Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket
Another spa? Yes, but Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket takes wellness to a new level. It comprises eco-friendly accommodation, organic cuisine, groundbreaking fitness facilities and, of course, a spa.
What about the rooms? The Fred Flintstone Bedrock-style eco-villas feature pebble decorations and aesthetic curved walls. They offer a private butler service, steam rooms and saltwater pools.
And the spa? There's not one spa but four. A maze of Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Thai compounds flow into each other, creating a village-like atmosphere. The Indian spa has Ayurvedic suites, colonic hydrotherapy rooms, an area for traditional and modern diagnostics plus a yoga and meditation sala. The Thai and Indonesian establishments offer herbal scrubs in a white-stoned hamam while the Chinese spa features a tea bar and herbal medicine store.
What's so different about it? The spa's holistic fitness division offers a new approach to working out. Functional insight training (FIT), for instance, is a personalised spiritual workout, during which you read a page of Paulo Coelho's Warrior of the Light, and includes cardio and resistance training, Pilates, meditation and self-reflection. The spa is introducing a 'jungle gym', made from natural and recycled materials - rocks for weights and old tyres for seats. The idea is to encourage people to exercise using whatever is around them.
What about the food? Everything served on your plate is either grown locally and organically or caught from the surrounding ocean. The kitchen serves up fishatarian meals, raw-food cuisine and serotonin-boosting juices throughout the day. Organic wine is optional with meals at night plus there are organic cocktail parties.
Is it in a good location? It's not the Maldives but everything here feels lush and conducive to a retreat experience. Naka Yai Island, where the spa is situated, is a short journey by car and boat from Phuket airport.
What's the bottom line? A Hill Pool Villa will set you back US$1,500, single occupancy, per guest per night, while the Beach Pool Villa starts at US$1,800 (single occupancy) plus service charges and taxes. The prices include three fishatarian meals per day per person, two 60-minute spa treatments per guest daily, one private consultation per guest and daily wellness activities.
The Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket is at 32 Moo 5, Koh Naka Yai, Thailand, tel: 66 76 371 400; www. sixsenses.com.
