IF THAT sounds appealing, you may be ready to join more than 2.2 million people in North America who went to retreat centers last year in search of a vacation for the soul. That's double the number who attended five years ago-a trend that began before 9/11 but has been accelerating since then. "The fascination with spirituality is at an all-time high," says Anne Luther, executive director of Retreats International, which started compiling its list of religious and spiritual retreats 25 years ago.

Phil Stone, who founded www.findthedivine.com in January 2001, says a year ago he got 10,000 hits a month on his Web site devoted to listing over 1,100 spiritual retreat centers in the United States and Canada. "Last month I got 143,000 hits. More people are looking," he says.

But who's looking, and for what?

As with many demographic trends in the United States, you don't have to dig very far before you catch a whiff of baby-boomers. Boomers are aging and asking themselves, in the words of the late Peggy Lee's song, "Is that all there is?" They say, "My life is good, my job is good, but I just feel there has to be something more. There's a real emptiness and hunger which is the spirit calling out to us to go deeper," says Luther.

This newly emerging spiritual movement had its roots in the more political searching of the 60s. "When you reject outer authority and your faith in government or established religions, you have to find inner authority," says Rodger Kamenetz, a poet and author of The Jew in the Lotus, who often attends a Jewish retreat in upstate New York. "So you set off on a journey and you have to find out what's inside."

Others seek the solace of silence. "After my son died I was having a lot of difficulty, so I went to an Anglican retreat," recalls Lynne Bundeson, author of eight books on religion and founder of a Web site called Our Faiths. "There were prayers five times a day. And there was silence. God is not found in the earthquake, the wind, or the fire, but in the still small voice," Bundeson says, referencing I Kings 19.

Repeat retreatants insist these are no ordinary vacations. "Most people's vacations are exhausting," adds Phil Stone. "I come out of retreats energized physically and mentally more alert. They're the best-kept secrets of what a true vacation should be."

Finally, retreats are a bargain. "These hidden jewels are out there for almost nothing, cost-wise," says Stone. "A spa will cost you $200-$300 a night-some retreats are $100 for a weekend, meals included. So it's a spiritual and a financial escape."

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU GO

More than 2,000 monasteries, abbeys, and spiritual retreat centers are scattered throughout the United States and Canada. About 80 percent are linked to a religious order. But most take a more ecumenical, interfaith approach to accommodate this increased interest. "In the old days if you were a Catholic retreat center, you advertised yourself that way. Now most of them want everybody to come," Stone says. Many places offer yoga, Buddhist thought, prayers of all sorts.

This article focuses on religious retreat centers, as distinct from those that are simply spiritual. Even if you're not actively religious, Anne Luther says, "It can be good to start where you're most familiar, your own religion." (We will do a separate article on Buddhist retreat centers in a later issue of Budget Travel. As for Muslim retreat centers in the United States, none of the retreat listmakers we interviewed is aware of any.)

While the centers are as unique in their personalities as snowflakes, they do share common elements. Many welcome both individuals and groups. The two most popular approaches are directed retreats, where you spend the time on your own, checking in with a spiritual guide perhaps once a day; and thematic retreats, where there are often speakers and discussion groups centered around a theme. Couples' retreats are also increasingly common. Most centers interweave periods of silence with group interaction.

The accommodations range from a bare-bones 'hotel' room (religious imagery displacing third-rate landscapes on the walls) to spartan monks' quarters. Nearly all are clean, well-lighted places, going for anywhere from $25 to $100 per night (often presented only as a suggested donation). The charge usually includes three meals a day and a shared bathroom. At the end of your stay you may be asked to strip the bed and perhaps even put on fresh sheets for the next seeker.

The retreats we have selected are priced right and placed right, too. We have looked not only for a warm and welcoming environment and good value, but for retreats located in settings of such natural beauty that even if you are not inspired to leaps of faith, you will at least be impressed with the handiwork of nature.

