The best new spas for 2022

Portonovi is one of a number of marina developments in Montenegro’s spectacularly pretty, Unesco-protected Bay of Kotor, places where fine dining, tiny townhouses and swank hotels meet some of the largest yacht slips in the world. The One&Only Portonovi – the brand’s first resort in Europe – fits right in here, with its huge suites, four restaurants and pristine white beach. But there are plenty such places in the Mediterranean: why pick this one? Wellness mavens will understand its easy summation in two words: Chenot Espace, which has joined forces with One&Only here. This is the exalted Swiss wellness operator’s first Mediterranean seaside location, housed across three stories of one of the resort’s two main buildings, with a full medical staff, huge indoor pool and multiple treatment and therapy rooms (the three-level cryotherapy chamber is the largest I’ve ever seen). The genius of this partnership is that you can come for a full seven-day detox programme, or a day-long one – or book in à la carte treatments, or just get a really good manicure – all while you (and your travelling companions) enjoy the accoutrements of a full-service resort, and the beauty of Kotor. Winter rates, from €495, oneandonlyresorts.com

Balance your being in the Maldives

Though any self-respecting Maldivian resort has a spa – and a few of them, such as the Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru, offer excellent health programmes – the atoll nation doesn’t necessarily top people’s destination lists for real wellness. That may soon change, with the arrival here of the Joali Being resort, a sibling property of Joali, in the Raa Atoll. Joali Being flips the conventional five-star model on its head, building everything – rooms, programming, menus – around the wellness mandate. The 68 beach and water villas are full of customised amenities and options, from therapeutic lighting to balancing musical instruments to dedicated movement zones. And the bona fides sound pretty first-rate: all programming was developed in tandem with Gerry Bodeker, a professor at the University of Oxford (and the Global Wellness Institute’s mental-wellness-initiative chairman). The “immersion programmes” range from five nights to three weeks, and make full use of the island’s array of facilities, from indoor and outdoor sound-therapy oases to the hydrotherapy hall to the herbology centre, with its extensive gardens and resident herbalist. Immersion programmes from $1,665pp, based on a five-night programme; villas from $2,142 per night; joalibeing.com

The healing power of Thyme

The ticks-many-boxes proposition that is Thyme, in the Cotswolds, is a hard one to beat. When Caryn Hibbert bought the 100-acre estate in 2002, the vision was for a cookery school with rooms and perhaps a pub attached. Two decades later, the enterprise extends to include a (gorgeous) 31-room hotel, several reclaimed barns, a handful of cottages in the nearby village, a “lifestyle” shop and various public and private dining venues, among which is The Swan at Southrop, that original pub (food is a major draw here, given Caryn Hibbert’s son Charlie is ex Quo Vadis), though it’s currently still closed. Putting mind, body and spirit in balance underpins the Thyme ethos; it’s why there is not just the eight-suite Meadow Spa, but also the gardens and orchards, the long woodland walks, the courses in flower pressing and soap making, even the lightness of the palette in the rooms. This spring, Thyme is deepening its wellness offering with the Botanical Bothy. Caryn Hibbert was a practising physician for years before she became a hotelier, and gives much credence to the importance of conscious breathwork. The Botanical Bothy is an exclusive-booking space dedicated to a unique spa ritual incorporating led diaphragmatic breathing, botanical poultices, targeted pressure-point massage – whichever bespoke combination of treatments the therapist deems most salutary for you. Eminently private, with two outdoor bathtubs and a private garden with a fireplace designed by Bunny Guinness, it’s an escape within an escape. Rooms from £320, spa treatments from £95, thyme.co.uk

Immerso therapy on Portugal’s coast

Surfers know: few physical undertakings put you into such total communion with the power of nature. It’s sport as near-spiritual pursuit, with many holy sites; in Europe, that epicentre is Ericeira, on the western coast of Portugal. A new retreat will open here in March, one that proposes a version of hospitality, wellbeing and cuisine that’s scaled back to elemental, but still beautiful, basics. The 35 rooms, two suites, four restaurants and spa at Immerso put nature at the centre of the conversation: from the raw wood and organic cotton deployed in the room designs to the house beer brewed exclusively for the hotel, to the thoughtful nature excursions (including visits to an endangered Iberian wolf reserve and the Unesco-listed Tapada Nacional de Mafra), the concept is that there is wellness in every experience. And of course, there’s the Atlantic Ocean, ready to commune with you when you are (as are the surf instructors at champion waverider Tiago Pires’s surf school, just down the road). From €190, immerso.pt; visit healingholidays.co.uk for bespoke wellness packages

Peak fabulousness in central London

And back in the centre of London, the Carlton Tower Jumeirah has taken advantage of the pandemic to stage a £100m renovation, which includes a total overhaul of its jewel in the crown, the Peak Fitness Club. The exclusive private fitness centre, long a favourite with locals, now sprawls across three floors of the hotel, with scads of next-generation Technogym equipment, a 20m pool, a host of studios for Pilates, yoga and cross-training, and a steam and sauna circuit, including a Himalayan pink salt wall sauna. There’s also a full-service spa, with osteopathy and acupuncture alongside face and body treatments. Membership is limited, so get in while the getting is good. Rooms from £540, Peak Fitness Club & Spa membership from £3,950, jumeirah.com  

@mariashollenbarger