8 Day Hiking and Yoga Holiday Lisbon, Portugal

Facilities

Program

You will start your days with a morning meditation and Gentle yoga classes, which aim to prepare your body and mind for the challenges to come. The energy needed for the hikes, you will accumulate during the healthy and delicious organic breakfast.

After breakfast, you will go for a hike in the Serra de Sintra and its surroundings. Depending on the group's fitness and skill level of the group, the tours will be adapted. You will enjoy breathtaking impressions of the nature surrounding, promised.

During the hikes, you will find nice cozy places to rest, pause, and refuel by enjoying the lunch package or having a quick Portuguese coffee, a so-called bica (espresso).

After hiking, you can relax and stretch your muscles and ligaments. This will help you recover quickly from the efforts of the day hiking and start the relaxing part of the evening.

Then, everyone does as he or she prefers. It is whether dining altogether during the sunset on the terrace, relaxing with a soft drink or tea by the pool, lounging on the couch and reading a book in front of the fireplace, or just hanging out in the hammock. You will find a variety of options that makes you happy.

Saturday (arrival / departure day) and Sunday can be used to explore the surrounding area (e.g. sightseeing in Lisbon, Sintra, and Cascais), lounging at the beach or the pool, or enjoying one of the many recreational activities possible nearby, such as surfing, horseback riding, golf, rock climbing, mountain biking, scuba diving, and and and whatever you want, Karma Surf Retreat makes it happen.

After this week, you will have experienced fantastic hiking trails, improved your yoga skills, and met some new like-minded people. You are going to return fit and relaxed and cope easily with everyday live back home taking with you lots of good memories and looking forward to your next stay.

Hiking in Portugal’s best hiking area near Lisbon

The hikes will take place in the nature reserve Serra de Sintra, a forest covered mountain range, which extends from Sintra to Cabo da Roca, the most westernmost point of Europe. Over just a few square kilometers, you will find a very diverse nature with walks through a vast variety of different landscapes such as mountains, villages, fields, forests, coastal, and beaches, offering wonderful hiking trails for all kinds of fitness levels.

Your local hiking guide knows the area like the back of his hand and during the hikes through the countryside, he will show the uniqueness of this area on paths only a few know.

Yoga

Daily yoga provides a good start into the day and helps to regenerate from the physical challenges of the hikes. This way, you stay fit and trained and will return completely relaxed from your hiking and yoga holidays.

Note: In high season, the minimum required number of participants is 6 persons.

The Karma Surf Retreat is located in Malveira da Serra, in the midst of a quiet and prestigious residential area. The elevated and exposed location on a south facing slope guarantees sun all day and a breathtaking panoramic view over the rolling hills, the shoreline of Lisbon, Estoril, Cascais, and the closest beach Praia do Guincho.

From almost everywhere, you have an astonishing sea view of the blue Atlantic. Prepare yourself for beautiful and memorable sunsets. Towards the north side of the villa, you can overlook the green and mystical forest of the Serra da Sintra.

Malveira da Serra

Malveira da Serra is a small picturesque mountain village which has kept its traditional regional charm and its friendly inhabitants lead a happy life close to the ocean. The village itself is situated on the slopes of the Serra de Sintra, a mountain chain of at least 529-meter altitude, running from the Cabo da Roca (the westernmost point of continental Europe) to Sintra, a small historic town (UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Hiking area

The national park of the Serra de Sintra and its surroundings are truly a hiker’s paradise! Nowhere else do you have seen so many different landscapes and diverse nature combined in a relatively small area with hikes in local reach along the rugged coastline, over beaches, through partly poison ivy covered forests (eucalyptus, cork oaks, and pines), through small picturesque villages, along flower-lined roads through blooming meadows.

Hiking through the Sintra mountains not only offers stunning views of land and ocean but also destinations of cultural interest such as the Moorish castle, Franciscan monastery, freemason sites, palaces, and beautiful gardens.

The mountains of the Serra de Sintra spread about 16 kilometers from the UNESCO World Heritage Sintra to Cabo da Roca at the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost point of continental Europe. Sintra itself is a small, ancient town with many castles and villas. It makes you sense the old times when the nobles strolled through the narrow alleys. In ancient times, Sintra was known as Mons Lunae (Mountains of the Moon) and was considered a haven of Diana the Huntress, the Romans called Cynthia, after which time the city Cintra was named.

The highest elevation is 530 meters and various hiking routes can be selected, from relaxed “walks” on wide easy going roads, through villages, forests and meadows, to steep, rocky footpaths along the rugged, wild coast and in the mountains of the Serra de Sintra.

