Fogo Island Inn offering silent nights for solo travellers with deep pockets during the holidays

If you're looking for a bit of quiet alone timethis holiday season and have the bank account for it Fogo Island might be the place for you.

The Fogo Island Inn is offering packages for solo travellers for Christmas and New Year's Eve, something it describes as "an alternative to traditional holiday obligations."

Amanda Decker-Penton, the inn's director of guest experience, says they see people travelling alone all year-round, but sometimes the holidays can just be "a bit much."

"Christmas just seems to be that time when you are constantly with other people so it's a place to be quiet, it's a place to be with yourself, so it made perfect sense for us to let the solo traveller know that Christmas here can be very much about them," she said.

"It seems the place to be alone with yourself and nature, and it's been a very great market for the Fogo Island Inn."

Decker-Penton said the winters on Fogo Island are quiet and peaceful, and the opportunity to hike and snowshoe during the holidays has an exotic appeal for many guests.

"To walk on frozen ponds, to walk on open ocean that is frozen is something that you can't do very many places in the world, safely and comfortably," she said.

"Here in Newfoundland we have that in spades."

Alone with others

But if all that sounds a bit lonely, Decker-Penton said the inn's programming also allows guests to be alone with others if they so desire.

She said there's a community dining table where strangers can share a meal together and a Christmas Eve concert to celebrate the season.

"The inn is designed so that you can have a lot of alone time and your room itself is a place to be alone and read books by a fireplace if that's what you choose," said Decker-Penton.

"So you come alone, and you can be alone, or you can be with others."

There are also programs that get guests involved in local life.

"We pair you with a member of the community, and they host you and they guide you, and a lot of times that ends up to be a relationship among strangers that lasts forever," said Decker-Penton.

She said the solo packages at the Fogo Island Inn are about striking a balance between togetherness and being alone during the holidays.

"Here, you choose. You don't have to ask someone, 'Hey, do you want to get up tomorrow morning and go for a walk at six or do you want to go at eight?' You just get up and do whatever you want."

But all that alone time doesn't come cheap. Decker-Penton said the inn's reduced rate for solo travelling runs $1,675 per night, all inclusive.

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