How creating art on holiday could help with anxiety, stress and burnout

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Germany’s Buchinger Wilhelmi spa resort, a haven of wellness on the country’s Lake Constance, has launched four annual Art Week retreats, with autumn’s falling 9-16 October and a winter break scheduled for December. Meanwhile, lavish Marrakech hotel Royal Mansour has opened a dedicated “Atelier d’Artiste” studio in a lush greenhouse, where guests can book in for art therapy sessions, including pottery, photography, calligraphy, land art and embroidery, led by art therapists. Art is a beautiful and powerful tool to help express things that you cannot rationalise Penelope Orfanoudaki “Art is a beautiful and powerful tool to help express things that you cannot rationalise,” says Penelope Orfanoudaki, who runs Artful Retreats with her business partner, Romny Vandoros, in Crete. “Being in a group, you then get that lovely synergy of what other people observe.” She says it’s a myth that you have to have some established art skills in order to get something out of an art therapy retreat.