Aerial retreats: silks, lyra & trapeze camps around the world

Aerial arts retreats combine intensive training with travel and community. Whether you train silks, lyra, trapeze, straps, or sling, there are retreats around the globe designed for aerialists who want more than weekly studio classes. From beachside circus gyms in Mexico to countryside farms in England, the scene is more diverse and accessible than ever.

If you come from the pole world, aerial retreats might feel like a separate universe. In reality, there's enormous crossover — many retreats welcome pole dancers expanding their skills alongside dedicated aerialists. This guide covers dedicated aerial retreats, multi-apparatus camps, and pole retreats with significant aerial programming.

What aerial retreats offer

Immersive training time

Most aerial retreats offer four to six hours of daily training over multiple days — the equivalent of weeks of regular classes compressed into one intensive block. This concentrated approach creates breakthroughs that incremental weekly sessions rarely produce. Your body adapts faster with consistent daily training, and the dedicated focus lets you push through long-standing plateaus.

Specialized instruction

Retreats bring in specialists who dedicate their lives to specific apparatus. Instead of a generalist instructor, you might train corde lisse with a dedicated rope specialist, dance trapeze with a performer who has twenty years of experience, or lyra with someone who has developed their own vocabulary of shapes and transitions. This depth of expertise can transform your understanding of an apparatus.

Community and setting

Retreats break the isolation of solo studio training. You'll train alongside aerialists from different countries and experience levels, share meals, and form friendships with people who understand your passion. And the setting matters — training silks overlooking the Pacific or performing trapeze with mountains as your backdrop shifts something in your creative brain that a warehouse studio never will.

Dedicated aerial retreats

Sweet Retreats Mexico: The aerial arts hub

Sweet Retreats Mexico in Puerto Escondido is the defining name in dedicated aerial retreats. Run from an eco-chic resort with an open-air circus gym, they offer an extraordinary range of apparatus-specific programs year-round.

Their Beginning/Intermediate Aerial Retreat with Kerri Kresinski features two daily classes across silks, sling, and hoop — mornings for technique, afternoons for creativity with music. The all-inclusive setting with farm-to-table meals, pool, and an aerial photoshoot makes it as much vacation as training camp.

Specialized retreats go deep: String Equinox: Rope Renewal with corde lisse specialist PJ Perry; Harmonic Motion covering static and dance trapeze with Argentinian aerial artist Nico Stocco; Lyra Vida exploring standard and mini lyra with KC Hyland and Cola Claret; Fly High combining flying pole and lyra with Elke Bucher; and Straps: Skills & Storytelling for dedicated straps instruction. Their All Levels Aerial Tool Kit covers silks, sling, straps, and bar apparatus with active flexibility and aerial creativity sessions.

Cirque de Silk: Devon countryside

Cirque de Silk runs mixed-ability aerial retreats at a Devon countryside farm in England. Six hours of workshops covering silks, rope, hoop, and doubles are complemented by yoga, a professional photoshoot, vegetarian meals, hot tub, and heated pool. Rolling green hills and stone farmhouses make the atmosphere intimate and distinctly different from tropical retreats.

Paper Doll Militia: Dance trapeze in Crete

Paper Doll Militia runs aerial retreats in Crete, Greece, combining dance trapeze with creative expression through the Vertical Theatre Method. Led by Sarah Bebe Holmes and Jenn Bruyer, these are designed for intermediate to advanced aerialists with at least two years of consistent training. The emphasis on artistry over pure skill acquisition sets them apart — aerial as performance art, not just athletics.

Aerial Academy: Portugal

The Aerial Academy runs an eight-day aerial yoga retreat in Lagos, Portugal, at a purpose-built center with twenty-seven-foot ceilings and over thirteen aerial points. The program covers aerial yoga, hammock, lyra, trapeze, straps, and silks, plus a private sailing excursion and all meals. The Algarve coast provides the warmth of a beach holiday alongside serious training infrastructure.

Aerial Cirque: Tenerife

Aerial Cirque runs a four-day aerial silks retreat on Tenerife — four hours of daily training for improvers through advanced, plus a beach club day and six nights of accommodation. Great for European aerialists seeking sunshine without a long-haul flight.

Colorado Aerial Arts Summit

The Colorado Aerial Arts Summit in Boulder is a three-day event hosted by Aircat Aerial Arts. Workshops span silks, lyra, sling, straps, dance trapeze, aerial cube, duo apparatus, and rigging, plus a Friday showcase. With a dozen specialist instructors, it's one of the most comprehensive aerial events in North America — structured more as a convention than a destination retreat, but packed with high-quality instruction.

Pole camps with significant aerial programming

Many pole retreats now include aerial apparatus, creating hybrid experiences for those who train both — or want to start.

