When considering an ayahuasca retreat in Peru, one of the first questions that comes to mind is: “How much does an ayahuasca retreat cost?”
The price range for ayahuasca retreats in Peru can vary significantly, typically ranging from $500 to $4,500, depending on many factors, including the duration, location, quality of facilities, number of ayahuasca ceremonies, amount of healers/staff, their level of experience, and the level of support offered.
Let’s break down what influences these ayahuasca retreat costs and what you can expect at different price points.
Entry-Level Ayahuasca Retreat Costs ($500-$1,500)
These more affordable ayahuasca retreats in Peru often provide:
- Shorter duration (typically 3-7 days)
- 2-3 ayahuasca ceremonies
- Basic facilities (low-quality buildings, shared rooms, limited space, etc.)
- Higher guest-to-healer ratios (fewer healers attending to more participants)
- Limited support staff (facilitators, integration experts, and general staff)
- Minimal additional activities or therapies
- Simpler meals following the ayahuasca dieta
- No post-retreat integration or support available
- Less experience (these retreats are often newer offerings from start-up centers)
These retreats are suitable for those with budget constraints. The lower price typically reflects fewer healers and support staff per participant, which means less individualized attention during ceremonies and integration periods. The healing process might feel more condensed or rushed, with fewer days for integration between ceremonies.
Traditional ayahuasca healing (through ikaros) requires more time and ceremonies – at least five ceremonies over a week. Carrying out deep healing with two or three ceremonies is impossible.
Mid-Range Ayahuasca Retreat Costs ($1,500-$3,000)
Mid-range ayahuasca retreats typically offer:
- Medium duration (7-10 days)
- 3-5 ayahuasca ceremonies
- More comfortable accommodations (private rooms may be available)
- Higher healer-to-participant ratios (more personalized attention)
- More support staff (dedicated integration facilitators, translators, more general staff)
- Additional plant medicines or treatments (which we do not recommend at all to work with different psychedelic plant medicines at the same time as working with ayahuasca!)
- Better food options and dietary considerations
These retreats provide a better balance between cost and comprehensive care, offering more time between ceremonies for processing.
Authentic/Safety-First Ayahuasca Retreat Costs ($3,000-$4,500+)
These premium ayahuasca retreats in Peru provide:
- Longer duration (12-14 days or more)
- 6-8 ayahuasca ceremonies
- Sometimes, higher healer-to-participant ratios (providing a significant focus on each participant’s healing process)
- High facilitator-to-participant ratios (more attention, care, and guidance throughout the healing process)
- Comprehensive staff (cooks, cleaners, grounds-keepers, maintenance, ceremony support staff, etc.)
- Experienced integration guides to support during and after retreat
- Comprehensive medical screening
- Private, high-quality, comfortable accommodations
- Extensive and well-cared-for grounds and medicinal gardens
- Additional activities (yoga, nature walks, arts and craft markets)
- Extensive preparation and integration programs
- Personalized healing plans with individualized plant treatments, baths, massages, etc
- Specially prepared meals following strict dietary guidelines
- Commitment to reciprocity through community initiatives, permaculture, reforestation, etc
These retreats prioritize safety, authenticity, and individualized care. The higher price usually reflects a more comprehensive support system, a longer duration allowing for deeper work, and the expertise and experience of the entire healing and facilitation team.
Every aspect of the experience is carefully managed to create optimal conditions for healing, with a strong emphasis on experienced care, guidance, and support throughout the journey. The higher-priced retreats also often offer integration support after you attend a retreat.
Sometimes, higher prices are not due to the above factors but to providing luxurious facilities, modern comforts (wifi, swimming pools, air conditioning, etc), and a ‘resort’ experience.
Many authentic healers of the Amazon are opposed to these commercially driven, often extractive offerings that do not provide a genuine immersion into tradition or nature.
What’s Included in Ayahuasca Retreat Costs?
When evaluating ayahuasca retreat costs, it’s essential to understand what’s included in the price and what factors influence the cost:
Key Ayahuasca Retreat Cost Factors
1. Duration
- Short retreats (3-5 days): Lower cost but less time for integration
- Medium retreats (7-10 days): More ceremonies with integration time
- Extended retreats (12+ days): Deep immersion with comprehensive support
2. Healing Team and Support Staff
- Healer-to-participant ratio: More healers per participant means deeper healing work and more personalized attention during ceremonies and throughout the retreat
- Healer experience: Renowned, experienced, advanced-level healers are very rare, especially since the ayahuasca scene has become commercialized. They also typically charge much higher fees
- Facilitation experience: High-quality facilitators with years or decades of personal experience with ayahuasca are also uncommon. They provide essential guidance and safety through the healing process rooted in personal experience. Expert facilitators can also charge higher fees
- Support staff: Quality retreat centers have many unsung ‘angels’ working behind the scenes to ensure smooth operations, care for all guest’s needs, and ensure the facilities are safe and clean
- Staff availability: 24/7 support vs. limited hours
- Translators: Quality of translation (and interpretation) during ceremonies and integration sessions
3. Facilitation Approach
- Personal experience: This is the most crucial factor in providing high-level facilitation. Quality facilitators are fundamentally trained through their own long-term healing processes that unfold over years/decades. This enables them to guide others from authentic, direct, felt, lived experiences, not concepts.
- Plant spirit dietas and training: Masterful facilitators commit to plant spirit dietas over the long term. In genuine Amazonian healing practice, all guidance comes from the plant spirits. Advanced facilitators are often (and typically should be) apprentices of Amazonian healers. ‘Psychedelic-assisted training programs’ in the West cannot and do not offer this depth and specificity of training to work safely and responsibly with ayahuasca.
