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By Eloise Barker
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‘What landscapes have you been immersed in this week?’ asks my watercolour teacher at the start of every session. She’s made me want to seek out scenic views, and to look further afield, too – for bragging rights at my weekly art class, yes, but also for inspiration. It’s a good time of year to book a creative break: spring in Europe, where light and landscapes are a-changing.
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According to GetYourGuide’s 2026 travel trends report, almost a third of travellers now prefer to learn something new, over the time-honoured holiday staple of buying a souvenir. Figs on the Funcho, a small, Algarve-based retreat in Portugal has seen a rise in interest for its art holidays. “Particularly among people looking for holidays that feel more meaningful and restorative,” says co-founder, Cheryl Smith.
Reflecting the growing trend in creative tourism, Responsible Travel saw a 35% increase in bookings for art holidays last year.
Why go on a creative break?
It only takes a moment for art to have a positive impact. A 2025 study from Kings College London, Art Fund and the Psychiatry Research Trust found that looking at an original work of art has immediate stress-busting benefits. A week-long retreat, surrounded by multi-national fellow artists, can be inspirational and affirming. They’re great for sharing tips and techniques and beginners need not shy away.
“One of the most important things we tell guests is not to be intimidated by the words ‘art retreat,’” says Smith. “Many people arrive convinced they are not artistic, yet creativity often reappears very quickly once they slow down and allow themselves to experiment.” A subset of art holidays, art therapy retreats offer a reset in the face of impending burnout; you can also combine art with feel-good yoga or hiking.
Many join solo. “Our art cruise is extremely popular with solo female travellers,” says Julie Dubois Marshall, managing director of St Hilda Sea Adventures, who run a painting cruise in the Scottish Isles for 11 guests.
Best of all, you make your own souvenir: A full-to-bursting sketchpad.
Creating a community around art
Last year saw travellers seeking slow travel to niche destinations. Painting holidays fit the brief – prioritising picturesque settings and quiet communities over packed piazzas. Trips can provide much-welcomed tourism income to rural communities that are suffering the negative effects of depopulation.
“The fact that we were always in small villages, where we were often the only ‘tourists,’ was great,” said a traveller on Responsible Travel’s France watercolour painting holiday. “We were also encouraged to visit the local cafes and shops.”
Cyprus Art Retreat offers painting holidays in the rural village of Agioi Vavatsinias. It doesn’t just want to attract visiting painters, but full-time artists to live in this sparsely populated part of the island. They also display works from refugee artists in their permanent gallery showcasing ‘displaced art’.
Where to go for a creative break in Europe
Channel 20th century masters in France, the country that gave us painting ‘en plein air’. The quality of the light in the south has attracted painters for generations. Channel the Impressionists in Provence or look to the rolling hills of the Gers region in the south west, sometimes dubbed the Tuscany of France, for a week of painting at Palettes de Gascogne.
On the Iberian Peninsula the promise of stable weather makes painting en plein air a pleasure, and you’ll feel well, too – consider an art therapy retreat in Catalonia, while yoga beneath the Algarve’s carob trees at Figs on the Funcho in the Algarve “helps guests slow down and become more present before picking up their brushes”, says Smith.
Look to the region’s mountains for creative photography holidays. The Picos de Europa in northern Spain is close enough to the coast that you can capture crashing waves on camera, too. This can be achieved as part of a trip with Wild Photography Holidays.
Consider Scotland’s Inner and Outer Hebrides: “April is a lovely time to visit because the puffins are back,” says Dubois Marshall. “It feels really fresh, and the weather’s often calm.” St Hilda Sea Adventures’ art cruises involve painting on the aft deck, either underway or at anchor, or ashore where you can set up on the beach, or venture inland. Changeable weather might bring daily rainbows and striking light.
In Greece, paint at Byzantine Churches and Roman ruins, or on the beach in a lesser-visited corner of Crete. “We were among the first to offer art retreats here,” says Dafni Triantafyllou at Active Crete, based in Nopigia on the north coast of western Crete. Guests are also encouraged to try traditional methods. “A highlight is our egg tempera workshop, which offers a unique, hands-on experience with a historic technique,” says Triantafyllou, while you might find inspiration for mosaic making on the biodiverse Pelion Peninsula at an art course at Lagou Raxi Country Hotel.
Eloise Barker is a writer at activist travel company, Responsible Travel
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