Hushpitality: The Travel Trend Prioritizing Peace, Privacy, and Wellness
By Lulu Chang
Contributing Writer
Inness, Accord, NY. Photo: Opulist
There are vacations where you’re looking to do the most, and then there are vacations where you’re looking to do the absolute least. And for folks who live more for the latter than the former, the rise of “hushpitality” is (quiet) music to your ears. As travelers increasingly seek out peaceful escapes that prioritize mental wellbeing, nature immersion, and deeply relaxing experiences, hotels and resorts that are trading lobby DJs for dedicated bath butlers and pool parties for sound baths. These are some of our favorite properties where hushpitality is just the name of the game.
Serenbe | Chattahoochee Hills, GA
Serenbe isn't a hotel — it's a planned community designed entirely around the idea that living close to nature makes you healthier, calmer, and more creative. Established in 2004 on over a thousand acres of former farmland thirty minutes southwest of Atlanta, the community now has more than a thousand permanent residents, along with multiple ways to visit: The Inn at Serenbe offers 27 rooms across six low-rise buildings, and all of it is connected by fifteen miles of trails. Some of these paths wind through preserved forestland, others cross open meadows, with a pair of waterfalls, a massive exposed granite face, and a petting area with donkeys and goats along the way. Serenbe operates one of Georgia's first certified organic farms, and the produce feeds The Farmhouse at Serenbe, a restaurant that rewrites its menu monthly based on what's actually growing. The Spa at Serenbe goes well beyond standard treatments — reiki, astrological counseling, and med-spa services sit alongside facials and massage.
Photo: Spa Serenbe
Inness | Accord, NY
Photo: Opulist
Taavo Somer, the restaurateur behind Lower East Side institution Freemans, moved his family upstate full-time in 2016, and five years later, opened Inness. The property sits on 225 acres in the Hudson Valley, and it has the feel of a place designed by someone who was building it for himself. 28 cabins with private decks overlook rolling hills that Somer intentionally let grow wild, reclaiming the old fairways into meadows. 12 additional rooms occupy a farmhouse filled with vintage finds and found objects. Also on property is a three-acre organic farm that supplies the restaurant, a nine-hole golf course, two pools, two tennis courts, hiking trails, a farm shop, and a spa with an outdoor sauna deck. Named for the Hudson River School painter George Inness, the resort carries forward his conviction that landscape isn't scenery - it's a state of mind.
Two Bunch Palms | Desert Hot Springs, CA
This adults-only desert retreat sits on 77 acres in Desert Hot Springs, just outside Palm Springs, and its centerpiece is nature’s miracle: natural mineral hot springs estimated to be 600 years old that have been drawing visitors since the 1940s. The property started as a hideout for Hollywood types and – allegedly – a couple gangsters. But today, the property has been reimagined in modern luxury, with 67 rooms that favor natural textures like clay and earth tones, artisan-made tile, and dark tropical hardwood. The spa offers 19 treatment rooms both indoor and outdoor, and the wellness programming extends into a yoga dome, fitness studios, and guided meditation. The dining leans clean and vegetarian-forward, sourcing locally where possible. The entire property operates under a hush-forward ethos — no loud music, no ringing phones poolside, no children. Just heat, mineral water, and the sound of the desert wind.
Photo: Opulist
Sensei Porcupine Creek | Rancho Mirage, CA
Photo: Sensei Porcupine Creek
Before it was a wellness retreat, this 230-acre property in the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains was Larry Ellison's (of Oracle fame) private estate. Ellison partnered with physician Dr. David Agus to launch Sensei in 2022, converting it into a science-backed, adults-only retreat that uses actual diagnostic data rather than ~ vibes ~ to guide your stay. The minimum stay is three nights, with a five-night Optimal Wellbeing program for deeper immersion. The grounds are studded with sculptures by Keith Haring, Robert Indiana, and Jaume Plensa, which you'll encounter on walks between yoga pavilions, a lagoon-style pool, tennis courts, and an 18-hole golf course. Dining is Sensei by Nobu, a collaboration exclusive to Porcupine Creek guests, emphasizing nutrition without sacrificing pleasure.
Mii amo | Sedona, AZ
Mii amo may just be situated in one of the most spiritually charged pieces of real estate in the country. It’s nestled inside Boynton Canyon and surrounded on all sides by stunning red rock formations that glow as the light shifts. Just 23 casitas and suites are available, each with its own fireplace, private outdoor terrace, and heated bathroom floors, and stays are structured as guided "Journeys" lasting two to 10 nights. This isn't a spa day; it's a curated experience. Experience everything from chakra balancing, aura photography, energy readings, Native American-inspired ceremonies, and sound baths in the Crystal Grotto, where twice-daily rituals anchor the community rhythm. What makes Mii amo so special is the belief that wellness and place are inextricably linked – the canyon itself is your treatment.
Photo: Mii amo
Blackberry Mountain | Walland, TN
Photo: Blackberry Mountain
You’ve heard of Blackberry Farm, but its wellness-minded sibling opened in 2019 on 5,200 acres in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Whereas the Farm is about food and Southern hospitality, the Mountain is about moving your body and then rewarding it. Accommodations range from Watchman cabins perched on ridgelines to stone cottages and multi-bedroom mountain homes, all built with local stone, dark metal window frames, salvaged hardwood, and deep porches with fire pits that make you want to stay outside long past dark. The activity menu is staggering: mountain biking, rock climbing, fly fishing, foraging, horseback riding, and a trail system that winds through some of the prettiest forest in the Southeast. But Blackberry Mountain is just as serious about stillness, with sound bathing, forest bathing, yoga, acupuncture, and an on-site naturopath ensure that recovery keeps pace with adventure.
