There are some places you visit and enjoy, and then there are places that quietly begin to change the direction of your life.
Sagres was that place for me.
I first came here expecting it to be a temporary chapter, somewhere I could slow down, spend more time by the ocean and give myself a little space after years of living and working at such a fast pace. Instead, I found myself falling completely in love with it: the wild coastline, the dramatic cliffs, the slower rhythm of life and the way there seemed to be more space here, not just in the landscape but within me too.
I loved it enough to navigate the Portuguese visa process, set up my business here and begin creating a more permanent life in a place that had initially only meant to be temporary.
That is a huge part of why I chose Sagres as the home of The Balance Retreat.
Not simply because it is beautiful, although it undeniably is, but because this place has a way of helping you step out of the noise of everyday life and come back to what actually matters to you.
Sagres sits at the wild south-western edge of the Algarve, where dramatic cliffs meet the Atlantic Ocean and the landscape feels raw, spacious and relatively untouched.
It is very different from the polished resort towns people often associate with southern Portugal. There are no endless high-rise hotels, packed promenades or constant pressure to be doing and seeing more. Instead, there are beaches hidden beneath cliffs, winding coastal paths, surfboards leaning outside cafés and sunsets that seem to make everyone stop what they are doing for a moment and simply watch.
The wider coastline forms part of the South West Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, one of the most protected and best-preserved stretches of coastline in Portugal.
But what makes Sagres feel so special is difficult to explain through facts alone.
It is in the way your day starts to become shaped by the wind, the tide and the light rather than your inbox. It is in the slower mornings, the spontaneous coffees, the conversations that are not rushed and the feeling that people here have not forgotten how to simply be.
Even now, after building a life here, there are still moments when I look out at the cliffs or drive past the ocean and feel that same sense of spaciousness I felt when I first arrived.
When people are choosing a wellness retreat in Portugal, they naturally tend to focus on the schedule.
They look at the yoga classes, the food, the accommodation, the treatments and the activities included, and of course those things matter. But the environment surrounding the retreat has a huge influence on how able you are to actually slow down, feel present and reconnect with yourself.
Our nervous systems are constantly taking in information from the world around us.
Traffic, notifications, busy streets, deadlines, constant decision-making and the feeling that there is always something else to respond to can keep us in a state of low-level activation, even when we are technically resting. This is why you can sit down at the end of a busy day and still feel as though your mind is racing and your body has not quite received the message that it is safe to stop.
Sagres offers a very different set of cues.
There is more space between things, more time outdoors, more natural light and fewer distractions competing for your attention. The ocean becomes part of the background to your day, and the landscape has a way of drawing you out of your head and back into your senses.
Nature does not magically resolve everything that is happening in your life, but it can create the conditions that make it easier to pause, regulate and hear yourself more clearly.
That is what happened for me when I first came here.
I had spent more than a decade working in corporate environments where progress was measured through output, targets and constant forward movement. I was used to being productive, capable and always thinking about what came next. Sagres showed me another way of living.
Not a life without ambition, but one with more space around it, and not a rejection of growth, but a more sustainable and embodied relationship with it.
Many of the women I work with are not lost.
They often know, somewhere beneath the overthinking, what they want. They have ideas, dreams and a sense that there is more available to them, but fear, responsibility, perfectionism and the pressure to make the “right” decision keep them stuck.
They are used to being capable. They solve problems, support other people, hold everything together and keep moving even when they are exhausted.
What they rarely have is enough uninterrupted space to ask themselves what they actually want, what they need and what they may have been quietly avoiding.
That is part of what makes a women’s wellness retreat in Sagres so powerful.
You are temporarily removed from the familiar cues that keep you moving through the same routines and thought patterns. You are no longer sitting at the same desk, walking the same route, responding to the same people or carrying out the same responsibilities.
Your life becomes quieter for a moment, and in that quiet you begin to notice what has been drowned out by the noise.
