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

Avalon: An In-Depth Review for Ayahuasca Retreats near Barcelona and in Ibiza, Spain

Avalon (weareavalon.love, also “Avalon Holistic Ayahuasca Retreats”) is one of Europe’s largest commercial ayahuasca operators. It is run by a Spanish company, LOVE IS THE ANSWER, S.L., founded by Alejandro Carbó, and holds four- and six-day retreats at a four-star boutique hotel near Pals on the Costa Brava, about 90 minutes from Barcelona, plus one-day bufo, mushroom and San Pedro ceremonies in Barcelona and Ibiza. Retreats cost €2,460 to €6,480 for groups of up to 25, led by visiting Indigenous healers from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay with a team of psychologists and “guardians.” Reviews are near-perfect across about 450 ratings on Tripadvisor, Retreat Guru, AyaAdvisors and BookRetreats, and we found no incidents. The concerns are financial and medical: a 75% deposit is taken at booking and never refunded in cash, the balance is paid in cash, no on-site doctor or emergency protocol is documented, the medical advisor’s own bio says the only absolute contraindication is “not wanting to change,” and the operation runs in what its founder calls Spain’s “legal grey zone.” Our earlier profile confused Avalon with a Peruvian center and needs correcting throughout.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: Main retreats at a “4-star boutique hotel” on seven hectares of forest and alfalfa fields in the protected Carmany green belt near Pals (Baix Empordà, Girona), about 1.5 hours from Barcelona, according to Avalon’s website and Retreat Guru page; Avalon does not name the hotel. One-day ceremonies run from a Barcelona base on Carrer de les Ramelleres in the Ciutat Vella, and Ibiza events include a country house in the San Lorenzo forest and a San Pedro day on a catamaran. The founder told Euronews it also works in Portugal; no Portugal dates are listed.
• Approach: Four ayahuasca and four rapé ceremonies on the six-day retreat, led by rotating Indigenous healers, with integration workshops with a psychologist, holotropic breathwork, massage, Access Bars, sound healing, yoga and meditation. Separate one-day ceremonies offer bufo (5-MeO-DMT), psilocybin mushrooms and San Pedro; kambo, hypnotherapy and other therapies are paid extras.
• Suitable For: Travelers who want a polished, comfortable European retreat with airport transfers, a large support team and well-known visiting healers, and who are comfortable in a group of up to 25. Less suited to anyone who needs refundable bookings, an on-site doctor or legal certainty.
• Costs: The six-day retreat runs from €2,996 to €3,240 in a shared twin room up to €5,990 to €6,480 for a king suite for two, and the four-day from €2,460, according to Avalon’s events page; BookRetreats shows US$2,760 to US$7,271. One-day ceremonies cost €229 to €699. Transport from Barcelona airport or city at fixed times is included.
• Overall Assessment: A transparent, professionally run operation with a named company and founder, doctor-led intake screening, psychologist-led integration, near-perfect reviews and no incidents, offset by large groups, a 75% deposit with no cash refunds, cash balances, no documented on-site doctor or emergency protocol, a medical advisor who downplays contraindications, imported medicines and Spain’s fragile legal position. Directory evaluation: B.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

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

The positive picture. Reviewers describe feeling cared for and safe, a team that runs close to one facilitator per guest during ceremonies, strong integration work, live ceremony music, vegan food, the grounds and spa, and smooth organization; one says a group of about 20 still felt manageable.

The negative feedback. No review below four stars appears on any platform. Within five-star reviews, guests mention a broken sauna in October 2026, schedule changes and facility problems they wanted to hear about sooner, too little sleep between the night ceremony and breakfast, and a wish for more context on the healers’ traditions. One Google review shown on AyaAdvisors describes the retreat as healing but difficult and the travel arrangements as disappointing.

Who is writing the reviews. About 450 platform reviews with essentially nothing below four stars is statistically unusual. One AyaAdvisors review was written by an Avalon volunteer, Tripadvisor management replies were all posted in one batch in May 2026, an affiliate blog that works with Avalon uses referral links, and a Retreat Finder interview is marked as offered by Avalon. Google figures range from 4.9 from 144 reviews in mid-2025 to the 5.0 from 200 Avalon now cites, which suggests lower reviews once existed. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms and English and Spanish-language news for reports involving Avalon, LOVE IS THE ANSWER, S.L., Alejandro and Victor Carbó, its medical advisor, its in-house facilitators and its named visiting healers.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and crime: No reports found.
• Legal action: No raids, prosecutions or lawsuits found involving Avalon. Spanish police arrested 18 people in a “neo-shamanic” network in January 2024, including one in Lloret de Mar (Girona) and one in Ibiza, according to the Interior Ministry; Avalon and its people are not named in that case, which is linked to a different organization.

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

🔍 Critical Notes

Your money is hard to get back. Avalon’s terms and conditions require a deposit of “at least 75%” at booking and the balance “in cash in euros” by the start date. Cancel 30 or more days out and the deposit can only be transferred to another event within 12 months; cancel inside 30 days and “the client loses the full deposit”; leaving early earns no refund. Only guests excluded at medical screening, or events Avalon itself cancels, are refunded. BookRetreats’ “free cancellation” label contradicts these terms, so read the operator’s terms before paying.

The legal grey zone. DMT is a controlled substance in Spain, while ayahuasca itself is “not specifically prohibited, but also not specifically authorized,” as ICEERS explains; most Spanish prosecutions have ended in acquittal, but police continue to raid retreats, including in Pedreguer (Alicante) in August 2025 and Sagunto (Valencia) in September 2026. Avalon’s founder told Euronews that Spain’s position is a “legal grey zone” and “inherently fragile.” Avalon’s listings say facilitators “bring their own medicines, usually from South America,” and its terms say services go to members of an associated association, Asociación de Culturas Ancestrales, and that entheogens “are not charged.” Bufo, psilocybin and San Pedro, which Avalon also sells, are additional legal exposures.

