Inside the Experience
To bring back the excitement, connection and ridiculous amounts of fun that made Christmas feel so magical in the first place.
For anyone who loves Christmas, misses the magic it once had, or simply wants to escape the usual stress and spend a week celebrating it properly.
We believe some of life’s greatest joy comes from the experiences we share, the traditions we create and the memories we’re still talking about years later.
Expect seven gloriously festive days filled with baking, crafting, snow, Christmas markets, games, movies, great food, parties, and a home that looks like Christmas vomited all over it
With a maximum of six guests, Christmas feels less like a retreat and more like spending the holidays with a group of friends who somehow manage to make everything more fun.
This isn’t a workshop, a course or a week of self-improvement. There’s nothing to achieve here except having an absolutely brilliant Christmas.
You’ll leave with new friendships, ridiculous stories, treasured memories and hopefully a reminder that growing up never meant you had to stop believing in a little Christmas magic.
Preparing For Your Adventure
Expect a gloriously over-the-top week of Christmas food, snow, games, markets, movies, parties, surprises and festive nonsense, leaving you full of Christmas spirit, brilliant memories and probably wondering why Christmas at home was never this much fun.
Location - Our home is located in Argyra, a mountain village on the outskirts of Patras, a lively coastal town where you'll experience the real Greece, far away from the tourist resorts.
Arrivals - Check-in will be welcomed after 4pm on Day 1. If you would like, we can collect you from either Patras Ferry Port, Araxos Airport, Preveza Airport, or Athens Airport at 4pm sharp on Day 1 (Collections will be based on other guests and on a first come first served basis)
Departures - Check-out will be before 12pm on Day 8. If you would like, we can drop you off at either Patras Ferry Port, Araxos Airport, Preveza Airport, or Athens Airport by 12pm (Drop-offs will be based on other guests and on a first come first served basis)
Travel Guidance - Here are the main ways to get to our location:
- Collection from Patras Ferry Port (30min drive to our home) - You can fly into Kefalonia or Zakynthos (two beautiful Greek islands) and get the ferry boat across to Patras Port
- Collection from Araxos Airport (1hr drive to our home) - This airport is fantastic if you are arriving from the European Union
- Collection from Preveza Airport (1.5hr drive to our home) - This airport is right next to Lefkada island, a gorgeous island if you get the opportunity to explore!
- Collection from Athens Airport (2.5hr drive to our home) - Don't get scared by the duration, we will stop for ice-cream, a toe-dip in the sea, and maybe even some site-seeing
- Self-Drive - We have plenty of parking space, and it means you don't have luggage restrictions ;)
The Amenities - Above-ground pool, BBQ and pizza oven, mini library, pool table, dart board, foosball table, 5 balconies, loads of outdoor space, karaoke, home-made indoor and outdoor cinemas, outdoor and indoor games, and every kind of chair you can imagine -> deck chairs, sun-loungers, egg chairs, swing chairs, bean bags, and hammocks
Accessibility Requirements - We pride ourselves on our inclusivity and empathy. We would love the opportunity to work with you to figure out a way to accommodate your needs
- Spending money for souvenirs and any other cool things you want to buy
- Swimsuit (if you are very brave and want to swim in winter!)
- Sneakers and comfortable clothes for nature walks, biking, and day trips
- Day clothes for beach picnics, restaurant brunches, and town strolls
- Night clothes for going out to restaurant dinners
- Comfy clothes for daytime chilling, workshops and group discussions, and home activities
- Warm clothes for cool days
- Even warmer clothes for even cooler nights
- Ugly Christmas jumper for the Christmas party! (This is optional as one will be provided if you don't want to bring one)
Packing Musts
- Sunscreen, hats, sunglasses (even in winter it can get pretty sunny here!)
- Solo recreation activities of your choice (books, colouring in books, knitting)
- Sleeping essentials (eye masks, earplugs, teddy bear -
whatever you need for a good nights sleep)
December: 5 - 15
Full Itinerary
Our Itineraries Are Made to Move
This itinerary is our plan, not our rulebook. Activities may move or change depending on the weather, season, local events and what the group is interested in. And if something brilliant comes up along the way? We're absolutely allowed to change our minds.
Afternoon
- We’ll meet you at your chosen collection point and officially begin your Christmas adventure.
- Then it’s time for the journey home, with plenty of opportunities for snacks, sightseeing and getting to know your fellow Christmas escapees along the way.
Evening
- Once we arrive, we’ll show you around, get you settled into your room and run through everything you need to know for the week ahead.
- You’ll also get your first glimpse of what happens when two people with no adult supervision are given access to Christmas decorations.
- Then it’s time for our Welcome BBQ! Great food, new friends and the beginning of seven days where being excessively Christmassy is not only accepted, it’s actively encouraged.
