When the Maybourne group (they of Claridge’s and The Connaught) took over the old Montage Beverly Hills hotel, you could almost hear the cheering. Best of British hospitality in La-La Land is an endlessly appealing proposal; and while the roll-out is being done in stages (the latest news – the arrival of Dante Beverly Hills, a satellite of the cult-favourite Greenwich Village bar, on the hotel’s roof in July), the spa, blessedly, is 100 per cent up and running.

Like the rest of the hotel, it feels airy and indulgent: a cool sorbet palette and lots of light, but rich materials (note the glittering mosaics surrounding the mineral pool in the spa’s double-height entrance). The treatments mean business – clinical-strength Evidens de Beauté products are used in the oxygen facial, for instance, and NuFACE microcurrent wands deployed to work on eye and lip lines. Be we are in California, after all, so CBD oils and muds feature in the massages and anti-ageing treatments, too (excellent for combatting inflammation). maybournebeverlyhills.com, treatments from $180

In Rome, take the waters in style

All hotel-opening roads seem to have led to Rome in 2023, with everyone from Bulgari to Edition to InterContinental planting flags across its hills. Six Senses Rome, which opened in March, is something of a mixed bag: the public spaces have perhaps a bit too much of a could-be-anywhere-in-the-world design vibe; but the food is excellent (and on-brand: a spaghetti alle vongole was dusted with an improbably delicious algae powder – both healthy and scrummy). Rooms are comfortable but slightly anodyne; suites, on the other hand, skew into wow land, with terraces, travertine kitchenettes and basilica views.

The unqualified win is the spa, which features both a hydro circuit – caldarium, tepidarium, frigidarium – that nods to ancient history, and innovative half-hour “biohacks” (cell gym hypoxy breath training, LED light face mask) that are wholly 2023. I had a massage from an impressively intuitive therapist, then fitted a LED mask on my face while I sipped a fennel tisana for 20 minutes, which left me looking like I’d had a lifting-brightening facial as well. sixsenses.com, treatments from €45

Sydney’s new wellness eyrie

The Capella, which opened last spring and instantly raised the bar to tiptoe levels on Sydney’s hotel scene, has a lot to recommend it: warm, polished staff, an easy harbour-access location, an exceptional 1,500-piece contemporary art collection. And, its Auriga spa: spread across the hotel’s sixth floor are four large and high-ceilinged treatment rooms, each cleverly fitted under one of the listed building’s original copper light lanterns, which frame squares of sky in James Turrell-like fashion (and saturate each space with daylight, which somehow feels very Oz).

The showpiece here is the 20m-long heated indoor lap and vitality pool, at the head of which is a movement platform for yoga and stretching sessions. My fairly straightforward hour-long massage was very satisfying, between the sunlight pouring in and the skill in evidence, but I left wishing I’d sampled the “Connect to Country” experience: black jade, azoria gold, mookalite and other stones gathered, with the permission of First Australians, from far-flung points (the Northern Territory, the Pilbara) are heated and used to loosen muscles, memories, and whatever else is receptive to them, in tandem with oils infused with native botanicals. capellahotels.com, treatments from AU$150

And back to Les Sources, in Bordeaux

Caudalie is a name familiar to the skincare mavens: Augustinus Bader may be the miracle-crème man of the moment, and Dr Barbara Sturm the reigning queen of serums, but Caudalie’s resveratrol-based products continue to walk the science-based talk they’ve purveyed for two decades. Les Sources de Caudalie, the spa-hotel located in the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, is a favourite destination spa among those who know the value of vinotherapy (and a Euro); that the spa – where the half-day Vine and Source rituals can be booked by outside guests (and, during the week, single treatments too) – also taps the waters of a 540m-deep hot spring only adds to the appeal.

