Four life-changing wellness retreats around the world

A personal training session overlooking Lake Constance at the Buchinger Wilhelmi resort, Germany.
A personal training session overlooking Lake Constance at the Buchinger Wilhelmi resort, Germany. Copyright Buchinger Wilhelmi
By Jenny Southan
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From Qatar to Germany, here are the best resorts for when you need to reset and recharge

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We need a break from our desks and screens more than ever. Taking a week out of your daily routines and being immersed in a new location is the perfect way to recharge.

Whether you're looking to start a new exercise regime, create new eating habits or simply lie by a pool, these four wellness retreats have got something for everyone.

Revivo Château de Fiac, France

Revivo
If the French resort is half as beautiful as the brand's base in Bali, we're all in for a treat.Revivo

Following the opening of Revivo in Bali in 2018, the brand will be launching a new wellness retreat in the Tarn region of France, in summer 2021.

Revivo Château de Fiac will take over a renovated castle on a three-hectare estate, and will feature 16 bedrooms, as well as a salt cave, a spa offering massages and hydrotherapy, bootcamp circuits, and the chance to eat freshly grown vegetables from the on-site garden.

Revivo is a proponent of teaching “mind-body” connectivity so always incorporates physical activity such as yoga with art classes and meditation, for example.

Zulal Wellness Resort, Qatar

Chiva-Som
Zulal Wellness Resort is the first centre for Traditional Arabic Islamic Medicine in the world.Chiva-Som

Also opening in spring/summer 2021, Qatar’s Zulal Wellness Resort will be the Middle East’s inaugural “full-immersion wellness destination” and the world’s first centre for traditional Arabic Islamic medicine.

Operated by wellness pioneer Chiva-Som, Zulal will have 120 rooms in a Family Wellness enclave, and 60 suites and villas in a separate zone for adults-only.

Just one hour’s drive away from Doha International airport, the extravagant hideaway will prescribe healing methods based on centuries of knowledge provided by Islamic medicinal historians and herbalists.

King’s Mansion, India

CORY GOLDBERG PHOTOGRAPHY
King's Mansion is another wellness retreat making its debut next year.CORY GOLDBERG PHOTOGRAPHY

Situated in northern Goa, India, King’s Mansion will join Revivo and Zulal in making its debut in 2021.

Bringing together science and genomics with Ayurvedic medicine, the cutting-edge retreat will offer six wellbeing programmes, including areas such as:

  • Detox
  • Sports Science and Movement
  • Medical Aesthetics
  • Weight Management
  • Revitalisation

Stays are a minimum of one week and both the Shodhana and Kshipra Shodhana detox programmes require a DNA test before arrival. These tests are to determine genetic pre-dispositions for certain health conditions, thereby allowing for highly personalised treatments.

Buchinger Wilhelmi, Germany

Buchinger Wilhelmi
The views are almost beautiful enough to distract from the hunger of fasting.Buchinger Wilhelmi

Located on Lake Constance in southern Germany, Buchinger Wilhelmi is a hotel-clinic specialising in “therapeutic fasting” and “integrative medicine”.

In September it launched a new “Immunity+” programme that is designed to boost wellbeing (with the specific aim of reducing the risk of getting Covid-19), and is bookable as a €110 add-on to its fasting packages.

After guests have been given a quick blood test on arrival to make sure they don’t have Covid, they then get to relax in luxurious surroundings while embarking on a calorie-restricted regime (ten days costs £2,340 per person), which includes nurse checks, consultations with a doctor, daily activities, and a menu of freshly-made vegetable bouillon and pressed fruit juices.

Why does the centre encourage fasting?

Dr Francoise Wilhelmi de Toledo, scientific director at Buchinger Wilhelmi, explains, “When you fast, all your digestive processes are in rest. Without needing the energy to digest, all stresses are diminished and you actually need less immunity.

"During this time, you change your microbiome. You stimulate the lungs, skin, kidneys, liver and the system itself triggers autophagy – an extraordinary capacity of the body to eliminate damaged cellular structures. When you fast, you activate stem cells to rejuvenate immune cells.”

Jenny Southan is editor and founder of travel trend forecasting agency Globetrender.

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