One of the favorite hikes is a walk through surrounding villages to Praia do Guincho and then up along the rugged coastline with its small untouched coves all the way to Cabo da Roca.

The next one passes a Franciscan monastery (Convento dos Capuchos) down to the foot of the Sintra Hills through the vineyards of Colares and back up again through a small mountain village with windmills heading into a passage of a subtropical-like forest. Another trail leads to two of the most beautiful beaches of this region to an excellent fish restaurant right on the beach (Praia Adraga).

It’s most likely to have the day end here taking a refreshing dip in the ocean as well as having a fresh fish alongside a local glass of wine. Along the way, you will always find stunning places to pause for a while or to have a snack or Portuguese coffee (bica / espresso).

Distances

• Restaurants - 10 minutes on foot
• Bars - 10 minutes on foot
• Hairdresser - 10 minutes on foot
• Pharmacy - 10 minutes on foot
• Banks - 10 minutes on foot
• Bakery - 10 minutes on foot
• Butcher - 10 minutes on foot
• Small shops - 10 minutes on foot
• Supermarket - 10 minutes on foot
• Praia do Guincho - 5 minutes
• Ericeira - 45 minutes
• The former fishing villages of Cascais and Estoril or the historic Sintra - 15 minutes
• Lisbon - 35 minutes by car

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The food consists of organic breakfasts, healthy lunch packages, welcome barbecue, and a surprise dinner, including soft drinks and fruits. The fully equipped kitchen is always at your disposal for preparing your favorite dishes with fresh ingredients from the nearby supermarket. There are also many possibilities of eating out in nearby restaurants.

In the morning, Karma Surf Retreat will serve you a healthy organic breakfast (buffet), consisting of cereal, organic fruit, bread, rolls, homemade jam, milk, yogurt, typical sausages, and cheeses of the region and other Portuguese delicacies. Moreover, coffee, various teas, water, and fruit are at your disposal during your stay at the Karma Surf Retreat.

At noon, Karma Surf Retreat will arrange a delicious healthy packed lunch to enjoy during or after your activities. Most likely, you will also find a typical Portuguese snack bar that invites you for refueling during the hikes. There are also many fountains with fresh Sintra water along the selected trails where you can refill your water bottle during the hikes.

On top, Karma Surf Retreat will organize a welcome barbecue plus a culinary surprise. At all other times there is a fully equipped kitchen of the villa at your disposal, so you can prepare your favorite dishes and dine together, for example, on the terrace overlooking the sea watching the sunset.

In case you would like to eat out, there are several restaurants nearby, including typical Portuguese, seafood, grilled chicken, snacks, pizza, and also a gourmet restaurant. For sure you will find something you like. You have an even bigger variety of restaurants in Cascais (15 minutes). Even Lisbon's stunning culinary diversity (including vegetarian) is only 30 minutes by car and will not leave any wish unfulfilled.

In case you have energy left over, you will find numerous possibilities for recreational activities such as:

• Bicycling
• Climbing
• Golfing
• Horseback riding (at the beach)
• Kitesurfing
• Massages
• Mountain biking
• MTB tour
• Physiotherapy
• Pilates
• Quad tour
• Sightseeing tour
• SUP
• Surfing lessons

• 5 guided hiking tours (3 - 5 hours)
• 7 nights' accommodation in a double room / suite at the villa with pool & sea view
• 7 organic breakfasts and 5 lunches
• 10 yoga lessons (1 hour)
• Coffee, tea, water, juice, and fruits inclusive
• Fireplace
• Homemade marmalade
• Internet flat rate / Wi-Fi
• Maid cleaning service
• Organization of activities
• Surprise
• Video analysis
• Welcome drink and barbecue & surprise dinner

• Airport shuttle: Guincho (50 EUR / trip for 1 - 3 persons or 80 EUR / trip for 4 - 6 persons), Algarve (80 EUR / trip)
• Bicycles (price upon request)
• Child care (15 EUR / hour)
• Extra yoga (40 EUR / hour)
• Horseback riding at the beach (price upon request)
• Massage (55 EUR / hour)
• MTB tour (price upon request)
• Physiotherapy (price upon request)
• Pilates (40 EUR / hour)
• Quad tour (price upon request)
• Sightseeing tour (price upon request)
• Surf equipment: surfboards (50 EUR / week), wetsuit, and stand up paddle (price upon request)

• A reservation requires a deposit of 50% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid on arrival.