Wellness travel is booming, and hotels large and small are wooing guests with state-of-the-art spas, fitness centers, classes and retreats. Here are some of the latest properties, where wellness goes beyond pilates and facials to sleep tracking, local rituals and even medical services like getting an echocardiogram.
Banyan Tree Veya, Valle de Guadalupe — Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico: About 90 minutes from the U.S. border, among the hills of western Mexico’s Baja California wine region, this new 16-acre escape has its own winery as well as a spa with treatments that incorporate Asian and local Indigenous rituals, along with plants from the property’s garden. Take part in a ritual during which a temazcalero, or guide, will lead you through breathing exercises, chants and drumming with the aim of renewing your energy, followed by time in a temazcal dome, where steam rises from hot stones. Learn how to make essential oils and herbal pillows at an aromatherapy workshop. Or take a contemplative walk in the labyrinth. There’s also a fitness studio, two hilltop pools and water-themed therapies, including an ice bath, at the hotel’s Desert Springs hydrotherapy facility.
Each of the hotel’s 30 modern villas have plunge pools, yoga mats, resistance bands and singing bowls. In the evening you’ll receive aromatherapy sprays to help you unwind.
You can explore the area’s vineyards, visit the tasting room at the hotel’s winery, swim and grab a snack at Roka, the pool bar, with food-truck fare like tacos and Baja empanadas. Or stop by Atalaya, a bar with views of the valley, for local beers, wines and bites.
The Emory — London: This hotel in Belgravia, opposite Hyde Park, has 61 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows and a sprawling wellness club called Surrenne that spans four floors. Swim laps in the 72-foot pool where underwater speakers play “soundscapes” generated by AI, or join a swimming class in the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park. Relieve body aches with Ashiatsu, a deep-tissue massage from a therapist who uses their feet to apply pressure; work up a sweat with a Tracy Anderson Method workout or a visit to the sauna. The “snow shower,” in which snowflakes fall gently onto your skin from shower jets, is meant to encourage rest. Choose from medical services and tests (for additional fees) that the hotel says are administered by a doctor or nurse, including an MRI/MRA brain scan or an echocardiogram.
At chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s abc kitchens, a sizable menu draws from his New York restaurants. For cocktails or coffee, stop at Bar 33, a rooftop bar with indulgences like wagyu beef skewers and Exmoor Caviar doughnuts.
Eastern & Oriental Express, a Belmond Train, Southeast Asia — Singapore and Malaysia: This art deco-style luxury train, which offers three-night round-trip itineraries between Singapore and Malaysia, has just opened the Dior Spa Eastern & Oriental Express in one of its 16 carriages. In the new spa car you’ll discover spaces decorated with tropical wood, canework and Toile de Jouy prints featuring tigers. Here you can loosen up with the D-Jungle body treatment, which involves stretching and massage, or slow down with Le Soin de Minuit, with meditative exercises, tea and treats.
Passengers choose from two itineraries. “The Essence of Malaysia” (November to February) goes from Singapore through Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, as well as to Penang Island, where you can check out George Town, a historic city on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The other itinerary, “Wild Malaysia” (March to October), takes you to Penang and to Taman Negara National Park, a tropical rainforest and home to Asian elephants and Malayan tigers. On the train, catch a live performance at the piano bar.
Six Senses La Sagesse — St. David, Grenada: Although Grenada was hit hard by Hurricane Beryl, the first Six Senses resort in the Caribbean is open, situated between a cove and a bay on a southern part of the island that was spared much of the devastation. At the spa, treatments nod to your surroundings; the Caribbean Cleansing Ritual includes scrubbing, a mask and a coconut oil massage, as well as a cup of local bush tea and organic chocolate. At the Alchemy Bar, use native ingredients to create your own products, like facial scrubs. Treatments for children, including nail shaping and painting, are also available.
Enjoy seafood by the ocean at SeaFire, farm-to-table dishes at Callaloo and wood-fired pizza and local rums and cocktails poolside at Panquai.
Six Senses La Sagesse — Kyoto, Japan: This contemporary wood-and-stone hotel in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto is inspired by nature (some suites have garden courtyards) and Japanese Zen culture. At the spa, you’ll find acupuncture, or try the Ah-un treatment, which begins with an incense ritual to help you get into a meditative mindset before receiving a full body massage that uses tuning forks on acupressure points. Or slip into a bathing suit for Watsu, bodywork in a dedicated pool that involves massage, stretching and sound therapy. A children’s spa menu includes foot mapping, massages and even “mini meditation.”
All rooms have temperature-regulating pillows, duvets and organic cotton sheets. Having difficulty sleeping? Sign up for a multiday sleep program.
ESPACIO The Hakone Geihinkan Rin-Poh-Ki-Ryu — Hakone, Japan: Board a cable car and you’ll find yourself gliding down to a forested valley where this new nine-villa hideaway is nestled in the hot springs resort area of Hakone, about 50 miles southwest of Tokyo. The villas are serene and spacious, with indoor and outdoor baths fed by the Dogashima hot spring, one of several springs in this region that has captured the country’s imagination since at least the Edo period. Some villas have saunas and pools as well. Head to the Espacio Spa to be pampered with an oil massage or hot stone body treatment.
When you’re not lazing in a hot spring, enjoy a meal of kaiseki or nabe (hotpot) overseen by chef Takahiro Yamagishi of Tominokoji Yamagishi in Kyoto, and served in your villa.