Atmosphere

Features

Atmosphere and feature ratings above are based on Best Retreats research (October 2026). They will be updated if Amorawa submits its own information.

Amorawa: An In-Depth Review for Retreats near Málaga, Spain

Amorawa describes itself as “a consciousness project.” It is a small Spanish team that runs 4-day ayahuasca retreats at rented rural houses in Andalusia and Catalonia, most often a farmhouse near Tolox in Málaga’s Sierra de las Nieves, plus an 11-day yagé trip to Putumayo, Colombia. Alongside ayahuasca it serves rapé, ambil, mambe, cacao and San Pedro, and offers kambo and Bufo (toad secretion) at extra cost. Prices are low for Europe, from €540, and its few reviews are warm: 4.86 from 7 on Retreat Guru and 4.63 from 4 on BookRetreats. We found no incidents. The concerns are the lack of medical staff, groups of up to 18, the Bufo add-on, no indigenous healer leading the Spanish retreats, and a legal climate in which Spanish police have raided retreat operators with a very similar model. Our earlier profile treated it as a single Málaga center and needs correcting on team, medicines and prices.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: A farmhouse between Alozaina and Tolox in the Sierra de las Nieves, about an hour from Málaga airport, according to its BookRetreats listing. Other retreats run at rural houses in Cártama (Málaga), Puente Genil (Córdoba) and Gaià (Barcelona), and in Mocoa, Putumayo, Colombia. One platform says the organizer is based in Jaén.
• Approach: A Spanish facilitation team blending ayahuasca ceremonies with rapé, yoga, biodance, integration workshops and music, according to its Retreat Guru page. No indigenous healer is named for the Spanish retreats; the Colombia trip is led by Taita Manuel Díaz.
• Suitable For: People in Europe looking for an affordable long weekend with a warm, music-centered team, who are comfortable sharing a room in a group of up to 18. Less suited to anyone who needs medical staff on site, an indigenous-led ceremony or a small group.
• Costs: From €540 on Retreat Guru; US$830 shared or US$1,010 private at Tolox on BookRetreats; about US$964 for the New Year retreat in Córdoba; €785 for the Barcelona retreat. Kambo, Bufo and airport transfers (about €80 to US$90) cost extra. Our earlier profile’s “around $1,200” is out of date.
• Overall Assessment: An active, affordable and warmly reviewed small organizer with a doctor involved in intake, offset by no medical staff during retreats, large groups, Bufo offered as an add-on, no published medication policy or emergency plan, very few reviews and real legal risk in Spain. Directory evaluation: B.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

Here is how Amorawa rates across review platforms in October 2026:

The positive picture. Retreat Guru reviewers praise warm, skilled facilitators, the live music, the mountain setting, the food and the integration work, and one describes a facilitator staying with a guest through a hard night. The one BookRetreats review with text praises the team, the music, the nature and the value.

The negative feedback. One Retreat Guru reviewer asked for bottled water, saying tap water was given during purging. Another describes the ceremonies as intense and physically demanding. A BookRetreats reviewer noted “there wasn’t any yoga,” although the retreat was advertised with yoga.

Who is writing the reviews. Eleven reviews across two platforms is a very small sample, and three of the four BookRetreats reviews carry no text. The reviews are spread across March 2025 to May 2026 with no sign of a burst, and we found no review incentives. The platform listings contain errors: Retreat Guru says the retreat “takes place in Seville” and lists spa, sauna and fitness amenities that do not fit a rural farmhouse, and BookRetreats gives the airport distance as both a minute and an hour. Our earlier profile showed a Retreat Guru rating of 4.4, now outdated. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms, Spanish and English-language news, Spanish police and government releases, and legal sources for reports involving Amorawa, its facilitators and its venue towns.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and crime: No reports found.
• Legal action: None found involving Amorawa. None of the Spanish raids described below names Amorawa or its venues.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident at Amorawa, please report it confidentially.

🔍 Critical Notes

The legal position. Spain does not list ayahuasca as a controlled substance, though DMT is scheduled under the UN’s 1971 convention. In July 2025 a Madrid high court acquitted a defendant and ruled that “ayahuasca under that name is not a controlled substance in Spain,” and defense lawyers cite more than 30 acquittals, as The Local reported. Organizers have still been arrested. In August 2025 the Guardia Civil dismantled a retreat operation in Pedreguer, Alicante, with three arrests for drug trafficking, money laundering and criminal organization, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry; in January 2024 police arrested 18 people in a network offering ayahuasca, Bufo and kambo, as OCCRP reported; and in April 2023 two people were arrested at a ceremony in Sant Pol de Mar where Bufo, kambo and mescaline were seized, according to Spain’s tax agency. Those operations ran multi-day paid packages for groups of up to 20 with San Pedro, kambo and Bufo, much like Amorawa’s. That is context, not an allegation against Amorawa, but guests should understand the risk. See our country-by-country legal guide.

Bufo as an add-on. Retreat Guru event pages offer kambo and Bufo “at an additional cost.” Bufo, the secretion of the Sonoran Desert toad, contains 5-MeO-DMT, an extremely potent short-acting psychedelic, and has appeared among the substances seized in Spanish raids. We found no published screening or supervision protocol for it. Ask who administers it, how it is dosed and what happens if a guest reacts badly.

