1. Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, Andamans, India
This newly-opened Taj Exotica property brings 54 villas to 46 acres of forests and mangroves, all nestled against a crescent curve of a beach. Serenity is a big theme here. At reception – which like most of the property is built on stilts using sustainable materials – you will be greeted with views of the ocean and a 50-metre swimming pool. At night, you can kayak through mangroves to look for bioluminescence plankton. For wellness, there’s an infinity pool facing the ocean that is large enough for laps, in-house yoga instructors, and a resident environmentalist who can walk you around the organic garden. Jiva Spa provides a variety of Indian healing therapies, plus a signature sand bath treatment that involves tension-soothing ocean minerals.
www.tajhotels.com
2. Hotel President Wilson, Geneva
Home to what was once the world’s most expensive suite, Hotel President Wilson offers the only La Mer spa in Switzerland – making it one of eight in the world. There are all the usual offerings you’d expect at this airy, luxurious spa – a hammam, steam rooms,
a Jacuzzi, relaxation rooms – plus more unique treatments like lymph drainage and jet-lag massages. Then there’s the decadent ‘The Ultimate Experience’ signature treatment, where sea quartz and diamond dust are used, plus a hefty dose of the cult classic Crème de la Mer. Hotel President Wilson also has an outdoor pool and 24-hour fitness centre.
www.spalamer.com
3. Westin Resort and Spa, Mauritius
Health and wellness is an integral part of Westin’s brand, and this is something celebrated at the group’s Mauritius resort. Although the entire 190 rooms-and-suites property sprawls along a private beachfront, guests can borrow bicycles and ride to several neighbouring bays. There’s a running map with routes around the area, plus New Balance shoes available for those who leave their trainers at home. The gym is lush but the pools more so, with the main pool spanning 1,386sqm and looking out over Turtle Bay. At night, lavender spray and sleep-friendly essential oils are left on pillows instead of chocolate to induce good sleep. And for relaxing during the day, the resort’s airy spa offers all the treatments you’d expect from a five-star resort.
www.marriott.com
4. Bvlgari Resort, Dubai
Once offering the most expensive stay in Dubai, Bvlgari Resort revels in understated glamour. The property’s 121 rooms and villas span 158,000 square metres, all teasing with themes of coral through muted colours and airy shadow play. The spa alone stretches 1,700 square metres, yet still feels intimate and innately private. There’s a 25-metre indoor pool with a mosaic wall made from gold, while the spa’s Iranian Green Onyx has been bookmatched to create near-perfect symmetry. Treatments are varied, but the five-hour hammam journey, which happens in Bvlgari’s private hammam suite, is one of the most popular. More active wellness is also a focus here. The Workshop, Bvlgari’s brought-in-from-London fitness brand, means the gym has bespoke Technogym equipment, customised protein smoothies, and bookable personal trainers.
5. Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Switzerland
Thermal waters have been used in healing for generations and at this luxurious Swiss resort,
a thermal spring winds through the complex, while the Alps and wine lands unfurl in the distance. The resort’s elite clientele come to soak in a series of thermal baths, or to see any combination of 70 different doctors and therapists at The Medical Center and Clinic. Yoga, singing bowl meditation, guided naturopathy, and more alternative therapies are also available. When the healing is done, either stay in a Spa Suite, at Grand Hotel Quellenhof or Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz – all renowned for serenity, luxury and sublime comfort.
www.resortragaz.ch
6. Como Shambhala Estate, Bali
Bali has no shortage of wellness retreats, but COMO Shambhala mixes in a hefty dose of luxury. Here your Ayurvedic doctors and yoga teachers come alongside luxury Balinese suite and villas, while your specialised health-focused menu will be served in a 150-year-old Javanese residence. All of this is surrounded by the Ayung River and restorative jungle, and the theme of water echoes into the property’s wellness offerings. Spa treatments use liquid drawn from one of Bali’s eight sacred springs. There’s an outdoor pool and three natural rock spring pools, two fitness centres, and yoga and meditation sessions. Treatment-wise, you’ll find acupuncture, ayurveda, chakra healing, hydrotherapy and colonics. A personal assistant is also on hand to guide you through the healing, and lead you on
a path to greater wellbeing.
www.comoshambhala.com
7. Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai
Traditional healing is woven into this 2,000 square-metre spa, and luxury into its wellness offerings. Alongside the spa’s sauna, steam room, ice fountain, indoor vitality pool and dedicated hammam suite, the spa ties in local heritage with its Nomadic Sensory Journey. This incorporates Emirati drumming with Asian beauty knowledge. When finished relaxing at the airy spa, you can lounge across six pools or unwind on the private beach, then head into the region’s first Outrace gym for punching bags, climbing ropes, beach bootcamps and more. The hotel suites are equally spacious and calming, continuing the sense of tranquillity and wellbeing throughout your stay.
