As travelers increasingly prioritize wellness, sleep has become the new luxury. From pillow menus in Bali to starlit sleep outs in the African wilderness, hotels around the world are meeting the growing demand of sleep-focused experiences.
Sleep Therapy at Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve (pictured)
A destination for wellness and spirituality, Bali carries a long tradition of healing and inner reflection. Drawing on ancient practices, The Mandapa Spa at Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Ubud boasts a Sleep Therapy treatment assisting with sleep concerns and insomnia and allowing guests to experience true relaxation. The treatment begins with guided meditation and yogic pranayamas, which enhance vital energy levels. Designed to release tension and balance the biorhythm, the treatment continues with full body and facial massages using potent active ingredients to stimulate the pineal gland. The treatment ends with an ancient technique: The Nasya, a nasal oil application used for centuries to deepen and improve sleep.
For the Glamping Enthusiast with ThirdHome
Nestled within the Coconino National Forest, the Serene Sedona Getaway offers a unique glamping experience featuring a fully equipped teepee designed for a restful night sleep under the stars, inspired by the traditional homes of the local White Mountain Apache Tribe. The teepee and four-bedroom home is only available to members of ThirdHome, a travel club for second homeowners, allowing them to travel to over 19,000 homes in over 100 countries. This teepee is fully insulated and waterproof, boasting conveniences such as a stunning chandelier, a TV, and two plush cots for a restful night's sleep. The home features an inviting open floor plan that connects the main living area, chef’s kitchen equipped with a large island and formal dining area. Outside, the manicured grounds offer breathtaking views of the red rock mountains, with a spacious patio, dining area, and fire pit providing the perfect setting for al fresco gatherings under Sedona's star-studded sky.
Dream Butlers at the Tschuggen Grand Hotel
The Tschuggen Grand Hotel in Arosa offers an exclusive Dream Butler Experience for guests to disconnect from the outside world and focus on the power of rest. The Dream Butler Experience has been created for guests to achieve optimal sleep during their stay, something that is sometimes tricky to achieve while on vacation in a foreign place with different surroundings. The offering begins with an evening massage in the Tschuggen Bergoase Spa to soothe muscles in preparation for sleep. While guests are at the spa, the property’s Dream Butler prepares their room - setting the correct temperature and humidity, dimming the lights, helping to choose a pillow from a specially curated menu, picking a calming book to read before bed, and arranging an in-room dinner, complete with dishes and ingredients known to promote a good night’s sleep. After winding down at the spa, travelers then return to their perfectly turned down room to enjoy their calming meal and a restful sleep to be recharged and ready for the next day’s adventures.
Enhancing Sleep Experience: Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach's Pillow Menu
At Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach, guests can personalize their sleep experience with a unique Pillow Menu offering seven distinctive options. Choices range from the "Firm Goose-Down Pillow," which molds to the head and neck, to the "Indonesian Kapok Pillow," crafted from natural cotton, allowing guests to embrace traditional Indonesian pillow style. This trend aligns with the growing interest in sleep therapy and addressing jet lag, making for a more comfortable arrival in Bali. Whether guests are wellness enthusiasts or simply seeking a restorative night's sleep, the Pillow Menu ensures a stay that begins with rejuvenation. Given Bali's strong emphasis on wellness, Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach also provides a wide range of leisure facilities, catering to both cultural exploration and holistic wellness, including access to the Sava Spa and a 24-hour Health Club.
Singita’s Wholeness Philosophy
Singita recognizes the importance of sleep for overall well-being and offers sleep rituals rooted in African tradition and intuition. Rooted in their wholeness concept, this holistic perspective extends beyond mere wellness and nurtures every facet of one's being through connections, personal growth, and tranquility, to promote a rejuvenating sleep experience. Embodying their holistic approach, Singita presents an array of sleep rituals that blend African heritage with the five senses, promoting the well-being of the body, mind, and soul.
Tranquility and Sleeping Under Stars at Milaidhoo Maldives
Located in the heart of the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Milaidhoo Maldives is a boutique luxury resort offering a beautiful blend of luxury and environmental preservation. Milaidhoo offers no motorized sports and doesn’t allow drones, ensuring there is minimal to no noise around the resort. This remote paradise seamlessly blends adventure and relaxation, guided by the tranquil rhythm of the Maldives towards inner peace and rejuvenation. Milaidhoo Maldives offers a unique experience of Sleeping Under Stars, where guests can spend a night uner the stars alone on a private sandbank. The experience begins with a short dolphin cruise at sunset on a luxury yacht or a traditional Maldivian sailing boat with a personal butler offering champagne and canapés as the sun sets and dolphins leap. When arriving on the sandbank, sun-downer cocktails are served as a welcome drink followed by a four-course dinner especially created to guests' requests by the Chef, served at a table by the personal butler. Guests may then sit by a cozy fire and enjoy after-dinner drinks while the crew departs, though a yacht for exclusive use with a dressing room, shower, toilet and equipped with all amenities, is anchored by the sandbank during the stay. With the same comfortable facilities of the Milaidhoo villas, including a four-poster bed adorned with muslin, the sandbank becomes a dream private oasis complete with flickering candles and battery-powered lanterns. A mobile phone is provided in case guests want to call their butler. Otherwise, they are left alone until they wake in the morning. To conclude, they’ll wake to the soft glow of the sunrise and a private yoga session led by the Milaidhoo Yogi.
