How do you know whether a place suits you?

By what you actually need. If you sleep badly, the mountains often serve you better than the sea. If you want to switch off, you need a kitchen you look forward to rather than a full daily schedule. That is what we talk through beforehand.

How long should you stay?

Fewer than five nights rarely justifies the journey — the first two days go to arriving. Seven to ten nights is where sleep and rhythm genuinely begin to shift.

Is this medical travel?

No. We recommend places, not treatment plans. Where a house works medically we say so — whether that is what you want stays between you and your doctor.

When is the right season?

Usually outside the high season: the houses are quieter, the attention closer and the rates fairer. In the Alps, early autumn and late spring are the best weeks.

Quiet indoor pool of an alpine wellness house in morning light, with travertine, folded towels and a view into the forest

Wellbeing

Journeys you come home better from

Some journeys have a purpose other than sightseeing. They are about sleep, movement, good food and time with nothing in it. These are the places we recommend for that — and what we would add beforehand.

See the places

How we see it

Recovery does not need a treatment plan.

We do not send anyone to a programme; we send them to a place. What is medically possible may matter — it rarely decides whether a week turns out well. Setting, architecture, the kitchen and the people who work there decide that.

We are interested in regeneration and balance: sleeping well, moving, eating calmly, being outdoors, clearing your head. Not diagnostics, not measurements, and not the promise that you return as someone else.

These places differ far more than their brochures suggest. One lives on altitude and forest, another on the sea, a third on a kitchen you look forward to. That is exactly what we talk through first.

Treatment room with lime-plaster walls, linen and an olive branch in afternoon light

Our recommendations

The places we recommend for this

From the Dolomites and Lake Tegernsee to Crete, the Côte d'Azur, Bali, Thailand and the foothills of the Himalaya — what defines each one, and what we would add in conversation.

01 — Bayern, Deutschland

Lanserhof Tegernsee

A light-filled house above Lake Tegernsee where everything is arranged around quiet: little distraction, clear days, a programme that begins with a medical consultation and sets the rhythm from there.

Why we recommend it

Because nobody here is trying to sell you anything. The recommendation at the end is usually shorter than guests expect — which says a great deal about the place.

Suits: Guests who need a week alone between two demanding years and value structure.
Suggested length: Seven nights; shorter rarely pays off.
Best season: All year; late autumn is the calmest.

Note

The kitchen is deliberately spare. First-time guests should count on two days in which the body objects.

Goes well with

02 — Alicante, Spanien

SHA Wellness Clinic

White terraces above the Mediterranean, a large house with many disciplines under one roof and a kitchen that thinks macrobiotically without being joyless.

Why we recommend it

Because the breadth is an advantage here: nutrition, sleep, movement and recovery are looked at together rather than sold separately.

Suits: Couples and solo travellers who want sun, sea and a noticeably warmer climate.
Suggested length: Seven to ten nights.
Best season: March to June and September to November.

Note

Ask for a suite on the upper floors — over a longer stay, the view across the bay makes a difference.

Goes well with

03 — Montreux, Schweiz

Clinique La Prairie

A house on Lake Geneva with a long history in preventive health, quiet rooms and a schedule that is medically led without feeling clinical.

Why we recommend it

Because diagnostics and rest are taken equally seriously. You leave with results and still rested.

Suits: Guests over fifty who want to know, calmly and properly, where they stand.
Suggested length: Four to seven nights.
Best season: May to October, when the lake lies open.

Note

The week is more tightly scheduled than elsewhere. If you mainly want to sleep, Tegernsee suits you better.

Goes well with

04 — Altea, Spanien

ZEM Wellness Clinic Altea

The younger, more spacious member of the SHA family: plenty of light, large outdoor areas, apartments rather than rooms and a programme built around weeks rather than days.

Why we recommend it

Because someone has finally taken the longer stay seriously — you live here rather than take a cure.

Suits: Guests staying two to four weeks, or arriving with family.
Suggested length: Fourteen nights and upwards.
Best season: Spring and autumn.

Note

A house still settling in: some of it is newer than it is practised. We will tell you frankly whether the timing already works.

Goes well with

05 — Bangkok, Thailand

RAKxa

Set on a green river island outside Bangkok, RAKxa brings Thai treatment traditions together with Western diagnostics — and still lies half an hour from the city.

Why we recommend it

Because the quiet is a surprise: mangrove forest, birdsong and no traffic, right beside one of Asia's loudest cities.

Suits: Travellers already heading to Asia who place the stay before or after a longer journey.
Suggested length: Five to ten nights.
Best season: November to February.

Note

It combines well with a few days in Bangkok beforehand — afterwards most people want to go straight home or to the sea.

Goes well with

06 — La Croix-Valmer, Frankreich

Lily of the Valley

A Philippe Starck house above the Bay of Gigaro that feels more like a holiday hotel than a clinic — with a very serious programme behind it.

Why we recommend it

Because it is the rare place where one person uses the week for themselves while the other simply lies by the sea. Both work side by side.

Suits: Couples with different ideas of what rest means.
Suggested length: Five to seven nights.
Best season: May, June and September.

Note

The peninsula is full in high summer. If you want quiet, avoid the school holidays.

Goes well with

07 — Vierwaldstättersee, Schweiz

Chenot Palace Weggis

A lakeside house that follows the Chenot method through: diagnostics at the start, then a fixed programme of treatments, movement and a very reduced kitchen.

Why we recommend it

Because nothing here is negotiable. Commit to the week and you get a result; want to eat out midweek and you are in the wrong place. Many of our guests value that clarity.

Suits: Guests who prefer a strict programme to a spa stay.
Suggested length: Seven nights.
Best season: Year round; quietest in spring and late autumn.

