Silence & Meditation Retreat: Time for stillness, connection with the heart, and inner clarity
Niederalteich, Germany
$345 / 5 Days
A Monastery Retreat in Bavaria
Bavaria offers monastery stays from alpine foothills to lakes and the Danube. The selection includes Oberzell, a women's convent near Würzburg, Bernried on Lake Starnberg, the Benedictine archabbey of St. Ottilien and Niederaltaich. Three to five days is usual, with yoga, meditation, silent retreats or painting weeks, full board and prices typically between €260 and €1.700 per stay.
12 curated retreats
4.9
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€260
3 or 4 days of yoga at the monastery: Strength for the body & peace for the mind
Zell am Main, Germany
$611 / 3 Days
4.9
3 Days of Yoga at the Monastery: Strength for the Body & Peace for the Mind
Zell am Main, Germany
$611 / 3 Days
4.9
4-Day / 3-Night Silent Retreat at the Monastery | MBSR-Inspired
St. Ottilien, Germany
$352 / 4 Days
5.0
Stress relief, painting and drawing at Bernried Monastery on Lake Starnberg
Bernried, Germany
$341 / 5 Days
5.0
Find Peace - 4 Days / 3 Nights - Winter Silent Retreat at the Monastery
Eresing, Germany
$351 / 4 Days
5.0
Time for Your Soul - Yoga and Meditation for Inner Peace and Renewed Energy (Benediktushof near Würzburg)
Holzkirchen, Germany
$300 / 3 Days
Just Be: Mindful – Authentic – Alive
Holzkirchen, Germany
$300 / 4 Days
5.0
MBSR – Mindfulness-based stress reduction (with health insurance subsidy)
Holzkirchen, Germany
$300 / 3 Days
4.5
All inclusive Meditations-Retreat im Stonehenge Allgäu
Kaufbeuren, Germany
$347 / 3 Days
Yoga retreat at the monastery on Lake Starnberg
Bernried am Starnberger See, Germany
$750 / 3 Days
Peace and quiet while painting and drawing at Niederaltaich Abbey
Niederalteich, Germany
$341 / 5 Days
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What sets a Bavarian monastery retreat apart
Bavaria has an unusually dense monastery landscape, and the current selection reflects it. The appeal sits not in a single region but in the geographic spread. In the south, Bernried Abbey lies directly on Lake Starnberg, embedded in the gentle alpine foothills southwest of Munich, with a wide garden and a view across the water. Southwest of the capital is the archabbey of St. Ottilien, an active Benedictine monastery with its own guest house and a long-standing tradition of silent retreats.
In Lower Franconia near Würzburg sits Oberzell, a women's convent with a herb garden, mature trees and a clear focus on yoga, contemplation and women-only formats. A few streets away in Zell am Main stands Haus Klara, a Franciscan house running breath and yoga retreats. On the Danube, near the Bavarian Forest, Niederaltaich Abbey offers painting and drawing weeks.
These five houses carry the Bavarian monastery selection. What they share are thick walls, quiet courtyards, simple food from the monastery's kitchen garden and a day not paced by smartphone or meetings. What sets them apart is the programme focus. If you want the high mountains or a wellness break, this is not the right format. If you are looking for a quiet Bavarian retreat with a clear programme and honest prices, this is where you find it.
A day inside a Bavarian monastery
A day in a Bavarian monastery moves along two rhythms: the rhythm of the house and the rhythm of the booked programme. If the house itself is an active monastery, such as St. Ottilien or Niederaltaich, there are canonical hours in the church. Joining in is welcome, but not required. Early in the morning, around six or six-thirty, the first shared time begins, followed by breakfast, in many houses taken in silence or with a short reading at the table.
The morning carries the main programme. At Oberzell that means yoga sessions and guided contemplation; at St. Ottilien it is often the first sitting or walking meditation of a silent retreat. A silent retreat here means framed periods without speaking, without smartphones, with eye contact reduced to the necessary, often modelled on MBSR, the mindfulness-based stress reduction programme by Jon Kabat-Zinn. At Bernried, the painting studio opens; at Niederaltaich, the drawing room.
