wellness frontier


THE NEXT WORDS: EL IZ AB E TH BENNE T T Moonlit sandbank


rituals, volcanic hikes to hidden beaches, treatments built around your own


biology — across the


Indian Ocean, islands are ditching the


standardised spa menu for something wilder and far more personal


I


n the Indian Ocean, wellness is shedding its old skin. The Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka have always drawn travellers


chasing restorative breaks, but the era of the treatment menu and beachside lounger is giving way to something far wilder. Across these islands, properties are dreaming up wellness programmes that feel less like a spa day and more like a carefully curated encounter — with the landscape, the culture and, occasionally, your own biology. Some properties are leaning into


the raw drama of their surroundings, building rituals around full moons, ocean tides and misty hiking trails. Others are turning inward, drawing on centuries-old healing traditions like ayurveda, or on cutting-edge diagnostics that map guests’ own biology. And some are stripping things back entirely, designing stays around the radical simplicity of switching off and staying present.


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