Best Luxury Wellness Retreats in Europe to Visit in 2024

After the impact of a difficult year on both physical and mental health, wellness tourism – a market predicted to reach $8.5 Trillion by 2027 according to The Global Wellness Institute – is said to be top of the agenda in the New Year, as travellers continue to seek restorative escapes.

From the economic situation and looming recession, to the political disruption and ongoing wars around the world, 2023 has been a tough year for most. We’ve put together a list of the best wellness retreats in Europe to visit for a wellbeing boost in 2024, from Europe’s most advanced medical spa to far-flung yoga and Pilates retreats, and new hotel spas in sun-soaked destinations.

Chenot Palace Weggis, Switzerland

Europe’s latest and most advanced medi-spa opened back in June 2022 on Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne. Chenot Palace Weggis are pioneering the trend for lab-led personalisation as medical professionals carry out holistic diagnostics with every guest to help tailor detox programmes to the individual – a new normal in the world of wellness.

For increasingly health-conscious travellers, alongside in-depth medical diagnostics and nutritional consultations for each guest, Chenot Palace Weggis is home to an indoor spa and pool with direct access to a private beach, a fitness centre and 97 spacious lake view rooms and suites. In addition, the Chenot Rooms with Sleeping Technology are where acoustics, light, and bed linen technologies revert the body heat back into energy. This has been scientifically interwoven with interior design and architecture to create a natural sleeping environment that provides a truly optimised, restful sleep.

With the spa spanning 5,000 sq. metres, Chenot Palace Weggis is a full-service integrated medical retreat that epitomizes holistic wellness at its pinnacle, with highlights including a world class metabolic and sports laboratory, an in-house blood analysis laboratory, a whole body cryochamber at -110C, antigravity technologies, an altitude chamber and an epigenetics lab.

Offering three signature, six-day retreat programmes, including Advanced Detox, Recover & Energise, or Prevention & Ageing Well, guests can expect treatments such as therapeutic massages, hydro-aromatherapy, manual lymphatic drainage, altitude hypoxie-therapy, anti-gravity exercise training and body composition analysis, as well as a bespoke, low-calorie and plant-based nutrition plan from the Chenot Diet.

A six-day programme stay at Chenot Palace Weggis on the Advanced Detox Programme starts from 7,500CHF (approx. £6,150) per person. For more information visit their website.

Lindos Grand Resort & Spa, Rhodes

Perched on the cliff edge above the tranquil cove of Vlycha Bay in Rhodes, Lindos Grand Resort & Spa is relatively new, having opened its doors in May 2021. A haven of relaxation and indulgence, this adults-only hideaway boasts sleek, sophisticated and ultra-modern rooms with lavish amenities – many with panoramic sea views and private infinity pools – as well as an array of fine-dining options and the brand-new healing Evridiki spa.

Specialising in vegan-friendly, natural products which use zero microbeads or animal products, guests can enjoy pampering in paradise with massages, facials, full body rituals and beauty treatments which combine modern techniques with ancient Greek remedies, drawing on the use of natural island ingredients including oils, herbs, flowers and botanical plants.

Wellness seekers can rest and rejuvenate with treatments such as the Mediterranean skin food facial, jasmine and sea salt exfoliation, the ancient Greek massage or a rose pepper anti-cellulite treatment, and those looking for privacy can opt for in-room massages with one of Lindos Grand Resort’s highly skilled therapists. Inviting harmony of mind, body and soul, there’s also beauty services available, a jacuzzi and sauna well as a fully equipped gym, access to a personal trainer, daily workout classes and water-sports available on the beach.

Rates at Lindos Grand Resort & Spa start from £160 a night. For more information visit their website.

CAYO Exclusive Resort & Spa, Crete

CAYO is Crete’s most stylish new hotel. Perched on its own private swathe of seafront overlooking the charming Elounda Bay, CAYO offers unparalleled access to the island’s tapestry of beaches, historic treasures and hilltop villages – the very landscape that inspired the treatments offered at CAYO’s Armonia Spa. This state-of-the-art relaxation hub takes inspiration from the spiritual, cultural and natural Cretan environment, helping guests disconnect from everyday life and achieve balance between body, mind and spirit.

Ancient Greek women had Aphrodite as their beauty idol (the Goddess of love and beauty), and they cultivated an obsession with wellbeing. The most common products used as basis for their beauty treatments are still used today; salt is used as a natural exfoliant, honey as a healing agent and olive oil as a moisturiser. CAYO Armonia Spa takes these age-old ingredients and applies them using modern, innovative techniques, using them to new potentials. Signature treatments include the Full Body Salt and Olive Oil Scrub, hydrating Aloe Vero Body Mask and Luk Pra Kob, a herbal hot compress massage.

Rooms start from €340 (approx. £310) for a Superior Sea View Room. For more information visit their website.

Es Saadi Marrakech Resort, Morocco

The Moroccan centre of wellbeing that is Es Saadi Marrakech Resort is proud to announce their amazing yoga retreats in partnership with the prestigious Parisian yoga club ‘Le Tigre’ in hosting a number of world-class yoga retreats. Inviting guests to recharge body, mind and soul in their paradisiacal corner of mystical Morocco, the retreats are designed to rest, restore and revive, set in the resort’s sun-dappled gardens in the centre of Marrakech.

In addition to retreats’ daily schedules of yoga classes, guests can enjoy use of the world-class spa (including treatments such as soaking in pure Argan oil, Rose water and health enhancing herbs) restorative walks in the famous Es Saadi gardens, leisurely swims in their expansive private pools along with the benefits of enjoying the Es Saadi Palace’s SLOW food philosophy at the divine eateries located sporadically across the resort.

Rates start from £790 for 3 nights at the Hotel or from £1,080 at the Palace in a junior suite and includes 6 yoga classes (90 min class) with a teacher of ‘Le Tigre Yoga Club’, a hammam scrub and massage, Full Board, Slow Food (vegan and gluten-free menus on demand), unlimited Detox juice and herbal tea, free access to Oriental Thermae® and the Palace Spa and Morocco-side airport transfer. For more information visit their website.

Bonus Option Outside Europe: COMO Cocoa Island, Maldives

If you’re searching for somewhere special further away than Europe, COMO Cocoa Island re-opened in September 2022 with freshly renovated rooms, suites and COMO Shambhala Retreat, the island’s whitewashed wellness hideout. A third of the private island is now occupied by the COMO Shambhala Retreat, which was re-designed to give guests more space and time to invest in their personal wellbeing – a concept that has never been more apt.

A new Pilates Studio and open-sided yoga pavilion (with striking views of the lagoon) accompany one of the only hydrotherapy pools in the Maldives. Treatment rooms also received a full facelift. Guests can indulge in a selection of new Wellness Paths designed to calm the mind, relieve stress and rejuvenate the body.

Choose the Body Alignment and Body Screening to help alleviate poor posture, whereby a body alignment expert assesses the body’s state to develop a programme that suits your unique physiology – fitting for many after months of working at home – or a personalised Hydrotherapy Circuit Instruction, a 60-minute experience in the hydrotherapy pool to improve flexibility and strength.

Rooms start from £505pn based on two people sharing. For more information visit their website.

Rejuvinate your mind at a luxury wellness retreat in Europe

Enjoying some time-out from the stresses of everyday life at a luxury wellness retreat in Europe is the perfect way to be kind to your mind and body and feel rejuvinated and ready to tackle the world getting back to normal. We truly believe there is something for everyone in this list, whether you would prefer a spa retreat, a medical wellness retreat, or a yoga/pilates wellness retreat. If the past three years has taught us anything, it’s to look after yourself and ensure you make time for you above all else.