The Best Wellness Retreats in Oklahoma: Three Picks, From Two Benedictine Abbeys to a Spa Hotel in Chickasaw Country
The best wellness retreats in Oklahoma split between two monasteries and one historic spa town. East of Tulsa, the monks of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey take overnight guests in simple guesthouses for a suggested $50 a night with meals. In Shawnee, St. Gregory’s Abbey, a Benedictine community that marked 150 years in 2025, runs weekend retreats from a retreat house blessed that February. And in Sulphur, the Artesian Hotel pairs a spa that it says is ranked the best in the state with the springs of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Here is what each offers, checked on their own sites in October 2026.
At a glance
| Retreat | Where | Best for | Price guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey | Hulbert, about an hour east of Tulsa | Silent, self-led stays alongside a contemplative monastery | Suggested $50 a night with meals |
| St. Gregory’s Abbey | Shawnee, east of Oklahoma City | Led weekend and day retreats | $150 for the May 2026 weekend, all in |
| The Artesian Hotel, Casino and Spa | Sulphur, Chickasaw Country | Spa treatments and soaking, with nature nearby | Treatments priced individually |
1. Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey, Hulbert
Clear Creek is a Benedictine monastery of the Solesmes Congregation, founded in 1999 from the Abbey of Our Lady of Fontgombault in France. It became an abbey in 2010 and has 55 monks, who live what the community calls the hidden life: silence, solitude and constant prayer, much of it sung in Gregorian chant. It sits in rural Cherokee country about an hour east of Tulsa, at the end of a gravel road above Clear Creek.
Staying there. There is no retreat programme. You come, keep your own silence, and join the monks’ day as much or as little as you want: conventual Mass is at 10am daily, and the Divine Office is open to the public. Guests choose from four kinds of lodging:
- Men’s guesthouse: nine rooms in the main residence, each with a sink and shower, at a suggested $50 per person per night with meals; overflow rooms at the old monastery site, a ten-minute walk away, at $40.
- Bethany women’s guesthouse: a small house for eight just outside the front gate, suggested $50 per person per night with meals.
- St. Martha’s family guesthouse: a two-storey log house sleeping 18, suggested donation $100 a night.
- St. Mary’s family guesthouse: a cabin with six rooms, $60 or $80 per room or $400 a night for the whole cabin.
Men can sometimes work for their stay by arrangement with the guest master, and men can ask to join the monks for a meal. The abbey asks first-time visitors to study its directions carefully: one key turn has no sign at all.
Who it suits: anyone wanting a genuinely quiet, unstructured stay, ideally with an interest in liturgy and chant. It is a working monastery rather than a wellness centre, so there are no classes or treatments. Our page on what a silent retreat involves helps set expectations.
2. St. Gregory’s Abbey, Shawnee
St. Gregory’s is a Roman Catholic Benedictine community in Shawnee, about 40 miles east of Oklahoma City, that celebrated its sesquicentennial in October 2025. Its newest building, the Abbot Mark Braun Retreat House, was blessed on 11 February 2025, and the monks now use it for led retreats alongside a conference centre that hosts day-long retreats for churches, businesses and non-profits.
Retreats. The abbey runs weekend and day retreats through the year, led by monks. The most recent weekend, on 1 to 3 May 2026, was on the words and silence of the Virgin Mary, led by Abbot Lawrence Stasyszen. It ran from Friday evening to Mass on Sunday and cost $150 including meals, snacks, a single room in the retreat house and the sessions. Retreatants bring their own Twin XL bedding, towels and toiletries. Registration for that weekend has closed, and the abbey posts future dates on its retreats page.
Groups can book the retreat house or conference centre for their own events; the meeting room seats up to 100. Guests can join the monks for prayer services and Mass.
Who it suits: people who want some structure and teaching, at a low all-in price, within easy reach of Oklahoma City. Contact the abbey’s outreach coordinator on (405) 878-5656 to book.
3. The Artesian Hotel, Casino and Spa, Sulphur
Sulphur grew up around mineral springs, and the Artesian is its historic spa hotel reborn. The original opened in 1906 and burned down in 1962. The Chickasaw Nation bought the site in 1972, demolished the motor inn that stood there in 2006, and opened a new Artesian Hotel, Casino and Spa in 2013, built to match the size and style of the original.
The spa. Sole’renity Spa, on the hotel’s second floor, says it was named one of America’s Top 100 Spas of 2025, and the number one spa in Oklahoma, for the eighth year running. The menu covers massage, facials, body wraps and scrubs, hand and foot treatments and oxygen infusion, with packages for couples and groups. Hotel guests also get the indoor-outdoor pool and the bathhouse, an oversized whirlpool with a stone waterfall and six seating areas. The hotel notes the whirlpool will be closed for maintenance on 9 and 10 November.
Beyond the spa. The hotel is a few minutes from the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, a National Park Service site known for its springs, streams and walking trails, which makes a spa weekend here more outdoors than most.
Who it suits: anyone who wants comfort and treatments rather than silence. It is a casino hotel, so it is not a quiet retreat in the monastic sense; book the spa ahead, especially at weekends, on (580) 622-8128.
How to choose
- For silence and solitude: Clear Creek, where you set your own pace and the cost is a suggested donation.
- For a guided weekend: St. Gregory’s, when a retreat is scheduled.
- For rest, treatments and a soak: the Artesian.
Both monasteries welcome guests of any background, but they are Catholic communities and their days run around prayer. Our guide to what a wellness retreat costs puts the prices in context. For more picks nearby, see the best wellness retreats in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, or go back to the Retreat Central homepage.
Sources: Clear Creek Abbey: lodging; St. Gregory’s Abbey: weekend retreats; The Artesian: Sole’renity Spa; The Artesian: our story.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to stay at Clear Creek Abbey?
The abbey suggests $50 per person per night with meals in the men’s guesthouse and Bethany women’s guesthouse, $40 in the overflow rooms, $100 a night for St. Martha’s family house and $60 to $80 a room at St. Mary’s cabin.
Can women stay at Clear Creek Abbey?
Yes. Bethany is a guesthouse for women with room for eight, just outside the abbey’s front gate, and families can book the two family guesthouses.
Does St. Gregory's Abbey offer retreats?
Yes. The monks run weekend and day retreats at the Abbot Mark Braun Retreat House. The May 2026 weekend cost $150 with meals and a single room; future dates are posted on the abbey’s website.
What is the best spa in Oklahoma?
Sole’renity Spa at the Artesian Hotel in Sulphur says it was named Oklahoma’s number one spa and one of America’s Top 100 Spas of 2025, for the eighth year running.
Is there a silent retreat in Oklahoma?
Clear Creek Abbey near Hulbert is the closest fit: guests stay in guesthouses beside a contemplative Benedictine monastery and keep their own silence, joining the monks’ prayer if they wish.