Morning
- After breakfast, it’s time to get baking.
- Cookies, biscuits and all manner of festive treats are on the agenda for Christmas Baking Day. Some will look spectacular. Some may look like they were decorated by an angry five-year-old. All will be eaten.
- The important part is that we make enough Christmas goodies to keep us thoroughly overfed for the rest of the week.
Afternoon
- After lunch, we’re staying in the kitchen for Festive Food Making.
- We’ll prepare some of the delicious things we’ll be eating throughout the week, share favourite Christmas recipes and almost certainly discover that quality control requires eating quite a lot of what we make.
Evening
- After spending most of the day cooking, obviously we’re not cooking dinner.
- Tonight we’re heading out! Good food, drinks and our first proper night out together.
- Then it’s home to a house full of Christmas treats that absolutely nobody is supposed to eat before tomorrow.
- Good luck with that.
Morning
- After breakfast, we’re getting crafty.
- It’s Christmas Crafts Day, which means decorations, creativity, glitter and the very real possibility that somebody discovers an unexpected talent for making tiny festive things.
- Perfection is neither required nor particularly encouraged.
Afternoon
- After all that crafting, we’ll head out for lunch and some fresh air. Depending on the weather, we might even take Christmas to the beach.
- Then we’ll head home for some free time before tonight’s main event.
Evening
- It’s Christmas Tree Decorating Party time!
- Christmas music goes on. Drinks come out. Decorations go everywhere. And together we’ll transform the tree into either a festive masterpiece or an enormous sparkly monstrosity.
- Frankly, we're happy with either.
- Tonight is about decorating the house, eating the treats we made yesterday and fully embracing the fact that Christmas has now vomited absolutely everywhere.
Morning
- Today starts slowly. Breakfast, free time and absolutely nothing productive required.
- Sleep in. Read. Wander around in your pyjamas. Eat a Christmas biscuit for breakfast. You're an adult. Nobody can stop you.
Afternoon
- Then it’s time for The Joy Bringers Christmas Games!
- Expect Christmas charades, ridiculous team challenges, festive competitions, scavenger hunts and several activities that grown adults really should be far too dignified to participate in.
- Fortunately, dignity isn't particularly useful here.
- There will be winners. There will be losers. There may be accusations of cheating. There will almost certainly be an unnecessarily serious prize.
Evening
- After dinner, we’re changing pace for Christmas Movie Night.
- Blankets, Christmas treats, hot chocolate, popcorn and one of those films we've all watched approximately 47 times but will happily watch again.
- Singing along is permitted. Quoting the entire film is annoying but inevitable.
Morning
- Breakfast first. Then layer up because today we’re heading into the mountains.
- Destination: Kalavrita.
- Mission: SNOW.
Afternoon
- Today is dedicated to behaving like children.
- Snowmen. Snow angels. Snowball fights. Wandering through the mountains. Getting unnecessarily competitive about snowman construction. And warming ourselves back up with mulled wine when our fingers stop cooperating.
- Nobody needs to achieve anything.
- Nobody needs to learn anything.
- We're playing in the snow. That's the entire agenda.
Evening
- Eventually we'll drag ourselves away from the mountains and head home.
- Dinner will be waiting, followed by a completely free evening.
- Get cosy, raid the Christmas treats, play games, have a drink or collapse somewhere comfortable after spending an entire day throwing frozen water at each other.
Morning
- No alarms, no agenda and no reason to move particularly quickly this morning.
- Enjoy some free time before we head out for a long, lazy Christmas brunch.
Afternoon
- Then it’s time for a little Christmas shopping.
- We'll wander through festive shops looking for presents, decorations, completely unnecessary Christmas objects and things you absolutely did not intend to buy.
- Somewhere along the way, we'll stop for loukoumades, because warm Greek doughnuts covered in honey are precisely the kind of responsible nutritional decision Christmas demands.
- We'll also visit a local church and experience a little of the Greek side of Christmas.
Evening
- As darkness falls, it's time for the Christmas Markets.
- Lights, music, food, festive stalls, drinks and plenty of time to wander around soaking up the atmosphere.
- Buy something ridiculous. Drink something warm. Take far too many photographs.
- Then we'll head home for a relaxed evening before tomorrow's grand finale.
Morning
- Breakfast first.
- Then something very important needs our attention.
- PRESENTS!
- We'll gather together for Christmas present opening, because apparently we've all collectively decided we're children again and we see absolutely no problem with this.
- After that, you'll have some free time to admire your loot, eat something inappropriate before lunch and start mentally preparing yourself for tonight.
Afternoon
- We'll have lunch together before heading outside for a nature walk.
- Fresh mountain air, beautiful scenery and one last chance to enjoy our surroundings before the Christmas chaos resumes.
