The Solo Traveller
Your independence, passion, and lifelong memories.
Health and Wellbeing
Goddess Retreats’ Yoga Shala, Ubud, at dawn. Image courtesy Goddess Retreats.
The magic of soul-deep connection
Q&A with Goddess Retreats Founder, Chelsea Ross
When Goddess Retreats Founder Chelsea Ross couldn’t find a holiday that she wanted for herself, she created one. Chelsea’s dream itinerary was to create a nurturing space “where women could surf, practice yoga, and experience Bali on a retreat that combined wellness, development and culture.”
“Goddess Retreats was born in 2003 from my own experience as a woman entering her thirties and finding a void in the travel world for solo female travellers. At that time, solo options were largely limited to the social but basic atmosphere of backpacker hostels or the noticeable isolation of travelling solo to traditional luxury hotels. Neither felt right for a woman seeking luxury and a sense of belonging.”
Chelsea’s dream itinerary was to create a nurturing space where women could surf, practice yoga, and experience Bali on a retreat that combined wellness, development and culture. Images courtesy Goddess Retreats.
“We were pioneers in the industry, creating the first luxury, women-only surf and yoga retreats. Over the past 23 years, our service has grown to offer a diverse variety of wellness options, including fitness, Pilates, surfing, and deep healing retreats. Today, eighty percent of our guests are solo travellers, many of whom are professional women with limited time who value a seamless and deeply restorative experience.
We provide a curated service that creates a supportive group community while honouring the need for a personal, customised journey. You might choose to spend a morning in a deep, private healing session with one of our gifted personal healers, then join a group of like-minded women for a guided bicycle ride through the vibrant green rice fields of Ubud.”
Bali Reiki healing at Goddess Retreats. Image courtesy Goddess Retreats.
“The beauty of our service lies in this intentional balance of time. You can immerse yourself in a group cultural workshop or find serenity with a floating lunch in your private villa’s pool, knowing that every detail has been handled with decades of refining our offerings to perfect this balance. Our signature experiences are held in iconic Balinese destinations, from the lush, spiritual heart of Ubud to the vibrant energy of the coast. Whether a guest is seeking a specialised surf retreat or a restorative wellness journey, we are known for providing a sophisticated space where women can explore their passions.
What makes our service truly unique is the 23 years of refinement I have poured into our schedule to create a seamless experience for women. We provide three distinct levels of interaction, beginning with our main group activities, such as communal meals at our long wooden tables, morning yoga, and our intentional orientation sessions where guests first meet and set their intentions for the week.
The second layer of our service is our ‘Follow Your Bliss’ program, which offers a menu of forty different pre-planned experiences that guests choose before they even arrive on the island. This allows for smaller, intimate groups of women to bond over shared interests, whether they are joining a group bicycle ride through the emerald rice fields of Ubud, participating in a traditional silversmithing workshop, or learning to surf on the coast. Finally, we protect the need for absolute solitude and restoration. A guest can choose to spend her afternoon in a private healing session with one of our gifted Balinese healers or enjoy unlimited spa treatments in the quiet of our sanctuary.”
(Left) The spa room; and flower bathing at Goddess Retreats, Bali. Images courtesy Goddess Retreats.
“Beyond the daily rhythm, we have carefully removed the traditional barriers to solo travel. We were among the first to eliminate the single room supplement and offer a thoughtful room-matching service for women who wish to share the journey with a new friend. With a dedicated team-to-guest ratio of four-to-one, we ensure that every detail is handled with a level of care that allows a woman to simply show up and be herself. In a world that is increasingly digital, we provide a rare space for authentic, soul-deep connection, where a woman can arrive solo and leave with a lifelong sisterhood.”
“In a world that is increasingly digital, we provide a rare space for authentic, soul-deep connection, where a woman can arrive solo and leave with a lifelong sisterhood.”
Why is it important for you that you provide experiences for solo travellers to create lifelong memories?
