The beginning of the year invites a natural pause—a moment to reset not through excess, but through clarity. As 2026 unfolds, intentional travel is emerging as a defining mindset, favoring experiences that feel restorative, considered, and deeply personal. This curated selection brings together destinations where wellness, culture, design, and place are approached with purpose. From quiet Himalayan sanctuaries to heritage-rich cities and nature-led retreats, each journey offers a meaningful way to start the year with presence, balance, and a renewed sense of direction.
Ananda in the Himalayas — India (Rishikesh)
Ayurvedic Wellness Reset for Clarity and Balance
On a 100-acre Maharaja’s estate overlooking the Ganges valley, Ananda in the Himalayas is a place to begin the year with clarity and holistic renewal. Programs are tailored by senior physicians and expert therapists, combining multiple healing modalities such as Ayurveda, TCM, Yoga, Vedanta, and emotional healing to align with personal goals. Ananda’s path-breaking and innovative programs that exemplify their 360-degree approach to wellbeing range from women’s wellness and fertility to diabetes management and sleep enhancement. The resort’s wellness cuisine philosophy emphasizes the role of food as medicine and ritual. Each guest’s dosha or body type influences the delicious meals and menus that guests can carry home as daily practice. Days unfold with sunrise yoga, guided meditation, and Vedanta philosophy sessions that anchor purpose beyond the mat. Forest trails, mountain air, and the quiet presence of the Himalayas create space for reflection and sustained change. The spa integrates classical therapies with contemporary diagnostics, so progress feels grounded and measurable rather than abstract. In the evenings temple bells echo across the valley, and the cadence of the day settles into calm focus. Guests leave with frameworks that endure, from sleep routines and breathwork to mindful nutrition, which together define intention not as effort but as a way of being.
Imperial Hotel, Kyoto — Japan
Heritage Hospitality Reimagined for Modern Renewal
Imperial Hotel, Kyoto officially opens on March 5, 2026, the brand’s first new property in three decades. Set within the restored 1936 Yasaka Kaikan in Gion, the 55 room boutique hotel blends preserved architectural detail with contemporary calm that supports presence and quiet rhythm. Culinary offerings include four venues that anchor a sense of seasonality and restraint. French Cuisine “REN” presents course menus shaped by conversations with local producers and Kyoto’s natural cadence. All Day Dining “YASAKA” features an open kitchen with a wood fired oven that finishes signatures like the Yasaka Burger and a light, warming curry. The Old Imperial Bar introduces original and limited cocktails that nod to the brand’s legacy, while The Rooftop offers guest‑only terrace views and crafted drinks above lantern lit streets. Service centers on omotenashi, anticipating needs with discretion, and encouraging guests to adopt Kyoto’s gentle rituals such as afternoon tea, a pre-dawn shrine walks, or a quiet hour for calligraphy. Rooms are designed as sanctuaries that balance minimal lines with warmth. Public spaces invite stillness and the thoughtful pacing that turns aesthetic calm into daily routine. Twilight settles over Gion and the hotel reflects the city’s unhurried beauty, a setting where intention naturally becomes habit.
The Dylan Amsterdam — Netherlands
Culinary Creativity Meets Performance Wellness
On the Keizersgracht, The Dylan Amsterdam offers an intimate, design-led refuge where culinary artistry and modern wellness live comfortably side by side. Two Michelin starred Restaurant Vinkeles is known for technique driven cuisine that balances restraint and flavor harmony. Tasting menus feel precise and soulful rather than showy. The High Wine experience reframes the canal side afternoon as a gentle ritual, pairing curated vintages with inventive bites that tell a story. Spring introduces a new TechnoGym facility that supports travelers who value energy, sleep and recovery while on the road. Programming favors performance wellness over aesthetics, helping guests maintain rhythm and clarity between cultural explorations. Rooms and suites are layered with warm textures and quiet tones that invite slower pacing and post dining reflection. Outside the doors, the city’s independent galleries and studios make creative discovery easy without rush. A soft loop along the canals after dinner turns indulgence into intention. The next morning’s focused workout completes a cycle that feels elegant rather than disciplined, proving that refinement and wellbeing can share a single, thoughtful itinerary. Every detail at The Dylan is curated to create an atmosphere of quiet luxury, where refined service and serene interiors encourage guests to slow down and savor the rhythm of the city with intention.