- Integration methodology: Structured integration protocols (combining the integration facilitators’ personal healing experience and Western therapeutic training vs. basic sharing circles led with little experience)
- Additional modalities: Some facilitators are also trained in complementary modalities that support their Amazonian training, such as progressive therapeutic modalities, somatic work, and eastern practices such as yoga, meditation, etc
4. Facilities and Accommodations
- Basic: Shared rooms, outdoor bathrooms
- Standard: Private rooms, basic amenities
- Comfortable: Private rooms with ensuite toilets and showers
- Meals: Basic meals from untrained cooks to more tasty, organic offerings from trained cooks – both aligning with the food restrictions required to work with ayahuasca
5. Additional Services
- Pre-retreat consultation: Medical screening, preparation guidance
- Additional plant medicines: Plant baths, vapor baths, individualized plant remedies, and energy massages
- Integration support: One-on-one sessions, group circles, post-retreat follow-up, guidance and support. Sometimes, post-retreat community offerings enabling participants to continue connecting and sharing the journey of integration
- Complementary therapies: Yoga, meditation, breathwork
- Excursions: Jungle walks, short permaculture courses, waterfall visits, community interactions, arts and crafts market
How to Choose the Right Retreat for Yourself
When comparing ayahuasca retreat costs, consider what factors contribute to the price:
- Healer-to-participant ratio: More healers per participant means more individualized attention during ceremonies but higher costs
- Healers experience and lineage: Highly experienced, authentic healers from genuine healing lineages often charge higher fees.
- Staff expertise: Experienced facilitators and integration experts provide crucial support throughout the healing process and post-retreat
- Safety protocols: Medical screening, on-site support, security staff, and emergency procedures add to costs
- Ceremony environment: Dedicated maloca (ceremonial space) vs. converted spaces. Size of the maloca and having adequate space in between participants during the ceremony
- Duration between ceremonies: More processing and integration time requires longer retreats. A key to successful plant spirit healing is having quiet time and space immersed in nature to listen and deeply connect with the process
- Retreat center infrastructure: Remote locations with developed infrastructure cost significantly more to maintain
- Food quality: Specially prepared, organic meals following strict dieta guidelines
Prioritize Safety and Authenticity
Regardless of budget, never compromise on:
- Experienced, legitimate, highly trained Indigenous healers (there are many commercial, inexperienced, and inauthentic healers now found throughout the ayahuasca scene)
- Experienced retreat staff with years/decades of training
- Medical screening processes
- Safety protocols during ceremonies
- Clean, well-maintained facilities
Ask the Right Questions During Booking
When researching retreats, inquire about:
- What is the healer/s experience and lineage?
- What is the ratio of healers to participants during ceremonies?
- What is the experience of the facilitator/s and owners of the center?
- Do the center’s facilitators and owner/s carry out plant spirit dietas, and with who?
- Do the center’s facilitators and owner/s have a long-term relationship with the healers?
- Are integration staff available after the retreat?
- What medical screening is conducted?
- What safety protocols are in place?
- What integration support is provided?
- What is the daily schedule between ceremonies?
- What modalities do the facilitators use for integration?
- Are there additional costs not included in the price?
Popular Retreat Locations in Peru
Iquitos Region
Located in the Loreto region, Iquitos has been well-known over the last few decades as the gateway to the Amazon. It is surrounded for thousands of miles by protected rainforest.
Iquitos retreats offer authentic Amazonian rainforest experiences.
Pucallpa Region
Pucallpa is the capital city of the Ucayali region, the homeland of the Shipibo people.
Sadly, much of this region has been devastated by deforestation over the last few decades.
Sacred Valley
Located in the Andes mountain range with famous tourist destinations such as the city of Cusco and ancient sites such as Machu Picchu.
These retreats typically feature more comfortable facilities and easier access to tourist destinations. However, ayahuasca does not grow in the mountains, and the Indigenous lineages of the mountains do not work with ayahuasca.
The primary psychedelic medicine of this region is the cactus, huachuma (San Pedro).
Understanding the Value Behind the Price
While shorter retreats (3-5 days) are more affordable, longer stays offer:
- Deeper, longer-lasting, and often more genuine healing processes
- More time between ceremonies for processing and integration
- Stronger connections with facilitators and participants
- Better value per ceremony
- Significantly more comprehensive healing journey
Evaluate Your Personal Needs Honestly
Consider:
- Your physical health requirements
- Mental health support needs
- Previous psychedelic experience
- Personal healing goals
- Comfort requirements
- Time availability
- Level of support needed during challenging experiences
Understanding the Investment in Your Healing Journey
Ayahuasca retreat costs in Peru represent a life-long investment in your personal growth and healing. The price differences primarily reflect variations in expertise and experience, duration, level of support, healer-to-participant ratios, and facility quality.
While a 3-day retreat at $700 might seem more affordable than a 12-day retreat at $4,000+, the per-day cost is often comparable; what differs significantly is the authenticity and depth of the healing and the subsequent long-term and lasting transformation of your life after the retreat.
When choosing an ayahuasca retreat, consider what level of support you need during this potentially challenging journey. Those new to ayahuasca healing might benefit from the comprehensive experience of a high-quality, well-established retreat center working with a strong team of experienced healers and facilitators. These experts create a container of safety, responsibility, and guidance that can be invaluable during profound healing experiences.
Remember that the healing process with ayahuasca is profound and can be difficult. The support systems in place—from the number of healers present to the expertise of integration facilitators—directly impact the safety, effectiveness, and long-term positive impact of your experience.
By understanding what drives ayahuasca retreat costs, you can make an informed decision that fits your needs and the investment you choose to make in yourself.
