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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Wild wellness in Indonesia
As much as a set of coordinates on the map of Indonesia, Nihi resort on the island of Sumba is an idea – combining nature, freedom, surfing, culture, luxury and sand between your toes. It was one of the first places in the region to create luxe hospitality for the purpose of underwriting a charitable development foundation; one of the first haute surf lodges, where all-day-long access to a world-famous wave comes with sides of nigiri and Gevrey-Chambertin. It’s also home of the first “spa safari” – Nihioka, a second property about a mile down the coast, dedicated entirely to wellness. Guests reach it by jeep, on horseback or on foot, if they’re up to a little bushwhacking. Once there, the whole place is theirs for the roaming for a half or full day, giving visitors exclusive access to a thatch-roofed villa, alfresco spa suites, plunge pools, a dining platform suspended over the sea and two private beaches.
For 2024, Nihi’s owners are launching a 360-degree offering called Wild Wellness that will comprise everything from open-sea swimming and underwater rock-running for fitness, to botanical foraging in the bush and rainforest (DIY your own massage oils), to equine-assisted therapy working with Sumba’s native horses. Nihi is currently cultivating a butterfly sanctuary on a cliff overlooking one of the beaches, where guests will be able to engage in solo meditations. A long list of treatments and therapies, already part and parcel of days spent here, is being expanded. Don’t fly down looking for skin-tightening radiofrequency; do come if an elemental interpretation of wellness appeals. nihi.com, from £975
Le détox, c’est chic
When it opened in 2019 outside St Tropez, Lily of the Valley was an almost instant hit: a hillside resort with a wellness lean, but little in the way of the take-itself-too-seriously vibe. Instead, it brings colourful, Philippe Starck-designed Côte d’Azur feels, from the vine-covered trellises and rattan lamps to the vintage ’50s photos adorning the walls.
Historically it has majored in weight loss-fitness hybrid programmes; this winter it’s deepening the offering with programmes that incorporate customised nutrition and movement. “Sport” is high-intensity fitness with manual muscle recovery, poultices and cryotherapy. “Detox” is gluten- and lactose-free, and ginger body wrap-loaded. And so it goes, with a 185sq m gym, an excellent restaurant and a gorgeous pool with a view of the Med. lilyofthevalley.com, four-day programmes from €2,500
A Tuscan retreat…
Combining their experiences in the worlds of Indian healing traditions and luxury hospitality, Datu Wellness founders Constantin Bjerke and Ellie Boulstridge set up shop temporarily last month in a restored medieval borgo about 20 minutes outside Siena.
Expert yoga instructors, body therapy specialists and Ayurveda practitioners lead guests in seven-day healing programmes that include some organic retreatwear to don over your stay. It’s been successful enough that April and May dates are in the offing, divided between the Siena location and another outside Pisa, with private lodges and 1,000 acres of protected wilderness. datuwellness.com, from £1,450 for seven nights based on two sharing
…and a wellness walk-through
Tending to the spirit is important too. For millennia, pilgrimage routes across the world have drawn both the faithful and the secularly contemplative to the benefits of putting one foot in front of the other in the great outdoors. For spring, Black Tomato is at large in Tuscany; it’s launched a walking “challenge” along one of the most spectacular tracts of the Via Francigena. Black Tomato’s “See You in the Moment” journeys are personalised: they’ve mastered the 16 sections of the Francigena stretching to the north and south of Siena – which happens to be some of the most scenic countryside in Italy, with low, rolling hills rippling with wheat, sunflowers and vines, guarded by stands of cypresses like sentinels – and with you they choose the right ones. You’ll walk several miles a day, stopping at abbeys and rustic trattorie, staying at hotels along the lines of Borgo Pignano, and moving at humanity’s most timeless pace through eminently soothing landscapes. blacktomato.com, from £48,500 for five nights for six people