www.mandarinoriental.com
8. W Maldives, Fesdu Island
W Hotels has contemporary luxury down to a fine art, but its Maldives property pares back on the partying and boosts the serenity and sophistication. The 66-metre AWAY Spa is home to four over-water villas and features both indoor and outdoor treatment areas, allowing for complete privacy and immersion into your watery surrounds. Focusing on natural healing therapy, you can choose from a variety of treatments, including massages, wraps and facials, or stretch out to the panoramic horizon with private yoga sessions in the pavilion on the wraparound sundeck, replete with over-water bathing, outdoor rainforest shower and huge daybed for sun-soaking, lounging and treatments. The resort is also home to FIT,
a state-of-the-art gym, where its ENERGY team offers kickboxing, karate, aqua aerobics, circuit training, and yoga at sunset, all set to a backdrop of the beautiful blue expanse of the Indian Ocean.
www.marriott.com
9. The Farm at San Benito, Philippines
Celebrating 17 years of holistic wellness, a back-to-nature approach features heavily here, with five health components at its core: diagnose, cleanse, nourish, repair, and sustain. A retreat of self-discovery, treatments are customised to the individual, and span everything from mental health to pain management to beauty and anti-ageing. Food is primarily organic, with a focus on whole, natural ingredients. Vegans can feast in the entirely vegan restaurant, while a raw food culinary retreat is ideal for health-focused foodies. At the spa, the options are broad, choosing from aesthetics and dental fixes straight through to spiritual healing and stress reduction.
www.thefarmatsanbenito.com
10. Six Senses Spa, Dubai
It’s easy for a ‘themed’ spa to go wrong, but this newly-built Six Senses at Renaissance Downtown Dubai gets everything right. The concept of ‘six senses’ plays out across the spa’s six treatment rooms. Step into ‘taste’ for a steam shower infused with herbal essences, or ‘sight’ to relax on a couch while an electronic eye mask glows with colour therapy. ‘Beyond’ offers yoga and meditation, while ‘sound’ features a So Sound Legato Healing Lounger. In ‘touch’, you can float in a salt water pod to experience sensory deprivation, then unwind with a more traditional oil massage that involves touches
of singing bowl meditation.
www.sixsenses.com
11. North Island, Seychelles
As one of the world’ most exclusive hotels, this 11-villa property has room to indulge in unique touches – including a complimentary welcome spa treatment for every guest, scuba diving, fishing trips, and a helicopter transfer to and from the island. When it comes to health, a chef will design meals bespoke to you and your dietary requirements. The property’s surrounding granite hills make for great afternoon hikes, while the 42-metre swimming pool is perfect for laps. Each villa comes with a private plunge pool and outdoor shower. If this makes it too tempting to leave your room, the spa can come to you, offering treatments themed around island ingredients right in the comfort of your own ultra-luxurious temporary ‘home’.
www.north-island.com
12. Cheval Blanc Randheli, Maldives
Elegance and sophistication prevail at this luxurious Maldivian resort, where
45 villas designed by famed architect Jean Michel Gathy face out across the sea. These themes echo into the property’s wellness offerings too. There’s a golf simulator and yoga, meditation and tennis, plus a serene spa featuring Guerlain rituals that perches on its own private island. When fitness is done, your private butler can whisk you back to your villa where, at night, expect baths to be drawn and candles lit. To make offerings even more tempting, Cheval Blanc has just unveiled three new wellness journeys: well-being, focused on restoration of body and mind; detox and fitness, which spans spa and sport; and family, for interactive adventures and spa lessons.
www.chevalblanc.com
13. The Retreat at Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Minimalist Icelandic design and careening mountains outside make up this luxurious new property. Here guests can unwind in Iceland’s most famous thermal pool or pad around a 4,305 square-foot subterranean spa. Outside there are the geothermal waters of the healing lagoon, and the building’s entire architecture has been designed to invite the beauty of nature in. Expect floor-to-ceiling windows, wooden stairs down into steaming lagoons, and austere but luxurious rooms in muted colours with incredible views over the neighbouring landscapes.
ww.bluelagoon.com
14. Nihi Sumba, Indonesia
The luxury island for high-end surfers with hearts of gold, Nihi is under an hour’s plane ride from Bali, but it feels a world apart. The tropical paradise sits amid 175 hectares of rice terraces, grasslands and tropical forests. It has its own winding cove of protected oceanfront – and for the surfers, some of the best waves around. Rooms are loosely themed, offering views over surf breaks or into the jungle, and all are made using local materials, and designed to invite nature in. Activities include fishing, yoga, paddleboarding, mountain biking and horseriding. However, the NihiOka Spa Safari is not to be missed. Starting at sunrise with
a 90-minute trek through rolling countryside, rice paddies and a traditional Sumbanese village, you’ll enjoy breakfast on a private strip of coastline, a 90-minute cliff-side massage, a swim in the ocean and a drive back to the resort in an open-top car.
