Whether you want to travel to a far, exotic location or find someplace nearer home, these absolutely peaceful retreat places will allow you quiet your mind, open your heart and explore the realm of your inner self to prepare yourself for 2017. Get on a plane or travel by car to escape to a venue of relaxation and stunning view.

The Shambhala Mountain Center is in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. The 600 pristine acres of Shambhala scattered across a Rocky Mountains valley in the northern part of Colorado. The property includes vast botanical gardens, a bird sanctuary, several spacious meditation halls, and, the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, a traditional-spired Buddhist shrine. The Shambala Mountain Center ranks among the best of these Great Meditation Retreats that you can visit.

This 100-acre estate in the foothills of the Himalayas, the Ananda in Uttaranchal, India  is the former home to the Maharajah of Tehri-Garhwal. It is set at 3,000 feet and has wide view over the Ganges River and the nearby temple villages of Rishikesh and Haridwar. The facilities include a 24,000-square-foot spa, several meditation and yoga pavilions set amidst gardens, and the former maharajah's palace-which now is house to an antique billiards room and an elegant tea lounge.

The Muktawan 7-Day Meditation Retreat is in Phuket, Thailand. On the tranquil island of Koh Yao Noi is the superb Paradise Retreat: perhaps one of the best places on the Andaman Coast for inner exploration. You will find an almost-forest environment, an abode for meditators, surrounded by rolling hills and bays scenery. The retreat center offers simple, comfortable and clean accommodation, enabling you to live in close touch with nature.

The Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County is only an hour north of San Francisco, California. It sits upon quaint lands once used by Native Americans for spiritual rites. The center hosts a full program of daylong and residential retreats. Some are as long as two months, and some are ongoing classes. All of these programs explore the themes of meditation and its relation to life in modern society. Founding teacher Jack Kornfeld says, "Some come for healing, either the healing of the heart or the healing of the body. Some come because they are in life transition and need to listen deeply to what is the next thing that is asked of them or how to deal with some great change." The Spirit Rock Meditation Center is a highly recommended refuge among the Great Meditation Retreats this 2017.