A chic, understated top-to-toe renovation is what’s put it back on our radar: 40 rooms and 21 suites, three restaurants, hammam and all, now cast in gentle Flemish tones and tons of natural wood and stone, soothing and spacious. sources-caudalie.com, treatment packages from €274

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

Jonny Bealby, the founder of adventure travel creator Wild Frontiers, is a great believer in the edifying qualities of travelling by oneself. He also knows all about solitude in foreign places, having lived for months in the remote Hindu Kush. His new solo journey Wild Frontiers is an exceptional walking tour of northern Pakistan, capitalising on Bealby’s deep familiarity with the region and calibrated for a group of no more than 12 individual travellers (“solo but not alone” is his working tagline). The 14-day “Journey to the Roof of the World” takes in some of the highest mountains on Earth, which are visible from the route from its various paths and byways.

Starting in the Khaplu Valley and ending at Shigar Fort in Baltistan, the route traverses the terrain of giants including, right there on the horizon, K2; at its midpoint is a non-glacial trek over the 4,572 Thalle La. Along the way are out-of-time villages, encounters with the various ethnic clans that call this territory home, and honest but sublime food. It’s about as close as one can get to the majesty of these mountains without undertaking an actual expedition – and a great way to convene and connect with like-minded adventurers. wildfrontierstravel.com, from £2,950 for 14 days

Culinary and culture adventures in Portugal and Colombia

Flash Pack – the UK company that specialises exclusively in solo travel for the 30- and 40-somethings – has a roster of compelling new itineraries for summer and autumn 2023. The small groups, tailored days and accommodations, and adventure- and gastronomy-led guiding are right in line with what their clients want; each is then interpreted and customised for destinations as diverse as Turkey, Morocco and Costa Rica.

Two that we especially love the sound of: first, a soft-adventure week in Portugal, starting in Porto and the Douro Valley, with riverside walks and degustations, traversing the coast (where the surf lessons are optional), and a hike and 4x4 ride through the national park at Sintra. Then there’s the nine-day exploration of Colombia, whose highlights include graffiti tours in Bogotá, speedboat rides in Guatapé, community-project cooking lessons in Medellín and, naturally, a day on Cartagena’s favourite party island, Cholón. flashpack.com, Portugal from £2,550, Colombia from £2,445

Leadership life hacks in Spain’s top wellness destination

SHA Wellness, outside Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, is a leader in diagnostics but also a leader in all things feel-good about wellness, from excellent fitness consultants to equally skilled massage therapists (not to mention delicious, nutritious, beautifully-plated food). No surprise that couples and groups of friends often check in together; but its newest programme, called Leader’s Performance, is designed with solo attendees in mind. SHA’s heads of, respectively, cognitive development-brain stimulation and healthy ageing & sleep have together created a seven-day course of analysis, diagnosis and treatment for the solo C-suite executive, business leader – or anyone whose job contains excesses of activity, travel and stress.

The goal: optimising healthy productivity by identifying how clients react to stress markers, mentally and physiologically, then making the appropriate, entirely bespoke recommendations for behavioural, fitness, sleep and nutrition habits and routines that help. The treatments, sessions and science are state of the art; the intel you leave with, actionable in everyday life. shawellness.com, from €9,600 per week for full programme including room

A leopard safari in Sri Lanka

Abercrombie & Kent subsidiary Cox & Kings is another company that presaged the solo-travel boom, and has the portfolio of alluring (and very good-value) itineraries to show for it, ranging from tiger-tracking in India’s Ranthambore National Park to trekking and cooking in Peru.

In Sri Lanka – a greatest hits destination for both culture and nature – groups of no more than 12 embark on a 12-night exploration that moves from elephant and leopard safaris in Wilpattu National Park to the wide beaches at Anantaya Chilaw and Wadduwa, with visits to the rock fortress at Sigiriya and the cave temples at Dambulla, and two nights in beautiful Kandy, where guests can pair off for cooking classes, dance performances and Puja ceremonies at the hill station’s famous Temple of the Tooth. coxandkings.co.uk, from £2,695

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

One for the Japanophiles: Ikebana Projects – a collective that curates art collaborations and bespoke events celebrating ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement – is launching its first retreat this coming October. For five days, the collective’s three founders and just 10 guests will delve into the aesthetics, traditions and key principles of ikebana by examining its history in art and architecture – and of course, via numerous hands-on designing experiences. 

