The good life when lived through a Shunyachi home stay supports local families in less developed parts of the world. It’s an easy overnight flight from most European locations. You do not even lose a day on your way to tropical paradise.
Hi,
First of all, to our many old regulars who have been writing in faithfully with booking requests post pandemic: Shunyachi home stays are back in new clothes, but with the same old Huck Finn Spirit.
In our new avatar, we will be far less dependent on anonymous investors who have no real commitment to local people, culture, traditions or the environment; and lean heavily on the loyalty and support of our old ‘guests’ who are now family. So I am hoping for a more ‘By Us For Us’ kind of sustainability this time round.
It has been quite sad to listen to: “ … but how could you have sold that place!” accusations as if we had disposed of ancestral homes without discussing the matter fully with all family members during the pandemic. Well this time you have an option to be part of the process.
We also plan to have many more affordable home stays in remote parts of India and the world, in addition to our trademark hand-crafted-habitable-art 1000 usd a day plus Indian creations. We are already working on these options with an ever increasing number of friends, many of whom started as Shunyachi guests. So if you would like to throw your personal home stay into the pile, get in touch.
Many of the friendships and experiences from my years as a backpacking travel writer more than 3 decades ago, have gone into the creation of the Shunyachi Hermit Club. This particular book, a docu-fictional account of my ‘seeking’ adventures was actually
Most of my connections in the Indian subcontinent have been made over 6 decades of constant travel there. First as an army brat, then as a long haired backpacking travel writer and finally as a travel entrepreneur with an ever growing brood of travel addicted children aged 37 to 13.
This summer in a few weeks Shunyachi will explore off-the-beaten-track Greece, if such a thing still exists, in search of …you guessed it : new home stays. This winter, we hope to explore some home stays in Patagonia and catch wild salmon amongst other things.
Next month, I hope to descend on my adopted home town of Gokarna, in Northern Karnataka an easy drive from Goa Airport, and complete work on my most ambitious habitable art project to date: a home stay which will attempt to abstract from and archive, the fast disappearing culture and traditions of the ‘unprotected’ global heritage temple town of Gokarna, through photographs, films, installations and live three dimensional rituals !
I was just talking from Copenhagen to the head priest of the historic Ganesh temple in Gokarna and to an art curator friend in Germany and potential collaborator, about this perfectly feasible project.
We will do this through the interpretations of several creatives who stay with us and make their own films and pictures and books and art works and installations and even habitable art structures, after drawing inspiration from the UNPROTECTED world heritage town of Gokarna which will not really exist the way we know it now in 20 years.
The land on which the retreat stands was selected for its ‘vibrations’ by a sage best known for going on stage with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Beatles as a teenager to miraculously recite from holy scriptures he had never studied in Sanskrit a language he had never learned ! There are also some caves ‘on campus’ which are believed by some to be the birthplace of the god Hanuman. Welcome to Indian mythology.
I suppose our retreat itself could go down as a permanent part of Indian mythology in a few (hundred) years the way these things happen !
In between, hopefully, I will play some above 40 cricket matches in the Danish league. And may complete or at least progress some literary projects.
Apologies for so much on myself , but the opinion of my Shunyachi friends was that my earlier note sounded very much like something from a commercial, ‘customised travel’ agency without this background.
Meeting up after almost 40 years with a character — originally from Germany — from my travel book who has gone native in the global spiritual commune of Auroville in South India.
And finally, for those of you Indian or European or South American or….who don’t appreciate an outsider stepping into your hood, remember all Shunyachi home stays are either owned by locals or have substantial local involvement when it comes to guided trips in the region.
In addition, it’s worth noting, many of the Indian village kids we trained as chefs and home stay managers have moved on in life to responsible jobs around the world and I’m now looking to them for partnerships and specialised consultancy.
We are not taking away your properties or riding piggy back on your cultural heritage. We are simply trying to see how we can experience , enjoy and protect cultural diversity in a sustainable way from a commercial tourism onslaught.
And now for the customised travel copy: Enjoy tropical moons and nordic midnight suns. Awaken to birdsong . Skate on frozen lakes. Tan on virgin beaches. Work from a swimming pool. Experience a millionaire’s lifestyle at a small fraction of the cost. Or go native with local guides for next to nothing if that’s your inclination.
If you would like to escape depressing winters in Europe and North America and unbearably hot summers anywhere else, on a relatively affordable budget, this might be your eureka moment.
The Shunyachi Hermit Club is for travel junkies who have time restrictions and would like their money to deliver authentic insider experiences all year round.
So if you are a detail obsessed: travel group coordinator; conscious living and meditation enthusiast; foodie; creative professional; nature addict; release angler ; diver; bird watcher; photographer or startup boss, you can customise these experiences for yourself or your group with our passionate panel of specialists before leaving home.
