Creative writing retreats

in idyllic Switzerland

1 – 7 March 2026

14 – 20 June 2026

6 – 12 September 2026

Also ad hoc stays (untutored) on your proposed dates

Make time and space for yourself with a retreat in the spectacular Bernese Oberland: gain focus, find inspiration and hone your craft through workshops, independent writing time, and feedback sessions. Enjoy writing in unforgettable surroundings in the supportive company of like-minded people and enhance your day with a refreshing walk. Make new friends who will continue to accompany you on your writer’s journey.

Types of retreats

Choose from 2 types of retreats: (1) tutored and (2) workshop- and feedback-based (semi-tutored). When applying for your place, state which of the two formats you prefer. (Untutored stays on dates of your choice are also possible.) This article in Writing.ie Magazine explains how and why writing retreats enable leaps forward.

Tutored retreats: daily lectures and workshops on key elements of the writing craft (characterisation, story structure and plot development, point of view, sense of place, dialogue, revising and editing techniques), as well as feedback sessions. Typical schedules for the 6 days are shown below (one for fiction writers, the other for life writers). Open to a maximum of 3 participants. This format caters for writers at all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced.

Workshop- and feedback-based retreats: this format involves more personal time to write. If you’ve studied the craft and practised creative writing for a while and are now yearning chiefly for focused writing time and feedback in an inspiring, supportive environment, this is the retreat for you. A sample schedule is shown below. The day begins with a 60- to 90-minute workshop to stimulate your creativity; this includes a brief review (with handouts) of the element of writing (e.g. characterisation) to which the exercise relates. Feedback sessions take place in the afternoon. Usually open to a maximum of 3 participants (though up to 6 is possible, with sufficient notice).

Enthusiastic testimonials

Read attendees’ reviews of the tutored retreats by clicking here.
To read an account of, and comments on, the workshop- and feedback-based retreats, click here. This format trialed so successfully with returning participants, that from 2026 it’s available also to applicants who haven’t previously attended the tutored retreats.

Here, just a taster of testimonials:

Why these retreats?

For participants at any level of writing experience, from beginners to advanced
Small groups, to guarantee personal attention
On the global list of 20+ Incredible Writing Retreats to Attend in 2025 published by The Write Life. Guest on the Your Writing Retreat Connection podcast.
Hosted by Valeria Vescina, an author with solid credentials: a published novelist; creative-writing tutor with years of experience (teaching all age groups since 2013: from secondary-school pupils to students on Creative Writing BAs and MAs); reviewer; literary director of a long-established festival.

Where you’ll be staying

The retreat takes place in the unspoilt Hasliberg area of the Jungfrau Region (Bernese Oberland, Switzerland), which inspired Goethe, Turner, Conan-Doyle and Tolkien, among others. A vast choice of well-maintained paths on your doorstep will allow you to enhance the day with a walk to stimulate your creativity. The village is easily reached by public transport from Zurich or Basel airports. A tip: travel via Luzern to catch the Luzern-to-Interlaken Express until Brünig – it’s deservedly one of Switzerland’s most famous panoramic routes! The short bus ride from Brünig to your destination offers yet more unforgettable views.

Retreats have taken place here in June and September 2023, February, June and September 2024, and June and September 2025.

You’ll be staying at a luxury four-bedroom apartment in a modern chalet in Reuti, a postcard-pretty village at approx. 1070 metres above sea-level. It’s an easy walk (c. 200 meters) from the flat to the local cafés, restaurants, shop and public transport. There you can also board aerial cablecars to explore the little town of Meiringen in the valley or the high-alp meadows of Mägisalp (1710 meters above sea-level).

You’ll have your own space: a double room put to single-occupancy use, with stunning views of the mountains (including Wetterhorn, Wellhorn, Engelhörner and Eiger) and high in natural light; there are three bath/shower-rooms. A generous lounge with a log burner, and a large kitchen-diner, offer the perfect atmosphere for relaxing and chatting. Breakfast, lunch (at a lovely restaurant on days 2-6), and home-cooked dinner will be provided. In the event of a workshop- and feedback-based retreat with more than three participants (max. six in total), three would be housed in nearby accommodation of a comparable level; all activities, as well as lunch and dinner, would be with the whole group. This arrangement has worked highly successfully before, thanks to the proximity and comfort of the accommodation secured.

The chalet and the apartment:

Notable attractions are only a short drive away (many are open only from April to November). They include the Reichenbach Falls of Sherlock Holmes fame, the Aare Gorge, Lake Lungern, the Giessbach Falls, the Rosenlaui Glacier gorge, the lakeside towns of Brienz and Interlaken, the historic Ballenberg open-air museum…

Timing:

6 nights: Sunday 1 to Saturday 7 March 2026 / Sunday 14 to Saturday 20 June 2026 / Sunday 6 to Saturday 12 September 2026

Arrival between 15:00 and 18:00 on Sunday, for dinner at 19:00
Departure around 11:00 after breakfast on Saturday

Price:

CHF 1,650 inclusive of workshops, accommodation, meals and tourist tax (at the time of writing, CHF 1,650 are equivalent to approx. US$ 1,950 / Euros 1,760 / GBP 1,480.)
A 25% deposit will be payable upon acceptance of a place on the retreat; and the balance 60 days before the start date

For untutored ad hoc stays:

Contact Valeria with your proposed dates.
Here you enjoy time and space fully for your own writing time.
There could be a maximum of two other writing guests.
A bright double room is put to your single-occupancy use. Every room has a desk.
The library in the apartment includes numerous titles on the craft of writing.
Breakfast and home-cooked lunch and dinner are provided at set times. Tea, coffee and biscuits are freely available to you throughout the day.
Price of a six-day stay: CHF 1,150 (at the time of writing, equivalent to c. GBP 1,025 / Euros 1,235 / US$ 1,295.)