JEWISH

1] Elat Chayyim, the Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center; Accord, NY

"I think of it as the best week I spend all year," says Sally Gottesman, a consultant to nonprofit organizations in New York City, who has gone back to this retreat in the foothills of the Catskills six times. "I go away to slow down, learn a little bit about some aspect of Jewish life in a class, engage with interesting ideas and people, and have fun."

A typical day starts with yoga and prayer sessions, then classes taught by some of the leaders in the Jewish Renewal movement (emphasizing the integration of mind, body, soul, and spirit). Services are often held outdoors in a tent, amidst spirited chanting and swaying. There?s a park nearby with lush hiking and biking trails. The day ends with discussion of the retreat experience in smaller family (mispacha) groups, sometimes outside under the stars.

"It's a Jewish summer camp for grown-ups-but for me what's most important is it creates a model for a spiritual community," says Rodger Kamenetz. "People bond-it happens every time I go. You come in cynical with your game face and hard shell, and it just melts away."

"I went to Elat over Christmas and New Year's. Two weeks later I went to New Orleans," says Gottesman. "But when I ask myself, 'When was I really on vacation', It was at Elat."

Elat Chayyim, The Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center, 99 Mill Hook Rd., Accord, NY 12404 (two hours north of New York); 800/398-2630, www.elatchayyim.org. Open year-round, but only during those weekends and weeks when programs are scheduled; accommodates 150. Costs: Weeklong programs in summer: Program fee $300, rooms $315-$750 for six nights. Weekends: Program fee $150; rooms $100-$350 per weekend, includes three (vegetarian with fish option) meals a day.

CATHOLIC

2] Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center (Passionist Order), North Palm Beach, FL

At the front door is Route 1, an American Main Street leading from Key West to the northern tip of Maine. But as you walk along the quarter mile of waterfront at the back of this retreat just eight miles north of Palm Beach, where shimmering Lake Worth empties into the Atlantic Ocean, there's no sound except for the water lapping and the distant clanging of the rigging of million-dollar sailboats moored next door.

Here, in the spirit of 'active contemplation' dating back to the order's founding in 1720, a tiny band of Passionist priests opens their beautiful home (an architectural-award-winning building) to individual and group retreatants. "Each weekend we have programs, sometimes married couple retreats, mixtures of lectures, prayer, and private conferences," says Father Damian Towey, who has been here for ten years. "The first year I felt awkward. I wondered if I was giving them anything valuable. But so many people say at the end that it was more than a vacation and that it felt like it was over too soon."

Individual retreatants are welcome midweek as well, even when there are no programs scheduled. You can attend mass (as many in the community do), held every morning in the gorgeous adjoining chapel with the sun streaming through 116 rectangles of stained-glass windows. You sleep in single rooms with a single bed, bare walls, a window facing the water, and a terrace that allows you to step out and watch the sun rise on the water (highly recommended).

"Remember that George Carlin routine about stuff. How we work all our lives to acquire stuff, then we find out in the end it's just stuff" laughs John Kosak, administrator of the center. "Here's where we get rid of that stuff that's a hindrance to any spiritual awakening."

Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center, 1300 U.S. Highway 1, North Palm Beach, FL 33408; 561/626-1300, www.ourladyofflorida.org. Costs: Weekend: Suggested donation $75 a night, single room, bath shared with one person, three meals a day.

3] Jesuit Retreat House, Cleveland, OH

"We offer a sense of quiet in the midst of an urban scene," says Peter Irmiter, marketing director of this retreat on 57 acres just south of Cleveland. Silence is big here and begins with breakfast, carrying through all meals. "Silence is key to all retreats," says Imiter.

There's a hands-on approach here. If you're on an individually directed retreat, you are assigned a retreat director with whom you'll confer once or twice a day to read scripture and talk about any new thoughts that have occurred to you during the day.

The Jesuits here have been handling retreats for 102 years, but they're making changes to their approach all the time to handle this new growing interest. "Retreats used to be geared to 30 days," says Imiter. Now, he says, "Weekends are our bread and butter -men's, women's, mixed retreats, for AA, young people preparing for marriage, covering everything from finance to sex."

