At a residential pregnancy retreat run properly, one price covers everything except your flight: your room, all meals, drinks and snacks, the full class programme, all activities, at least one prenatal massage, and your transfer. Classes sold as add-ons are the warning sign that you are booking a venue, not a programme. Here is the full list, and what to check before you book anywhere.
Five days and four nights cover: a room with an en-suite bathroom on a private luxury estate in nature; four gourmet meals a day prepared by a health nutritionist and adjusted to your dietary needs, with all drinks and snacks, even those late-night cravings, available around the clock; daily prenatal movement sessions for better birth and pelvic health; comprehensive birth preparation classes across the whole week; all activities; lots of pampering including a prenatal massage from a therapist trained in pregnancy work; a chauffeured group transfer that collects you from the airport or the city centre; and twelve months of access to the digital hub afterwards, including the course your partner takes at home. You arrive with a suitcase and decide nothing until you leave.
Childbirth educators are on site for the whole retreat. A midwife is on call 24 hours a day, every day of the retreat, and a clinic specialising in prenatal care is always a short drive away. Ask any other provider the same question before you book, because round-the-clock midwife cover is not standard in this category. Groups are small, usually 10 to 15 women, about half expecting a first baby and half a second or third, and the whole retreat runs in English.
Twelve months of the digital hub, including the video courses designed for you and your partner to prepare together at home, and a curated WhatsApp group with the women from your own retreat. Those groups stay active and supportive for years, long after the week itself.
Flights.
You book your own to the main airport of Barcelona or Lisbon, and the transfer meets you there. That is the whole list. If you are comparing retreats, current dates and what each rate covers are on the rates and dates page.
The programme. If the birth preparation classes, the movement sessions or the massage appear as paid add-ons, the price on the website is not the price of the retreat, and the retreat is not the product; the house is. The same test works on meals: "self-catering option" in a pregnancy retreat listing means you are renting a villa. Our six standards for choosing a pregnancy retreat go through this in detail.
Who teaches, what are their qualifications, and how many pregnancy retreats have they actually led? Shirin Fardi and Amber Sawyer have led over 100 between them. Is a midwife reachable at 2am, and how far is the nearest clinic? And is there a date that fits your week of pregnancy? If a provider cannot answer all three in one email, the inclusions list will not save the week. Whether the whole category is worth the money is a fair question too; we answered it honestly in are pregnancy retreats worth it.
Yes. Four gourmet meals a day prepared by a health nutritionist, and snacks, fruit, teas and drinks around the clock. Cravings are catered for, including the late-night ones; tell the team what you need.
Yes, every guest receives a prenatal massage from a therapist trained in pregnancy work as part of the retreat.
Yes. You book the flight, and a chauffeured group transfer collects you from the airport or the city centre.
Yes, on call 24 hours a day for the whole retreat, with childbirth educators on site and a prenatal clinic a short drive away.
Twelve months of the digital hub, the birth partner course, and the WhatsApp group with your own retreat community, which usually outlasts the pregnancy by years.
Written by Shirin Fardi, childbirth educator. Last reviewed September 2026.