We do not discriminate against the affluent or academic. Guidance by experts in your chosen field and region is possible with prior notice. Of course this costs a bit more. But then our relatively reasonable boarding and lodging rates allow for authentic customised research.
Our hand picked tropical beaches emphasise the importance of connecting with yourself in nature.
One of our favourite places, the 14th century UNESCO heritage city of Hampi, former capital of the hedonistic Vijayanagara Empire where concubines marched with the army and to which the ‘gods’ and hippies still return in ‘spaceships’ and vintage motorbike
Copenhagen a heritage city with a continuously evolving architectural and design tradition.
Another one of our tropical beaches more crowded with memories and trees than people.
Sea swimming pool in Gilleleje, Denmark. A great summer house and sea trout fishing location.
Watch ancient Indian culture come alive against historic backdrops. Bharatanatyam (or the 5th Veda for those who don’t comprehend Sanskrit and still wish to get enlightened) being performed live in these pictures by Leela Samson an iconic Indian classical
An Anish Kapoor installation in the Arken Museum, Denmark.
We can lead you to and make you feel at home in little known game sanctuaries, spiritual communities, ancient cities reclaimed by nature, marine parks, cutting edge art and design spaces, underground cafes, hippie markets, undiscovered trout streams, private islands, royal palaces, freak raves, heritage tea plantations and a whole lot more.
Non branded or advertised home stays are the backbone of our organic travel machine.
Bathing in a high ( 11000 feet) altitude stream in Ladakh fed by fresh melting snow.
Off-the-grid nature vacations are very much an area of Shunyachi expertise, but so are exclusive handcrafted luxury villas ( some of which we create ourselves).
Par for the course in the Andamans.
Release Angling is a passionate interest. Commune with and document the fish of your dreams from the Andamans to the Himalayas. We are looking to add new locations in Patagonia, Lapland, Iceland, Greenland and Northern Sweden shortly.
A monster Himalayan brown trout which can trace its ancestry back to 1862. Eyed ova were transported from Europe to India in the 19th century in ice-block-temperature-controlled-ship-holds. On arrival in India they were immediately dispatched by horseback
You can stalk and shoot animals on foot with a camera if you want to experience old fashioned colonial hunting thrills and take a few adrenalin pumping risks outside of regular game parks:
A wild Nilgiri Gaur foraging grass on a path between teas bushes in an active tea plantation.
above: The ‘holy cow’ a homeless, non violent ruler of Indian roads. below: A world weary former fighting bull stands catching the sun in front of an advertisement for a cheap local wine in North Goa.
Huggable Cow on the enchanted island of Bornholm a famous large sea trout location and home to more than one Michelin star restaurant and several emerging restaurants.
Cows and their cousins are good ambassadors for the diversity of our home stays!
As is the range of authentic traditional and fusion cuisine you can experience when travelling with us. Discover whole cultures and civilizations with your Shunyachi taste buds:
Archiving and preserving traditional rural vegetarian recipes is one of our Shunyachi passions.
Our home stays often grow their own ingredients on site. Food and kitchen gardens are a major Shunyachi obsession.
The difference between commercially and traditionally caught fish matters to us. We will never use trawler caught fish at a Shunyachi owned home stay.
Creative cuisine in small restaurants in unusual locations is also something we target: This small restaurant has moved into an old pharmacy in a Copenhagen suburb.
Birds and birdsong are an essential part of our experiential tapestry. Awaken and drift off to wild bird choirs anywhere in the world.
Social sports are high on our priority list. Look out for our themed event holidays where you can meet and socialise with other travellers with similar interests.
Copenhagen has an active social cricket scene.
Room in which the rules for snooker were first posted. A living part of India’s colonial history.
Our main intent is to provide guests with spaces in which they can live consciously and in the present moment. Creative projects can be completed and reviewed in an ambience of silence and stillness at all our properties.
Our flagship retreat beach and ‘private’ bathing cove just outside the vedic heritage town of Gokarna!
On one of Denmark’s islands known for its blue Caribbean like waters, chalk cliffs and star studded night sky.
A traditional thatched roofed Danish summer house. The insider culture which surrounds Denmark’s divinely located summer houses is, in our opinion, the best reason for visiting the region in Summer when long days and almost non existent nights allow fairy
North Goa paddy fields in the monsoons. You can kayak and fly cast through these fields with us. The monsoons in Goa, Karnataka and Kerala are a season of magical light and throbbing, powerful rain drop percussion on back water drums. Not for everyone, bu
Boutique hotel pool in the Andamans, one of our selected lounging spaces. The Andamans closer to Myanmar (Burma) and Malaysia than the Indian mainland are a global marine paradise. Commercial fishing is almost non existent, for geo-political reasons, and
Our main offering is not a luxury suite or villa, but an experience of life which could not happen without you as a participant/observer.
Every Shunyachi endorsed homestay is based on a friendship, personal experience or narrative going back decades.