The reason I am so deeply committed to the solo traveller is that I believe the most enduring memories are not found solely in the landscapes we see, but in the internal shifts we experience. In its most traditional sense, a retreat is an intentional act of stepping away from the noise of daily life to look within. My background as a yoga and meditation teacher and life coach has taught me that true introspection requires a specific kind of space, which is often difficult to find when we are tethered to the roles and expectations of our daily lives. When you travel alone you have the unique opportunity to listen to your own rhythm and rediscover your own voice.
While the word ‘retreat’ has become a broad term for any wellness holiday, we have remained committed to its original purpose for two decades. By focusing on solo travellers, we create an environment where a woman can balance the joy of a new social community with the quiet moments necessary for personal growth. This is the essential difference between a standard holiday and a curated wellness retreat experience. A holiday is a temporary escape, but a retreat is a transformative journey.
Providing these experiences for solo travellers is important to me because it facilitates a shift that lasts long after the suitcase is unpacked. Our guests return to their lives not just rested but truly changed. They carry home a new-found confidence and a deeper connection to themselves that becomes a permanent part of their story. This internal transformation is the most valuable lifelong memory we can offer, and it is the reason we continue to champion the path of the solo woman traveller.
“This internal transformation is the most valuable lifelong memory we can offer, and it is the reason we continue to champion the path of the solo woman traveller.”
(Left) Tri Desna Healing; and the Yoga Shala, Goddess Retreats Ubud. Images courtesy Goddess Retreats.
Can you share a memory of when solo travellers have experienced a transformational experience because of their journey or experience with you?
It is a challenge to select just one story when we see women’s lives change every week. Our reviews are filled with these moments, but they often fall into two very distinct, realistic paths of transformation.
The breakthrough of physical confidence
We often host high-achieving professional women who arrive feeling capable in the boardroom but disconnected from their physical selves. One story that stands out involves a woman in her late forties who had never touched a surfboard. She arrived with the heavy mental load of her career, unsure if she was still “young enough” for something new. By the end of the week, after navigating the waves with our instructors, her entire posture had changed.
This is the power of experiential growth. There is a profound shift in self-belief that happens when a woman realises that if she can travel across the world and learn to surf at forty, she is truly capable of anything. That confidence isn’t just about the sport, it is a permanent internal strength that she carries back into her professional and personal life.
The wisdom of the collective landscape
Another path to transformation is quieter and more introspective. Our service creates a space where women can stand back from their regular lives to explore their internal landscape while being inspired by the external beauty of Bali. This happens through ‘Aha!’ moments in private sessions with our healers or while trialling alternative therapies like sound baths and acupuncture. We provide a life coaching workbook specifically designed to help guests capture these new perspectives and insights so they can practically apply them to their lives at home.
The most beautiful part of this process is that it is never guru-based. We intentionally cultivate an environment where wisdom is passed between the guests themselves. As women share their lived experiences and life stories around our tables, they realise they aren’t alone in their transitions. This peer-to-peer connection fosters a sense of peace and balance that ripples outward long after the retreat ends. Our guests leave with new tools for their daily lives and a shared understanding that we all carry a deep, inherent wisdom that can transform not only our own lives but the lives of those around us.
“Our guests leave with new tools for their daily lives and a shared understanding that we all carry a deep, inherent wisdom that can transform not only our own lives but the lives of those around us.”
Surf Goddess Retreat. Image courtesy Goddess Retreats.
When is the best time of year to experience your retreats?
Goddess Retreats experiences are available year round, and we are proud to be one of the few retreats in the world geared specifically toward solo female travellers that offers this level of availability. Because our locations in Southeast Asia are situated so close to the equator, our retreats run throughout the entire year in a consistently warm and tropical environment.
While our retreats are always a wonderful choice, the shoulder seasons between March and July and from September to November offer an extra layer of magic. Bali is often recognised as one of the most popular destinations in the world, and these particular months allow our guests to enjoy the island during its quieter moments. These periods provide the ideal atmosphere for the introspection and restoration that we cultivate.
