Contact with nature and well-being, in La Bobadilla.
Taking care of the planet is no longer an option, but an obligation for everyone. The best hotels in the world have been getting their act together for years and so have their wellness spaces, those where we long to reconnect with nature and with ourselves. Because one thing is almost certainly not possible without the other, and because when we travel and give ourselves time and work towards our own well-being, we like (and it helps) knowing that we are contributing caring for the planet and improving and preserving the environments we visit.
These hotels around the world will top your travel wish list when you know how many arguments (hedonistic and sustainable) they have to convince you.
Ashford Castle is a member of Beyond Green, a portfolio of hotels for sustainable tourism.
Ashford Castle, Ireland
Its more than 800 years of history They already make what was the former residence of the Guinness family a most desirable destination. King George V (when he was still Prince of Wales) and President Ronald Reagan, and was the filming location for the famous film John Ford's The Quiet Man (1952).
Located on 140 hectares of beautiful and well-kept gardens and green forests, on the shores of Lough Corrib, This hotel, a member of the Beyond Green portfolio of sustainable hotels, has horse riding, golf, tennis, zip line, tree climbing… and it even has an elegant private cinema.
But also, it is home to arguably Ireland's best hotel spa, frequently awarded and in which they take care of the planet really seriously. Located inside a beautiful iron and glass structure built adjacent to the castle, it offers personalized treatments that are carried out in five rooms of pure luxury. It also has a hammam, a relaxation pool, a steam bath and a terrace overlooking the lake, which is one of the largest in the country.
It was the first hotel in Ireland to earn the GREENMark Plastic Smart Standard Award and in receiving the Green Hospitality Gold award, using artificial intelligence technologies, it grows its own products in greenhouses and works with local producers under a philosophy of kilometer 0. They are phasing out single-use plastics and reducing food waste in partnership with Winnow Solutions. They also help support the local community and, together with The Treadright Foundation, aim to #MakeTravelMatter.
Ashford Castle also protects the surrounding forests, planting native species replacing those that are not, a program that includes the protection and expansion of the habitats of some endangered species, such as red squirrels and the robins.
The Garden Spa at Babylonstoren in South Africa follows the rhythm of the seasons.
Babylonstoren, South Africa
Every aspect of this beautiful farmhouse hotel, including its gorgeous spa, is directed according to the botanical diversity of its garden, in constant transformation, which also serves as inspiration for the whole concept. The rhythm of the seasons serves as a reminder that “every action should contribute to conserving precious natural resources entrusted to our care”, as they explain to us.
Finding and respecting best sustainable practices is at the core their approach – whether it's growing vegetables without pesticides, providing a safe habitat for bees, paying attention to conserving water and caring for the earth…– and these measures are integrated in the daily activities of the farm.
Hammam, in Babylonstoren.
In the hotel is the Garden Spa (the name already anticipates the green Eden that awaits us), which is also linked to the garden and the change of seasons. “We like to think of him as a living spa, located within a bamboo forest with calm vegetation and canals”, they tell us. “It comprises a hammam, a rest room, a hot spa area – currently under renovation – and a gym.”
try any of its treatments such as the bamboo massage, in a space surrounded by vegetation and dotted with sunlight, with aromas of fresh rosemary, lavender and lemon thyme freshly picked and ready to apply on your body.
Treat yourself to a 'reset' at a hotel like this... you'll come back brand new.
Finolhu, Maldives
Located in a UNESCO protected biosphere reserve, this spectacular resort, which has been visited by none other than (the enjoying) Paris Hilton, it is for the most part self-sufficient. In it you will not find water in plastic bottles, since it has an osmosis plant that converts seawater into drinking water, then bottled in glass bottles. There are also no plastic straws, and they have developed strategies to preserve the ecosystem and the protection of the sea with its own marine biologist, Tom Zimmer, and the organization Parley for the Oceans.
As if staying at Seaside Finolhu Maldives villas wasn't luxury enough, with access to a private beach, on Baa Atoll, the hotel offers yoga sessions, tennis, surfing and boat trips, diving and snorkeling programs to discover this protected location. And the finishing touch its Fehi Spa: steam baths to relax and decongest, hydrotherapy, plunge pool...
Maya Damayanti is the spa manager of this paradisiacal hotel in the Maldives and, As a practitioner of healthy living, she highly values the importance of balancing mind, body, and soul. That is what the space she directs pursues, that her visitors calm her body and mind through holistic treatments combined with an incomparable setting facing the sea.
Everything is sustainable at this Austrian hotel (and the spa, of course, too).
Stanglwirt, Austria
They say that Gwyneth Paltrow really likes this green wellness resort in Going am Wilden Kaiser, Austria. Long before 'eco' became a buzzword, Balthasar Hauser, the founder, had already decided to build a biohotel. Right next to the farm and Tyrolean in style, the concept wanted to be sustainable in each and every of its aspects, so for each extension, conversion or new building they studied the principles of construction biologist Hubert Palm.