See our true travel stories page to experience : how a 13 year old princess shot a tiger on her wedding night while her royal groom lay drunk in the machaan… or how armed ‘dacoits’ used to hold up visitors to the Taj Mahal at moonlight…or what the cobra in the bed did for erectile dysfunction…or how a French souffle cooked by a Mug chef from the tribe of traditional murderers (which gave rise to the expression Mugging) tasted like in a forest bungalow days from the nearest town…or what it feels like to trip on eau de vie brewed from alpine flower bulbs in the high Himalaya…or what enlightenment at an acid party in Goa did for your spiritual aspirations…or how a spirited barramundi provided a cynical old angler with a fresh take on Hemingway and Corbett or…
A Ladhaki shaman in healing action.
The owners of our home stays could be tribal shamans, former royals, spiritual masters, rural landlords, temple priests, award winning international architects and designers, sophisticated urban professionals or big game fishing boat captains. They all have great stories to tell as will you after an encounter with them!
So whether you are an impecunious creative looking for a place to disappear with a half finished project …Or a large family with a shared passion for private beaches, summer mangoes and good food by the pool…Or an in love couple who want a luxurious environment which complements your natural highs with complete privacy…Or a tour organiser who wants to escape a northern hemisphere winter and have a profitable no stress holiday on the side…Or a Startup looking to bond employees in a mind awakening location…you can custom design something for yourself with us.
While for non members the properties available on rent will be limited to those advertised on this site only, members can plan holidays anywhere in the world where we have home stays off the commercial circuit.
The owners of our home stays could be tribal shamans, former royals, spiritual masters, rural landlords, temple priests, award winning international architects and designers, sophisticated urban professionals or big game fishing boat captains. They all ha
An exclusive creative homestay on a small island somewhere in the Baltic sea. And yes you can catch wild sea trout and salmon from it!
Below : The late Noi Varo a century old Portuguese era Shunyachi renovated home stay in North Goa.
A BBC correspondent guest described the Shunyachi renovation as : “ a lovely fusion between old and new”.
And the children of its original owners said it felt: “ exactly the same as when they lived there without running water or electricity!”
( Unfortunately we lost this property during the pandemic to the commercial hospitality industry, which is committed to generalisation. )
Shunyachi renovations are essentially purist and minimalist. Conde Naste Traveler: “ Best for boutique lovers.”
I-escape: “Zen Gems”
RIP Noi Varo.
Nothing in life is forever and our authentic experience and travel frontiers are constantly being pushed back by the forces of ‘development’. So enjoy them while they are available.
In 2025 we will open a new Shunyachi farmhouse home stay near South Goa in Gokarna. We will attempt to archive and weave this historic temple town’s lifestyle and culture, before it disappears, into this creation.
Below: The late parents of our local project partners living the Vedic life on their joint family verandah.
Work in progress: The Shunyachi Gokarna Farmhouse Home Stay
In 2026 we will also provide access to a few new home stays which are not advertised on mass sites . Some have been created by celebrated modern lifestyle architects, artists and designers; others are traditional tribal homes; and yet others are ancient royal palaces or forts. Members can inquire about these.
Creating Shunyachi home stays is a continuous process and there is no fixed goal or destination. The only certainty is that they are all Alladin’s lamps and will sooner or later be polished out of existence.
Until then as Forest Gump would say : “ Shunyachi is as Shunyachi does.”
Vikram Sundarji
Founder:
MEMBERSHIP TERMS
Individual/Couple membership:
For Indian Home Stays: 2.5 lacs INR/ 2750 Euro membership deposit returnable or renewable every year.
For International Home Stays: 7.5 lacs INR/8250 Euro membership deposit returnable or renewable every year.
Discount on rack rate: 30 percent.
Family Membership (max 5 individuals) :
For Indian Home Stays: 5 lacs INR / 5500 Euro deposit returnable or renewable every year.
For International Home Stays: 15 lacs INR/16500 Euro deposit returnable or renewable every year.
Discount on rack rate: 40 percent.
Event Organiser Membership:
Only For Shunyachi owned or sublet Indian Home Stays
10 lacs INR/ 11000 Euro returnable or renewable every year.
Discount on rack rate 50 percent.
Collaborative Partner Memberships :
These are intended for Home Stay property owners. Here we can tweak/ renovate existing homes or create new handcrafted Shunyachi homes from scratch FAST TRACK using our reversible modular villa options.
Several of the world’s best lifestyle architects and designers are on our panel and we can also design and build permanent homes for you from scratch, if time is not of consequence!
Finally we also train local staff to run these retreats.
Terms and conditions are case by case.
BOOKINGS
CONTACT : shunyapower@gmail.com for customised booking of HOME STAYS. We first try and determine what you really want to experience and on what budget and in what time frame and then work out a feasible script
Live chats by written appointment only.
There is no automatic booking on this site.
Concept, Photographs, Annotations and Text by Vikram Sundarji for Shunyachi.