Photos by The Women Sanctuary

There are places that don’t quite feel like destinations, they feel like doorways. The Women Sanctuary is one of them. A travelling retreat that moves across countries and coastlines, but always returns to the same place—stillness. Created and led by women, The Women Sanctuary is a space that invites you to slow down, reconnect with the sacred, and soften your way back to God.

The retreats don’t take place in just one fixed location. One year, it’s in the quiet hills of Tuscany. Another time, it’s along the shores of Mallorca or the ancient terrain of Sicily. Sometimes, it moves beyond the Mediterranean—to New York, or to Corsica, where a new kind of conversation between land, womanhood, and the Divine begins. Each retreat is shaped by its setting, but also by its theme—whether it’s reflecting on Mary in the Qur’an, exploring the plants of the Qur’an, or remembering the women of Al-Andalus. But no matter where it takes place, there’s a rhythm that ties them all together: a slow, sacred unfolding of rest, knowledge, and connection.

It’s not just a retreat, it’s a spiritual companioning. The kind of space where women can simply be. Where they’re not asked to explain what they believe, or why they weep when a certain verse is recited, or how long they’ve been holding something in. It’s understood. And it’s held gently. The Qur’an is present, not as a lecture but as a lived text. The homes that host the retreats feel like sanctuaries—old stone, soft light, gardens with memory in them. They’re places that already carry the weight of silence and beauty, and the women simply fill them with warmth.

There’s something deeply grounding about a space like this. It’s not about luxury. It’s about reverence. The kind you feel when someone passes you a bowl of tea with both hands. Or when a stranger listens to you like you’re saying something holy. It’s the kind of retreat that lingers, not because it was loud or extravagant, but because it gave you the quiet permission to be whole.

The Women Sanctuary isn’t trying to be everywhere. But for the women who find it, it becomes a place they carry long after the retreat ends. A space they return to in their prayers, in the way they now honour rest, in how they see beauty as something sacred again. It’s a soft return—to self, to God, to the unspoken knowing between women who sit together and just breathe.

Spaces like this matter, perhaps now more than ever. In a world where religion is often filtered through masculine structures, a retreat like this gently reclaims the spiritual space women have always held: as nurturers of memory, keepers of rhythm, and carriers of quiet strength. The Women Sanctuary reminds us that faith can be beautiful and deeply feminine, without needing to dilute either. That devotion can live in gardens and kitchens and soft light just as much as it does in books or mosques.

These kinds of retreats are rare—not because women don’t seek them, but because they aren’t always seen as necessary. Yet they are. They’re necessary for healing, for remembering, and for softening in a world that often demands hardness. The Women Sanctuary offers a blueprint: not just for how women can gather in sacredness, but for how religion itself can be embodied with tenderness, poetry, and presence.

It’s not just a retreat. It’s what happens when women are given room to worship in their own language—one of stillness, beauty, and return.

Find The Womens Sanctuary here and here.

Photo by The Women Sanctuary

There are places that don’t quite feel like destinations, they feel like doorways. The Women Sanctuary is one of them. A travelling retreat that moves across countries and coastlines, but always returns to the same place—stillness. Created and led by women, The Women Sanctuary is a space that invites you to slow down, reconnect with the sacred, and soften your way back to God.

The retreats don’t take place in just one fixed location. One year, it’s in the quiet hills of Tuscany. Another time, it’s along the shores of Mallorca or the ancient terrain of Sicily. Sometimes, it moves beyond the Mediterranean—to New York, or to Corsica, where a new kind of conversation between land, womanhood, and the Divine begins. Each retreat is shaped by its setting, but also by its theme—whether it’s reflecting on Mary in the Qur’an, exploring the plants of the Qur’an, or remembering the women of Al-Andalus. But no matter where it takes place, there’s a rhythm that ties them all together: a slow, sacred unfolding of rest, knowledge, and connection.

Photo by The Women Sanctuary

You won’t find long itineraries here. There is no rush, no pressure to be productive, no need to perform your faith or your femininity. Days are paced around prayer, reflection, creativity, and ease. You might find yourself journaling beside a fig tree, painting lemons in a quiet courtyard, or sitting in a dhikr circle as the sun drops into the sea. Meals are shared, stories are exchanged, and silences are welcomed.

Time stretches, not in the way that makes you feel lost, but in the way that reminds you you’ve been found.

Find The Womens Sanctuary here and here.