Sometimes that is clarity. Sometimes it is tiredness. Sometimes it is emotion. Sometimes it is the realisation that you have known what you wanted for a long time but have not felt safe enough to admit it to yourself.
A retreat does not hand you all the answers, but it creates a space where your own answers have a better chance of being heard.
There is something about living close to the ocean that changes your relationship with time and control.
You cannot rush a wave, negotiate with the tide or demand that the wind changes direction because it does not suit the plan you made that morning. You have to pay attention. You have to respond to what is actually happening. You have to meet the moment rather than the version of the moment you expected.
This is one of the reasons Sagres naturally attracts surfers, yogis and people moving through periods of change.
Surfing, yoga, breathwork and mindfulness may look like very different practices, but they all ask us to come into contact with the present moment and notice how we respond when we are not fully in control.
Do we force? Do we freeze? Do we criticise ourselves? Do we disconnect from what we are feeling? Or can we adapt, stay present and trust ourselves to respond?
Those questions are not confined to a surfboard, a yoga mat or a breathwork session. They often reflect the way we move through life.
Before moving here, part of me believed that slowing down meant losing momentum.
I had spent years measuring progress through achievement and productivity, and even after leaving my corporate career, I realised that I had carried a lot of that conditioning with me.
I thought changing my external circumstances would automatically make me feel free, but what I discovered was that freedom is not simply about where you live or what your diary looks like. It is also about the beliefs you carry, the pressure you place on yourself and whether your body actually feels safe enough to stop striving.
Sagres gave me the environment in which to begin noticing those patterns more clearly.
The slower pace brought me face to face with the guilt I felt when I was not being productive. The ocean showed me how often I tried to control outcomes that could not be controlled. Surfing reminded me that confidence is usually built through action, not by waiting until you feel completely ready.
Living here has continually invited me to create a life that feels good from the inside, rather than one that simply looks successful from the outside.
That journey has shaped so much of the work I now do through Balance by Chaz, and it is at the heart of The Balance Retreat.
Sagres will not be the right destination for everyone.
It can be windy. The Atlantic can be wild. The landscape is more rugged than polished. If you are looking for nightlife, shopping or a large luxury resort, another part of Portugal may suit you better.
But if you are looking for somewhere that feels spacious, grounding and alive, Sagres is incredibly difficult to forget.
It offers enough comfort to soften, enough nature to reconnect and enough adventure to see yourself differently.
It is the place that helped me begin building a life that felt more like my own, and it is the place I now invite other women to experience, not because Sagres holds all the answers, but because it gives you the space to hear your own.
I did not want to create a retreat that felt like another packed schedule to complete, where guests left exhausted from trying to fit in every activity.
But I also did not want to create a luxury wellness holiday where you feel relaxed for a few days and then return home without understanding what actually needs to change.
I wanted to create something that held both.
A retreat that gave women enough structure to feel supported, but enough space to hear themselves think. Enough depth to create meaningful insight, but enough joy, connection and play that personal growth did not become another form of pressure.
Sagres is the perfect place for that balance because the landscape itself naturally invites you to move between movement and stillness, challenge and rest, adventure and reflection.
You can begin the day with Vinyasa yoga or Pilates, spend time in the ocean, walk along the cliffs and then soften into Yin yoga or yoga nidra in the evening.
You can explore what has been keeping you stuck through mindset coaching and Conscious Connected Breathwork, then allow those insights to settle over dinner, during a massage or while watching the sun drop into the Atlantic.
Nothing exists in isolation. The movement, stillness, nature, food, community and reflection all work together. If you want to read more about what’s included in the retreat, check it out.
Although yoga, movement and relaxation are woven throughout the retreat, the experience is designed to go deeper than a traditional yoga holiday.
The Balance Retreat brings together mindset coaching, nervous system regulation, Conscious Connected Breathwork, embodiment, surfing, restorative treatments, nature and shared connection.
