A day-by-day walkthrough
What actually happens at a juice detox retreat
Saturday, 4–7 pm
Arrival and the first evening
Every retreat begins on a Saturday, with check-in open between 4 and 7 pm. Most guests are collected from Lagos or Faro and driven down into the valley, where the change of pace tends to start before the car has even stopped — the gate closes behind you and the outside world genuinely quietens.
After settling in, you’ll meet a member of our team for your initial health check-in, unpack, and find your room. Guests who arrive in good time often join the group for that first evening broth and meditation together; anyone arriving later simply rests and meets everyone properly the next morning. There’s no pressure either way — the programme itself doesn’t start in earnest until the Sunday.
Days one and two
The part that’s harder to imagine than to live through
If the first two or three days ask anything of you, it’s here — the body adjusting to a new rhythm without solid food, and the mind occasionally wondering what it’s doing without its usual routine. Some guests notice a dip in energy or a headache; others say they feel clearer almost immediately. Both are completely normal, and our team has seen every version of it.
What most guests tell us afterwards is that the anticipation beforehand was harder than the reality — that by the second morning, the juices, the company and the structure had already made it feel manageable. The week tends to get easier from here, not harder.
Once you’re settled in
The daily rhythm, hour by hour
From day two onward, every day follows this same structure. It sounds regimented written down; in practice it feels more like a current than a schedule.
07:00
Wake with the valley
No alarms, no rush. A gentle knock, warm lemon water, and a few quiet minutes before the day properly starts.
08:00
Morning yoga in the temple
An all-levels class in the open-sided temple above the gardens — every level welcome, every pace honoured.
10:00
First juice
Freshly pressed to the season. The morning opens up afterwards — a therapy, a workshop, or free time.
10:45
Optional therapies
The morning treatment slot — massage, acupuncture and the wider therapy menu, booked as you go.
13:00
Midday juice
The valley is at its warmest, so this tends to be the quietest stretch of the day.
13:45
Optional therapies
A second treatment window in the early-afternoon quiet, if your body asks for more.
16:00
Afternoon juice & workshop
Your third juice, often paired with a nutrition or wellness workshop before the sauna opens.
19:00
Evening broth
A warm, mineral-rich vegetable broth — the one savoury note of the day, and everyone gathers again.
19:45
Evening meditation
The day closes as it opened, under the temple roof, sometimes silent and sometimes guided.
Somewhere around day four or five
The shift guests keep describing the same way
There’s a point, usually mid-week, where the effort of the first days seems to fall away. Guests describe it differently — more energy, a clearer head, less interest in checking their phone — but the pattern repeats often enough that our team has come to expect it. By this stage the day’s rhythm has usually stopped feeling like a schedule and started feeling like how the week works.
It’s also, often, when the workshops and therapies start doing their quieter work — nutrition talks landing differently once you’re a few days into living them, and any tension worked on in a massage or an acupuncture session having somewhere to settle.
Once a week
A day trip out to the coast
Once during your stay, the programme pauses for a group trip to one of the Algarve’s beaches on the west or south coast, or into Lagos itself. It’s a genuine change of scenery — sand, sea air, a different kind of quiet — and a reminder that the valley sits inside a proper stretch of coastline rather than apart from it.
Your final day or two
Breaking the fast, gently
Towards the end of a 10-night stay, broths and juices give way to small amounts of fruit and lightly prepared food, easing the digestive system back into work rather than shocking it with a full plate on day one. Our team times this to your own programme length, and most guests say this stretch feels less like an ending and more like the week’s final, calmer chapter.
Departure & afterwards
What guests actually take home
Check-out is at midday, and most guests leave with more than a suntan — the nutrition workshops, the daily rhythm, and a week of genuine rest tend to travel home with you in ways a normal holiday doesn’t. Preparation matters on the way in, too: everyone completes a health questionnaire at least 14 days before arrival, and guests who’ve been before often mention that easing off caffeine, alcohol and heavy meals in that same window made the first couple of days noticeably gentler.
It’s also common to come back. Guests arrive from their twenties to their eighties, first-timers alongside people on their tenth visit, and returning guests get 10% off every future stay — less a promotional discount than a simple acknowledgement that plenty of people treat this as a yearly reset rather than a once-off.
- Health questionnaire completed 14 days before arrival
- Optional: ease off caffeine, alcohol and heavy meals beforehand
- Check-out at midday, with breakfast-free mornings behind you
- 10% off every future retreat once you've stayed once
Read the full programme
Everything included, workshops and who it’s for, in one place.
Still have questions?
Hunger, energy, healing crises and everything else guests ask before booking.
See it for yourself
Check live availability and reserve your place with a €350 deposit. It takes about five minutes.