Who runs it? The terms name the operator as LOVE IS THE ANSWER, S.L. (tax ID B02810588), registered in Terrassa (Barcelona), trading as weareavalon.love, alongside the association (G19762889) at the Barcelona address. Avalon’s footer dates the brand to 2019; its earliest event page seen is from December 2021. The team page lists 53 people.

Corrections to our earlier profile. Avalon’s retreats are in Spain, near Pals on the Costa Brava, with ceremonies in Barcelona and Ibiza, not near Iquitos in Peru, and the setting is coastal countryside rather than a mountain retreat. Its healers are visiting Huni Kuin, Yawanawá, Kichwa, Kamëntsá, Quechua, Sápara, Muisca, Cofán and Mbyá Guaraní practitioners, not “Don Howard and Don Rober” of the Shipibo tradition, who appear nowhere on its roster. Prices are €2,460 to €6,480, not $1,800 to $3,500. Retreats last four or six days, not seven, and no dietas are offered. Its Retreat Guru rating is 4.98, not 4.8. Avalon’s domain is weareavalon.love, not avalonayahuasca.com. Our earlier profile also cited a Reddit report of a 2023 dehydration case during a dieta; that report remains unverified, and Avalon does not offer dietas. The operator is a company linked to an association, not solely an association, and we found no source for its claim to comply with regional and national authority requirements.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

Guests complete an intake form and “intake and safety screening with the collaboration of a doctor,” plus a one-to-one video call before arrival, according to Avalon’s event pages, and its terms let it cancel with a refund if medical requirements are not met. A Tripaneer listing sets an eight-week SSRI washout, two weeks without recreational drugs, pork and red meat, a week without prescription drugs “unless approved,” and three days without other medication and supplements; Avalon’s own pages publish no list of cardiac, psychiatric or pregnancy exclusions. Its medical advisor, Dr. Mauricio Albanés, a general surgeon based in Madrid, writes in his bio that “the only absolute contraindication is: ‘not wanting to change,'” a position at odds with standard ayahuasca screening. No on-site doctor is documented, though the founder told Euronews doctors and psychologists are “on hand,” and no emergency protocol or nearest hospital is published. Avalon says its ceremony practice follows the ICEERS Academy safety course. The Ibiza San Pedro day takes place on a catamaran at sea and requires prior psychedelic experience and the ability to swim; no onboard medical cover is mentioned. 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. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a retreat without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

Avalon’s ayahuasca is brought by the visiting healers themselves, “usually from South America,” so the brew varies with each tradition, from Huni Kuin and Yawanawá preparations to Colombian yagé. Traditional ayahuasca combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing leaf, as Erowid explains. The six-day retreat includes four ayahuasca and four rapé ceremonies. Avalon also sells one-day bufo (5-MeO-DMT) ceremonies for €359, psilocybin mushroom ceremonies for €299 and a San Pedro sailing day for €699, and offers kambo as an extra. Ask which healer will lead your retreat and what they will serve.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: Mediterranean countryside near Pals on the Costa Brava, with forest and fields, a short drive from the coast.
• Rooms: Shared twins, private rooms and suites in a boutique hotel, with indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, hammocks and a 110 to 160 m² ceremony space.
• Style: A large, polished program: visiting Indigenous healers inside a Western holistic menu of breathwork, ecstatic dance, Access Bars, hypnotherapy and massage, with a 25-person team and chef-made meals within the ayahuasca diet.

Practical guidance: Fly to Barcelona; Avalon’s shuttle collects guests at the airport or in the city at fixed times. Otherwise take the bus to Pals. For Ibiza events, pickup is arranged from the north of the island or Ibiza town.

Should You Book?

Avalon may suit you if you want a comfortable, well-organized European retreat with experienced visiting healers and strong integration, and you accept a large group. The trade-offs: a 75% deposit you will not get back in cash, a cash balance, no documented on-site doctor or emergency protocol, a medical advisor who downplays contraindications, and Spain’s fragile legal position. If you go, get the name of the doctor who will screen you, the medication exclusions, the emergency plan and the cancellation terms in writing, and read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Alejandro Carbó, named as Avalon’s founder by Euronews, describes his background on his profile as two years of NLP training, a Vipassana course, travel in India and study with a movement and nutrition coach; a Retreat Finder interview says he came to plant medicine from Ibiza’s nightlife scene. Victor Carbó is listed as operations manager and lawyer. The team includes psychologists Sandra Borràs, Nicolás Jaramillo and Benjo Podlech, psychotherapist Rebecca Otero and an in-house medicine woman, Ness Dalgà, who says she trained with a Shipibo master and in Putumayo traditions. Visiting healers listed on Avalon’s team page include Tuim Nova Era and Yeke Kaya (Huni Kuin), Taita Isaías Muñoz and Taita José Antonio Jansasoy, Nilton Santi (Quechua), Manari Ushigua (Sápara), Yawanawá elders and the Mbyá Guaraní Karaí Okenda Moreira. We did not independently verify anyone’s credentials.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Complete the intake honestly, disclose every medication and plan any washout with your own doctor, not the retreat. Follow the dietary guidance before and after. After you return: Two online group follow-ups and monthly integration circles are included. 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 weareavalon.love, Retreat Guru, BookRetreats and Tripaneer. Upcoming dates include a six-day retreat from December 28, 2026 to January 2, 2027, a four-day retreat on January 7 to 10, 2027, two April 2027 retreats and an Ibiza San Pedro day on June 19, 2027. Before paying, confirm in writing the deposit and refund terms, the name of the screening doctor, 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.