From meditative workshops with monks at Mount Koya to designing sessions inspired by contemporary art (at a Tokyo gallery), it will mine Toyko’s prettiest green spaces along with some stunning private homes and estates, while immersing guests in the world of chadō (way of tea), kōdō (incense appreciation) and zazen under the guidance of Japanese masters. 1-6 Oct, from €5,060 per person

A detox alla toscana

Monteverdi Tuscany – the resort deep in the south of the region, sensitively integrated into the picturesque medieval hilltop village of Castiglioncello del Trinoro – may already be a familiar name: besides the sleek Ilaria Miani-designed interiors and sweeping Val d’Orcia views, it has an on-site arts centre and signature cultural programming season going for it. In November, it’s adding wellness to the agenda, with a seven-day holistic retreat that will focus on soft, not scary, detoxing.

There will be detoxifying facial treatments, lymphatic drainage massages, regenerative body treatments, daily yoga and meditations, and bespoke menus created by resort chef Giancarla Bodoni (she’ll also teach classes based on the produce-forward cooking traditions of the area). Biotype anamnesis (a deep-dive overall ageing assessment) will also be on offer. Monteverdi’s newly renovated wellness centre will act as headquarters. monteverdituscany.com, 11-18 November, from €11,640 for seven nights

Cycling away the stress, in Crete and Spain

For a retreat into beautiful landscapes, moving at the speed of “slow” travel, consider two new itineraries – the first of which will explore the backroads of Crete, the second the coast of Spanish Basque Country – being offered over from May to October by The Slow Cyclist. On Crete, cyclists will traverse the island from north to south, riding ebikes (to make those scenic, winding ascents a bit less arduous) and learning about the island’s multi-layered history of conquest and civilisation, from Minoan, Greek and Roman through to Byzantine and 15th-century Venetian.

The Basque Country itinerary, meanwhile – it’s the outfitter’s first foray into Spain – is a five-night, mountains-to-coast journey, which takes in everything from viticulture (at Rioja) to architecture (at Bilbao) and, of course, food (the route passes through San Sebastian, but we’re betting you eat splendidly the whole way through). theslowcyclist.com, from £2,995 per person

A mind-expanding mountain hideaway in Mexico

Finally, for a retreat of the consciousness-expanding sort – very much the wellness focus of the moment – consider looking to Tepoztlán, in the Mexican state of Morelos, which is where Tandava has its flagship premises. Tandava specialises in small-group and one-to-one journeys utilising Bufo Alvarius 5-MeO-DMT, a tryptamine psychedelic found in several plant species, and secreted from the glands of the Colorado River (Bufo Alvarius) toad. Unlike the multi-hour marathon trips facilitated by ayahuasca or LSD, 5-MeO-DMT’s effects usually last less than an hour (the average trip is around 20 minutes long); but as with psilocybin and some other psychedelics, users report seismic shifts in their consciousness, outlook and sense of wellbeing.

At Tandava, guests stay in the comfort of clean, spacious rooms in the lush mountains just outside Cuernavaca; there are meditation and yoga rooms, and Turkish steam saunas and pools for the enjoying. The staff, which includes medical professionals, psychedelic integration specialists (who help guests process their experiences before they return to their daily lives) and meditation leaders, oversee every aspect of guests’ engagement – starting, as all legitimate psychedelic retreats should, with a preliminary interview process and extensive review of personal and medical histories (any place that doesn’t require this prior to a guest’s arrival is to be avoided). Tandava is currently collaborating with University College London on a brain-imaging study of synthetic 5-MeO on retreat patients, as part of the educational and clinical training platform that its founder, Joel Brierre, runs. In August it will host its first BIPOC retreat, with a focus on ancestral healing. tandavaretreats.com, from $2,495 for a five-day retreat.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

In less than 20 years, Experimental Group has grown from a single cocktail bar in Paris’s second arrondissement to a small hospitality empire of bars, restaurants and hotels across Europe and New York. They’ve been operating a hotel in Sant Llorenç, on Menorca, as well as a sprawling beach club, Experimental Beach Ibiza, for several years, so are no strangers to these Balearic parts. Now they’ve taken on one of Ibiza’s most historic properties, the Gran Hotel Montesol, which opened in 1933 in the heart of the Old Town.

