Wellness is no longer just about booking a spa weekend or squeezing in a yoga class between sightseeing. The global wellness industry is now worth several trillion euros, and the travel world is embracing some increasingly unusual ways to help us feel, well, better.
From sleep retreats and forest bathing to cold-water plunges and digital detoxes, wellness holidays are becoming less about mere relaxation and more about trying something completely different.
If you’re bored of the traditional massage-and-meditation package, these are some of the quirkiest wellness travel trends to know about.
Sand bathing
In parts of Japan, wellness takes a decidedly unusual turn, with travellers invited to be buried neck-deep in naturally heated volcanic sand.
Known as “sunamushi”, the traditional practice sees visitors lie down in specially prepared sand while attendants gently cover their bodies, leaving only the head exposed.
The heat is said to encourage relaxation and improve circulation, while the weight of the sand creates a strangely comforting feeling of being cocooned.
It’s certainly not your average spa treatment – and effectively being gently roasted like a human baked potato might not appeal to everyone – but for those willing to give it a go, it’s a memorable way to experience one of Japan’s more unusual wellness traditions.
Donkey milk and cacao spa rituals
One Italian spa is taking wellness in a decidedly more unusual direction than your typical spa day.
At Il Salviatino, a 15th-century Florentine residence surrounded by 12 hectares of gardens, treatments draw on ancient beauty rituals, alchemy and locally sourced ingredients, including two rather unexpected ones: namely donkey milk and cacao.
The “nourishing donkey milk ritual” takes inspiration from the beauty practices associated with Cleopatra, using vitamin-rich donkey milk as part of a treatment designed to leave skin feeling smoother and more radiant.
Then there’s the cacao ceremony, an alchemy-inspired treatment that uses cacao as part of a ritual intended to encourage relaxation and emotional wellbeing.
If those don’t sound like your kind of thing, you could always plump for other options including crystal therapy, personalised botanical elixirs or phytotherapy – herbal medicine, in layman’s terms.
Star gazing and ‘star bathing’
Everyone who knows anything about wellness is well-versed in forest bathing nowadays, but ‘star bathing’ will be a new one for most.
Stargazing and star bathing are becoming increasingly popular ways to switch off, with the simple act of spending time beneath a clear night sky offering a chance to slow down, escape screens and give your brain a break from the noise.
Hotels and retreats in low-light-pollution destinations are now leaning into the trend, offering everything from guided night-sky walks to dedicated observatories.
At Switzerland’s 3100 Kulmhotel Gornergrat, guests have the chance to explore the stars from one of Europe’s highest observatories. In Iceland, Hotel Rangá has its own observatory, where guests can look out for the Milky Way and, if they’re lucky, the Northern Lights.
Beer spas
Beer spas might sound like the stuff of fantasy, but they’re very much a real thing.
Especially popular in Czechia, the concept is pretty simple: you climb into a warm wooden tub filled with a mixture of beer ingredients, including hops, barley and yeast, while enjoying an actual pint from a tap beside you.
The baths are said to help you relax and leave your skin feeling soft, although the real appeal may simply be the novelty of being able to legitimately say you spent your holiday bathing in beer.
Goat yoga
Goat yoga is exactly what it sounds like – a yoga class where the instructors and attendees are human, but the four-legged participants are very much not.
The trend sees guests working their way through yoga poses while a group of goats wander freely around the studio, often climbing onto mats, nibbling at clothing and occasionally treating someone’s back as an ideal place to sit.
The idea is less about perfecting your downward dog and more about having fun, getting outside and enjoying the mood-boosting effects of spending time with animals.
For travellers who find traditional yoga retreats a little too serious, it offers a much more chaotic alternative.
It’s difficult to worry about your inbox when a baby goat is attempting to climb onto your head, after all.