The purpose is not simply to help you feel better while you are in Sagres.
It is to help you understand what has been keeping you stuck, reconnect with what you really want and begin building the self-trust to move towards it.
That does not mean forcing a breakthrough or trying to transform your entire life in five days.
It means creating enough space for something honest to emerge and giving you practices that can support you once you return home.
This retreat is for the woman who can feel that something in her life wants to shift.
Perhaps you know what you want, but you keep talking yourself out of it. Perhaps you are waiting to feel completely certain before making a decision. Perhaps you worry that it is too late to change direction, or that choosing one path means closing the door on another.
You may have created a life that looks good from the outside but no longer feels fully aligned on the inside. You may be tired of living in your head and want to feel connected to your body again.
Or perhaps you simply need space.
Space away from being useful, space away from being the one who holds everything together and space to remember who you are when nobody needs anything from you.
You do not need to arrive with the answers, and you do not even need to arrive feeling fully ready.
You only need a willingness to listen.
I used to think changing my life would come from finding the perfect plan and feeling completely certain about what came next.
Sagres has taught me that clarity often arrives differently.
It tends to appear when the noise reduces, when your body softens and when you stop demanding an immediate answer from yourself. It arrives when you create enough space for what you already know to rise to the surface.
That is what this place has given me, and that is what I hope The Balance Retreat gives you.
Discover The Balance Retreat in Sagres, Portugal.
Sagres combines a slower pace, dramatic coastal nature, beaches, surf culture and fewer urban distractions. This makes it particularly well suited to yoga, breathwork, nervous system regulation, reflection and transformational retreat experiences.
Yes. Sagres is an ideal location for a yoga retreat in Portugal because it offers nature, quiet, beaches, outdoor living and a strong culture of surfing and wellbeing. The landscape supports both energising movement and deeply restorative practices.
Sagres is generally smaller, quieter and less developed than Lagos. Lagos offers more restaurants, nightlife and sightseeing, while Sagres offers more open space, raw nature and a stronger feeling of stepping away from everyday life.
Many women visit Sagres independently for surfing, yoga and nature. Joining a women’s wellness retreat can also offer community, structure and support, particularly if you do not want to organise the whole trip alone.
No. The yoga, Pilates and restorative practices are designed for different experience levels, and you will always be encouraged to listen to your body and choose the variation that feels right for you.
Yes. The included surf lesson is beginner-friendly, and guests are supported by experienced instructors in small groups.
No. Every activity is optional. You are encouraged to take part in the retreat in a way that supports your own body, energy and needs.
No. There are moments of quiet and reflection, but the retreat also includes shared meals, group experiences, conversation, laughter and community.
The Balance Retreat includes rest, treatments and nourishing food, but it also integrates mindset coaching, breathwork, nervous system education and embodied practices. The intention is to help you create insight and change that lasts beyond the retreat.
The Balance Retreat takes place over five days and four nights in Sagres, Portugal.
The retreat includes accommodation, morning yoga or Pilates, evening Yin yoga or yoga nidra, breathwork, mindset coaching, women’s circles, a surf lesson, a sauna ritual, a restorative treatment, guided nature experiences, brunch and dinner.
Spring and early autumn are particularly suited to a wellness retreat in Sagres because the weather is generally warm, the landscape is still vibrant and the atmosphere is often quieter than the height of summer.
Yes, although conditions vary from day to day. One of the benefits of Sagres is access to different beaches and coastlines, which means local surf schools can choose the most suitable conditions for the group.
Bring comfortable clothes for yoga and movement, swimwear, walking shoes, layers for cooler or windy evenings, sun protection and anything that helps you feel at ease during rest and reflection.
Yes. Many women attend retreats alone, and the structure of the experience makes it easy to connect with others while still having time and space for yourself.
Yes. Free time is intentionally built into the retreat so you can rest, journal, visit a café, walk, swim, read or simply do nothing for a while.
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