As with two other new Experimental properties, Paris-based designer Dorothée Meilichzon – by now an unofficial house talent, and definitely a secret weapon – has overseen the renovation of the 33 rooms, lounges and rooftop bar. She’s brought her usual sense of texture and fealty to local artisans and craftsmanship, as well as a lot of punchy colour. Throughout are retro-cool balances with touchable surfaces and soft curves. The restaurant, Café Montesol, an indoor-outdoor, all-day venue, is complemented by the rooftop bar with, naturally, a virtuosic cocktail menu and 360-degree views. montesolexperimental.com, from £245

The Maine Dish

The team behind The Maine group of restaurants – whose brasserie-cabaret venues stretch from the malls of Dubai to a Mayfair townhouse – have restored an 18th-century finca at Sant Francesc de s’Estany, south of Ibiza’s Old Town, and parlayed it into a two-level, 200-cover venue which they hope will become one of the island’s destinations for summer 2023.

On the menu: family-style home cooking with a Mediterranean slant, dozens of cocktails and local wines, DJ sets. During the day the restaurant re-brands as Casa M, an all-day eatery serving vegan bowls and market platters of cheeses and charcuterie. maineibiza.com 

An extra-Virgin eyrie on Mallorca

Richard Branson’s Son Bunyola has been a Mallorca fixture for years – a 1,300-acre estate north of Palma, on the island’s very desirable west coast where the Tramuntana mountains tumble to the sea. It’s home to three spectacular villas that sleep between eight and 10 guests, with every mod con and service, from private chefs to boat charters and massage therapists on call.

After a planning-permissions and restoration odyssey that stretched to two decades, Son Bunyola will debut its much-anticipated eponymous hotel here this summer: 26 rooms and suites will fill the estate’s 16th-century finca, its olive press and a handful of nearby outbuildings. There are also two restaurants, indoor lounges, outdoor dining terraces, and a pool surrounded by olive trees. The renovation is understated, the materials – stone and timber floors, iron beds, wood-beamed ceilings – both pretty and place-appropriate. The internal courtyard, lined with potted lavender, is the spot for evening drinks. virginlimitededition.com, from €600

Formentera’s new favourite

On a pristine stretch of Formentera’s 6km-long Migjorn beach, Teranka has started up its 2023 season (following a short soft-opening last year). This is beach-hotel living largely unencumbered by luxury’s more conspicuous trappings: the rooms – 35 of them – are not huge, and are simply and sparsely designed (though some have private gardens or roof terraces).

The new restaurant, with its outdoor kitchen and focus on local produce, espouses the island’s prevailing no-bells, no-whistles, feet-in-the-sand ethos (literally; it’s in a sand garden). The wellness programme meanwhile majors in guided soundscape meditation, its developer Chris Connors having launched a successful app for that purpose (he’s created three bespoke digital guided meditations for guests to do in various locations across the hotel). But you come to Formentera for simple living, and elemental beauty and maybe a bit of woo-woo; in that context, Teranka hits all its marks. teranka.com, from €382 

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

To the sea, and one of Kate Moss’s favourite holiday destinations on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It’s here, 70 miles north of Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco, that Sir James Goldsmith bought a large tract of land in the late ’80s that eventually became the fabulous hotel-resort-spa called Cuixmala.

Run these days by Alix Marcaccini and her husband Goffredo Marcaccini, it sits on 36,000 acres that, thanks to the efforts of Goldsmith pater, are a recognised biosphere reserve. The main house is modelled after the Hagia Sophia, complete with a can’t-miss-it tiled dome.

