Most visitors know Arillas for its sandy beach, shallow water and sunsets. But there is another Arillas that has been developing quietly for almost half a century: a community of meditation centres, yoga retreats, spiritual teachers, alternative travellers and wellness spaces that has made this small corner of northwest Corfu unlike anywhere else on the island.
This story is particularly personal for me because I live close to Arillas and I have known the area since I was a child.
Arillas is also one of my favourite beaches in Corfu. The water is normally clear, the sandy entrance remains shallow for a long distance and even after all these years I still enjoy going there, sometimes with friends and sometimes with my dog, Sinty.
But when I was a child, Arillas looked very different.
The “Gurudes” I Remember From Childhood
When I was young we used to call some of the foreign spiritual visitors around Arillas and the neighbouring villages the “gurudes”.
They stood out.
I remember seeing people dressed differently from the locals, and many wore a necklace with the image of an Indian man hanging from it. As a child, I did not know who he was.
To be completely truthful, I was even slightly afraid of them. Children notice anyone who looks unusual, and in a small Corfiot village decades ago these groups seemed mysterious. There were also all kinds of stories circulating among local people because very few of us actually knew what happened inside their centres.
Years later I understood that the man on many of those necklaces was Osho, previously known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the controversial Indian spiritual teacher whose followers became known as sannyasins.
The traditional Osho mala worn by early followers included wooden beads and a small locket containing his portrait. So the image that puzzled me as a child actually had a very specific meaning for the people wearing it.
How Did They End Up in Arillas?
The story goes back decades.
Alternative travellers had begun arriving in this part of Corfu by the 1970s. Some travelled between Europe and India and were influenced by the teachings of Osho.
A small sannyasin community eventually developed around Arillas, Kavvadades and Magoulades.
What was initially a tiny and rather private community gradually became a genuine form of alternative tourism.
Retreat centres appeared. Visitors began coming specifically for meditation, personal-development courses, yoga, massage, mantra singing and spiritual workshops rather than simply for a package holiday beside the sea.
Places such as the Alexis Zorbas centre became established names, while later the Corfu Buddha Hall near Magoulades became an important meeting point for retreats and community events.
The Corfu Buddha Hall
The Buddha Hall is one of the most unusual venues in this part of Corfu.
It is a purpose-built hall of around 200 square metres surrounded by countryside, olive trees and panoramic views, designed for meditation, retreats, movement and spiritual-development events.
It also helped make the spiritual community less mysterious to local people.
Open events, concerts and Saturday meditation sessions gradually created more contact between visitors, long-term foreign residents and Corfiots.
Looking at it today, the situation feels completely different from the mysterious “gurudes” I remember watching as a child.
Then Came Yoga, Retreats and Wellness Tourism
Over the years the spiritual identity of Arillas expanded well beyond one guru or one organisation.
Today you will find yoga, meditation, ecstatic dance, breathwork, massage, sound healing, workshops, retreats and other forms of wellness tourism in and around the village. Some organisers and long-term residents have purchased sizeable areas of land and developed retreat accommodation, glamibg place, houses, gardens and dedicated practice spaces.
There is also glamping accommodation, yoga and movement areas and spaces designed specifically around communal living and wellness. This does not mean that everybody living in Arillas belongs to one spiritual movement. Far from it. The village remains a normal Corfiot community alongside its international visitors.
But the concentration of retreats and alternative centres is extraordinary for such a small place.
Healthy Food Is Part of the Culture
Food is another noticeable part of the modern wellness scene.
Many retreats focus heavily on vegetarian and vegan meals, organic ingredients and food designed around wellness rather than traditional holiday excess. At some centres you will see menus built around vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or sugar-free food, smoothies and locally sourced produce.
The Buddha Hall, for example, serves vegetarian meals with some of its summer events, while newer wellness venues have taken this concept much further.
Colibri Took Arillas to Another Level
The biggest recent development has been Colibri.
Colibri Spirit Festival has transformed a piece of land near Arillas into a large international gathering centred around music, movement, meditation, workshops, ceremonies and wellness.
The 2026 festival ran for six days and advertised more than 100 artists, healers and teachers.
Several ticket categories and glamping packages sold out, showing just how large the demand for this type of experience has become.
The project has since expanded beyond the main festival through the Colibri Sanctuary concept, with glamping, villas, wellness activities, an outdoor gym, sauna, ice baths, café facilities, yoga and movement sessions.
Whether this style of tourism is your thing or not, it is difficult to deny the scale of what has happened.
A small Corfu beach village has become an international destination for people travelling specifically for wellness and spiritual events.
My Arillas Is Still the Beach
Despite all of this, when I think about Arillas personally, I still think first about the sea.
It remains one of my favourite beaches in Corfu because the water is usually clear and shallow and the whole place has an easy, relaxed feeling.
You can read my complete Arillas Corfu guide for practical information about the beach, restaurants, accommodation and nearby places.
It is also included in my guide to the best beaches in Corfu.
I sometimes come here with Sinty, sometimes meet friends and sometimes just walk around watching what has changed since the days when I was a child.
And it has changed enormously.
From Something Strange to Part of Arillas
The funny thing is how your perception changes with age.
As a little boy I looked at these strangely dressed foreigners with their necklaces and their Indian guru and I was slightly frightened. Today I see things very differently.
Most of the people I have encountered are simply visitors or residents interested in meditation, health, community or an alternative lifestyle. You do not have to believe in any of it to find the story fascinating.
What started with a relatively small group of foreigners several decades ago helped create an identity that is now part of Arillas itself.
Why Arillas Became Different
Corfu has dozens of beach resorts. Only one developed quite like this.
Arillas combined a beautiful beach, relatively undeveloped countryside, returning international visitors and an alternative community that remained for decades rather than disappearing after a few summers.
The result is something unusual: a traditional Greek seaside village, a family holiday destination and one of Greece’s small but surprisingly important wellness communities all occupying the same place.
And for somebody like me who remembers the “gurudes” from childhood, seeing what it has become is probably the most interesting part of the story.
If you have attended a retreat or festival in Arillas, lived in the area or remember the early “gurudes”, tell us about your experience in the comments. I would particularly like to hear from people who remember Arillas before it became what it is today.
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