After lunch, which in many houses comes from the monastery's own kitchen garden, the day opens into a long quiet stretch: a walk through the cloister garden, reading, time in the cell, silence in the courtyard. A second session in the late afternoon follows. Dinner is simple, a soup, a stew, a warm dish. Some houses close with a sound moment or night prayer; others leave the evening explicitly open. Anyone expecting weekend bustle is in the wrong place; anyone looking for silence and a clear structure finds it reliably here.
Programmes and focus areas in the Bavarian monastery selection
The Bavarian monastery selection is small but clearly ordered by programme. The strongest focus is yoga. The yoga days at Oberzell convent, led by the Om Tara yoga centre, run over three or four days and combine asana practice with outdoor morning meditation, walks across the monastery grounds and shared meals. At Haus Klara, the Franciscan monastery a few streets away in Zell am Main, a four-day breath retreat with a yoga component runs Thursday to Sunday.
The second focus is silence and mindfulness. At St. Ottilien Archabbey, southwest of Munich, the three-day mindfulness silent retreat takes place in winter. The content is modelled on MBSR and includes sitting and walking meditation, mindful yoga and body scan, in small groups of around eight to twelve participants. A silent retreat here means noble silence across the entire stay, no phone, no reading outside the practice. One-on-one coaching is available on request.
The third focus is creative. At Bernried Abbey on Lake Starnberg and at Niederaltaich Abbey on the Danube, painting and drawing courses run over four to five days in dedicated studio rooms, hosted in the spirit of monastic hospitality. Level mix: beginners and returners are explicitly invited. What the Bavarian monastery selection does not currently carry are alpine mountain yoga formats or sound bowl retreats; those run in Bavaria through other categories. The monastery here is consistently treated as a quiet, religiously shaped place.
Regions, travel and booking
For a monastery stay, Bavaria splits into three clearly distinguishable zones. The southern Upper Bavarian zone covers Bernried Abbey on Lake Starnberg and St. Ottilien Archabbey. Bernried sits directly on the water in the alpine foothills, meaning the gentle hill and lake zone north of the Bavarian Alps, around 50 kilometres southwest of Munich; trains run via Tutzing, by car you take the A95. St. Ottilien lies about 40 kilometres west of Munich and is easily reached via Geltendorf station.
The Lower Franconian zone is made up of Oberzell convent and Haus Klara, both in Zell am Main a few minutes west of Würzburg. Travel is by ICE to Würzburg main station, then a short bus or taxi ride. The Danube edge of the Bavarian Forest forms the third zone with Niederaltaich Abbey, about ten kilometres from Deggendorf.
The typical length of stay across the selection sits between three and five days, with the three-day weekend as the most common shape and the four-day long weekend as the second variant. Prices in the selection run from €260 for simple programmes in shared rooms up to €1.700 for a single room with full board; the average sits around €639. Recommended booking lead time: six to eight weeks in summer and autumn high season, two to four weeks in winter. The monastery guesthouses work with small groups and fill up early accordingly.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which monasteries in Bavaria offer retreat programmes?
The Bavarian monastery selection is small but clearly ordered and spread across the state. In the south, on Lake Starnberg in the alpine foothills, Bernried Abbey runs painting and drawing weeks. About 40 kilometres west of Munich stands St. Ottilien Archabbey, an active Benedictine monastery with silent retreats. In Lower Franconia near Würzburg, Oberzell convent hosts yoga and women-only formats; a few streets away in Zell am Main, Haus Klara, a Franciscan house, runs breath and yoga retreats. On the Danube near the Bavarian Forest, Niederaltaich Abbey rounds off the picture with painting and drawing courses. In total you will find 12 monastery stays in Bavaria currently. Other well-known Bavarian monasteries such as Andechs or Ettal are not part of the current selection with bookable programmes.
How much does a monastery retreat in Bavaria cost?
