Wellness Resorts: Stays built around restoration

Wellness resorts range from beach resorts with a fine spa to retreats where every hour follows a plan drawn up with practitioners. Between them sit traditions with deep roots: Ayurveda in Sri Lanka, Thai massage, the onsen of Japan and the thermal baths and saunas of the Alps. The best stays are clear about what they offer and modest about what they promise.

These pages explain how to tell a genuine programme from a spa menu, how to book and order treatments, how to bathe in hot springs and thermal pools, and what to ask about practitioners, food, sleep and length of stay before you commit.

Guides

3 articles on wellness resorts

Open-air yoga pavilion above misty tropical forest at sunrise

Wellness Resorts8 min readGuide

Wellness Resorts: How to Tell a Real Programme from a Spa Menu

A spa menu sells treatments one at a time, a real programme shapes your whole day: how to judge the consultation, schedule, food and length of stay.

Low timber ryokan with an outdoor hot spring bath in snow among birch trees

Wellness Resorts6 min read

Hot Springs and Thermal Resorts: Onsen, Thermae and Volcanic Pools

How to bathe in a Japanese onsen, an Alpine thermal bath or a volcanic pool in Costa Rica, how long to soak and who should take care.

Treatment room with a linen covered massage table and candles

Wellness Resorts6 min read

Booking Treatments at a Resort Spa: Timing, Order and Small Print

When to book, when to arrive, which treatment comes first and what the cancellation policy really means at a resort spa.

Where to go

10 destinations for wellness resorts

On the atlas

Thatched overwater villas on a curving jetty across a Maldivian lagoon

3.90° N · 73.40° E

Maldives

Indian Ocean 10 h

Best: December to April

20.25° S · 57.55° E

Mauritius

Indian Ocean 11½ h

Best: May, September to November

8.55° S · 115.17° E

Bali

Asia 16 h

Best: May to September

Infinity pool reflecting trees and a pavilion above the Andaman Sea

7.88° N · 98.39° E

Thailand

Asia 12 h

Best: December to March

6.05° N · 80.22° E

Sri Lanka

Asia 10½ h

Best: December to April

Open timber pavilion on a rainforest ridge with mist lifting at dawn

10.60° N · 85.70° W

Costa Rica

Caribbean & Americas 12 h

Best: December to April

Earthen kasbah with towers and a pool on a hilltop in the High Atlas

31.63° N · 8.00° W

Marrakech & the Atlas

Middle East & North Africa 3½ h

Best: March to May, October to November

Grand hotel with turrets on a snowy slope above frozen alpine lakes

46.50° N · 9.84° E

Swiss Alps

Europe 1 h

Best: January to March, July to August

Chalet hotel on an alpine meadow below jagged limestone peaks

46.55° N · 11.85° E

Dolomites

Europe 1.2 h

Best: January to March, July to September

Mountain hotel of stone and glass at the foot of a snowy ski slope with a volcano

42.86° N · 140.70° E

Niseko

Asia 14½ h

Best: January to March

Try it now

Resort Finder: Which Resort Suits You

Answer six short questions about company, landscape, month and priorities and get three destinations and the resort style that fits them.

Open the Resort Finder

Keep exploring

Other resort styles

Long palm shaded pool running beside a quiet tropical beach

Beach ResortsSand, reef and the art of doing little

A flat coral island in a deep blue ocean seen from a small aircraft

Private IslandsOne island, one resort

Thatched overwater bungalows on a jetty below a steep green volcanic peak

Overwater VillasLiving above the lagoon

Mountain hotel with a glowing outdoor pool above a snowy village at dusk

Mountain & SkiAltitude, snow and fireside evenings

Tented suite with a private pool on a deck facing red dunes at sunset

Desert ResortsSilence, dunes and starlight

Safari tent with a glass front and a timber deck on the rim of an escarpment

Safari LodgesThe wild at the edge of the deck

Whitewashed country estate above a fairway lined with olive trees and the sea

Golf ResortsFairways with a view

A father walking hand in hand with two daughters on a white beach

Family ResortsRoom for children, calm for parents

Empty cliffside infinity pool with a sun lounger and a glass of wine

Adults OnlyQuiet by design