respite

Monasteries Offer Relaxing Retreats

Monasteries have long been known as places to find a spiritual, relaxing escape from the workaday world, but they did so in spare accommodations, just as the monks lived without any luxuries. Recently, however, many monasteries have been renovated into hotels, hotels that are growing in popularity as people look for places to escape to that are relaxing and far removed from the crowds of many other resorts. The renovations are introducing luxury accommodations to what have traditionally been places designed to comfort the spirit, not the body. Are the monasteries still able to offer a spiritual retreat? This month's Travel+Leisure checked out some of Europe's renovated and converted monasteries to find out.