Is there someone or somewhere that inspires you in travel and tourism or in life more generally?
Bali has been my greatest inspiration since the beginning, primarily because of how the Balinese people naturally integrate spirituality into the rhythm of their daily lives. This way of living is anchored in the ancient philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which translates to the three causes of wellbeing. For those who have not encountered this concept before, it is a traditional belief system that emphasises three essential harmonies that must be in balance for a life to be truly prosperous.
The first pillar is harmony with the spiritual, which involves maintaining a deep connection to a higher power and practicing gratitude through daily ritual. The second is harmony among people, which focuses on cultivating healthy, supportive relationships and a sense of belonging within a community. The third is harmony with nature, which reminds us to live in respect and balance with the natural environment that sustains us.
What makes this philosophy so impactful for our guests is the incredible warmth and openness of the Balinese people. They share their culture and wisdom from a place of deep, open-hearted generosity, inviting us into their world with a genuine kindness that is rare to find elsewhere. At Goddess Retreats, we integrate this philosophy into the very heart of our service. We cultivate harmony among people through our community-based approach, where wisdom is shared between the women as peers. We honour the spiritual through our meditation and healing sessions, and we connect with nature by exploring Bali’s stunning landscapes. By grounding our experiences in these values, we offer our guests a path to balance that is both ancient and deeply relevant to the solo traveller.
A final thought I would like to share is that solo travel is an internal journey just as much as it is an external one. If you do not prepare for this shift, the depth of what you discover can come as a surprise, so I always encourage women to plan for this internal exploration with the same care they give to their itinerary. The most important relationship you will cultivate on the road is the one you have with yourself, and learning to truly befriend yourself is perhaps the greatest success of any trip.
“The most important relationship you will cultivate on the road is the one you have with yourself, and learning to truly befriend yourself is perhaps the greatest success of any trip.”
There are very few moments in our lives where we are truly free from the expectations of those who know us. Our friends, family, and colleagues all carry a preconceived idea of who we are, which can sometimes keep us anchored to an old version of ourselves. When you travel solo, you step into the world without those mirrors. You are free to explore new areas of your own personality and discover who you are becoming in this current season of your life. We are in a state of continual growth at every age, and solo travel provides the quiet, intentional space for that expression to breathe.
Finding your comfortable edge and stepping slightly beyond your habitual comfort zone is incredibly empowering. Even when you have a dedicated team like ours supporting you every step of the way, the act of presenting yourself to the world as a self-contained individual builds a profound sense of self-reliance. When we travel with intention, we do not just see new vistas, we return home with a transformed sense of what we are capable of achieving. It is a homecoming to your own strength and a celebration of the woman you are still becoming.
Chelsea’s top 3 tips for solo travelling success …
Travelling alone is a profound opportunity to rediscover your own rhythm, but it does require a thoughtful approach to ensure your journey is as seamless as it is soulful. Drawing from my own experiences over the last few decades, I recommend these three tips for a successful solo adventure.
1. Create a supportive framework through research. The digital age has gifted us the ability to plan with a level of detail that simply was not possible in the days of paper maps and guidebooks. I suggest using this to your advantage by researching your ‘must-have’ experiences and booking essential logistics before you arrive. By establishing a solid framework for your trip, you remove the stress of basic decision making, which allows you to arrive with a sense of calm and confidence.
2. Leave space to follow your bliss. While a framework is necessary, you must be careful not to over-plan your holiday. The true magic of solo travel often happens in the unplanned moments. I always recommend leaving generous windows of time in your itinerary to allow for spontaneity. This freedom allows you to follow your bliss when you discover a hidden boutique, a quiet temple, or a beautiful sunset that was not in your original research.
3. Trust your inner compass. One of the greatest gifts of travelling alone is the chance to practice listening to your intuition. If a particular activity or path does not feel right, give yourself permission to say ‘No’, even if it is a popular highlight. Your solo journey is an ongoing conversation with yourself, and learning to trust your inner compass is a skill that will serve you long after you return home.