It’s surrounded by several bungalows and has a vast saltwater pool; three further villas – a bit smaller but similarly endowed (pool, palapas, colourful chic ensuites) – dot the surrounding tropical forest and several kilometres of beach. But the prevailing ethos here seems to be boho of the lower-key variety; guests are as busy shepherding tiny new turtle hatchlings across the sands to the safety of the Pacific, or picking veg at the biodynamic farm, as they are checking each others’ Aquazurras (you might find yourself going barefoot most of the time anyway). cuixmala.com, from $605

City stalwarts

When it comes to metropolitan living, Moss has fast favourites. In Paris, it’s The Ritz, which really requires no introduction. Its grandest suites are named after the illustrious guests who called the hotel home as regularly as does Moss: Chanel, Callas, Chopin, Windsor (more than one of those), César Ritz himself.

A full renovation a few years ago brought back a lot of the burnish that the years had faded; its public spaces – among them the Bar Vendôme and the storied Bar Hemingway – have been rebooted without losing any of their fin-de-siècle grandeur, and are as much a locus of Paris social life as ever. In New York, Moss stays at Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s New York, which opened last fall on Greenwich Street two blocks below Canal, in the heart of Tribeca.

The build is new, likewise the staff, but the family has been doing haute hospitality from the eighth arrondissement to St Barth’s, via Cannes and Courchevel, since 1912; and word is they are hitting all their marks here. There are 97 rooms on eight storeys, all designed by Martin Brudnizki’s studios: pretty toiles toe the Gallic line; Crittall-style windows and Hudson River views represent for NYC. Pierre Gagnaire mans the main restaurant, Fouquet’s. In a concession to the prevailing lifestyle proclivities of the clientele and the locals, the other, Par Ici, is mostly vegetarian, and the hotel’s fitness centre is operated by DogPound. 

Spa retreats

TheLifeCo Retreats have a devout following among west Londoners, and Moss has long been a proselyte of the company’s four-pronged approach to holistic wellness (mind, environment, physical flexibility and activity, and nutrition). The programmes range from chronic disease management to weight loss to applied kinesiology for digestive wellness (there’s microdosing too, but only at Phuket). Moss’s preferred destination for her TheLifeCo fix: Bodrum, where guests can stay for as few as four days or as long as six months. Yoga, meditation, juice detoxes and therapies factor in, along with long guided walks in the countryside. When she’s in LA, a half-day at Beverly Hot Springs – a semi-secret outside the City of Light, where it’s a stalwart among A-listers – is the ticket. The massages and facials (Royal Thai and shiatsu, collagen-boosting and brightening) are straightforward, the results consistently great. And when a proper switch-off is in order, Moss repairs to Gora Kadan Spa, immersed in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, south of Tokyo.

Once a retreat of the royal family, its architecture and offerings nod to tradition (the whisper of sliding doors clad in rice paper is one of the only things breaking the silence; your feet on the tatami mats make no sound) and modernity (you’ll find that western comforts – ensuite bathrooms, the occasional television – are not always on offer on the ryokan circuit). The suites are enormous; some have private saunas, others terraces. Beyond the volcanic springs for which the park is known, Gora Kadan has indoor and outdoor swimming-soaking pools (hot and hotter), and plenty of nature worth exploring. thelifeco.com, from €620 a night with Basic Detox programme; beverlyhotsprings.com, from $80 for a half-hour treatment; gorakadan.com, from about £720 

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

Greystoke Mahale, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, has been around for many years. In the far and not much-explored west of Tanzania, it’s the best place in the country (probably in all Africa, actually, outside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitats. The miles of protected national park that stretch to the north and east behind the lodge have no roads, just walking trails and paths – a network the lodge’s guides ply all day long with guests, looking for the chimpanzees along with eight other primates and monkeys, leopard and innumerable rainforest bird species.

You arrive by boat, zooming up the lake – 500 miles long, the second deepest in the world, in a majestic mountain landscape – which is already humbling. The lodge itself, strung out along the white sand of the lake, has been fabricated in part from old dhows rescued up and down the shore. Everything is pared back – thatch, found wood and felled-tree timber, chairs and lanterns perched on the sand, enclosed in its shallow declination in the deep green. nomad-tanzania.com, from $930

Ecuadorian cloudscapes (with luxe lodgings)

A lodge in a jungle in the clouds: it’s a fabulous description, as places to get away from it all go. Mashpi Lodge, in the high-altitude forest north of Quito in Ecuador, was co-developed by a former mayor of the capital, a forward-thinking and conservation-minded doer who saw an opportunity to bring to Mashpi the kind of tourism – low-impact, high-touch, beautiful accommodations – that has made the Galápagos in his country such a draw.