The Ranch Hudson Valley | Sloatsburg, NY
The Ranch doesn’t mess around when it comes to wellness. This is structured, results-oriented routine: wake-up is at 5:30am, the daily schedule includes two-to-four-hour guided hikes through Ringwood and Harriman State Parks, strength training, restorative yoga, a daily massage, and three plant-based meals eaten communally in a glass-enclosed sunroom. The East Coast outpost of The Ranch Malibu (the program favored by celebrity and C-suite circles) opened in April 2024 on a 200-acre private lakefront estate in Lower Hudson Valley, less than an hour from Manhattan. 26 rooms accommodate a maximum of 25 guests, and programs run three, four, or seven nights. The philosophy is built on five pillars: simplicity, connection, movement, nourishment, nature, and the digital-detox environment means your phone goes quiet whether you want it to or not. Trust us, you’ll come home measurably different.
Photo: The Ranch Hudson Valley
Posthotel | Leavenworth, WA
Photo: Posthotel
Leavenworth is a Bavarian-themed mountain village in central Washington that's either charming or kitschy depending on your tolerance for timber framing. But Posthotel, the resort in the village, somehow manages to split the difference, taking the European wellness tradition seriously without turning it into a theme park. The 55-room property centers on a multi-room wellness area that includes nap rooms, various saunas and steam rooms, plunge pools, a swim-out saltwater pool, and indoor and outdoor spa facilities. The full-service spa specializes in European practices, including Biologique Recherche facials and a range of massage and body treatments. A European-style breakfast buffet is included with every stay, and lunch is available on-site. The setting along a river with mountain views, walkable to restaurants and shops, gives you the option to engage with the town or retreat entirely into the property's thermal world.
The Lodge at Primland | Meadows of Dan, VA
Getting to Primland is half the point, and as your car climbs narrow mountain roads through dense Appalachian forest, you may just feel your stresses falling away, too. This Auberge Collection resort sprawls across 12,000 acres of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, an estate so large it takes 30 minutes just to drive from one end to the other. But this size and scale is what allows for the level of seclusion that most luxury resorts could only dream of. The real showstoppers of the property are treehouse suites designed by French firm La Cabane Perchée and clad in fragrant red cedar, cantilevered over the Dan River Gorge at nearly 2,700 feet of elevation. Golf at Primland is some of the best in Virginia, and the property's observatory offers some of the clearest stargazing on the East Coast. Activities run from horseback riding and fly fishing to ATV trails and sport shooting, while the Auberge Spa connects wellness to the mountain landscape with nature hikes, meditation, yoga, and treatments using local botanical ingredients.
Photo: The Lodge at Primland
Salamander Middleburg | Middleburg, VA
Photo: Salamander Middleburg
If you’re looking for the quintessential experience in Virginia's horse and wine country, about an hour west of Washington, D.C., you’re looking for the Salamander Middleburg. Tthe resort stretches across 340 acres in the Blue Ridge foothills, and its 168 rooms and suites maintain a country-estate warmth. The 23,000-square-foot spa offers 14 treatment rooms, a private courtyard with heated pool, and integrative therapies including balancing sound treatments and regionally inspired wellness rituals. But the standout amenity is the full equestrian center: 25 on-site acres, a 22-stall stable, nine paddocks, and an outdoor riding arena where guests can ride even if they've never been on a horse before. Later this spring, the hotel is also debuting Champions Pool, a dramatic new, multi-tiered pool experience anchored by a 40-foot infinity-edge waterfall and complemented by a new outdoor dining venue. A two-acre culinary garden, cooking studio, zip line course, tennis courts, and treetop adventure add breadth without clutter.
Alila Napa Valley | St. Helena, CA
Most Napa hotels put you near the wine, but Alila puts you in it. This adults-only, 64-room retreat sits on three manicured acres on the north end of St. Helena, directly beside the historic Beringer Estate (connected by a footbridge) and a ten-minute walk from the restaurants and shops of downtown. The bones are a 1907 Georgian-style farmhouse, now home to the acclaimed Violetto restaurant, where Chef Thomas Lents layers French technique with Italian warmth across a prix fixe format. Every room has an oversized balcony or wraparound terrace with a private gas fire pit and many suites add outdoor soaking tubs with vineyard views.But Spa Alila is the hushpitality anchor: treatments draw on the region's natural materials, like coastal volcanic stones, hand-carved obsidian tools, and locally sourced botanical ingredients. Wellness programming also extends into forest bathing at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, new moon yoga sessions, vineyard-view painting, and astrology readings after dark. A crystal sound bowl meditation guides you into stillness using vibrational frequency, the kind of offering that sounds absurd until you try it and realize you haven't thought about your email in 90 minutes.
Photo: Alila Napa Valley
The rise of hushpitality reflects a broader shift in how we think about luxury travel. It's no longer just about thread count and Michelin stars (though those certainly don't hurt). The real luxury now is silence, space, and the chance to actually hear yourself think. Whether you're drawn to the red rocks of Sedona, the thermal waters of Desert Hot Springs, or the rolling hills of the Hudson Valley, these properties understand that sometimes the best vacation itinerary is no itinerary at all.
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