- Then the rest of the afternoon is free. Relax, nap, get ready or begin constructing whatever monstrosity you've decided qualifies as an ugly Christmas jumper.
Evening
- And now...
- THE CHRISTMAS PARTY.
- Ugly Christmas jumpers.
- Carol singing.
- Christmas cocktails.
- A huge festive feast.
- Music.
- Dancing.
- Ridiculousness.
- And, because apparently none of us are too old for this after all, Santa.
- This is our final night together, so we're doing Christmas properly. Eat too much. Sing too loudly. Dance badly. Wear something embarrassing. Laugh until your face hurts.
- There are no workshops. No lessons. No personal development objectives.
- Your only job tonight is to have an absolutely brilliant Christmas.
Morning
- Somehow, it’s already our final breakfast.
- We'll eat together one last time, survey the aftermath of a week in which Christmas completely took over the house and attempt to work out how we're supposed to fit everything we've accumulated back into our suitcases.
- Hopefully you're leaving with new friends, ridiculous photographs, far too many Christmas treats and enough stories to keep you going until next December.
Later Morning
- Then it's time to load up and begin the journey back to your chosen departure point.
- There'll probably be hugs. There may be tears. Someone will almost certainly realise they've left something behind five minutes after we've driven away.
- And hopefully, somewhere between the snowball fights, terrible carol singing, Christmas cocktails and all the little surprises you never saw coming, we managed to prove something rather important:
Growing up never meant Christmas had to stop being magical. 🎄
Accommodation
Come in. Make yourself at home.
Unpack your bags, kick off your shoes and make yourself at home. This is not a hotel. This is something much more personal.
Three floors. Five balconies. More places to sit than anyone reasonably needs.
Our three-level mountain home has plenty of room to spread out, inside and out, with sunny terraces, shady corners and spaces for doing everything or absolutely nothing. Take a dip in the pool, fire up the BBQ or pizza oven, play pool, darts or foosball, grab a book from the mini library, belt out some karaoke or settle in for a movie in one of our homemade cinemas.
And when you just want to relax? Choose from five balconies and a slightly ridiculous collection of hammocks, swing chairs, egg chairs, bean bags, sun loungers and deck chairs.
Secluded in the mountains but not cut off from the world, we're around 10 minutes from the beach and 30 minutes from the centre of Patras.
The room with the view.
Wake up to some of the best mountain views in the house from this bright, comfortable room with a king-size bed that can also be arranged as twins, excellent Wi-Fi, air conditioning and your own private bathroom.
It can get a little toasty during the Greek summer, but thankfully the air-con is very good at its job.
Pros:
- EU Grand King bed or Twin beds
- Excellent Internet
- Best views in the villa of the vast mountains of Greece!
- Air Conditioning
- Private Bathroom
Cons:
- Can get hot in summer, but the air-con is great in summer, but the air-con is great
Your own magical (and literal) doorway to the mountains
A comfortable room with a king-size bed that can also be arranged as twins, excellent Wi-Fi and air conditioning, plus your own private access to an outdoor space overlooking the Greek mountains.
The bathroom is shared with just one other guest room, but with the mountains right outside your door, we think it’s a pretty fair trade.
Pros:
- EU Grand King bed or Twin beds
- Excellent Internet
- Private access to outside space overlooking the mountains of Greece!
- Air Conditioning
Cons:
- Shared bathroom with 1 other bedroom
The coolest room in the house. Literally.
Our naturally coolest bedroom is perfect for anyone who likes to escape the Greek summer heat, with a king-size bed that can also be arranged as twins, excellent Wi-Fi and air conditioning.
The secret to staying so cool? Just one small window. The bathroom is shared with one other guest room, but when it’s 35°C outside, you may be too busy appreciating the temperature to care.
Pros:
- EU Grand King bed or Twin beds
- Excellent Internet
- This is the coolest bedroom (temperature wise) in summer
- Air Conditioning
Cons:
- Shared bathroom with 1 other bedroom
- Only 1 small window (this is the reason it is so cool in summer!)
Payments & Cancellations
Pricing
| A non-refundable deposit of €500.00 is required to secure your booking |
| Payment in full is required 60 days prior to the start of your retreat |
| Want to come with a friend or partner? Get a 20% discount per person if you share a room (Twin or Double) |
| Payment plans are available on request |
| The deposit of €500.00 is non-refundable |
| When You Cancel | Cancellation Charge |
| More than 60 days before the retreat start date | €500 deposit only |
| 60 to 30 days before the retreat start date | €500 deposit + 50% of all other amounts paid |
| 30 to 14 days before the retreat start date | €500 deposit + 75% of all other amounts paid |
| Less than 14 days before the retreat start date | 100% of the total retreat price |
*Please visit our Terms & Conditions for the boring but important stuff, Privacy Policy for all things data, and our Ethics Page to find out what rocks us