Settle into your home for the week and meet your fellow travelers over a welcome dinner featuring the flavors of Ikaria.
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Learn the secrets of Ikaria’s longevity cuisine with Diane Kochilas. Cook, taste and connect with local producers in a small-group setting on this unforgettable island.
A Transformative Week on the Greek Blue Zone Island Where People Forget to Die.
“Ikaria is the place where people forget to die, according to the New York Times. I like to say it’s where people remember how to live.” — Diane Kochilas.
Each spring and autumn, I open the doors of my family’s home and garden in Agios Dimitris, my ancestral village on Ikaria, to a small group of guests for a one-of-a-kind weeklong Blue Zone cooking and life retreat. Together we’ll explore the foundations of what makes Greek, Mediterranean and Ikarian food and life so remarkably good for you: hands-on cooking classes, an immersive afternoon with the island’s beekeepers, an understanding of the healing power of plants, milking goats and making cheese from scratch, tasting the everyday flavors of local life, even a little dancing along the way. This is Ikaria — the world-famous island of long life and joy — from the inside, in a small-group setting, exactly as we locals experience it, too…shared with you.
Why This Week Is Transformative
The “Follow-the-Joy” Mentality — Ikarians chase what makes them happy, not what makes sense on paper — and it might be the truest secret of longevity here. Not a diet, not a supplement, just a daily decision to prioritize joy. You’ll watch it in action all week, and go home asking why you ever lived differently.
Forgive, Live and Let Live — Grudges don’t get carried far on this island. It’s in our DNA to release what doesn’t serve us — old arguments, old wounds, the urge to control what was never ours to control. It’s a quieter kind of freedom, and by the end of the week, you’ll feel it too.
Real Food, In Season, and Only What You Need — This is the Mediterranean diet in action, not in theory — whatever’s ripe in the garden that morning becomes lunch. You’ll learn to cook this way wherever you live: local, seasonal, simple, and never more than you actually need. It’s a return to enough, and it’s remarkably freeing.
Experience the real Greece through its food, people and traditions. A thoughtfully curated journey through islands and city, with hands-on cooking. local stories and unforgettable moments.
Never more than 15 guests — long lunches, real conversation, friendships that outlast the week.
I'm with you in the kitchen and at the table — every guest gets my full attention.
Greek philotimo — hospitality, generosity, doing right by others — runs through everything we do here.
Curious, well-traveled guests from every walk of life. Many leave as friends..
Settle into your home for the week and meet your fellow travelers over a welcome dinner featuring the flavors of Ikaria.
An introduction to the island and how its history has shaped the longevity phenomenon there. Then, a hands-on morning cooking class and lunch built around the foods that define Ikarian longevity. Afternoon free, followed by an early-evening excursion to a 13th-century monastery and dinner al fresco.
Start the day milking goats and making cheese from scratch, then move into a cooking class and lunch centered on meze — small plates, big flavors. Afternoon free, with an early-evening naturopathy walk and demo. Dinner locally.
Cook and lunch straight from the garden, mastering fearless phyllo and other Ikarian classics. Afternoon free, then an early-evening deep dive into beekeeping and Ikarian honey, followed by dinner and time to wander the main village nearby.
A cooking class and lunch celebrating Ikaria's coastal and mountain flavors together. Afternoon free, then a sunset sip and wine tasting at a gorgeous local winery. Dinner on your own.
One final cooking class and farewell lunch together — plus a surprise.
Morning departure. Flight and ferry schedules permitting, some guests choose to leave Friday afternoon instead.
Reserve your spot today — spaces are limited!
I’m Diane — half Ikarian, half New Yorker, and utterly Blue Zone in between. I’ve spent more than three decades writing about Greek and Mediterranean food, in 18 books and counting, but this island is where I actually live what I write about. I bring a New Yorker’s drive and an Ikarian’s sense of ease to everything I do, including this retreat. Come see for yourself.
The fastest route is to fly into Athens and to catch a connecting flight to the island.
35 minutes
Olympic/Aegean and Sky Express, fly to Ikaria
Taxi or Mini Bus, approximately 30 - 40 euro per person for a shared taxi, depending on the number of people; a little less for the mini bus, usually more than five people.
1 hour and 15 minutes
We usually house people at the Cavos Bay Hotel in Armenistis.
Dress code is casual and comfortable. Bring layers, as the weather can get chilly at night. Make sure to have one pair of closed walking and/or hiking shoes, long socks, and one pair of long pants, preferably light colored.
It is customary to tip the kitchen staff and hotel personnel, i.e. cleaning person.For kitchen staff, tips are generally pooled and shared and most guests are generous. Taxi drivers are generally not tipped. It is customary to leave a 10% – 15% tip in restaurants.
Our maximum capacity is 17. Most classes are 15 people or less.
Absolutely. We have many single guests and everyone feels at home and very comfortable.
We’ve had lots of young adults and a few children who like to cook accompany their parents. So, yes, kids over 12 are welcome to participate.
Yes, hotel taxes have to be paid by law by each guest. In Ikaria, the cost is 5 euro per night.
Yes, hotel taxes have to be paid by law by each guest. In Ikaria, the cost is 5 euro per night.
Learn the secrets of Ikaria’s longevity cuisine with me. Cook, taste and connect with local producers in a small-group setting on this unforgettable island.
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