Santani Wellness Resort & Spa 

A sanctuary in the hills

Surrounded by unspoiled mountain scenery, this boutique resort is a haven of tranquillity and home to Sri Lanka’s first destination spa.

Santani Wellness Resort & Spa has been a name to know since it opened in 2016, and not just because of its away-from-it-all setting on a former tea plantation or its award-winning minimalist architecture. At its heart is a holistic approach to health and wellbeing that finds its purest expression in the superb spa, which seems to grow out of the hillside, and which has one floor devoted to hydrotherapy – a rarity in Sri Lanka. We particularly love the view from the glass-sided sauna and the tempting range of wellness packages designed to tackle everything from stress to sleeplessness.

Why we love Santani Wellness Resort & Spa

  • A supremely tranquil hilltop setting, with rice fields and tea estates all around, and stunning mountain panoramas

  • The award-winning spa is in a league of its own, with imaginative wellness programs and excellent hydrotherapy facilities 

  • The healthy, personalised gourmet meals are some of the most delicious you’re likely to find at an all-inclusive resort

  • It’s a stylish place to pause for a few days on a longer tour or a memorable option for a honeymoon

5 stars
Feb - Aug
Colombo 10½ hours
In a tranquil hilly area surrounded by rice fields and tea estates, a 60-minute drive from Kandy
Approx. 4.5 hours from the airport
Boutique, All Inclusive, Wellness, Spa, Honeymoon

Facilities

  • Restaurants & bars
  • Board
  • Spas & wellness
  • Sustainability

Santani prides itself on its personalised approach, and that applies in the restaurant, too, so you can be sure that everything will be tailored to your tastes and supremely healthy as well.

Restaurant
The food served in the resort’s restaurant-with-a-view is tailored to individual guests’ requirements and based on the concept of the six tastes – so that the flavours at breakfast, lunch and dinner balance out across the day. The result is delicious, life-enhancing modern dishes that are as pleasing to the eye as to the palette, whether they’re low carbohydrate, ayurvedic vegetarian, detox or something customised just for you.

Bar
There’s a peaceful main lounge, set in a large open-air pavilion, where guests can unwind with a glass of biodynamic wine or freshly squeezed juice from the low-key bar.

There is only one restaurant, but the ingenuity of the kitchen and the sheer beauty of the setting makes each meal a sensory event.

Whats Included

All inclusive • Breakfast, lunch and dinner • Non-alcoholic drinks • Group yoga sessions • Access to hydrotherapy suite.

Tucked artfully into the hillside, the serene spa at Santani is a destination in its own right, with four treatment rooms that open on to paddy fields and the only comprehensive hydrotherapy suite in Sri Lanka. Relax in the steam room, the sauna with mountain views and the open-air thermal soak pool, book a treatment or two, or sign up for a customised health package that brings together the best aspects of traditional ayurvedic techniques with the latest scientific discoveries.

Group yoga and meditation classes are conducted by master practitioners every morning and evening in the yoga shala.

There’s a suitably life-affirming selection of activities, from a fairly gentle walk through the 48-acre grounds with the resident naturalist to more energetic hikes through mountains and cloud forest.

The clever design takes advantage of local air flows, avoiding the need for energy-guzzling heating and air conditioning. Most of the exquisite dishes and drinks in the restaurant and bar are made from locally grown and organic ingredients. More than three-quarters of the wood used to make the furniture and the buildings themselves is recycled. All of the shared spaces are deliberately Wi-Fi free, providing a digital detox for guests and cutting electricity consumption.

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