And they adapt retreats to individual needs and preferences. "We know older people are more used to pre-Vatican II where they get preached to. They're not into sharing, too shy," Imiter explains. "The baby boomers, they're looking for an interactive, sharing retreat with more give-and-take." And the younger folks, 25 to 40". "We're studying that market now," Imiter says.

Jesuit Retreat House, 5629 State Rd., Parma, OH 44134; 440/884-9300, www.jrh-cleveland.org. Houses 58. Costs: Weekend: $130 includes all meals, private single room, shared bath; Weekly: $270 ($45 per night) for six nights, three meals a day.

PROTESTANT (PRESBYTERIAN)

4] Ghost Ranch Conference Center, Abiquiu, NM

"The scenery alone is spiritual and healing," says Nancy Early, a film producer in New York who has taken her two children to New Mexico's Abiquiu for several years. Ghost Ranch's 21,000 acres, 6,500 feet above sea level, are surrounded by red clay hills and sheer cliffs. "You walk outside at night and you're under a blanket of stars-breathtaking. We get up early and go horseback riding and see the sun rise."

And the quality of the courses the adults take during the day matches the scenery, Early says. "I took courses on painting, watercolors, the five major religions of the world, journal writing, and photography. They attract superb people. Some of the courses fill up within weeks of the catalog's publication."

But most of all, she says, it is quiet and removed. "There's one pay phone - the cell doesn't work. No television, no radio. You walk away from everything that controls your life. And I never heard the kids say, I'm bored.'" There's a library, open 24 hours a day, a museum of anthropology, and another of paleontology. The stone labyrinth and the hiking trails are open all year long.

Guest rooms are simple cabins with bunk beds. And the dining is cafeteria-style in the main room (which can serve up to 300 people), using the ranch?s own organic produce.

Ghost Ranch, H77, Box 11, Abiquiu, NM 87510; 505/685-4333, www.newmexico-ghostranch.org. Cafeteria is closed in December. Cost: $45-$67 per person per day, including three meals; Children under 14, half-price; under age 4, free. Summer visitors must be enrolled in courses. Program fee is an additional $150-$220 per week. Massages are $65 for 1 ¼ hours.

CHRISTIAN-EVANGELICAL

5] Living Water Worship and Teaching Center, Cornville, AZ

After driving two hours north of Phoenix (speed limit, 75; it's the west, after all), you wind up at a series of simple brown buildings that blend into the dusty desert surroundings. It isn't until you walk the 22 acres that you notice there's a large pond on the property, fed by an artesian well, stocked with fish (catch-and-release is the rule here), and good for swimming in summer. And that gentle rushing noise you hear at the property's edge is not the wind, it's Oak Creek, a swiftly moving stream that flows into the Verde River.

Belinda Schmitt says her parents, John and Barry French, searched for years before finding water in the desert and opening this Christian retreat in 1981. "People tell me they feel the Lord walking here with them," she says.

Living Water offers no organized lectures or religious services. Church groups (of 20-120) bring their own preachers and programs. Individual retreatants are on their own, though they are given a thick handbook called Spiritual Journeys, which offers suggestions on how to proceed reflectively, a spiral notebook to begin a journal of their thoughts, and access to a library of inspirational books.

"We're nondenominational, so we don't push anything-that appeals to a lot of people who don't want you to be too Catholic or too Baptist," says Lee Brownson, who vacationed at the retreat for years before becoming marketing director. But he does concede that they quietly discourage non-Christian seekers."The focus is on Jesus," Brownson explains.

And the stress is on comfort. The rooms for those on personal retreats (set off from the dormlike group facilities) are much like good motel accommodations: double bed, private bathroom, balcony from which you can see the stars in the big western sky. The food is home-cooked and plentiful, with a dessert at every meal. No busing your own dishes here. After all, as Brownson says, "You don't have to be uncomfortable to hear from the Lord."

Two weeks before you arrive, the entire staff will start praying for the success of your retreat. (That is, if you book more than two weeks in advance - they're faithful, not psychic.) If you need a small assist toward inspiration, the Grand Canyon is 2 ½ hours away. Or you can drive 20 minutes up the road to Sedona to catch the sunset against the backdrop of those famous craggy red-rock cliff formations.

