Wellness travel has been on the rise for a while now, with hotels adding yoga sessions to their lists of services, and fry-ups disappearing from the breakfast buffet in favor of juice bars. But the latest trends in wellness travel for 2018 takes us far beyond quick meditation sessions and free fruit. From holidays in silence to badass retreats only for women, here are five wellness trips you should definitely try this summer.
Photo: Luna Vandoorne/Shutterstock
5 New Trends in Wellness Travel You Should Try This Summer
1. Architectural wellness
The tourism industry is starting to realize how important the spaces around us affect our emotions when traveling. Architectural wellness involves specially curated spaces that use aesthetics to nurture us physically and mentally.
Aro Ha Wellness Retreat in New Zealand focuses on ‘Zen-inspired luxury’, with simple intelligent design set in a sub-alpine landscape, complete with stunning views of Lake Wakatipu.
Photo: Aro Hā
The retreat is emphatically eco-friendly, and inside the rooms you can find recycled timbers and woven natural dyed blankets.
Photo: Aro Hā
Within the clean, wooden structures you can try out all-inclusive programmes including nutrition, yoga and mindfulness. 6 days/5-night retreats start at $3,650 USD.
2. Silent retreats
Our lives are full of stressful noise from traffic to alarm clocks to endless chatter. Silent retreats combine a no-talking policy with meditative natural surroundings, so that you can have ample freedom and peace to begin an inner journey of discovery.
Photo: Hridaya Yoga
Hridaya Meditation Retreat asks for complete silence in order to focus on calming the mind and transforming your sense of self through yoga and meditation.
Photo: Hridaya Yoga
The center is located in Mexico on the Oaxacan Coast with a view of the Pacific Ocean. Silent Meditation Retreats are offered for 3 or 10 days, costing $105 and $260 respectively, excluding accommodation and meals.
3. Breakup breaks
Instead of getting drunk with friends or binge-watching Gossip Girl, these holidays are tailor-made to help you get over a breakup in a healthy way. They mix stress management with yoga, life coaching and stress-reducing massages so that you feel comforted, emotionally re-charged, and in control of your life.
Kamalaya’s Embracing Change programme aims at supporting anyone going through challenging life changes, from work-related difficulties to relationship problems.
Photo: Kamalaya Koh Samui
They use therapies such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Asian Foot and Hand Massage and Reiki to aid the process of letting go and establishing a healthier emotional balance.
Photo: Kamalaya Koh Samui
A five-night stay at Kamalaya with 5-night Embracing Change programme starts from $1,560 USD.
4. Progressive wellness journeys
Many retreats offer the opportunity to try a different activity each day, but one new wellness trend is emphasizing the holistic over the fragmental. The aim is to create an emotional journey linking activities and healing practices. Each day becomes a new chapter of your transformation story.
Six Senses Bhutan will be opening soon, and offers an epic journey through its string of five luxury lodges dotted across the rough Bhutan landscape.
Photo: Six Senses Bhutan
The experience starts at ‘Palace in the Sky’ Thimpu Lodge, overlooking ancient monasteries, and takes you through rice fields, pine forests, and the Black Mountains.
Photo: Six Senses Bhutan
5. Women’s empowerment retreats
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the push for women’s empowerment is also influencing the travel industry. There is an emerging focus on all-women retreats which combine treatments like emotional healing with lectures and workshops from inspiring female speakers.
Finland’s SuperShe Island is a membership-based remote island only for women.
Photo: SuperShe
Accommodation is in cabins equipped with spa facilities and Finnish saunas, and activities include yoga, meditation, farm-to-table dining and cooking classes.
Photo: SuperShe
It’s all about eliminating any of the anxieties that come with men being around and providing the kind of liberating environment where women feel comfortable to swim naked in the sea. You can join a group of other strong-willed women by applying for membership. 