Save on Travel with Monastery and Convent Stays

Welcome to Second Act Travels, the podcast for curious midlife explorers ready to

trade.

Crowded summers for smart, meaningful, off season adventures.

If you're over 50 and dreaming of.

Meaningful travel that fits your freedom and.

Your budget, you're in the right place.

I'm Elizabeth and each week I'll bring you tips, stories and inspiration to help you

travel deeper, go further and embrace.

Your second act with confidence.

Well, welcome back.

Today's topic is monastery and abbey stays.

I thought that was very interesting and I hope

you'll learn something from it.

One of the areas in which I try to save money is on accommodations.

For me,

accommodation doesn't have to be fancy.

I'm there to visit a destination.

That's the way I look at it.

And I think about my hotel room,

the place where I'm staying as my bedroom and outside of the bedroom is the place I'm

visiting.

So I don't need a whole lot beyond clean,

safe and well located.

Other than that, I really don't care.

I don't need a chocolate on my pillow every

night.

It doesn't matter if I have a really tiny room.

It doesn't matter if I have an elevator or if I have breakfast included.

All I want is a clean,

safe and well located space to put my head at night.

Well, let's talk about why monasteries and convents are even options in the first place.

I mean, the fact is, is that monasteries and convents have lost members as fewer and fewer

people are going into religious vocations.

So these places need to be able to exist by earning some money because there aren't as

many people becoming nuns or becoming monks to help bring in income for the community.

They are open to everyone of all faiths, all backgrounds.

For me, it's the ultimate experience in shopping local.

Many rooms have been refurbished, they've been upgraded, they've been made en suite, so there

is a bathroom with private bathroom within your room and they are ready to accept

visitors.

The other piece is that without doing these conversions, without monasteries and abbeys

opening up to the public and trying to generate some income,

a lot of them would close and who knows what would happen?

Maybe a hotel chain would buy them up, maybe the building would be demolished or turned

into condominiums or something like that.

So for me, stay in a monastery or an abbey is absolutely about supporting a local community.

And whenever I tell someone that I'm staying in a convent,

they look at me a little strangely and then they say, well, what are they like?

So what are monastery and convent accommodations like?

First of all, do know that many places have been updated and refurbished.

Sometimes they are working monasteries or convents, but other times the whole building

might have just been turned over to accommodations for the public.

These places are not hotels per se and they're usually not offering a lot of luxuries.

So if you want chocolates on your pillow at night,

probably a monastery or a convent is not the place for you.

And if you need the plush chairs and the really comfy couches or something in your

room,

this is not the place for you.

Generally the rooms are pretty minimally

furnished.

They're comfortable, but they're minimally

furnished.

These rooms are clean and safe and economical.

So far below hotel rates usually.

But now for the sake of convenience, I'm going to refer to monasteries as inclusive of

monasteries,

convents and abbeys.

So I'm just going to use the one term,

monastery stays.

That includes convents and abbeys as well, and

also religious colleges.

So I'm just going to use that one term.

So the pros, very economical room prices, definitely far lower prices than staying in a

hotel.

Often find within a convent in the city a garden or an enclosed area,

maybe even a chapel.

So they're almost like oases in the middle of a busy city.

They can be really peaceful.

The last one I stayed in had, you know,

several areas where you could just sit and read a book or write in your travel journal or

something like that.

So those are some.

Now, of course, there are cons to everything for monasteries.

These rooms tend to book up,

so book your room well in advance.

You have to make your reservations as soon as

you commit to a trip.

If you're going to wait until you arrive in the town that day and reach out to the

monastery,

you're probably not going to get a room so several weeks in advance.

Also, cancellation policies, I've noticed, tend to be very different at monasteries,

which is tricky.

Once you purchase a room and usually you pay up front,

that money is non refundable.

And if you have a really good excuse for why

you can't travel,

it seems like monasteries will often refer you back to cancellation policies in travel

insurance.

So you would need to apply through travel

insurance for any reimbursement.

The other thing is there might be a minimum stay required and you can understand why if

they have very few staff on hand, that's fewer times they have to turn over a room.

So there might be a minimum stay, just know that.

But that'll be obvious to you in some of the websites we talk about.

The last con I think is that there may be a curfew.

Usually it's between 10pm and midnight, so for over 50 travelers maybe that's okay.

You may be able to make accommodations, they might be able to give you a key or something

like that if you know you're going to not be in by curfew time.

But if you're somebody who wants to go clubbing all night,

again, this might not be the place for you to stay.

So just know that as well.

There are three websites I use when I'm researching and looking for a stay.

In a convent or a monastery, and.

They'Re all pretty similar,

but These are the three that I like.

Monasteriesdays.com is the first site I use.

It focuses mainly on Italy, but also has a few

listings in Austria and slovenia, so nearby.

Monasteries.com is the second website out there.

It focuses on stays around the world, but primarily in Europe.

I've even seen listings for Egypt and Australia.

This site is interesting in that it also includes some tips for staying in a monastery.

Nothing out of the ordinary,

all what you would expect, but just just sweet to have that.

And the third site I use is Good Night and God Bless.

All these sites work very similarly in that you're generally not interfacing directly with

the property.

If you see a property that you want to stay

in, you actually have to fill out an online form and then submit it.

And then the people who run the.

Platform reach out to the property to.

Find out if there's space or not.

For you and then they get back to you.

So in one case monasterystays.com, you actually can put a second choice down.

They all work very similarly,

but play around with them, see which ones you like.

But those are the three that I use and if you know of any others, please send them along to

me overseas.

And over 50 mail.com I'll be sure to update my show notes.

Now if any of this has sounded appealing to you and none of it has put you

off or frightened you off,

just remember these few things.

Here's like the least you need to know about

staying in monasteries.

First of all,

be super careful about their cancellation policy.

Again, read the fine print and make sure that if you commit to something, you're pretty much

going to go.

I always double check the reviews on websites and actually this goes for any accommodation I

stay in.

I always want to get another good review to

back up what I'm reading, so I double check the reviews on my sites.

Now you can often do this with TripAdvisor.com,

you can cross check through the other monastery sites.

So maybe you'd book through goodnightandgodbless.com but you might want to

also read the reviews of that property on monasteries.com and vice versa.

Even booking.com might have a listing for you to look at.

So just double check everything.

Make sure that the description is exactly what

you're looking for and so that you're not going to be surprised.

Again, book well in advance.

You're not going to find openings on a whim.

As soon as you really commit to a trip even a month or two out,

get on and book if this interests you.

Also double check the location.

Now is it in an area near things you want to see or is it close to a public transport link?

Always do a little bit of background research about the neighborhood and the general area.

And again, this is a general recommendation for anyone staying anywhere.

I mean you always want to make sure that your hotel is in a safe neighborhood,

so just double check the location.

I'm going to put all the links in the show notes so not to worry about that.

That's it for monastery stays.

I Hope that the 10 minutes was worthwhile for

you and I hope this gives you an option for possibly saving money and having a unique

experience really is what it's about.

Thanks.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

So thanks so much for checking.

Second act travels out and I'll see you back

here soon.