Note

Arrive without appointments. The first three days are harder than the setting suggests.

Goes well with

08 — Kandy, Sri Lanka

Santani

A restrained house in the hills near Kandy, built on a former tea estate, with Ayurveda as its foundation rather than its decoration.

Why we recommend it

Because the programme is medically led and the setting matches it: forest, mist, almost no noise. The architecture holds back, which is rare in this category.

Suits: Guests who want to try Ayurveda seriously without going to a large resort.
Suggested length: Seven to fourteen nights.
Best season: January to April, July to September.

Note

Combines well with a few days on the south coast — afterwards, not before.

Goes well with

09 — Koh Samui, Thailand

Kamalaya

A retreat built around a monk's cave on the south coast of Koh Samui, with programmes spanning burnout, sleep and weight.

Why we recommend it

Because the place has grown over two decades and the therapists stay. It is the house we suggest when someone is not ill but empty.

Suits: Guests coming out of a long stretch of too little sleep.
Suggested length: Nine to fourteen nights.
Best season: January to April, July to September.

Note

The hillside is steep. If walking is difficult, take a room on the lower level.

Goes well with

10 — Raa-Atoll, Malediven

JOALI BEING

An island given entirely to wellbeing: four pillars from nutrition to sound, a resident doctor, and still a Maldivian island.

Why we recommend it

Because it suits guests who want to do something for themselves without giving up the sea and the villa. The programme is meant seriously; the frame stays a holiday.

Suits: Couples who do not want to separate recovery from the beach.
Suggested length: Seven to ten nights.
Best season: November to April.

Note

The wine list is deliberately short. If that does not appeal, the neighbouring island suits better.

Goes well with

11 — Dehradun, Indien

Six Senses Vana

A quiet estate at the foot of the Himalaya, surrounded by sal forest. White courtyards, few furnishings, plenty of daylight — a house that accompanies its guests rather than instructing them.

Why we recommend it

Because Ayurvedic and Tibetan traditions, contemporary practice and unusually attentive hospitality come together here without turning into a programme. You are asked how you are, not what you booked.

Suits: Travellers with time who want a personal, quiet form of recovery.
Suggested length: Seven to fourteen nights.
Best season: October to April.

Note

The days have rhythm but no obligation. If you need distraction, this is the wrong place — which is the truest thing to say about it.

Goes well with

12 — Ubud, Bali, Indonesien

COMO Shambhala Estate

A retreat in the rainforest above the Ayung river: timber, stone, water, a handful of residences in the green and paths you walk barefoot.

Why we recommend it

Because movement, nutrition, sleep and nature have been treated as one thing here for decades. The kitchen is the best evidence — light, precise, and something to look forward to.

Suits: Guests who want a complete but unhurried form of recovery.
Suggested length: Seven to ten nights.
Best season: May to September.

Note

It combines well with a few days on the coast afterwards — Ubud is green, but humid.

Goes well with

13 — Hua Hin, Thailand

Chiva-Som Hua Hin

A tropical garden on the Gulf of Thailand doing the same thing for more than thirty years — only better. Pavilions, old trees, a beach and very experienced therapists.

Why we recommend it

Because much of what is offered everywhere today began here, and because the place still works without fuss. The staff stay for years; you notice within two days.

Suits: Guests who prefer a place with experience to the newest address.
Suggested length: Seven to fourteen nights.
Best season: November to February.

Note

The garden rooms are quieter than those by the sea. If sleep is the point, take the garden.

Goes well with

14 — Agios Nikolaos, Kreta, Griechenland

Minos Palace Resort

An adults-only peninsula in the Gulf of Mirabello: bright rooms by the water, short distances, a great deal of blue and a pace that slows by itself.

Why we recommend it

Because recovery does not need organising here. A swim before breakfast, Cretan cooking built on olive oil and vegetables, early nights — often that is enough.

Suits: Couples who want a quiet week by the sea, without a programme.
Suggested length: Five to seven nights.
Best season: May, June, September and October.

Note

Eastern Crete is markedly quieter than the west. A car for two days is worth it.

Goes well with

15 — Brixen, Dolomiten, Italien

Forestis

At 1,800 metres above Bressanone, facing the Dolomites: four spruce-clad towers, tall windows, almost no colour and a silence you register on the first evening almost as a sound.

Why we recommend it

Because altitude, forest, light and architecture do the work here. The spa is good, but the real reason to come is the view from the bed and the air.

Suits: Guests who prefer mountains, quiet and clear architecture to a treatment plan.
Suggested length: Four to seven nights.
Best season: June to October, January to March.

Note

A house for people who like to walk or to do nothing at all. There is little in between.

Goes well with

And afterwards

Which place is right depends on more than what is on offer.

Tell us how much time you have, whether you travel alone or as a couple and what follows afterwards. The recommendation usually falls into place faster than you would expect.

Speak with the concierge

Common questions

What guests ask us about this

How do you know whether a place suits you?: By what you actually need. If you sleep badly, the mountains often serve you better than the sea. If you want to switch off, you need a kitchen you look forward to rather than a full daily schedule. That is what we talk through beforehand.
How long should you stay?: Fewer than five nights rarely justifies the journey — the first two days go to arriving. Seven to ten nights is where sleep and rhythm genuinely begin to shift.
Is this medical travel?: No. We recommend places, not treatment plans. Where a house works medically we say so — whether that is what you want stays between you and your doctor.
When is the right season?: Usually outside the high season: the houses are quieter, the attention closer and the rates fairer. In the Alps, early autumn and late spring are the best weeks.

An Invitation

Once a month: hotels, new openings and travel ideas

One hotel that convinced us. One new opening we are watching. And one travel idea for the right season. Carefully selected and reduced to the essentials.