Across all 12 Bavarian monastery programmes, the average price sits at €639 for a three- to five-day stay with full board and a clear programme such as yoga, silent retreat, breathwork or a painting and drawing course. The range runs from €260 for simple shared or double room formats up to €1.700 for single rooms with full board or longer stays. What usually drives the price is not the programme itself but the room category and the length of stay. Compared with classic yoga hotels or wellness houses, monastery stays are clearly cheaper, because the food is simple and there is no wellness infrastructure to fund.
Which programmes are offered in the Bavarian monasteries?
Three thematic focus areas carry the Bavarian monastery selection. The strongest focus is yoga: yoga days at Oberzell convent run over three or four days with asana practice, outdoor morning meditation and walks across the monastery grounds; at neighbouring Haus Klara, a four-day breath retreat with a yoga component runs regularly. The second focus is silence and mindfulness: at St. Ottilien, a three-day mindfulness silent retreat takes place, modelled on MBSR, the mindfulness-based stress reduction programme by Jon Kabat-Zinn, with sitting and walking meditation, body scan and small groups of eight to twelve. The third focus is creative: painting and drawing weeks over four to five days at Bernried Abbey on Lake Starnberg and Niederaltaich Abbey on the Danube, with dedicated studio rooms and an explicit welcome for beginners and returners.
Do you need to be religious or Catholic to join a monastery retreat?
No, religious affiliation is not a requirement in any of the Bavarian monastery programmes. The houses explicitly welcome guests of any denomination and those with no religious background; that is part of monastic hospitality. What remains is the Christian frame of the house. In active monasteries such as St. Ottilien or Niederaltaich, there are canonical hours in the church, joining is welcome but never required. Programmes like yoga at Oberzell, silent retreat at St. Ottilien or painting weeks at Bernried are not framed as missionary; they sit in their own thematic combination of monastic stillness and concrete method. Those with a Christian background find familiar structures; those without find a place with clear rules and an honest plainness.
What is the best way to reach a monastery in Bavaria?
Bavaria is well covered by rail for monastery stays, which fits the quiet nature of the format. For Bernried on Lake Starnberg, get off at Tutzing, around 35 minutes from Munich; by car via the A95. For St. Ottilien Archabbey, Geltendorf is the anchor station, about an hour from Munich, from there a short connecting ride. Oberzell convent and Haus Klara sit in Zell am Main, a few minutes west of Würzburg; take the ICE to Würzburg main station, then bus or taxi. Niederaltaich Abbey is reached via Deggendorf, with around ten kilometres left by bus or taxi. Driving works everywhere but is not required; most houses are within walking distance of trails or right on the lake, so the car tends to stay parked during the stay.
What does a silent retreat in a monastery actually mean?
A silent retreat in a monastery means a stay with clearly framed phases without speaking, without smartphones and with eye contact reduced to the necessary. In Bavaria this format is primarily offered at St. Ottilien Archabbey, there as a three-day mindfulness silent retreat modelled on MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), the 8-week programme by Jon Kabat-Zinn, run in the monastery as a compact version. The day includes sitting and walking meditation, mindful yoga, body scan and shared meals taken in silence; groups are small, around eight to twelve participants. Noble silence does not mean total silence around the clock: teacher guidance, emergencies and short individual check-ins remain possible. Those who have never tried silence cope well with the three-day format; four to five days are the next step.
What is typically included in the price of a Bavarian monastery retreat?
The standard price for a Bavarian monastery retreat usually covers accommodation in a double or shared room, simple full board from the monastery's own or regional supply, and the booked programme. The yoga days at Oberzell include yoga sessions and guided contemplation; the silent retreat at St. Ottilien covers sitting and walking meditation, body scan and individual check-ins on request; the painting and drawing weeks at Bernried and Niederaltaich include studio use and guidance, with material costs often separate. What is extra: single-room supplements and individual special requests. Travel and insurance are not included. Among the 12 Bavarian programmes, it pays to check the details; the range from €260 to €1.700 with an average of €639 is usually explained by room category, typical length of stay and programme depth.