Recycled steel and timber are part of the construction, along with massive walls of of glass in the 24 rooms, lounges and restaurant, framing storybook rainforest views and, when the mist floats by, conveying a surreal sense of suspension in air. Twenty-two hummingbird species dart and pivot like airborne jewels through the air along forest trails. The lodge plays a role in the preservation of its Edenic surroundings, helping to fund the biodiversity reserve it’s part of and lending scientific hands too: 13 entirely new plant species have been identified and classified here since it opened in 2012. mashpilodge.com, from $1,465

Two immersive escapes at Iguazu Falls

Iguazu is a spectacle worth saving, travelling, planning for. I can write this with impunity, because when I travelled there several years ago it was almost as an add-on to the exploration of another region of Argentina – and having done embarrassingly little in the way of research, I didn’t know what I was in for. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place: not just the 2.7km-long falls, though I felt my brain was still faintly shaking in my skull days later from the thunderous, almost unfathomable spectacle of its thousands of tonnes of falling water; but also the surrounding rainforest, which is a glorious assault of plant and animal life. If you have a good guide, you will be totally immersed in nature: swimming in tributaries, donning thigh-high boots to ford streams, hiking trails across which flowering vines swoop like party streamers, the canopy above you clicking and cheeping and hooting all the while.

My guide happened to be one of the best, thanks to Awasi Iguazú, the lodge I slept at, which remains one of the most impressive wilderness stays I’ve had. They’ve hit on a good formula: each of the 14 rooms is assigned its own private guide and four-wheel-drive; and unlike other of the fine hotels around the Falls, Awasi guides focus as much on the surrounding concessions, some of them private, to which they have special access. The Lodge itself is stunning, with a small and considered footprint, comfortable lounge areas under whitewashed timber ceilings, and delicious, creative food. awasiguazu.com, from $2,310 for two nights

Brand new to the same area, though, is this newcomer, which is building buzz with the adventure constituents on the ground (I was tipped off about it by Harry Hastings, the founder of Plan South America and Argentina fixer par excellence). Pristine Iguazú is part of a new company with two locations (the other is in the sere Salinas Grandes salt flats, in far-north Jujuy Province). When it opens in September, it will have six suites, each a tented lodge with a thatched roof, a wood deck with a pool, and views out over canopy to the Paraná River. The guides have itineraries by ground and water, from Paraná beach trekking to sailing, and every experience ties back into Pristine’s conservation mandate. pristinecamps.com, from about $1,250

Unexpected jungle solitude on Bali

If you don’t require a side of adventure with your forest immersion experience – and prefer proximity to galleries, shopping and a high-low range of delicious restaurants – there’s Buahan, about a 40-minute drive into the mountains north of Ubud, on Bali. It’s here that last summer Banyan Tree opened the first of its Escapes, a new spin-off collection of small, ultra-indulgent, adults-only resorts. Banyan Tree Buahan is quite the looker, with 16 huge and very pretty standalone villas, set here and there on a steep slope; all have canvas roll-up walls, freestanding bathtubs and bale beds on the terraces, bringing a bit of safari to the Island of the Gods.

The food and drink is exceptional, almost 70 per cent plant-based and sourced from the resort’s garden, right at the entrance (you’re welcome to go pick your own ginger flower for morning tea). The restaurant and bar overlook a pool which in turn overlooks Buahan’s big selling point: a view towards the seven peaks, separated from you by a sea of green that’s barely interrupted by any other built environment – which on Bali is a rare proposition indeed. banyantree.com, from about $1,210

