Location and Lodging
Your own perfect heaven for meditation and learning
The Center
The Laughing Orchard is a secluded retreat center situated inside one of the volcanic craters of the Sao Miguel island, Azores.
It features a 3 acre fruit garden, a sauna, two houses and several cabins for participants. Its location is within a walking distance from a unique natural geyser park and several hot springs, and it takes only 15 minutes to drive to a black sand ocean beach.
Provided participants share some of the rooms, the property can host 17 people in total. There are both indoor and outdoor yoga/exercise spaces and a variety of necessary supplies, such as yoga mats. Lodging includes locally home-cooked lunches for all participants. Breakfasts and dinners can be catered optionally for an additional cost.
Our vision
The center has been founded based on a vision of creating a balance between thinking and dreaming, mainstream and shamanistic perception, and left-brain and right-brain.
It is perfect for people who are tired of the stressful routine and are looking to find grounding and a true source of inspiration.
Town of Furnas
The town of Furnas where the center is located boasts a world-class botanical garden complete with a warm mineral lake, three different commercial hot springs and several non-commercial ones.
There's also a green crater lake surrounded on all sides by parks and forests, and drinking mineral waters flowing directly from deep inside the Earth.
Hot spings
Local residents believe that every hot spring in town has its own healing properties and some say that one of the mineral springs helped people protect themselves from the Spanish Flu Epidemic in the beginning of the 20th century.
Fruit magic
The Laughing Orchard retreat is located in a beautiful fruit garden. In the winter and spring, oranges, lemons, and kiwis grow there, while summers bring apples, pears, plums, and passion fruit.
Such simple pleasure of picking fruit directly from the trees creates a sense of abundance and safety!
Ocean
The retreat center is a 15 minutes drive from a black sand ocean beach. This powerful and unique location is perfect for meditation at sunrise or sunset.
