Blessed with year-round sunshine, Somabay is the winter sun destination you’d wish you found out about earlier. This gorgeous sun-soaked destination is home to a few five-star resorts, excellent beach clubs and plenty of Egyptian charm just 45 minutes from Hurghada International Airport. We ventured into the glorious sun-soaked shores of Somabay for the Solasi Festival, a three-day wellness fest that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
For this writer, the Solasi Festival was the first-ever foray into a full well-being festival and wow did it certainly impress. At the Solasi Festival, wellness is more than just a spa break and goes beyond just relaxing by the pool. Movement and mindfulness are the central themes that drive this festival so you can expect to participate in hours of wellbeing-focused workouts from Power Yoga, Dance Vinyasa and even ecstatic dance.
Discover Holistic Wellness
Run in partnership with Osana Family Wellness, the three-day festival offers a carefully curated programme that targets all aspects of wellbeing with offers activities that range from sound healing and transformational healing workshops to Pilates, yoga, Tai Chi, dance and movement classes.
Want to take a break from yoga? Then there is also a fantastic array of one-on-one holistic treatments massage therapy, energy healing, traditional Chinese medicine, tarot reading and more. The therapists and healers come from far and wide and do know their stuff.
Holistic Nourishment and Community Connection at the Solasi Festival
If all that yoga has worked up your appetite, then the Solasi Festival also has plenty of healthy and organic food stalls on site, championing local produce, including the vegan and vegetarian Osana Wholefood Cafe. Magpies like myself will also enjoy the fabulous selection of locally sourced and sustainable products on offer at the Osana Boutique – the crystals, headpieces and gorgeous bath & body products must not be missed, believe me.
There is a strong and almost unspoken community at the Solasi Festival which will make you feel like part of the pact as soon as you set foot on the beach. There isn’t a line between the yogis, instructors, therapists healers and attendees – and as cliché as it sounds – everyone does feel like a big family.
There is also a fascinating schedule of classes, led by some of the coolest yogis and instructors from all over the world. These include everything from acro yoga to sound healing and somatics. For those who haven’t tried, Power Yoga is a very intense form of yoga that will get your heart racing, Dance Vinyasa combines the key tenets of ballet with yoga, and somatics is all about isolating even the minutest movements in your body to unlock a new practice. Want to explore further? You can dance your way to self-defence with Rees the Flame, and learn fire staff spinning by Mellow Paw and Acro Yoga with Tereza dos Santos and Leo Oppenheim were standout classes that certainly got us asking for more. Four to five hours of yoga practice? At Solasi you won’t even feel the burn.
In the evenings, Solasi Festival turns from a relaxing retreat to a full-on party. Saturday night began with a sunset sound healing session led by Tereza and Leo, which then opened up to an ecstatic dance party led by Tameer El Sharaky. Let me tell you – there is no better joy than dancing, completely uninhibited, in a tent, by the Red Sea with total strangers. The experience is both freeing and utterly joyful and has certainly converted this city girl into the world of well-being.
Offering a range of passes for both groups and individuals, prices start from just GBP £81 per person for the full three days, which includes access to all classes and activities. Families and children are also welcome, with teen passes (ages 13 to 19) at just GBP £26 per person and kids aged under 13 being free of charge.
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