www.nihi.com
15. Amanwana, Moyo Island, Indonesia
When a secluded nature reserve mixes with Aman’s heritage of luxury, wonderful things happen. There aren’t hotel towers here – just 20 high-end ‘tents’ – and wellness comes in the form of all things outdoors. A protected marine park offers incredible snorkelling and scuba diving opportunities, while the nearest community is a 45-minute walk away. You can tour waterfalls or hike in search of monkeys and buffalos. When exploring is done, Amanwana’s coral-walled open-air Jungle Cove Spa offers a chocolate and coffee scrub or a sea salt scrub soaked in honey, amid Indonesia’s wildlife surrounds. The spa’s all-natural products are available to buy too, allowing you to continue your heavenly journey once home.
www.aman.com
16. The Ritz Paris, France
Quite literally the Grande dame of Paris hotels, a benchmark to which so many hotels are measured, the Ritz Paris brings opulence and grandeur to the fore, with lavish interiors and a beautiful Belle Époque style. Coco Chanel was a resident here for years, so it makes sense that the hotel’s spa is home to Chanel au Ritz, where the brand’s singular approach to skincare makes beauty glow from within, as per Mademoiselle’s Chanel’s own edict. Try the ‘L’allure de Chanel’ for a fragrant journey of figure firming, or ‘Le Grand Soin’ for a fully-customised Chanel-infused skin journey. There’s also an underground tunnel for private entry, heated gardens, and an indoor pool wrapped in 800,000 hand-laid mosaic tiles.
www.ritzparis.com
17. The Landmark London
Tucked just off the bustling chaos of Marylebone in central London is this step-back-in-time gem, where palm trees stretch towards the sky in an indoor heated winter garden and plush chaise lounges perch in front
of oil paintings. You can swim laps in a 15-metre indoor pool or pad between sauna and steam room. Visit the spa for reflexology, a deep tissue massages or the ‘Landmark London Elixir’, for a body scrub with exotic spices,
a cinnamon-scented massage, and rose facial therapy.
www.landmarklondon.co.uk
18. La Reserve Geneve, Switzerland
Flush against the banks of Lake Geneva, the city’s largest spa stretches across an impressive 2,500 square meters. Luxury here is understated – less gold-and-glitz, more an impressive team ready to heal, nourish, and fix every part of you. Guests are whisked away to meet with a series of medical specialists and therapists to discuss everything from anti-ageing to aesthetics. Programs last from four to 14 days, meaning there’s plenty of time to visit the hotel’s acupuncturists, osteopaths, nutritionists and more. There is also an indoor and outdoor pool, tennis court and fitness centre.
www.lareserve.grandluxuryhotels.com
19. Anantara Dhigu Resort, Maldives
Only 35 minutes from Malé, Anantara Dhigu is one of those luxury resorts with much to do and even more time to while away, where health, fitness and wellness make up a big part of your stay. There’s diving and free-diving, shark snorkelling and surf lessons, coral planting and manta ray swims... For those looking to self-care, daily sun salutation sessions are hosted on a deck facing the sea, while yogis can book Ashtanga or Vinyasa sessions. Dhigu’s spa sits on stilts over the water, and guests cycle here before unwinding with traditional massages. If an in-depth skin analysis is more your thing, there’s a flat-bottom boat to ferry you to the neighbouring adult-only Anantara Veli and its Biologique Recherche spa. Here, you’ll answer 19 questions before going through a customised skin analysis and in-depth treatment, all while palm trees brush against the airy spa’s thatched roofs. Try the flotation-themed ocean therapy for a sand exfoliation followed by soothing water meditation.
www.anantara.com
20. SHA Wellness Clinic, Spain
As one of the best-known healing-focused clinics in the world, SHA Wellness Clinic gets healing right. Guests are encouraged to book into one of six themed packages (fitness, recovery, stress relief, weight control, rejuvenation, or wellness), often for around seven days. These include a combination of personalised food plans, natural therapies and technological treatments, fitness, monitoring, and activities to create new behaviours.
All of this plays out against the undeniably beautiful backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea, with understated suites designed to drink in plenty of mountain or ocean views and air.
www.shawellnessclinic.com
21. Santani Retreat, Sri Lanka
Minimalist and austere aren’t words that often go hand-in-hand with luxury, but this secluded Sri Lankan destination does both incredibly well. Nestled amid rolling rice paddies and tropical jungle in Sri Lanka’s central north, Santani brings wellness back to the mind. Guests are encouraged to unwind with regular meditation and yoga sessions. Food is customised to suit every diet with menus specifically tailored for health (think fresh fish, lightly grilled vegetables, and delicate fruit touches). While there are activities, including jungle hikes and swinging bridge walks, the spa is much more appealing. An underground heated pool looks over a stream, while treatment rooms are open on one side to best enjoy Santani’s striking nature.
www.santani.lk
