Find a soulful, quiet and comfortable escape at these renovated monasteries | Canada Voices

Travellers in search of a respite, however fleeting, from the stresses of 21st-century life might do well to consider a more ancient and atypical form of holiday accommodation this summer.

Whether your need is secular or spiritual, renovated former convents and monasteries provide appealing and surprising opportunities at home and abroad to indulge in the beauty of a simple escape for the mind, body, soul and even the pocketbook.

In an essay for The Globe and Mail earlier this year, author Pico Iyer wrote about his love for monastic retreats and wondered what would be lost when these “hospitals for the soul” disappear.

Hospitals for the soul: What we’ll lose when monasteries disappear

Five years ago, the promise of a soulful and quiet hiatus appealed greatly to Ottawa resident Laurel Ralston. Looking to recover from an intense stretch of work as a musician, she booked a short retreat at Le Monastère des Augustines in Quebec City.

The restored former cloister of Augustinian nuns, who in 1639 founded the first permanent hospital established north of Mexico, presented “a wonderful place to go for a kind of a respite,” says Ralston. She has been returning to Le Monastère every year since.

Located in Old Quebec, Le Monastère des Augustines opened its doors to the public in 2015, nearly 400 years after the arrival of the Augustinian Sisters in New France. The former monastery-hospital (hôtel-Dieu) offers a simple and accessible sabbatical. There are no televisions or towel service in either of the two room types available: contemporary rooms built during the monastery’s restoration, and those located on the authentic floor, where each of the 31 cells is simply furnished.

Today, the monastery provides a non-denominational approach to care, retreats and personal reflection. Guests are still encouraged to enjoy communal breakfasts in silence, a tribute to the former Sisters’ practice of beginning the day in quiet contemplation. Activities such as massages, yoga and health retreats focus on mental health and physical wellness, while the monastery’s museum traces the evolution of the spiritual and social engagement of the Augustinian Sisters and how they balanced their traditional vocations for action and contemplation.

“We want people to come to rest and rejuvenate,” says Isabelle Houde, Le Monastère’s assistant executive director. A member of Healing Hotels of the World, Le Monastère operates as a non-profit organization. Profits from guest stays are put back into supporting local health care workers who benefit from discounted accommodation and retreat programming.

This purposeful aim aligns with the original mission and continues to perpetuate the heritage of the Augustinian Sisters. “Our visitors contribute to the regeneration of social, environmental and economic ecosystems by participating in our cultural and social mission,” notes Isabelle Duchesneau, Le Monastère‘s founding director and head of strategic development.

In Europe, where cloisters and religious houses date back to the third century, booking a monastery stay can present a more budget-friendly option, granting peace and tranquility in a slightly alternative yet still central destination.

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Less than two hours from Milan, Monastero Arx Vivendi is a magnificently transformed convent and garden in Arco, a picturesque town on Lake Garda. The 40-room hotel, dining area and Salus per Aquam spa operate within a 17th-century cloistered convent. A portion of the larger Monastery Serve di Maria Addolorata remains home to nuns who continue to live and worship in their own portion of the grounds.

Across the Alps, just one hour from Zurich in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, the former Carthusian monastery Kartause (Charterhouse) Ittingen presents an opportunity to find serenity (as well as a wonderful night’s sleep) in the heart of verdant vineyard-covered hills.

Where monks once paced the garden labyrinth contemplating the divine mysteries of a religious life, guests staying in one of the former charterhouse’s 68 modern and stylish rooms can quietly walk the meditative spiral, focused on matters human or divine or bending an appreciative ear to birdsong and the distant bells of the facility’s own herd of Swiss dairy cattle.

The Ittingen Charterhouse was originally founded as a monastery in the 12th century. Over time, the walled complex grew and became an important centre near the village of Warth. The monastery closed in the 1800s and the complex was converted into a cultural centre with a hotel, a museum and art gallery, chapel, restaurant and a social enterprise.

The charterhouse produces much of its own dairy products, fruits, flowers and vegetables, meat and wine, all of which are served in a popular restaurant built around a 19th-century mill wheel.

On a tour of the hermitage, I learn that the charterhouse’s magnificent Baroque and Rococo chapel was at one time reserved exclusively for the 14 resident monks, whose vows of silence would only be broken by their monophonic Gregorian chant. Surrounded by the beauty of the chapel’s ornately carved woodwork and detailed painted frescos depicting Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order, my sense of serenity and peace meets in fellowship with the past.

Guests may not bound by silence today, but we maintain a respectful hush while walking through monastery corridors and grounds, admiring the more than 300 species of roses in the gardens. The spirit of the Ittingen Charterhouse community is reflected in a social enterprise which provides room, board and employment for 30 adults with special needs who tend year-round to the animals, grounds and gardens.

“Kartause Ittingen is like a spa for the spirit, soul, mind and body,” notes guide Renata Riebli, leaving me to contemplate when and where I can next benefit from another holistic stay at a hospital for the soul.

Perhaps it will be at the hotel’s “Mönchsklause Experience,” a one-week stay in a renovated monk’s hermit cottage. It might be fun to experience monastic life up close, where the true luxury is tranquility and time out and away from the world.

If you go

In Quebec City: Le Monastère des Augustines, rooms from $199. For details, monastere.ca

In Switzerland: (Kartause) Ittingen Charterhouse, in Warth, roughly a 30-minute drive from Zurich. Rooms from $260. For details, visit kartause.ch

In Italy: Monastero Arx Vivendi, Arco, just north of Lake Garda. Rooms from $430. For details, visit monastero-arxvivendi.com

The writer was hosted at Kartause Ittingen Charterhouse by Visit Switzerland. It did not review or approve the story before publication.