Testimonials
I truly enjoyed my Portugal vacation with Choose Happiness Adventures. The Villa was outstanding! The evening dinners sublime! The yoga and meditation were so centering! The day trips, trails, and walks were delish! Great people, great sharing. Class act all the way. Will def do it again without hesitation. Thanks to Arlèna for her talents in creating happiness!
Thank you for the wonderful invite to Portugal, Diana. Your teaching of yoga is absolutely amazing.
Arlena was the most generous host I’ve ever met. She had the most amazing chef every night with phenomenal food made from the soul. As I cannot express how excited I am to be attending the next yoga retreat in Sicily. September can’t come any sooner so I will be able to kick off my shoes and expand my mind and body. Looking forward as always.
I had the pleasure of attending the 2018 yoga retreat in Portugal. The trip was full of culture, beauty, history and discovery; from the food we made and ate, our nature walks, and even just seeing how the natives lived their lives was an eye-opening experience.
The property we stayed on was stunning and every turn had something worth seeing. The landscapes were simply serene. Our group was so easy to get along with and made each of our many excursions enjoyable and entertaining.
If that wasn’t enough, doing yoga every morning under the most amazing sunrises and overlooking a breath-taking view made getting up each morning something to look forward to. I can’t wait to join in on another trip.
Thank you Arlena and Choose Happiness Adventures for an amazing fulfilling week that I will always remember.
The Choose Happiness Adventures Portuguese Vacation Yoga Retreat is a lifetime experience. There were two yoga instructors for a smallish group of various abilities. In addition to the regularly scheduled classes, the yoga instructors were available on an individual basis.
We were really spoiled. The Casa da Lage Estate is sumptuous, there is plenty of space to relax, our linens — and clothes — were laundered midweek. Arlena went out of her way to take care of us, what with plenty of food, wine, and port, and making sure each of us was happy.
Delicious dinners were catered to us at the estate by a local restaurant — except for the night we had a fun cooking class! We started our days with early-morning meditation and yoga classes followed by breakfast. Several fabulous day trips were arranged for us, visits to Braga, the bustling Barcelos market, the Peneda-Gerês National Park, and a day hike along the Camino de Santiago.
During our downtime, we visited the nearby ancient city of Ponte de Lima and the land around the estate. I heartily recommend this unique experience.
My husband and I attended a yoga retreat with travel agent, Arlena from Choose Happiness Adventures for eight days, and seven nights in Sicily, Italy. Arlena had planned two excursions every day, some being Mt. Etna, Palermo, Savoca, Catania, and many more.
Arlena also had a Reiki instructor there named Stephanie who offered to do healing sessions that my husband tried for the first time and enjoyed.
There were private drivers who were very nice and accommodating and helped with any miscommunication issues we may have had. Their names were Elio and Daniele.
Two chefs per day cooked unbelievably delicious food. They made gourmet Italian Sicilian meals every night.
I highly recommend going on a retreat with Arlena because we had a fabulous time. We never would have known where to go if we planned this on our own. My husband and I enjoyed all the excursions and the people that we met on the retreat as well. They too were very pleasant and lovely people from all parts of the United States. We hope to continue to keep in touch.
Thank you Arlena for a great week.
I just can’t wait to go to Greece and indulge in the beauty and the fabulous food/wine. On my last retreat with Choose Happiness Adventures, I went to Portugal….let me tell you what a beautiful country and amazing food/ wine. It was my first yoga retreat and I was a little nervous about what kind of people I had to hang out with the whole week while in Portugal….let me tell you, the people and the instructors were just amazing, I felt relaxed and I enjoyed everyone’s company.
I am quite excited to go to Greece and met other people and enjoy all the great things that Greece offers. Since COVID shot down our trip to Italy 2 years ago, I would be quite upset if the Greece trip doesn’t occur, I plan to put my toes in the sand and water and take a deep breathe as I will be celebrating ALOT of accomplishments for this new year, of course, to do some yoga with amazing instructors again…Diana Fiore and Arlena.❤️