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

Mauritius hasn’t been on our radar in some time; but Lux* Resorts, one of its only homegrown hospitality brands, opened an impressive new flagship property late in 2021; and the wellness offering intrigues because it’s genuinely different. Starting, literally, from the roof down: Muscle Up on the Roof is the Indian Ocean’s first and only rooftop fitness centre, complete with two Olympic running tracks and a Functional Fitness Frame with 12 workout stations such as power rack, multi-pull-up and a punching bag for good measure (and maybe kickboxing sessions). Downstairs are Pilates, spinning and yoga studios, a Bastien Gonzalez nail salon, a hair salon by Oway (the 100 per cent organic Italian haircare brand, some of whose ingredients come from their biodynamic farm in the Bologna hills of Ortofficina) – along with a fully Technogym-ed fitness room, several massage and facial treatment suites and an entire floor dedicated to hydrothermal bath circuits. The mesmerically white Grand Baie beach, of which the resort enjoys a long stretch, is a nice fillip. luxresorts.com, from £400

A Well of wellbeing in southern Norway

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

Sommerro, in the Norwegian capital, is already one of Scandinavia’s buzziest urban hotels. A landmark 1930s building that its new management (who brought us the city’s other perennially packed address, The Thief, in 2013) has spent half a decade restoring to its former grandeur. Sommerro has 231 rooms and suites, seven restaurants and a plush, velvet-and-gilt 100-seat theatre open to the city. As of November, it also boasts the biggest urban wellness retreat in the Nordic region – thanks in part to the restoration and incorporation of Vestkantbadet, one of Norway’s last remaining public baths.

The retreat comprises 15,000sq ft of sauna, gym, hot and cold bathing, and extends from the subterranean quarters of the original bath house up onto the hotel’s roof, where there’s another heated pool and sauna to accompany the rooftop views. The therapies run the gamut from micro-needling facials and peels to infrared sauna circuits and, of course, massages. We’re particularly keen on the sound of the electric sauna boat excursions into the scenic island-dotted upper reaches of the Oslofjord. sommerrohouse.com, from £225

Retreat to the winelands in South Africa

Nicole Boekhoorn and Fleur Huijskens, partners in business and in life, bonded over their mutual wanderlust. Having travelled the world for years in search of a tranquil, good-energy corner of it to call home, Boekhoorn alighted in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, where she met Huijskens the day after she came upon a historic Cape Dutch estate, now called Sterrekopje. Today, its 11 “sanctuaries” – suites decorated in a hodgepodge of African, Indian, and European textiles and antiques, each with a huge sleeping-sitting room, private terrace and elegant bath (and some with pools) – have been fitted into the various outbuildings scattered across Sterrekopje’s 50 hectares, amid meditation and potager gardens where more than 100 species are cultivated.

Boekhoorn and Huijskens have already hosted women-only retreats, and the estate in general lends itself beautifully to solo female travellers – not least for the indulgent Bath House spa, which opened earlier this year in the estate’s main manor house. Scrubs, massages and facials feature products made locally with botanicals from Sterrekopje’s gardens; energy work often features – the spa team includes reflexologists and hypnotherapists. One-night stays are not the thing there; guests book in for multi-night journeys that also incorporate sound bathing, private yoga and breathwork. sterrekopje.com, two-day all-inclusive journeys from R24,500pp (about £1,185)

In Bali, it takes a village

At the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay – a multi-award-winning stalwart among Bali’s resorts – a new comprehensive wellness destination made its debut last summer; and like the perennially popular Sundara Beach Club here, it’s open to anyone who cares to book in for part or all of the day, from anywhere on the island. The multi-level, multi-space enclave features indoor and outdoor treatment suites. You can have your chakras aligned in a sound- and light-therapy chamber; close yourself away in a private Longevity Garden for 75 minutes to exfoliate yourself with volcanic pumice stones and lounge on an infrared bed shaded by banana trees. Not that old-school pampering gets short shrift here: you can follow up a four-handed gemstone massage with a TDA facial, or a deep-conditioning treatment in the Rossano Ferretti hair salon that’s on site. fourseasons.com, from Rp10,070,000 (about £535)

A wild (swimming) Highland fling

When Iwan and Manuela Wirth opened The Fife Arms in 2018, the calling card for the historic Scottish Highlands inn they had bought and reimagined was its art: provocative, extravagant, a thoroughly contemporary integration of old and new. This spring The Fife Arms is looking outward to the stunning nature of the Highlands’ Royal Deeside for inspiration, with day-long outdoor immersion programmes that incorporate hiking and wild swimming across mountains, moor and peatlands.