Veri Coco: Pole and aerial retreats

Veri Coco blends pole and aerial across European locations. Their Chalet Snow Pole Camp in the French Alps pairs pole workshops with pole silks and yoga. Their Vacation in Corfu, Greece features pole, aerial hoop, pole silks, and aerial playground sessions. Participants explore aerial apparatus alongside pole without having to choose.

Winter Pole Camp: Aerial & Chill

The Winter Pole Camp in the Polish mountains is a five-day retreat with workshops spanning pole dance, exotic, pole streetstyle, aerial silk, aerial hoop, salsa, acrobatics, stretching, and handstands. The mountain resort includes sauna, hot tub, and optional winter sports — aerial woven into a broader movement curriculum.

Pole Camp Deutschland: Easter Aerial Edition

Pole Camp Deutschland runs their Easter Pole & Aerial Camp in Bodenmais in the Bavarian Forest. The four-day retreat uses a hundred-square-meter barn with poles and aerial hoops, a sixty-square-meter studio, and a panoramic Nature House with fixed poles. Participants customize their schedule across pole, aerial hoop, mobility, and dance from beginner to advanced.

PolePassion international camps

PolePassion and RPole Fitness run international camps with serious aerial programming. Their Budapest camp offers over twenty hours of workshops across pole, aerial hoop, silks, strength, flexibility, conditioning, and choreography, plus evening social events, photoshoots, and city exploration.

Pole Vibes Budapest: Sri Lanka and Dubai

Pole Vibes Budapest blends aerial with travel. Their Sri Lanka Yoga & Aerial Retreat features morning yoga, sunset aerial hoop, and mindful strength classes in a private villa with ocean views. Their Dubai & Abu Dhabi Pole Camp combines pole and aerial hoop with yacht experiences, cultural tours, and city exploration.

Aerial competitions

The aerial competitive scene is growing. IPSF championships include Aerial Hoop, Aerial Silks, and Flying Pole alongside pole sport. The POSA World Aerial Art Championship is a dedicated aerial competition. Sparkle in Como, Italy covers Aerial Hoop and Aerial Tissue. The Silkdance Aerial Competition in Hungary features aerial silk, hoop, and pole. German nationals include Aerial Hoop, Aerial Silks, Flying Pole, and Ultra Pole. For artistic-focused aerialists, Soul on Pole in Italy and the UK Aerial Performance Championship welcome aerial performances with emphasis on expression over sport.

Choosing the right retreat

Apparatus focus

Dedicated retreats like Sweet Retreats' rope week or Paper Doll Militia's dance trapeze offer unparalleled depth on one apparatus. Multi-apparatus events like the Colorado Aerial Arts Summit let you sample broadly. Specialists benefit from focused retreats; those earlier in their journey often prefer multi-apparatus exposure.

Level requirements

Sweet Retreats offers beginning and intermediate programs. Paper Doll Militia requires two years of training. Cirque de Silk welcomes mixed abilities. Check requirements carefully — attending above your ability is frustrating and unsafe, while below your level leaves you under-challenged.

Setting, season, and duration

Tropical settings are magical but heat and humidity affect grip and stamina. Indoor facilities eliminate weather variables but lose the atmosphere. Retreats range from weekend intensives to ten-day immersions — longer programs build in rest days and cultural excursions, while shorter ones pack more in but demand more from your body.

The pole-to-aerial crossover

Pole dancers bring huge advantages to aerial: developed grip strength, body tension awareness, comfort being inverted, and above-average core strength. These transfer directly to silks, lyra, and other apparatus. The biggest adjustment is grip — aerial uses fabric or differently shaped metal rather than a pole's smooth vertical surface. Your hands will need to adapt, and the movement vocabulary of wraps, locks, and fabric manipulation is entirely new.

For crossover, aerial hoop is often the easiest transition — a rigid metal apparatus requiring similar grip and body awareness. Flying pole combines pole technique with swinging dynamics. Silks and sling offer the most different experience but open up an entirely new movement vocabulary. A multi-apparatus retreat is a great first step if you're unsure.

Practical tips

Condition your skin before your retreat — silks can cause fabric burn on unprepared skin. Bring arnica cream, tape for hot spots, and long-sleeved tops for silks training. Pack hand care essentials: callus shaver, moisturizer (nighttime only), athletic tape, and apparatus-appropriate grip aids. For recovery, bring a foam roller or massage ball and anti-inflammatory cream. Hydrate constantly, especially in tropical settings, and bring your own snacks for between sessions.

The aerial retreat scene is growing fast — new destinations, more apparatus options, increasingly level-specific programming. The integration of aerial into pole retreats is accelerating too, as both communities recognize the benefits of cross-training. Whether you're a dedicated aerialist, a pole dancer curious about aerial, or someone new to it all, there's a retreat out there for you.