While the rest of the wellness world was still importing the idea of ancient healing, India was sitting on the original. Ayurveda has been doing the work for 3,000 years and now the country’s luxury hotel industry has caught up, converting Maharajas’ palaces and centuries-old forts into destinations where the treatment plan matters more than the thread count.
It shows in who’s booking in: Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Kajol, Oprah Winfrey and Kate Winslet have all made the trip to Ananda in the Himalayas, while King Charles has returned to Soukya, outside Bengaluru, for over a decade including in 2019 to mark his 71st birthday, with Queen Camilla staying on solo for a 10-day retreat in 2022. This isn’t a spa-day economy. It’s India positioning itself as the place the world’s most photographed people go to disappear.
The Hollywood Reporter India lists the addresses where the reset is the destination, not the add-on.
Ananda in the Himalayas, Rishikesh
No autographs, no selfies, no distractions — that’s the unofficial house rule at Ananda, and it’s why the A-list keeps coming back. Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Kajol, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Winslet, Will Smith and Uma Thurman have all made the trip to this former viceregal palace above the Ganges, checking in for a programme built around Ayurveda, yoga, and Vedanta philosophy with an in-house physician’s consultation before anything is prescribed. Privacy is the real luxury here. The Himalayas are just the backdrop.
Aramness, Gir
The only wellness address on this list where the wildlife outranks the guests. Aramness sits inside Gir, the last habitat of the wild Asiatic lion, and its new wellness programme is led by Dr. Rafeek Jabbar, a Kerala-trained Ayurvedic physician whose résumé runs through Somatheeram and Six Senses Kaplankaya in Turkey.
Four structured journeys, from a three-day Wilderness Awakening to a five-day Ayurvedic Renaissance, sit alongside classical treatments such as abhyanga, shirodhara and nasyam plus acupuncture and sound healing. The pitch is unusual and, on paper, compelling: recovery timed to the actual rhythm of a forest that hasn’t been tamed for anyone’s benefit, least of all yours.
Atmantan, Mulshi
Karisma Kapoor, Randeep Hooda, Lisa Ray and Sanjeev Kapoor have all made the pilgrimage to this crystal-hill retreat above Mulshi Lake, close enough to Mumbai and Pune that there’s no excuse not to. Founded by ex-Ironman triathlete Nikhil Kapur and pranic healer Sharmilee Kapur, Atmantan runs on data-backed programmes like the Master Cleanse and Weight Balance that treat detox and fitness with the same rigour that most retreats reserve for spirituality.
The Tata Group’s IHCL bought a 51 per cent stake in late 2025, betting that this is where Indian wellness travel is headed next.
Dharana, Shillim, Maharashtra
Set inside a 2,500-acre estate in the Sahyadris — a UNESCO World Heritage range three hours from Mumbai — Dharana was designed by architects Margie Ruddick and Steven Harris around the panchamahabhutas, the five classical elements, and runs its programmes across five pathways: preventative medicine, physical restoration, healing nutrition, emotional balance and spiritual harmony.
High-tech diagnostics meet Ayurveda and naturopathy inside some of the largest spa facilities in Asia. The bonus is, the surroundings are not just for marketing, they are the entire philosophy.
Six Senses Fort Barwara, Rajasthan
Six Senses has spent three decades making the case that eco-luxury and evidence-based wellness aren’t opposites; Barwara, inside a 700-year-old fort, is where that case gets made loudest. Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal thought so too, choosing it for their wedding.
This was Six Senses’ first move into India, and it announced the brand’s whole philosophy at once: global biohacking science meeting the source code of Ayurveda. The 30,000-square-foot spa sits inside the fort’s original women’s palace, running Sleep With Six Senses, a protocol developed with sleep physician Dr. Michael Breus, alongside classical Ayurvedic programmes built around each guest’s dosha (body humour).
Six Senses Vana, Dehradun
Ask anyone who’s done the wellness circuit in India which property they found hardest to leave and Vana comes up more than most. The minimum stay is a week with no exceptions because the programme, built around Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine, is diagnostic rather than decorative: a dosha assessment on arrival dictates your meals, your schedule, even your bedtime. Regulars call themselves ‘Vanavasis’ and return annually.
Tulah, Kozhikode
Kerala’s newest wellness sanctuary treats healing as a long-term investment rather than a weekend fix. Opened in 2025 by KEF Holdings’ Faizal Kottikollon, Tulah pairs 65 suites and a 400-plant medicinal garden with a working ICU and operating theatre next door, with the idea being that Ayurveda, Tibetan medicine and genome-based diagnostics shouldn’t have to live in separate buildings. The Sonorium, its sound-healing dome, is reportedly the largest of its kind anywhere.
Soukya, Bengaluru
Soukya doesn’t advertise. It doesn’t need to. The guest book runs through Tina Turner, Emma Thompson, the Dalai Lama, Deepika Padukone and Rajinikanth alongside the British royal family, who’ve been regulars since well before it became public knowledge.
Under Dr. Isaac Mathai, the 30-acre organic estate runs on Ayurveda, homeopathy and naturopathy treated as medicine first, with five-star comfort a close second.
Swastik Wellbeing, Pune
Fifty-one acres overlooking Khadakwasla Lake, built around a “five-dimensional” philosophy — health, wealth, love, bliss and spirituality — that treats wellbeing as more than a physical fix. Every stay opens with Nadi Parikshan, the Ayurvedic pulse diagnosis, run alongside modern diagnostics, and closes each night with Swastik Nidra, a tuck-in ritual designed to prime guests for sleep.
The architecture does its own work too: cave-inspired Guha Suites, and Dhyan Vihar, one of India’s largest pillarless meditation halls. They offer 16 physician-led programmes, personalised for each guest.