.

Thank you very much to the whole Sinchi runa crew – You are doing a great thing🙏🙏❤️

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Peter

NYE 2025 Retreat @ Sinchi Runa

02/02/2025

What an incredible, somewhat indescribable experience the New Years Eve Retreat @ Sinchi Runa (Spain) was. The setting within itself was beautiful and extremely serene being that it was a silent retreat. The amenities were clearly described and extremely well put.

The staff are all brilliant, shining human beings. From the Maestro himself, Mr Sanango’s humour and ease of presence. To Ananda the 2nd hand man.. to Arjuna, Paul, Helge, Mikeala and Andrea… each of them brought a special energy and aura to our special retreat.

Words can’t thank you all enough for this life-changing retreat. It certainly won’t be the last time we cross paths.

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Dana

The Gift of the Plants

One of the best ways to get to know Maestro Sanango, and how we work with Ayahuasca and Master Plants at Sinchi Runa, is through our podcast & blog. We are honored to share recordings of Maestro Sanango’s wisdom, where he speaks about awakening through a path of Yoga with the Plants, and the immense gift and opportunity that the plants are for the healing of humanity and our hearts.