Cacao, dance and a family to come home to

Heart-opening gatherings in the mountains of Portugal, with sacred cacao, ecstatic dance and live music.

New Year's Gathering · 30 Dec to 2 Jan

Join Rise in Love

Welcome to Coração de Cacau

What began as a vision has grown into a movement. Since 2018, Coração de Cacau has been creating spaces for deep heart connection, authentic encounters and collective transformation.

Over 10,000 hearts touched. Countless connections. A community united through music, dance and the intimacy of the heart, and artists, musicians and facilitators from around the world who bring their gifts to our gatherings.

What started as a shared dream is now a living, breathing tribe: a growing family who believe in the way of the heart, and in the power of coming together in presence.

Friends lying together on blankets in the grass, heads close, laughing, seen from above at Coração Fest
“A space where we can be in the present moment.” Momo

Our gatherings

Twice a year we gather by the highest lake in Portugal. In winter to rise into the new year, in summer to celebrate it.

Friends in winter coats singing around a fire at night, with a guitar and string lights

New Year's Gathering

New Year's Gathering

Rise in Love

30 Dec 2026 to 2 Jan 2027 · 4 days, 3 nights
Vale do Rossim, Serra da Estrela

Four portals to close the year and open the next: connect, release, renew, rise.

Join Rise in Love
A man dancing with his arms up in the afternoon sun, among people dancing under the trees

Summer Gathering · 4th edition

Summer Gathering · 4th edition

Coração Fest

29 Jul to 2 Aug 2027 · 5 days, 4 nights
Vale do Rossim, Serra da Estrela

Music, ceremony and dance under the stars. Not a festival to consume: a place to belong.

Discover Coração Fest

Past gatherings

Every gathering leaves something behind. A look at the ones we have shared.

See all past gatherings
A large circle of people on the sand by the mountain lakeCoração Fest 2025A woman laughing with her arm up, dancing among friends under colourful cloths in the treesCoração Fest 2026Two women in a long, laughing embraceCoração Fest 2024Friends sitting around a fire at night under string lightsRise in Love 2025A mother lifting her baby up to the sky, both smilingCoração Fest 2025A small group walking across the snowy granite of Serra da EstrelaRise in Love 2025A smiling man carrying a small child on his shouldersCoração Fest 2026Three friends in winter scarves leaning into each other, eyes closed, smilingRise in Love 2024People singing around a bonfire on New Year's Eve, one playing guitar, lights in the treesRise in Love 2024
Musicians playing guitar and ukulele on a rock at sunset, sitting among the guests, everyone smiling

No stage between us

Facilitators and guests share every moment, from the first cup to the last dance.

The flow follows the group

There is a plan, and room to leave it. When something beautiful is happening, we let it continue instead of cutting it when the time is up.

Cacao prepared with care

Many tell us it is the best cacao they have ever had. It is in how it is prepared, and in how the ceremony is held.

Held by someone who lives it

Momo opens the gathering and stays until the end. In his words: if you don’t do the work, you cannot share.

The lake at Vale do Rossim at dusk, the hills glowing orange and the moon over the water

It’s a journey to arrive

Vale do Rossim is far from the cities, high in the Serra da Estrela. The road there is part of the gathering, and you never make it alone.

  1. Lisbon or Porto

    Fly in, or start from the city. You don’t need your own car.

  2. Share the ride

    Before each gathering, rides are shared in our WhatsApp group, and people pick each other up at the airport.

  3. Up into the mountains

    The road climbs into the Serra da Estrela, one of the few places in Portugal where it snows.

  4. Vale do Rossim

    Clean water to drink, the best air, and the lake at the door. The first day is for arriving.

How to get there

Words from our family

“It was so important for me to feel that I can find my inner peace.”In the sharing circle
“There’s nothing we’re looking for. Here, everything is already there. That’s abundance.”In the sharing circle
Momo creates a space where you can come back home to your heart and really feel deeply human. Everyone needs to experience this: the part we are all missing in the modern world.
Leila Simpson
“When we feel home inside, ways we never imagined before can open.”In the sharing circle
“With the movement, with the love, with the freedom, we heal.”In the sharing circle
I have to admit I largely underestimated what cacao, music, sound and dancing could do before I came. It was powerful and heart opening.
Robin
“I didn’t realise how much I need human physical contact to feel whole and happy. It’s really life changing.”Selina Macias
“It’s a way of connecting with yourself, in a safe place, with very warm people.”Sara
Suddenly we were all home, with a bunch of strangers. It was like meeting these souls again: we are all one big family.
Mara · New Year’s retreat
“So much healing and so much ecstasy. It’s really hard to explain.”Jehe
Momo with his arms open and eyes closed at the decks, under a carved wooden dome at Medicine Festival

Medicine FestivalEngland

Meet Momo

At six, Momo lost his father, and his heart closed to survive. At eighteen, cacao opened it again.

Since 2018 he holds that space for others: cacao ceremonies, connection work, and ecstatic dance as the DJ Amore Momo.

“My journey is really from being closed to open. And it’s a continuous journey.”
Read his story
Momo sitting on the floor with his eyes closed, playing the kora in warm candlelight
Two hands holding an open cacao pod, the white fruit around the beans

Ceremonial cacao

Raw cacao from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, from a source we know and trust. For your own ceremony at home, or to share with friends.

Visit the cacao shop
Four friends sitting on blankets under the birch trees, talking and laughing in the evening light

Stay connected

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