YOU’RE INVITED : Greece Retreat June 13-19th, 2025

Writing and fun under the sun.

Hi all! I’m so psyched to formally announce a new retreat in Greece for June 13-19th 2025. Once again, I am working with Zina Wilde (far right in image below), my luminous, lovely, extremely professional, and most importantly—authentic and local GREEK—friend, who coordinated the two retreats in Greece in 2023 that I did with yoga instructor Beth Cooke. Those retreats went off without a hitch, and honestly turned me on to this whole deal.

There’s no yoga this time, though I’ll definitely be working with Beth again. I wanted to offer a retreat to those people who aren’t that into yoga this time around.

This retreat is my getaway with Zina’s retreat company, the EuZina. I worked with Zina to customize the itinerary a little bit.

The real point of it is to relax, take a couple of boat rides, and soak up that nice Greek sun. But! There will be fun and informal, cocktail hour-style daily writing workshops in which I tell you ALL of my writing secrets, and we get to know each other.

Also, there’s a day in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece to Athens. This is where you’ll do your shopping and ride a Pirate ship at sunset. It’s amazing. Trust me.

I'm getting ahead of myself!

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Before we get into the details, let me get into retreats themselves. I know it’s a weird concept. Though I do believe that money spend on travel is the best money spent in the world, as an introvert, a budget traveller, and a formerly quite-rough-around-the-edges weirdo, I personally had never been on one…until I attended my own. Now I just love them. The laughs, the community, the Whats App groups. I honestly consider so many of the people who went on the retreats my REAL FRIENDS now.

What else can you expect? High standards. The trip is not cheap, and in this Fyre Festival-obsessed and scam accusation-happy era, you better believe I am particularly inclined towards making sure all of your needs are being taken care of. My biggest fear is that anyone shows up and lacks for something, from air conditioning to WiFi.

This is why I love working with Zina’s company. She rules. Hospitality is THE industry in Greece.  She arranges the hotels (in 2023, we stayed at a fab resort, because the group was large), the transportation (I love buses!), the food (omigod, the food is fucking good).

The vibe of the retreat is casual and beachy: such is Greece. You will be picked up at the Thessalonki airport and driven en masse to Sithonia, the “locals only” beach area, known as the Hamptons of Greece. We will spend the first five nights there, in very comfortable accommodations (there are two hotels we work with; which one will be determined by the size of the group), before heading to the big city for our last night there at a cool hotel right in city center.

This special adjustment to the itinerary was created at my request. You know no holiday is a Cat Marnell holiday without CITY TIME!

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While in Sithonia, the exquisite beach area, our activities will include:

-Beach time and more beach time. You guys, I went to a beaches in Sithonia that I can’t even describe to you...

-One day on the Catamaran. We rent a boat and it takes us out on the water. We get to jump off, snorkel, float around on inner tubes, and swim at all the magical coves. There's food and drinks on the boat. Awesome.

 -An excursion to the Petralona Cave. This was another request of mine. I’ve never been, and I fucking love caves!

-In Thessaloniki, on Night 6, we will have free time to shop (I cleaned out the Calzedonia bikini sale there in 2023), wander the markets, go to the museums, and have a magical last evening. Complete with a the aforementioned PIRATE SHIP RIDE.

THE DETAILS:

WHEN?

June 13th 2025-June 19th 2025 (7 days/6 nights)

HOW MUCH?

$3,900 for double occupancy 

 $4,200 for single occupancy 

A $500 deposit secures your reservation today.

WHAT?

The price includes EVERYTHING except airfare.

WHAT IS EVERYTHING?

-Five nights in Sithonia

-Welcome drinks

-Daily writing sessions with Cat

-3 meals a day (including wine with dinner) all at seaside restaurants

-4 star hotel

-All transportation (we will have a personal driver for the group)

-Beach excursions daily at some of the most magical places in the world

-Boat tour

-Excursion at the Petralona Cave

-One night in Thessaloniki

-Excursion with Pirate ship in Thessaloniki

-All meals in Thessaloniki

If you are interested, go on Instagram and DM @zinawilde. You can also email her directly at zina@theeuzina.com.

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And finally…I want to say something. I really, really love my community of readers and appreciate every single one of you. In doing an email blast to generate interest in this trip, I have no doubt reached TONS of you who would love to join me for a fucking week in Greece, but can’t. If this is your circumstance, and I made you feel stabs of I-can't-afford-that longing, I’m GENUINELY sorry. YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT MY THING.  Honestly, I was never someone who could just afford a trip that costs thousands, so I get it. I wish I could offer something cheaper, but at this time, it is what it is.

LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL—ENDLESSLY. 

XO CAT MARNELL