Sleep Therapy at The Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa
A sanctuary of the senses, the Saxon Spa boasts cascading water features, lush gardens, and quiet surroundings alongside the signature wellness treatments it’s known for. The Saxon Signature Rebalancing Package is a unique 7-hour treatment exclusive to the Saxon that incorporates rejuvenating techniques and high-tech equipment designed to realign the body’s natural balance and aid in a good night sleep. The package unfolds with a 60-minute sleep therapy treatment, settling guests onto a floatation bed designed to mimic a mother’s womb and allowing the programmed lighting and voice over to guide them into a restful sleep. Once complete, the therapist will then lead guests through a full-body Rejuvenating Himalayan Journey beginning with a milk foot ritual to dissolve stress. A Himalayan salt scrub—with the immersive signature Saxon scent—is used to renew skin cells by reducing irritation, scaling, and redness before rinsing the scrub off and indulging the body in a stress-dissolving hot granite massage. This massage uses heat-retaining stone and rhythmic massage movements to warm and ease muscle tensions. Finally, a cold Rose Quartz is applied to relieve and heal muscular inflammation.
Sleep Below the Stars in Segera’s Luxurious Bird Nest
Most safari’s focus on what guests see during the day, but the in the heart of Kenya, the Segera retreat continues one’s journey into the night with a truly out of the ordinary sleep under the stars. Situated on stilts above the ground and woven from natural elements, the NAY PALAD Bird Nest is an open-air nest offering panoramic views of the wilderness, just as birds see. After a day of game drives or bush walks on Segera’s 50,000-acre conservation, guests are ushered up to the Bird Nest right before sunset. Upon arrival, guests are welcomes with sundowners and snacks before making their way to the rooftop deck where a picnic style dinner is served. After which, guests can choose to fall asleep under the sparkling African sky, or in the cozy bedroom below filled with lit lanterns. Woken up to breakfast brought up to the deck as wildlife roam below. Segera prides itself on the small details, ensuring guests belongings are brought up to the Bird Nest by their dedicated villa attendant. In the Nest itself, they will find a full bathroom and running water. Unlike anything else in the world, this experience creates long-lasting memories and directly supports conservation initiatives.
San Camp: A Stargazer's Paradise in Africa
Nestled in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, San Camp offers one of the most secluded and serene atmospheres with breathtaking views of the night sky. This ancient lakebed provides a unique vantage point where guests can marvel at the curvature of the Earth. As night falls, the camp transforms into a haven of tranquility, with dinners and lounging under a blanket of sparkling stars. The lack of light pollution in this remote location ensures an uninterrupted view of the night sky, perfect for avid stargazers. For a truly immersive experience, San Camp offers a five-night itinerary that includes the Kubu Island Quad Bike Expedition. This adventure features two nights spent on Kubu Island, a 2.5-billion-year-old granite outcrop of immense archaeological and geological significance. Guests sleep on bedrolls directly beneath the stellar night sky, creating an unforgettable connection with the cosmos.
Tswalu Kalahari: A Restorative Sleep Under the Stars
Located in South Africa's green Kalahari, Tswalu, the country’s largest private game reserve, offers guests an unfiltered back-to-nature experience. Tswalu means "new beginning” and the reserve offers guests various opportunities for an unfiltered back to nature experience like Malori, which means ‘dreamer’ in Tswana. Guests can sleep in a king-size bed on a raised deck, choosing between sleeping under a thatched overhang or in an open area, with nothing but the Kalahari night sky above. Guests are escorted to the sleep out by a guide on a game vehicle from either Loapi, Motse or Tarkuni. Guests are treated to a serene evening experience, enjoying sundowners and a relaxed dinner, before being left to explore under the star-filled Kalahari sky at their own leisure.
A Glamping Adventure in South Africa with Stanley Safaris
Stanley Safaris, specializing in crafting bespoke itineraries across Southern and Eastern Africa, offers adventurers the chance to experience the beauty of the African wilderness at night with an array of sleep-out options, in particular, the uber luxurious glamping havens in South Africa. During a trip with Stanley Safaris, travelers can embark on an African glamping adventure with the Chalkley Treehouse experience. Located in the heart of the renowned Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, The Chalkley Treehouse, cocooned within a 500-year-old Leadwood Tree, offers a completely self-contained haven steeped in history and surrounded by the wonders of the African bush. In South Africa, luxurious sleepout options abound, with the Chalkley Treehouse offering the expected five-star comforts, yet what truly distinguishes this experience is its absolute privacy under a canopy of millions of stars. Atop the platform, a cozy bed draped in a mosquito net awaits, complemented by plush poofs for stargazing and soaking in the sounds of nature before drifting off to sleep.
Forsthofgut’s waldSPA Offers a Natural Path to Rest and Recovery
Forsthofgut Nature Hotel in Leogang, Austria offers a range of treatments and environments within its waldSPA that support deep rest, relaxation, and improved sleep. The 130-minute waldSTILLE treatment includes a skin analysis, a Glow Intense facial with natural active ingredients, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, and a full-body massage using forest-scented oils. It is designed to help guests mentally unwind and physically relax. The Inner Balance treatment uses chakra oils, focused massage techniques, and healing stones to calm the nervous system and restore a sense of emotional balance. Der Regen, a forehead oil pour from the waldYURVEDA menu, is described as calming for the autonomic nervous system and is recommended for those experiencing insomnia or persistent stress. Throughout the waldSPA, there are spaces intentionally designed to encourage stillness, including the Forest Living Room with suspended loungers and wide mountain views. Guests can also book massage treatments in an outdoor forest clearing, surrounded by quiet and fresh alpine air. These offerings, rooted in natural rhythms and sensory simplicity, create conditions that promote rest and help guests recover from overstimulation, making the waldSPA a strong fit for those seeking a restorative wellness experience focused on sleep and relaxation.
