If you’re a bookworm, you might take a book with you on your vacation—but what if you had a whole vacation centered around reading? That’s the premise of reading retreats, which have popped up all over the world in the past few years.
Reading retreats usually consist of 15–20 people who get together, usually at some fabulous vacation spot, to read and relax for a few days. Some retreats are heavy on reading time and might offer a session with a famous author. Others focus on sightseeing but set aside at least one day for reading and lounging.
Book lover Danielle Moore, the founder and host of Bookish Retreats in Michigan, has hosted retreats in Orlando and Nashville. She also has upcoming retreats in Playa de Carmen, Mexico; San Diego, California; and Tuscany, Italy. When I caught up with her, she was on her way to host a retreat in Savannah, Georgia.
Moore says she got the idea to host a reading retreat after seeing a video on BookTok (a reading-focused community space inside TikTok) where someone held a book camp with a few friends. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I would really love to have something like that for readers,’ because I didn’t have a lot of reading friends,” she says. “So I decided to post a video asking people if they wanted to go on a reading retreat with me, and it went viral.”
Using her background in planning and her degree in English and theatre, she organized her first reading retreat in 2023. “Everybody loved it. And I [thought], ‘This can really be something.’ So I decided to run with it, and I’ve hosted over 10 [retreats] now.”
How reading retreats work
Reading retreat packages usually include accommodations (which could be a big vacation rental or a posh resort), group meals, and activities, like a wine tasting class or yoga. Guests might all read and discuss the same book, or they might each bring a book they’ve been dying to find time to read. Some retreats also offer goodie bags or book-themed activities.
For instance, the Bookish Retreats Savannah trip included a city tour of Savannah, a bookmark-making class, a day trip to a local bookstore and a book swap, where participants could exchange books they no longer wanted with other guests.
Moore says that guests at her retreats like all genres of literature, so she doesn’t always tie the book they read to the location they visit. However, for the Tuscany trip, the group will read a book that’s Italian-based to “get that vibe.” She adds that “when we do beach retreats, I like to have at least one book that is, like, beachy, and… we’re doing a cozy thriller retreat this fall.”
Why people keep attending reading retreats
Many of Moore’s guests are repeat visitors, she says. A big reason for this is the friendships they make on these retreats.
“Reading is a very introverted activity, but when you’re able to bring that discussion to real life, to other people, not only do you start just bonding over books but a lot of people have similar commonalities in life and what they want,” she says. “A lot of readers are introverts and aren’t planners, so they don’t like to do the planning… [and] they get nervous about meeting new people. So that’s where I come into play.”
Emily Gordon, a business manager from Rhode Island, has been to six Bookish Retreats. She agrees that what keeps her coming back are the friendships.
“I have a bunch of friends at home, but we don’t really have a similar interest, and a lot of us are in different stages of life,” she says. “[On the Savannah] retreat that we’re going to now, there’s seven or eight of us who have been on multiple retreats with each other, so it’s kind of like going to see old family or old friends.”
Reading retreats to try
Here’s a partial list of reading retreats held in the U.S. and in other countries for you to check out. Many sell out quickly, so you might need to get on their mailing list for access.
- Bookish Retreats hosts several retreats each year—mainly in the U.S., but it’s recently branched out to Mexico and Italy. The Tuscany retreat includes a stay at a farmhouse villa in Lucca, Italy, a virtual book chat with an author, wine tasting at a winery and a tour of Cinque Terre.
- Ladies Who Lit offers luxury retreats in Italy, France, Spain, Morocco and other locations. Trips may include a murder mystery dinner, a movie night and lots of time to read during the days.
- Reading Retreat specializes in book retreats at cozy country houses and manors around England. Authors who have joined guests for dinner include Sophie Hannah, who took over from the late Agatha Christie in writing new Hercule Poirot mysteries.
- Book of Cinz focuses on retreats in the Caribbean and always includes a “read and beach day,” plus lots of sightseeing. For instance, the trip to Jamaica also features a visit to a rum distillery and swimming at a waterfall.
Photo by soft_light/Shutterstock.com