Hotel Belmar — Monteverde, Costa Rica
Eco-Luxury and Restorative Sleep in the Cloud Forest
In Monteverde’s cloud forest, Hotel Belmar enters its 40th year with a renewed commitment to sleep as the foundation of wellbeing. The new Sleep Ritual program integrates natural soundscapes, herbal infusions from the hotel’s garden, breathwork and guided wind down practices designed to support circadian alignment and deeper rest. Guest rooms draw in the forest with warm woods, organic fabrics and terraces that encourage twilight transitions. Signature suites frame views that quietly signal calm to the nervous system. Days invite slow connection rather than sprinted activity. Think of forest bathing among epiphytes, dawn birdwatching and low impact hikes that pair movement with discovery. The hotel’s sustainability ethos is present everywhere, from renewable energy and regenerative gardens to local sourcing that informs menus at Cervecería Belmar and the farm to table restaurant. Preparations favor lightness that supports sleep quality. The hotel encourages creative exploration through its ongoing Artist Residency program, which fosters cultural exchange across various artistic modalities and invites guests to engage with creators in meaningful ways. This spirit of creativity complements Belmar’s regenerative ethos and deep connection to the cloud forest.
Naya Traveler — Bespoke Journeys
Cultural Immersion as a Framework for Intention
Naya Traveler designs journeys for people who believe transformation happens through connection. Newly launched Mongolia itineraries invite travelers into nomadic lifeways. Time with herder families, stays in gers, horseback traverses across steppe and dune and sunset visits to the Flaming Cliffs are framed by guides who bridge culture with context. Beyond Mongolia, the portfolio centers destinations where culture is lived rather than staged. Days might trace artisan traditions from workshop to home kitchen, map foodways through markets and meals, or witness rituals with humility and respect. Each itinerary begins with a conversation about purpose. Travelers are welcomed into gers to share bowls of airag under endless blue skies, ride horseback through the Orkhon Valley and across the Gobi, and witness the Golden Eagle Festival in the Altai Mountains, experiences that feelelemental, raw, and profoundly moving. Seasonality, pacing and access are calibrated to avoid performative tourism and invite genuine rapport. Safety and comfort are handled discreetly so attention stays on relationship, between traveler and host, land andlivelihood, journey and self. Evenings around a shared hearth or a family table turn travel into dialogue instead of consumption. Guests return with perspectives shaped by conversation and care, and a lighter footprint to match.
Bettoja Hotels — Rome, Italy
Heritage and Renewal in a City Built on Ritual
Bettoja Hotels has welcomed travelers to Rome for nearly a century and a half and enters Spring 2026 with renovations that honor lineage while refining comfort across its historic properties. Guest rooms incorporate period‑sensitive details, improved acoustics,and circadian‑supportive lighting designed to restore travelers returning from days spent wandering the city. Public spaces are being refreshed to reflect the brand’s heritage, balancing preserved architectural elements with subtle modern enhancements that support ease, rest, and an unhurried pace. Daily rhythm becomes the guide. Mornings open with espresso at a marble bar as the city slowly stirs awake; afternoons stretch into meandering walks along cobblestones that reveal Rome’s layered narratives; and evenings settle into softly lit dining rooms shaped by family recipes refined over generations. Service remains warm and quietly attentive, grounded in a legacy of family‑led hospitality practiced as stewardship rather than performance. In a city where tradition is a living force, Bettoja Hotels offers a way to experience Rome through intention and pace, turning everyday gestures into the most restorative part of the journey. It is heritage made tangible, and renewal made deeply, quietly personal.