Led by ex-staffer Annie Armstrong (her presence predates the Wirths’ here by decades, and she knows the country well), the excursions incorporate guided hikes through the surrounding pine forests, one of which takes in a gorgeous Victorian bridge suspended over a remote waterfall. A picnic lunch, and some breathwork, happen in a Royal lunch hut, before the journey progresses in the afternoon to wild swimming and river crossings, culminating in a spot of tea – or something stronger – along with more meditation and breathwork if it’s desired, next to the fire at the wilderness tent she’s set up on the other side. thefifearms.com, from £434 

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger

The Cape-to-Cape Track stretches 75 miles along the coast of Western Australia, from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in the south – traversing the lovely Margaret River region and some of the whitest, prettiest beaches and best surf breaks in the country. Alternating spectacular bluffs with woodland and sand trails, the Track can be taken in sections; one, two or four days is often the way to go, to get the best of it, from vineyard visits to refreshing rockpool swims.

I did it with excellent Australian operators Walk Into Luxury, who’ve edited the experience down to its finest gourmand elements (a private tasting and chef’s-table dinner at Vasse Felix, whose cabernet sauvignons are best in Margaret River class) and its wildest natural ones (off-trailing in the Boranup Karri Forest, one of the most pristine such forests left in Oz). walkintoluxury.com, from A$3,350 (about £1,880) for four nights, including transfers to and from Perth

The high-low Highland Fling

The terrain is gentle and picturesque, with numerous accommodation options for a self-planned trip that lets you set the pace and the agenda, with as much (or as little) culture, beach and gastronomy filler as suits. Portugal Green Walks is a good resource for those who prefer to have their itineraries planned, whether camping or staying in pretty boutique hotels. portugalgreenwalks.com, from €995 for a 14-night Porto to Compostela walk

In Chile, W is for walks with wow factor

Summer is coming to Chile, and the busy season for the country’s Torres del Paine W Trek – which this month opens up again to self-guided hiking – is too. It’s one of the more user-friendly trekking networks in South America, offering far less punishing altitudes than in the Andes (its highest point, the John Gardner Pass, is just 800m), staggering scenery, manageably mild temperatures and the enticing possibility of a puma encounter.

Numerous operators, and a handful of good hotels, offer tailored takes on the W Trek experience, ranging from half-day walks to four-night treks with camping. Tierra Patagonia, part of the Tierra Hotels network, combines the best of luxury (slick architecture with acres of wood, huge rooms, a full spa, gourmet food with an indigenous-produce slant) with guided full-day excursions that take in some of the Trek’s highlights, including the Grey Glacier and, of course, the Towers themselves. tierrahotels.com, from $1,300

Sri Lanka’s tea trails get an upgrade

The big news out of Sri Lanka is the opening of the 22-route, 185-mile Pekoe Trail, a network of hiking paths through the island nation’s tea country. Ten years in the making, funded jointly by the US and the EU, the Pekoe is as much a social enterprise as it is a soft-adventure proposition, conceived to increase the flow of travellers (and their tourist dollars) to some of the most remote communities in the country. It incorporates many of the trails originally used to transport tea to the factories by horses, so is suitable for most ages and fitness levels. 

Though the official trailhead is in Kandy, there’s a multitude of entry and exit points in towns, villages, train stations and at interesting sites – crossing dramatic forested valleys and high country that’s steeped, if you will, in a singular colonial and spiritual history. Experience Travel Group has crafted a bespoke pan-island trip that includes three nights at Nine Skies, a stunning private bungalow near the mountain station of Ella, with half- and full-day guided walks on various sections of the Pekoe. experiencetravelgroup.com, Sri Lanka holidays from £4,000; 14-night all-inclusive journey with guided Pekoe Trail hikes, from £5,500

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Maria Shollenbarger