From DJing and folk to songwriting and salsa: 10 of the best music and singing holidays

The Guardian

01-06-2025

The Kora Workshop is a small UK company that makes beautiful, high quality koras (a type of West African harp) and teaches people how to play them. UK festivalgoers may have bumped into its staff at Womad or Tribal Earth, but it also offers week-long immersion workshops in the Aveyron in southern France. They include seven days of tuition (both individual and group sessions), as well as shared accommodation and the loan of a kora. The first week got booked up quickly, so move fast if you're interested. 14-21 Sept, £510, thekoraworkshop.co.uk
HF Holidays is a co-operative whose origins date back to the early 1900s and a pioneer in developing walking holidays for working people. Its new three-nighter in the Peak District mixes singing and socialising with half-day walks in the valleys, forests and grasslands around Ilam and Tissington. The famous Dovedale stepping stones are less than a mile from the Peveril of the Peak country house where the trip is based. Vocal coach Su Grainger (founder of Singing Our Socks Off, Liverpool's longest running community choir) leads the singing sessions in a 'no-pressure environment' crafted to fit all abilities.7-10 Nov, from £459pp, hfholidays.co.uk
To the outsider, Hard Trance Europe (HTE) – a record label on the heavier end of the electronic music spectrum – may not seem like the most likely organisation to be running a rural retreat with countryside views. But, as HTE puts it, 'the ability to learn is maximised from within a comfortable and relaxed environment'. So, a getaway by the River Tamar on the Devon-Cornwall border it is. Hosts Renegade System, Iain Cross, Lab4 and Nick the Kid boast more than a century of combined experience. Their three-day programme is tailored to participants, whether you're getting started or are mastering your mix. Expect workshops, guest speakers, hard beats – and splendid views.28-30 Sept, from £750, hardtranceeurope.com
Halsway Manor, at the foot of the Quantock Hills, is the only residential folk music centre in the UK. The Halsway team offers a plethora of midweek and weekend-away courses, ranging from workshops on the Irish bouzouki to how to play the dulcimer. In July, the teaching trio of Amy Thatcher, Tamsin Elliot and Paul Hutchinson are leading a weekend class for levels 1-3 in accordion. You'll need your own instrument and a basic ability to read music, but that's it. Book a single or shared room, learn through the day and jam at night.4-6 July, £200 course-only or £215 to £330 with accommodation, halswaymanor.org.uk
Karuna Haus is set in an idyllic landscape, at the foot of forested hills with a backdrop of the Swiss Alps. This meditation retreat is the setting for holistic voice therapist Sophia Efthimiou's musical retreat in late August. Each day begins with gentle morning yoga and breakfast, followed by vocal exploration sessions, harmony singing and therapeutic voice work either side of lunch. Organic, plant-based food is included and there's a sauna and fresh water pool on site. Sophia also runs singing holidays (including a popular sailing week in Turkey, next dates April 2026).28-31 Aug, from £730 (£845 in a private room), singingourselveshome.com
Picture yourself watching the sun set over golden mountains in an ancient farmhouse in Andalucía, isolated between the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean. This is Finca Ara Oko, from where Bombo Productions – a community arts organisation focused on Afro-Latin American music – runs week-long retreats. 'Our place is remote, which is one of the attractions,' says founder of Bombo, Vicky Jassey. 'When guests arrive, they feel they can properly detach from everyday life.' Its upcoming salsa percussion retreat has an emphasis on the rhythmic aspects of Cuban music. When tuition time is over, guests can walk in the mountains or go snorkelling on the secluded La Rijana beach. The same team also runs singing retreats in the off-grid farmhouse.8-15 Sept, from £760, bomboproductions.com
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The Sessions and Sail crew organise week-long voyages on gorgeous tall ships, giving fans of folk music the chance to live aboard and join workshops, sessions and ceilidhs as they sail. The trips usually operate off the west coast of Scotland, but they're trading Caledonian waters for the volcanic Aeolian Islands north of Sicily this October for an outing on SV Florette, a 40-metre brigantine. On shore, explore Lipari old town and sample Salina wine. On board, develop your fiddle, mandolin or guitar skills, and watch the sun rise and set over the Tyrrhenian Sea. All abilities welcome.Oct 18-25, £1,525 adults, £1,395 under-30s, £1,295 hammock sailor, sessionsandsail.com
Immerse yourself in the landscapes that have inspired generations of musicians on a road trip around Ireland with the Guitar Social, an organisation born from the idea that learning the guitar is more fun with other people, and which now runs international retreats as well as regular meet ups and classes. Departing from Dublin, players head up to Kilnaleck in County Cavan, before going south-west to Cork, and on to a castle stay in Galway, improving their guitar skills as they go. 'We pride ourselves on welcoming all levels, and if we do get beginners, we tailor the learning to meet their needs,' says founder Thomas Binns. Ten guitar workshops and facilitated evening performances are part of the deal (and we assume a jar of whiskey can be acquired fairly easily as you go over the Cork and Kerry mountains).3-8 Sept, from £1,100 (£2,000 in a private room), theguitarsocial.com
Cosy down in a leafy, boutique riad in the medina of Marrakech for five nights, enjoying daily three-hour singing sessions with Belgian-Moroccan singer Laïla Amezian and discovering the storied streets and squares of a city where the scent of spices, orange blossoms and shoe leather fills the air. 'We'll explore Arabo-Andalucían melodies, chaabi [folk] songs, the rich Judeo-Arabic vocal heritage, and original compositions inspired by ancient poetry,' says Amezian. 'We'll journey between poetry and melodic lament, between entrancing tunes and captivating voices.' The trip culminates with a performance.20-25 Oct, from £2,250, singingholidays.com
It's hard to imagine a more inspiring backdrop for a songwriting retreat than Ardnamurchan. This rugged peninsula – with its wild coastline, rocky outcrops,sandy beaches, stags and sea eagles – juts out from the west coast of Scotland, reaching north to Skye, Eigg and Rum and south to Mull. Touring folk musicians Iona Lane and Katie Spencer are running a 'relaxed and inspired' songwriting retreat based in Kinlochmoidart House, a Scots baronial mansion built in 1884. The focus is on nurturing songwriting and musicality which responds to people and landscape – through workshops, creative sessions and walks in this unspoiled landscape.20-24 April 2026, £745 (£795 in private room), ionalane.com