Sometimes, a wellness vacation is just what the doctor ordered.
This summer, and beyond, travelers can get their physical and mental health on track with a wellbeing escape with Michel Reybier Hospitality.
The brand’s most alluring properties—from La Réserve Paris to Switzerland’s iconic Mont Cervin Palace—make it easy to hit targets, whether the goal is to boost athletic performance, combat hormonal fatigue, or simply brain-off with a “Mental Escape” journey. Read on!
Best Holistic Wellness Journeys: Mont Cervin Palace
Located in the center of Switzerland’s Zermatt at the foot of the majestic Matterhorn Mountain, Mont Cervin Palace is one of the resort town’s most prestigious addresses. The 160-year-old dame is the picture of Alpine elegance, with chateau-style interiors, three gourmet restaurants, and a fabulous spa with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, sauna, and an ice grotto for soothing sore legs post-hiking. New for this year is a series of four- to six-day wellness journeys that combine medical advances, osteopathy sessions, and tailored nutrition, health, and beauty treatments. Looking to relieve the stress and pressure of everyday life? Consider the “Mental Escape” journey, which helps guests let go and refocus through Pilates, yoga, stretching, and massage. Or opt for the “Women-Holistic” journey to mitigate the effects of hormonal fluctuation and symptoms of fatigue, discomfort, and heaviness.
Best Ballet Barre-Inspired Workout: La Maison d’Estournel
France’s Bordeaux region is famed for its red wine, but this September, it will serve as the stage for professional dancer Laure Dary’s butt-kicking, barre-inspired workouts. From September 27-29, Dary — the Corsica-born dancer, yogi, and founder of Maison Of(f) Wellness — will bring her pioneering fitness method to La Maison d’Estournel, a historic country house nestled in the Médoc vineyards near the Gironde Estuary. Participants of the two-night program will be led through three sports sessions, including a harmonizing vinyasa yoga practice, a lengthening Barre au Sol workout, and a stretching session for achieving suppleness and greater range of motion. The weekend will also include a facial massage and acupressure workshop and a visit and tasting at the neighboring Château Cos d’Estournel, which spans 200 acres of vines. In their downtime, guests can lounge by the heated swimming pool overlooking the vineyards, cycle through the surrounding estate on electric bikes, explore the villages of Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe, visit the oldest lighthouse in France, and go fishing and oyster farming.
Best Bootcamp: La Réserve Ramatuelle
Guests of La Réserve Ramatuelle enjoy the best of both worlds in the South of France: easy access to the glitz of St.Tropez just six miles away, along with a sanctuary-like setting overlooking the Mediterranean. Newly modernized by French interior designer Jacques Garcia, the clifftop property features 27 accommodations (19 of which are suites) and 14 private villas interspersed amid expansive gardens, a two-starred Michelin restaurant, and an exclusive beach club on Plage de Pampelonne. It’s also home to one of the most butt-kicking yet refined boot camp programs on the Med, with daily activities including walks along the coast and the pine-forested hills, yoga and Pilates, Nescens facial and body care rituals, and elevated plant-forward meals. Guests can meet shiatsu masters and Chinese massage specialists on request, plus discover sports as varied as ballet or boxing. And for the first time, the property has launched a “Performance” journey (available from four- to six-days) for guests who want to get in tip-top form through sports training sessions, massage, osteopathy, and slimming body wraps.
Best for Tech-Obsessed Wellness Travelers: La Réserve Geneva
Despite its central location just three miles from downtown Geneva, La Réserve Geneva feels worlds away from the hustle thanks to its prime address within a 10-acre park on the lake’s right bank, with views to the Jura mountains. The hotel’s privileged, nest-like location and 20,000-square-foot Spa Nescens (the city’s largest) makes it a popular wellness destination among travelers and medical practitioners alike. It’s the perfect place to try cutting-edge therapies like Oxylight, a technology unique to Geneva and rare in Europe, combining collagen-boosting Diamond Dermabrasion, Ionisation, Microcurrent, LED & Oxygen therapies. Another tech-driven treatment? Pulsotherapy, which uses pulsed electromagnetic waves, delivered through high-tech boots, to boost the cardiovascular system, shape the silhouette, and aid in post-training recovery. Finish it off with an Infrared Therapy session to eliminate toxins and help contour your body.
Best Facial: La Réserve Paris Hotel
The flagship of the La Réserve collection, La Réserve Paris is housed in a 19th-century building that was once owned by the family of the Duc of Morny, the step-brother of Emperor Napoleon III. The property is known for its opulent interiors, lavish suites, and its Eiffel Tower Views — not to mention, being the only French-owned Palace hotel in the City of Lights — but insiders know that it’s also one of the French capital’s “secret” wellness sanctuaries. The Belle Époque-inspired spa and wellness facilities encompass a 52-foot indoor pool, a hammam, and anti-aging treatments developed at Switzerland’s Clinique de Genolier by Professor Jacques Proust, a pioneer in anti-aging medicine. For a Parisian glow, opt for the Better-Aging Facial, a five-step ritual combining cleansing, muscular preparation, drainage, and facial lifting using specialty accessories. After the hour-and-a-half treatment, skin is firm, wrinkles are reduced, and complexion will be oh-so-glowy.
Best for Post-Fitness Recovery: Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa
This Belle Époque beauty dates to the mid-1800s and boasts an unbeatable location with commanding views of the snow-capped peak of Jungfrau in Switzerland. In addition to opulent interiors, a garden terrace, hyper-local cuisine, and six tennis courts, the grand property—the former stomping grounds of literary giants including Goethe and Byron— is also home to a 5,500-square-meter spa with a vaulted indoor swimming pool, an outdoor saltwater pool, and a garden terrace. It’s the perfect place to unwind and relax after outdoor adventures like hikes, zip-lining, and paragliding, especially now that it’s launched a performance-boosting Muscle and Repair Massage that has been developed by the experts at Clinique Nescens to relieve tension and improve mobility.
