Sometimes the point of a retreat is to leave the familiar behind. You may want the structure of a wellness programme, but also the pleasure of a holiday; the comfort of being looked after in a landscape that is different from home. That’s where the short-haul wellness escape comes in. Across India, a number of retreats and resorts are offering distinctive versions of recovery—Ayurveda in Sri Lanka, Sowa Rigpa in Bhutan, island wellbeing in the Maldives, classic discipline in Thailand and clinical wellness in Montenegro. Each suits a different kind of wellness seeker. Here’s our pick of the interesting ones out there.
Sri Lanka
Set in the hills near Kandy, overlooking Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range, this Santani Wellness Kandy is a Michelin Key retreat and built around silence. The architecture is pared back, the 20 rooms open out to forest and mountain, and the spa almost disappears into the hillside. Nothing feels over-designed—the point is to remove noise, not add a new aesthetic.
Santani’s approach is rooted in Ayurveda, but also covers “adaptive wellness”, which includes metabolic balance, sleep and nervous-system regulation.
This year, as it marks ten years of its founding, Santani has introduced various types of stays for guests with particular needs. The Refresh pathway is for those who want to plan their own stay and take it slow. Transform is for those who want something more structured, with consultations, nutrition and treatments shaped around individual goals. The Masters in Residence programme brings visiting practitioners in movement, breath, mindfulness and bodywork to the retreat for longer residencies.
The food follows the Ayurvedic idea of rasa haya, or the six tastes, but meals don’t feel like like punishment. Meals are served at the elevated main restaurant, with views of the surrounding hills.
Bhutan
Bhutan is not a place for rushing around or hustling. Its landscape lends itself to wellness. The mountain roads, the prayer flags, the dzongs, the rivers, and the slowing down of everything all point to a healthy and happy state of mind.
Pemako Punakha fits into that rhythm. This is not the retreat to choose if you’re looking for diagnostics, numbers and a tightly packed wellness schedule.
At the heart of its spa is sowa rigpa, the Himalayan “science of healing”, practised across the region for centuries and deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy, indigenous medicine and ancient therapeutic traditions.
In sowa rigpa, wellness is a balance between the body, emotions, energy, environment and spiritual awareness. At Pemako, this is done through consultations with a drungtsho, or traditional Bhutanese physician, who recommends treatments based on individual imbalances as well as rituals such as Sorig Yoga, traditional Bhutanese massage, herbal compresses and medicinal baths.
The result is a form of wellness that feels inseparable from place. They also offer dhotso, the Bhutanese hot stone bath, which uses heated river stones and Himalayan medicinal herbs. Then there is kunye, a traditional Bhutanese massage that works with pressure points, herbal oils and the body’s subtle energies.
Maldives
The Maldives has always been easy to associate with wellness. You sleep near the water, swim in the ocean, do little and call it restoration. Joali Being takes that idea one step further.
Located on Bodufushi in Raa Atoll, the retreat has 68 villas and residences, each with a private pool and a personal butler. The whole place is organised around four pillars: mind, skin, microbiome and energy.
Guests begin with a consultation and assessment, after which the stay can be shaped around sleep, digestion, movement, mental clarity, hormonal balance, skin, weight or energy.
There is a lot here if you want structure: Watsu, sound healing, cryotherapy, movement analysis, hydrotherapy, herbology, nutrition-led dining and a hydrotherapy hall with banya (Russian steam bath), Watsu room, Aufguss sauna, Turkish hammam and salt inhalation room. All this might sound clinical, but somehow doesn’t feel that way because of the setting.
The retreat has an open-plan restaurant built around three kitchens: Su for ocean-to-table pescatarian cuisine, Plantae for vegetarian and vegan food, and B’Well for a more balanced menu with select meat and poultry.
Thailand
Long before every hotel had a gut-health menu, a cold plunge and a sleep ritual, Chiva-Som in Thailand had built its reputation on serious, structured wellness. Set in Hua Hin, the resort has 54 rooms and suites, with understated design that uses bamboo, silk, teak, and muted colours.
Each stay includes an individual health and wellness consultation, three wellness cuisine meals per night, physical analysis, fitness and leisure activities, use of Water Therapy Suites and daily wellness treatments.
The retreat’s approach spans spa, physiotherapy, holistic health, nutrition, fitness and aesthetic beauty, with practitioners including Thai and Chinese medicine doctors, fitness experts, naturopaths and acupuncturists.
Montenegro
Montenegro is not a short-haul trip in the same way as Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives or Thailand are. But it is an example of how luxury wellness will evolve in the future.
At One&Only Portonovi, wellness sits inside the larger frame of a resort holiday. Set at the entrance of Boka Bay, the property has 113 guest rooms, suites and villas, along with 10 One&Only Private Homes.
The rooms look out to the bay, marina, gardens or mountains, so the stay does not feel like checking into a clinic, even though the wellness offering is serious.
Its treatment protocol follows the Chenot Method of detoxification, nutrition and healing. The Chenot Espace is where the diagnostics, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chenot Diet plan are recommended to guests. There is also a gym, sauna, steam room, hammam, relaxation room, indoor pool and five outdoor pools around a private beach. Guests can commit to a fuller programme, choose something shorter, or book individual treatments. This resort is built for the traveller who wants the science, but with a bay view.