Revive your Wonder — With a Side of Soul-Invigorating Wellness — at Singular Escapes Around the World

Travel is back” is a mantra we’ll repeat as long as it’s true. And with it, for many people, comes the desire to get out into the world again in more connected and rewarding ways.

Wellness comes in many forms. For some of us it takes shape by planning a vacation where a focus on physical and emotional wellbeing takes the front seat to simply ticking off tourist sites or lying on a beach. In truth, of course, you can do both.

We’ve rounded up five of the best wellness escapes to consider taking right now. And trust us, you deserve this.

GRAND VELAS RIVIERA MAYA
Among the most luxurious of Mexico’s all-inclusive resorts, this sprawling property near Playa del Carmen along the Riviera Maya lures guests with beachfront suites featuring private plunge pools, gourmet food (think ceviche and sushi served seaside) as well as what might well be the finest spa in all of Mexico.

PHOTO: © GRAND VELAS RIVIERA MAYA

It’s worth dedicating several hours of your vacation to basking in the all-out serenity of the Water Ceremony at SE Spa at the AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Riviera Maya. With eight water experiences overseen by a spa attendant, the hydrotherapy circuit is complimentary with any 50-minute massage service at the spa and includes stops to cover your body with therapeutic clay in a dedicated clay room, an ice room, sensation pool and color-therapy showers.

Just strolling to the resort’s spa along boardwalks that wind through the jungle will get you in the frame of mind to shed stress. And once you settle in for one of the Mayan treatments — perhaps the Mayan jade facial or the K’iin & Uh Stone Massage, which alternates hot Maya obsidian stones with cold marble — a serious bliss-out is bound to ensue.

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© ANANDA IN THE HIMALAYAS

ANANDA IN THE HIMALAYAS
Catering to travelers coming out of the pandemic who look to be pampered in different ways, Ananda in the Himalayas recently honed its world-class wellness offerings with the launch of several new programs. Designed to tie in emotional healing and therapy with the resort’s traditional Ayurveda and classical yoga and meditation offerings, the new therapies make use of emotional healers who specialize in spiritual healing, hypnotherapy and energy work to guide guests through their challenges and help them find greater emotional balance.

The luxury resort set on a Maharaja’s palace estate in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India also expanded its traditional offerings to include Eastern therapies. You’ll find acupuncture, cupping and moxibustion (a traditional Chinese medicine practice that involves the burning of mugwort leaves) also on offer. None other than Oprah Winfrey called this place “more like a pilgrimage than a visit.” And if you take your wellness seriously and holistically, Ananda might be the same to you.

PHOTO: © SILVERSANDS GRENADA

SILVERSANDS GRENADA
A true spice island where nutmeg, cacao and ginger grow in abundance and verdant hills plunge to sweeping black- and golden-sand beaches, Grenada is the Caribbean apart. And if you’re looking for a wellness escape in the region that’s sure to make a lasting impression and send you home feeling born anew, The Silversands Spa at Silversands Grenada delivers.

The intimate resort spa has just four treatment rooms, including two for couples, with extensive facilities at your disposal to enjoy pre- or post-treatment that include a sauna, ice cave, hammam and experiential shower. The spa menu offers therapies like body scrubs, massages and the like, but your therapist will sit down to talk to you to make sure your experience is curated for your particular needs.

If you’ve never tried psammotherapy (the centuries-old hot sand therapy from Ancient Egypt), this is the place to indulge in it in this part of the world. The Silversands Spa is the only one in the Caribbean with Gharieni Quartz Sand Beds for hot sand therapy that elevate the experience while you enjoy quartz therapy, aromatherapy, inversion therapy or an undulating massage treatment.

The 90-minute Signature Quartz Ritual incorporates a custom nutmeg oil blend in rehydration and detoxification therapies that include a massage and eyelift recovery treatment — all while you lie in the heated quartz sand bed and let the benefits of increased circulation and alleviated pain work their magic.