When you start comparing dark retreats in Europe, the first thing you look at is the price. The second thing is usually confusion: one place quotes per night, another per week, one includes food, another doesn’t, and nobody mentions the train from Prague. So here’s what a dark retreat with us costs, what’s behind the number, and what you’ll pay on top when you travel from abroad. No small print, promised.
The prices in this article come straight from our booking system, so they’re always current. Lenka and I have been running dark retreats near Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic since 2013. Our price list is short, and we’d like to keep it that way.
The dark retreat cost in one table
| Length | Without food | With vegetarian food |
|---|---|---|
| 1 night, one person | €89 | €109 |
| 3 nights, one person | €239 | €289 |
| A week, one person | €479 | €595 |
| 1 night, couple | €135 | €165 |
| 3 nights, couple | €359 | €435 |
| A week, couple | €719 | €895 |
These are total prices for the whole stay, not per night. Within a week, one night works out at €68 for one person, and food adds €17 a day. “Couple” means two people sharing the Cabin of Love, the one with a double bed. We aren’t VAT registered, so nothing gets added at checkout – the price you see is the price you pay.
What you’re actually paying for
A cabin built for darkness
Making a room dark is easy. Making it dark, quiet, warm in January, cool in July and full of fresh air at the same time is the hard part. Our five cabins have 20 cm of insulation in the walls and 30 cm in the ceiling, a solid spruce floor, ventilation with heat recovery and a heat pump that heats and cools. Persuading the air conditioning not to glow was a small engineering adventure of its own 🙂
Inside you’ll find a wooden bed, 200 × 90 cm, with a foam mattress, pillow and duvet, plus clean bed linen at no extra charge. A shower with warm water, a washbasin, a toilet, a kettle, a mat and a meditation cushion. The water comes from our own well, without chlorine, and the electricity from the sun.
Food that finds you in the dark
If you book food, you get vegetarian meals for the whole day, brought to the entrance hall of your cabin so they reach you without any light getting in. If you’d rather bring your own food or fast, book without food – the kettle is there either way, and the price drops accordingly.
Two people 50 metres away
That’s us. Lenka’s field is psychology and working with people, and I spent a week in the dark myself. Since 2013 we’ve accompanied more than 3,000 people. We live in the log house 50 metres from the cabins, one of us comes by with the food every day, and if something is wrong, you can let us know. That’s a big part of what the price covers: not a programme, but someone close by.
The small things that cost nothing extra
- A lift from the station in Kutná Hora, Čáslav or Bykáň on request – so your last kilometres aren’t a taxi hunt.
- Free parking at our place – so driving from Dresden or Vienna stays simple.
- Bed linen, if you don’t bring your own – one thing less in your suitcase.
- Earplugs or ear defenders on loan – so the rooster doesn’t decide when you wake up.
What you pay on top when you travel from abroad
The dark retreat is one part of the trip. Here’s what to budget for separately, so nothing surprises you:
- Getting to Prague – a flight, or a direct train from cities like Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Vienna, Budapest or Warsaw.
- The airport bus into the city and the train from Prague to Kutná Hora (about an hour).
- A hotel in Prague before the retreat, and ideally a night in Kutná Hora afterwards, so you don’t rush from the dark straight to the airport.
- Meals, cafés and tickets in Prague and Kutná Hora – the Sedlec Ossuary, the silver mine, the Italian Court.
- Optional cancellation protection, if you want it (more on that below).
Prague and Kutná Hora run on Czech crowns, so you’ll want some CZK or a card for the city days. With us you pay in euros. How to plan the days around the retreat is in our 10-day itinerary, and the route itself in from Prague to Kutná Hora.
Comparing dark retreats in Europe: what to look for
We won’t comment on other centres’ prices – they set their own, and they know their reasons. But if you’re comparing, compare like with like. Ask each place:
- Is the price per night or for the whole stay? – otherwise you’re comparing apples with a week of apples.
- Is food included, and how does it get to you without light? – it matters more on day four than on day one.
- Is it really completely dark, and how is the air kept fresh? – a stuffy room makes a long week.
- Who is nearby, and how far away? – you’ll probably never need them, but you’ll sleep better knowing.
- Can you leave whenever you want, and what are the cancellation terms? – so a change of plans doesn’t become a lost deposit.
How paying works
Booking on the website is non-binding. If your date is free, we send you an email with the contract and the payment details. The deposit is due within 5 days, the rest no later than 30 days before you arrive, and an instalment plan is possible. Your date is secured once the deposit is paid. You pay in euros by SEPA bank transfer, PayPal, Wise or card.
Cancellation is simple: if you change your date 31 or more days in advance, the change is free (once). If you cancel 31 or more days in advance, we keep 10 %. Closer than 31 days the full price applies – but if a replacement turns up, you can take another date or get your money back minus 10 %. For a surcharge you can add protection for unexpected events, and then a cancellation costs only 10 %.
Tip: now and then we have last-minute dates at a lower price. If you’re flexible, keep an eye on the available dates. And if you want to give a dark retreat to someone else, there’s a transferable gift voucher without a fixed date.
All current prices in one place are on our prices page. If something is unclear, just write to us – we’d rather answer a question now than have you guess.
See you in the dark – Tom & Lenka
P.S. Two things we never charge for: the silence and the rooster. The rooster even works weekends 🙂