The Community of Living Water, 6702 E. Clinton St., Scottsdale, AZ 85254; 888/627-5631, www.sierranet.net/~living. Costs: Individuals pay $65 per night for a private room and bath, three meals; Couples pay $110 per night, six meals; Groups are $84-$106 for weekends (includes meeting rooms and audiovisual equipment, plus meals).

THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)

6] Powell House Conference and Retreat Center, Old Chatham, NY

Friends (a.k.a., Quakers) are no strangers to silence - it's an integral part of their meetings. So it is not surprising that this center, set on 57 acres with two ponds in rural upstate New York, adjacent to a bird sanctuary, encourages calm and quiet.

But what surprised Spee Braun when she, her husband, and their three children went there the first time was that people gathered regularly in the main hall to make music - something not allowed in the usual Quaker service. She liked that, and everything else about the place. "I'm a people-person. You meet new people there and you can have in-depth conversations that you can't get to over a cup of coffee at church," Braun says.

Braun says she even found walking the new stone labyrinth "a moving experience, though I started out a skeptic." The lectures are enlightening. Her favorite events are the bargain work-weekends. "You do a job on the main building, like re-roof or rake leaves or paint the walls, and the low rates are even cheaper," she says. "You feel peace at Powell House, away from the busyness of the world."

Powell House Conference and Retreat Center Under the care of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), 524 Pitt Hall Rd., Old Chatham, NY 12136-3410; 518/794-8811, ext. 12, talk to Cody Collett, coordinator of outreach and advancement; fax 518/794-8815, www.powellhouse.org. Open year-round; three hours north of New York City, three hours west of Boston. Cost: Weekend: adults $160, includes two nights - lodging and six meals and all programming; $80 for kids under 18; $40 kids under 2. For individual retreatants (called 'sojourners' here) who do not attend programs: $40 per night, includes self-serve breakfast. Reservations required.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST

7] Camp Kulaqua, High Springs, FL

There's one thing here you won't find at any other retreat center: the largest amateur zoo on the East Coast, with lions and tigers and bears (oh my) as well as cougars, monkeys, llamas, and coyotes. "Most of the animals have been confiscated from people who've abused them - we don't take them from the wild and put them behind bars," says Dave Speicher, camp manager.

Camp Kulaqua is one of the largest of the Seventh-Day Adventists - 99 worldwide retreat centers and camps (67 in North America). The 650-acre facility, 20 miles north of Gainesville, provides all kinds of housing year-round, a natural spring to swim in, horses for trail rides, tennis, a gym, and meeting facilities that can seat up to 1,200.

There are weekend programs (men's and women's retreats) for two to three months of the year; a singles' retreat over New Year's; four-day family camp with programs over Labor Day; and a seven-week summer camp for kids. But at other times, individual retreatants are on their own. No TV, no phones.

"The main attraction is the quiet and security," says Speicher. "What we try to do is provide an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit dwells and you can get away from the cares of the world."

Camp Kulaqua, 700 N.W. Cheeota Ave., High Springs, FL 32643; 386/454-1351, fax 386/454-4748, www.campkulaqua.com. Located 20 miles north of Gainesville, 2 ½ hours north of Orlando. Cost: Rooms for $20-$100 per night; meals run $6.50-$7.50.

RESOURCES ON RETREATS

1. Find the Divine: www.findthedivine.com

Listings and descriptions of over 1,100 retreat centers in the United States and about 150 in Canada.

2. Retreats International: www.retreatsintl.org

Lists 340 retreat centers in the United States and Canada. (Book version available for $30.)

3. NARDA: www.nardacenters.org

NARDA, Ecumenical Christian Association of Retreat and Renewal Centers and Leaders in North America, lists a few hundred Christian centers in the United States and Canada.

Budget Travel Contributing Editor Susan Seliger is CEO of NetSuccess, a publishing and Internet consulting company.