The Best Wellness Experiences in 2019

Tulum’s premiere center for wellness, YÄAN Wellness specializes in traditional indigenous treatments and offers open moon temazcal ceremonies in their on-property sweat lodge. The spa is outfitted with a crystalline pool and copper baths infused with herbs and florals.

Shou Sugi Ban House’s Japanese influence comes through heavily in the design, transporting you to Hoshino Resort-levels of bliss upon pulling up. Drawing inspiration from “the elemental meeting of earth and fire,” the wellness experience goes from morning until night. Most recently, they held a Signature Reset that involved healing arts, nutrition workshops, guided meditation, and movement classes with a focus on restoration.

Art and the Aegean are what inspires the Grecian wellness and detox culture at Six Senses Spa Elounda. They offer several week-long wellness programs, like their Yogic Detox that aims to stimulate your liver to better rid your body of toxins, improve your energy supply, and clear your head. With two personal yoga sessions and a yoga consultation, the program aims to teach long-term wellness approaches that guests can implement into their post-vacation life. The nurturing Greek culture combined with the Cretan ingredients used in the Elounda spa treatments make for a comforting and purifying wellness combination.

The 100 acres of rainforest and white-sand beaches surrounding Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort, American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts partner, informs their approach to wellness. Their fitness offerings run the gamut—regular yoga, Pilates, and boot camps are a given, but they also have tailored weight-loss programs and personal training. Meanwhile, their Rainforest Spa brings you closer to the earth by using natural ingredients sourced from nearby volcanic springs and cocoa plantations.

A newly opened resort overlooking Lake Travis, Miraval Austin has already become known for their spa dedicated to inspiring a life in balance. Miraval Austin offers an array of dynamic wellness programs including yoga, meditation, nutrition, and art, as well as private sessions with a team of wellbeing specialists. They also add local flavor with a series of exclusive wellness programs that involve Austin’s robust music and art culture, and by taking advantage of their wilderness surroundings with hikes and lake activities.

The Retreat Hotel offers experiences that embrace your natural surroundings, like a private float at the Retreat Lagoon, or The Blue Lagoon ritual, which utilizes the lagoon’s natural algae, silica, and minerals to heal your body and soothe your skin. The Retreat at Blue Lagoon Hotel even has their own skin care line with the geothermal waters’ bioactive ingredients, so you can take part of the wellness experience home with you.

Indian Springs Calistoga’s spa capitalizes on the restorative, geothermal waters and mud baths Northern California has been known for since the 1800s. What stands out about the spa’s programming is that an impressive number of ingredients are sourced directly from the property. In fact, the mud used in their baths is 100% from the vein of volcanic ash found on the hotel grounds—it’s pure ash that’s hand sifted and mixed with mineral water from the thermal geysers for the ultimate detoxifying experience.

A non-traditional wellness approach, Carillon Miami Wellness Resort's offerings run the gamut from couples counseling to cryotherapy and seemingly everything in between. They’ve integrated Aruyvedic practices into their treatments, for those looking for chakra alignment and tension release. They have also expanded their programming to include NAD+ and IV treatments, still a novel concept in the wellness community thought to repair DNA and combat signs of aging.

In August, The Spa Metropole by Givenchy announced a personalized wellness program in partnership with Cecilia Rollen, a noted wellness blogger. The programming, rolling out this fall, is all about integrating long-term healthy habits, which includes fitness and nutrition guidance. In true Monaco fashion, beauty has a presence in The Spa Metropole’s wellness programming, too. L'Atelier de Givenchy debuted their 11-scent fragrance line in Monaco, and each perufme can be found at The Givenchy Beauty Boutique.

Amanpuri recently unveiled a new wellness center and medical wing, making them the brand’s first resort to provide integrative medical services. The medical wellness programs are run within three categories: anti-aging and preventive medicine, aesthetic, and sport performance. In terms of aesthetic wellness, their services are aligned with the brand’s new skincare line, which launched in October 2018 and is comprised of 30+ beauty products, including face masks, body serums, oils, and bath enhancements.

A natural hot spring runs through HOSHINOYA Karuizawa, encouraging guests to bathe in the healing waters while at the ultra-calming mountainside property. Nestled in the Karuizawa forest, the property feels hidden from the real world and is perfect for wellness travelers craving serenity; an on-property hike followed by a “meditation bath” is meant to sharpen the senses and create presence and renewed stability.

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts partner, called the Heart of the Earth Spa, they have a signature ritual that allows “eight synchronized, quartz-crystal alchemy bowls recalibrate and balance your energies.” They also offer bathing ceremonies, which utilize the spa’s lotus-pond bath, and take a holistic approach to wellness by offering treatments that fuse spiritual and physical care. That means curating treatments to combat anxiety or even jet lag, most incorporating crystal components—like their Deep Peace service, with a salt crystal scrub, an amethyst gel body wrap, and “healing crystal sounds.”

Inspired by The Bahamas’ vibrant culture, natural resources, and wellness traditions, Sense, A Rosewood Spa at Rosewood Baha Mar, an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts partner, offers more than 20 treatments inspired by Bahamian healing rituals. That includes “Lost Remedies” that are derived from centuries-old “bush medicine” traditions and “Sense Journeys” that take guests outside of the spa for truly transformative wellness experiences.