The hotel meets the highest sustainability standards –they only use wooden ceilings, all the wooden bricks are retained with lime mortar and not cement and they only use solid wood furniture– and, parallel to ecological construction, it is committed to a gastronomy that basically comes from the products of its own ecological farm of more than 100 hectares. Its sustainability was awarded at the Global Wellness Summit, and participate in a program regeneration of the tropical forest in Costa Rica, to offset its emissions.
Luxury is evident in the details: the bedding, the upholstery fabrics and the towels are pure cotton and linen; the floor is antibacterial, made of local larch wood; pure new wool rugs; the ecological straw loungers… They clean with biological agents, produce their own energy and use only clean energy. In addition, they cooperate with WWF and conscientiously separate the waste.
Of your spa, beyond sustainability, we like that they have trained a very experienced staff and that the children have their own wellness area. It has eight pools (indoor and outdoor), two steam baths and relaxation areas that you would never want to leave. They use only spring water for wellness facilities, from the hotel's Kaiserquelle spring.
Nihi Sumba.
Nihi Sumba, Indonesia
The resort is known for its approach to social sustainability: works with the Sumba philanthropic foundation supporting the local community, where they have built more than 60 water wells and 240 water stations and has opened primary schools and medical clinics. Chris Burch, owner of the hotel, covers the administrative costs of running the foundation, so 100 percent of donations can finance projects that address poverty, malaria and access to water. Also, the resort works entirely on biofuel and grows produce for the restaurant in his organic garden.
But let's go to what concerns us, that this case -beware of the suggestive name- it is the Safari Spa. The island of Sumba, an hour's flight from Bali, is not known for mass tourism, so the framework could not be more suggestive. Get ready to feel like Robinson Crusoe, surrounded by tropical forest, unspoiled landscapes, rugged coastlines and pristine waters. The Spa Safari begins with a sunrise walk through the spectacular West Coast from Sumba and through paddy fields to the isolated valley of Nihi Oka. Staff await you there with scented towels, fresh coconuts and a cooked breakfast in the woods, served in a tree house.
Upon arrival at the villa, there are unlimited spa treatments (also to be enjoyed as a couple), from facials with island-harvested ingredients like coconut oil, mint leaves, green tea and red rice, to reflexology, deep tissue massage and Indonesian 'Lulur' (traditional body scrubs). There is a freshwater pool, a private cove and 'spa sanctuary', overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Arctic Bath.
Arctic Bath, Sweden
Kerstin Florian grew up in her native Sweden, where she saw firsthand the connections between mind and body, energy and health, earth and wellness. Nature is her inspiration and reason for being, hence the holistic approach to wellness that she promotes at Arctic Bath. The four pillars of well-being are, as she explains on her website, proper nutrition, regular exercise, tranquility and care of the face and body, something you can practice a dream setting – at her retreat in Harads.
Kerstin also believes that creating an environment of stimulating colors, sounds, tastes and smells relieves stress and greatly increases the energy of the guests. The result? You go out renewed, having released tension and experiencing an expansion of consciousness.
It was during a trip to northern Sweden that she learned about the use of traditional herbs, that she applies in her treatments, giving more prominence to Swedish herbs in her product collection. The treatment menu combines natural ingredients, advanced formulations and technology. and you will never forget an icy outdoor bath under the northern sky...
La Bobadilla A Royal Hideaway Hotel, Granada.
La Bobadilla, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, Granada
This farm in the Granada mountains of Loja, in the middle of the Mediterranean forest, it advocates the Slow Travel movement and sustainable luxury, so we are not surprised to discover that its spa is heated by olive pits from the olive grove that surrounds it.
In Mudejar style, the hotel offers you the possibility of dawn lulled by the chirping of birds and reconnecting with yourself and with the environment. Her commitment to the planet goes through a series of initiatives such as reduce C02 emissions into the atmosphere by 80% and energy consumption by 45%. To achieve this, a biomass plant has been installed that replaces propane gas with the combustion of olive pits from the olive grove where the hotel is located.
This biomass plant is the one heats the waters of the heated and dynamic pool of the Spa & Wellness and provides it with heating during the cold months, using for this an abundant proximity resource in the area such as the olive bone. In this way it is used a km 0 and totally natural fuel that hardly pollutes and whose residue returns to the same place from which it came, the field.
Contact with nature and well-being, in La Bobadilla.
Secondly, the architecture of the spa follows the canons of the old Andalusian palaces, favoring the maintenance of the appropriate temperature and reducing the use of heating and air conditioning with its white design of large windows and natural materials such as wood –in ceilings, beams and furniture–, clay and marble from the Sierra de Loja.
"Also, installations include presence detectors to save energy, water savers, LED lights and surrounding materials”, explains Víctor Pimentel, spa manager of La Bobadilla. The bonus: natural ingredients and organic active ingredients are used in the treatments, with olive oil as a great protagonist, of course.