FURTHER INFORMATION and BOOKINGS:

Email Valeria on mvaleriavw@outlook.com
Or contact her by clicking here.

Transportation / How to get there:

Switzerland is a major flights hub. You’ll therefore be able to shop around for surprisingly inexpensive offers, especially if booked with some notice. Tariffs to Basel Mulhouse airport (BSL) are often even cheaper than to Zurich (ZRH). From either airport, you can easily reach the Hasliberg along a scenic route by SBB public transport (famously super-efficient) or by car if you prefer to rent one. Flights to Geneva (GVA) can be less expensive, but it’s more distant from your destination.

Measures against Covid:

Although the world is presently coping well with Covid, it is best to remain cautious. Anyone showing signs of Covid infection should therefore take a test; if confirmed positive to the virus, they should refrain from attending the retreat. Any measures adopted by the Swiss Government and the Canton at the time of the retreat are to be respected.

Retreat in Flüeli-Ranft, Central Switzerland

Valeria will lead retreats at this venue for groups of 7+ attendees

If approached by groups of at least 7 people, Valeria will be happy to organise a writing retreat at the charming Gasthaus Paxmontana. Participants will have their own rooms (each with en-suite WC and shower or bath).

Click on this page for a summary of, and testimonials on, the October 2022 retreat in Flüeli-Ranft.

Built in 1617, the intimate Gasthaus (only 16 rooms) belongs to the nearby Jugendstil-Hotel Paxmontana, an icon of Art Nouveau, listed in the Swiss Historic Hotels directory. A breakfast buffet rich in regional specialities will be provided at the Jugendstil-Hotel. A three-course dinner will be served Sunday to Friday, mostly at the Gasthaus Restaurant, and on some nights in the Veranda Restaurant of the main hotel. A sandwich-lunch will be provided Monday to Friday in either of the two restaurants. Workshops will take place in a dedicated seminar room annexed to the Gasthaus. The retreat fee includes the workshops, accommodation, tourist taxes and the above meals; drinks are excluded and charged individually.

Accommodation is in the historic village of Flüeli-Ranft, famous as the home of Saint Nicholas of Flüe (1417-1487), Switzerland’s patron saint. A mystic, hermit, political councillor and judge, he is celebrated – by the religious and non-religious alike – for preventing a civil war. The pretty village sits in an enchanting peaceful landscape conducive to creativity. It’s easily reached by public transport from Zurich or Basel airports. On the way, you might want to stop over in historic Lucerne, one of Switzerland’s most beautiful cities.

Timing:

6 nights. Next dates at this venue TBD

Arrival between 15:00 and 18:00 on Sunday, for dinner at 19:00

Departure by 11:00 after breakfast on Saturday

Price:

CHF 2,100 inclusive of workshops, accommodation, meals and tourist taxes; exclusive of drinks (at the time of writing, CHF 2,100 are equivalent to approx. US$ 2,490 / Euros 2,240 / GBP 1,880)
A 25% deposit will be payable upon acceptance of a place on the retreat; and the balance 60 days before the start date

If you can’t make these retreats…

… Please email, stating your preferred dates: if at all possible, Valeria will reconcile your request with other applicants’. If you’d like a retreat for a group of friends or for a writing group of which you’re part, she will try to accommodate your time frame.

… And if you live in Switzerland, see here for future workshops. For example, Valeria has run the Rosenburg Writers series of whole-day masterclasses on writing craft for and at the amazing Literaturhaus Zentralschweiz in Stans (NW), just 15 minutes by train from Lucerne. She has also taught for the Geneva Writers’ Group in Bellevue (GE) and at its bi-annual international Writers’ Conference.

switzerland-4-smaller — Ken Howard OBE RA, *Wellhorn and Wetterhorn*, 2016, oil on canvas, private collection

‘Every now and then you find a subject so perfect that were you to stay in that one place for the rest of your life you would find enough to keep you painting for all time.’

Ken Howard OBE RA, from Ken Howard’s Switzerland – In the Footsteps of Turner, Royal Academy of Arts, 2013

Credits:

The Write Life image reproduced with the kind permission of The Write Life‘s Jessica Lawlor and Susan Shain. Photo freely available from Shutterstock.

Wellhorn and Wetterhorn, by Prof. Ken Howard OBE RA, reproduced with his kind permission.

Quote from Ken Howard’s Switzerland – In the Footsteps of Turner, reproduced with Prof. Ken Howard’s kind permission.