Dark retreat packing list: what to bring from abroad and what to leave at home

The train from Dresden or Vienna is booked, so is the hotel in Prague for the night before, and now you’re standing over an open suitcase wondering what a person actually needs for a week in total darkness. Good news first: much less than for any other trip. This dark retreat packing list is the one Lenka and I would give a friend coming to our cabins near Kutná Hora from abroad. We’ve been running dark retreats since 2013 and more than 3,000 people have been through the dark with us, so most of the “should I bring…?” questions have an answer by now.

The short version: pack for touch, not for looks

In the dark nobody sees your outfit, your hair or the book you meant to finish. Three things matter: you’re comfortable, you’re warm enough, and you can find everything with your hands.

So before anything goes into the bag, ask yourself one question: will I use this with my eyes closed? If the honest answer is no, it can stay at home – or in your suitcase in the car, if you’re combining the dark retreat with a few days in Prague.

What’s already waiting for you in the cabin

All five of our cabins are equipped the same way, so none of this needs to travel with you:

• A wooden bed, 200 × 90 cm, with a slatted base, foam mattress, pillow and duvet. Fresh bedding is included free of charge – bring your own only if you really want to sleep in it.
• A sleeping mat and a meditation cushion, so you can sit, stretch or lie on the floor without dragging a yoga mat across Europe.
• A shower with hot water, a deep tray and a small seat, plus a washbasin and toilet. The 30-litre boiler gives you a 5–15 minute shower and then needs about an hour and a half to heat up again.
• A kettle, a shelf by the bed, hooks for your things and space under the bed. In the little entrance hall there’s a shelf for food and a thermos, so meals can be handed over without letting light in.
• Drinking water from our own well, without chlorine. Let it run for a moment and drink as much as you like.
• Earplugs or ear defenders to borrow, in case the dogs, the rooster or an occasional jet from the airbase in Čáslav get on your nerves.
• A chair, on request. It isn’t there by default, because most of the week happens on the bed or the cushion, but just tell us and it will be.

What to bring

• Towels. Bedding we have, towels you bring. One is enough; two if you like a fresh one halfway through the week.
• Soft, comfortable clothes in layers. The cabin is heated in winter and cooled in summer, but over a week your body finds its own temperature, and it’s nice to add or take off a layer without thinking about it.
• Slippers or indoor shoes and warm socks. The spruce floor has underfloor heating, but your feet deserve some comfort when they’re doing most of the seeing.
• A thermos. Tea at three in the morning – or at what you think is three in the morning – is one of the small pleasures of the dark.
• Your favourite tea or herbs. The kettle is there; the taste is your choice.
• Plain, unscented soap and a toothbrush. Why unscented, see below.
• Any medication you take, packed so you can tell the boxes apart by touch – different shapes, a rubber band around one of them. And please tell us about it honestly when you book.
• A hair tie, lip balm and a small pouch for odds and ends. The little things you normally find with your eyes are the ones you’ll go looking for.
• If you don’t book meals: food that needs no cooking. All you’ll have is a kettle, so think muesli, bread, nuts, fruit – things you can eat with your fingers or a spoon in the dark.

What to leave at home

This part sometimes surprises people, so the reason first. The cabin is a small, well-insulated room you’ll spend days in without seeing anything, and your nose takes over a lot of the work. On top of that, everything that goes down the drain flows through our own small wastewater plant and ends up watering the garden. That’s why we ask you to leave these at home:

• Perfume, scented body spray, aftershave. In a small room a scent hangs around for days, and after a while it’s the only thing you can “see”.
• Antiperspirants. If you want something, a simple unscented deodorant is fine.
• Chemical shower gels and shampoos. Plain soap does the job, and the apple trees will thank you.
• Anything that glows: a watch with luminous hands, a fitness tracker, a power bank with a blue LED. One tiny dot of light is enough to turn total darkness into “almost dark”.
• Books, a notebook, a laptop. Not because they’re forbidden, but because you won’t be able to use them. Your phone stays switched off and put away for the whole stay.
• Alcohol and anything similar. Please arrive sober – the dark is intense enough on its own.

And a torch, just in case? The cabin has its own light switch, and you’re the only one who decides when it goes on. Bringing a torch to a dark retreat is a bit like bringing a sandwich to a fast 🙂

Travel details for a dark retreat in the Czech Republic

Plugs and voltage

Czech sockets are type E/F, 230 V. German and Austrian plugs fit, and so does the flat two-pin Europlug. From the UK or Ireland you’ll need an adapter, and a Swiss three-pin plug usually needs one too. In the cabin you’ll hardly use electricity yourself – the kettle is already there – so the adapter is mainly for charging your phone for the journey home.

Money: crowns on the road, euros for us

The Czech Republic uses the Czech crown (CZK), not the euro. Your dark retreat is paid in advance in euros – by SEPA transfer, PayPal or Wise – so you don’t need cash for us on arrival. For the journey, carry a card and a little money in crowns: for a coffee at the station, a bus ticket, or an hour in Kutná Hora on the way.

Documents and getting here

Bring your ID card or passport, as for any trip abroad. Getting to Lomec is easier than it looks on the map: about an hour by train from Prague main station to Kutná Hora, and we’ll pick you up for free in Kutná Hora, Čáslav or Bykáň if you let us know when you arrive. The whole route is described step by step in From Prague to Kutná Hora and our cabin door.

The whole list at a glance

Bring	Already in the cabin	Leave at home
Towel	Bedding, pillow, duvet	Perfume, aftershave
Comfortable layers, warm socks, slippers	Mat and meditation cushion	Antiperspirant
Thermos, your own tea	Kettle, drinking water from the well	Chemical shower gel and shampoo
Unscented soap, toothbrush	Shower with hot water, basin, toilet	A watch or tracker that glows
Medication, sorted by touch	Earplugs to borrow	Books, laptop
Plug adapter (UK, Switzerland), a little CZK	A chair on request	A torch

If something isn’t on the list and you’re not sure, write to us before you pack. That’s a much shorter conversation than the one you’d have with yourself in the dark at night. And if you haven’t picked your dates yet, here are the next free ones:

See you in the dark – Tom & Lenka

P.S. The quickest packing test we know: close your eyes and try to find your toothbrush in your bag. If it takes longer than ten seconds, a small pouch will save you a lot of patience 🙂