Large groups, rotating venues. Retreats take up to 18 guests (8 to 17 on one listing), mostly in shared quad rooms, and move between rented houses in four provinces. Confirm the exact venue, group size and room arrangement before you book.

Corrections to our earlier profile. Amorawa is a roving organizer, not a single Málaga center. We found no source for sananga, which our earlier profile listed; the medicines are ayahuasca, rapé, ambil, mambe, cacao and San Pedro, with kambo and Bufo extra. The team members we could confirm are Carlos, Vanessa and Desirée, with Adrián and Aurora at some venues; we found no source for “Sana” or “Pachamagda.” The background in “neuropathy” appears in Desirée’s bio, not Carlos’s, and is probably a mistranslation of naturopathy. We found no source for our earlier claim of first aid training. The 55% figure for participants facing transient challenges was general research, not specific to Amorawa.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

Amorawa says intake and safety screening happen “with the collaboration of a doctor,” followed by a one-to-one interview before the retreat, according to its Tripaneer listing. Its diet guide covers foods rich in tyramine and tryptophan and tells guests to consult a healthcare professional before stopping any prescription medication. For the Colombia trip it lists heart disease, high blood pressure, psychiatric disorders, pregnancy, breastfeeding, MAOIs and “certain medications” as contraindications. What is missing: no contraindication list or SSRI policy is published for the Spanish retreats, no medical staff are present during retreats, and no emergency protocol or nearest hospital is published. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes combinations with SSRIs and other serotonergic medications contraindicated, and that ayahuasca is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Erowid warns of extreme, possibly fatal reactions with some prescription drugs. Combining 5-MeO-DMT with an MAOI brew carries its own serious risks. Ask which medications are excluded, how long a washout is required and who responds to a medical emergency. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a retreat without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

Amorawa does not publish its ayahuasca recipe or where the brew comes from. Traditional ayahuasca combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing leaf such as chacruna, as Erowid explains. A standard 4-day retreat includes three ayahuasca ceremonies at 10 PM, three rapé sessions, and ambil and mambe (Amazonian tobacco paste and powdered coca). The New Year retreat adds San Pedro (huachuma), a mescaline-containing cactus, and cacao, and kambo and Bufo are paid add-ons. The Colombia trip uses yagé with an indigenous taita, plus kambo and herbal purges. We found no master plant dietas. Ask exactly what is in each cup and how doses are set.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Tolox (Málaga): A farmhouse in the Sierra de las Nieves with a wooden ceremony room, a pool and shared quad rooms with single beds, plus an optional private en-suite room, about an hour from Málaga airport.
• Other venues: A rural house in Cártama about 40 minutes from Málaga airport; Cortijo San José, a 200-year-old farmhouse with olive groves near Puente Genil, Córdoba; and a house in Gaià, Barcelona.
• Style: Modern and music-centered. Expect live music, yoga, biodance, family constellations, sound journeys, cacao circles and daily integration circles around the ceremonies, with vegetarian or vegan food. Facilitation is in English and Spanish.

Practical guidance: For Tolox, fly into Málaga (AGP); transfers cost about €80 to US$90, less if shared. For Córdoba, the hosts arrange a shared taxi at €40 to €50 per person. Retreats run Thursday at 5 PM to Sunday at 3 PM.

Should You Book?

Amorawa may suit you if you want an affordable, warm and musical long weekend in rural Spain with a team that guests like, and you are comfortable with a group of up to 18 and shared rooms. The trade-offs: no medical staff during retreats, no published medication policy or emergency plan, Bufo offered as an add-on, very few reviews, rotating venues, and a Spanish legal climate in which similar operators have been raided. If you go, get the venue, group size, medication exclusions, emergency arrangements and cancellation terms in writing, think carefully before adding Bufo or kambo, and read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Carlos, the lead facilitator and contact person, is described as having studied Zen Buddhism and Eastern philosophy from adolescence before following a “shamanic path” with master plants. Vanessa, a former environmental NGO worker, is a medicine facilitator and yoga and meditation teacher; her listings give her start with the medicines as 2015 in one place and 2016 in another. Desirée is a singer and holistic therapist working with phytotherapy, aromatherapy and flower remedies. Adrián, an artist and singer, and Aurora, a French singer and holistic therapist, lead some retreats. In Colombia, the program lists Taita Manuel Mecías Díaz Cuaces, an indigenous traditional doctor from Putumayo, and a physician, Dr. Sebastián Castillo, whose role is not stated. The website dates from April 2023, and the earliest review we found is from March 2025. No legal entity is published. We did not independently verify anyone’s credentials.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Complete the intake fully, list every medication and supplement, and talk with your own doctor well before the retreat. Follow the diet guide, avoiding foods rich in tyramine and tryptophan. After you return: Amorawa offers post-retreat integration and individual support. Arrange support from a qualified therapist at home as well. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.

Pros & Cons

Book Your Ceremony

Bookings are made through amorawa.net, its Retreat Guru-hosted booking pages, BookRetreats and Tripaneer. Upcoming retreats are listed for November 26 to 29 and December 10 to 13, 2026, from €540, with a New Year retreat near Puente Genil and Tolox dates into 2027. Refund terms vary by listing: at Tolox the deposit is fully refundable 30 or more days out and not refundable inside 14 days. Before paying, confirm in writing the venue, group size, which medicines will be served, the medication exclusions and the emergency arrangements. Best Retreats does not take bookings; learn more about our mission.

Last reviewed October 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult a qualified medical professional.