RR Recommended: Shalin Balasuriya’s Wellness Recommendations Rooted in Restoration

Shalin Balasuriya has spent a career thinking about how spaces make people feel. As co-founder of Spa Ceylon, the luxury Ayurveda and wellness brand born in Sri Lanka, he has built an entire philosophy around sensory ritual, ancient healing, and the emotional architecture of rest. So when he recommends a wellness destination, it carries a certain weight.

His list is not about the grandest spas or the most Instagrammable infinity pools. These are places that understand something rarer and harder to manufacture: genuine transformation.

A seasoned traveller with deep roots in Ayurvedic philosophy and sound healing, Balasuriya approaches wellness with an eye that is equal parts professional and personal. He has experienced the world's finest wellness offerings not as a leisure guest but as someone who understands, from the inside, exactly what it takes to create an experience that lingers.

"True luxury today is increasingly defined by restoration," he says. "The greatest wellness destinations are no longer simply beautiful hotels with spas attached. They are spaces that understand atmosphere, ritual, silence, and the emotional art of slowing down."

These are the five destinations that, in his view, do it exceptionally well.

Galgorm, Northern Ireland

Shalin describes Galgorm as instinctive rather than performative, which is high praise from someone who has seen every iteration of the luxury wellness experience. Set along the River Maine, the property's Thermal Village moves guests between riverside hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, and heated pools, all while keeping them deeply connected to the outdoors.

"The sound of flowing water, cold air against warm skin, the transition between heat and stillness all of it works beautifully on the nervous system," he says. For city-dwellers and frequent travellers, he believes, this kind of unhurried, nature-led decompression is becoming genuinely essential.

Grand Hotel Kronenhof, Switzerland

Sitting in the Engadin Valley in the Swiss Alps, this Belle Époque property represents what Balasuriya calls wellness through precision and stillness. The panoramic alpine pools, salt grottos, and hydrotherapy facilities are exceptional, but he insists that is not the point.

"What stays with you is not simply the facilities, but the emotional effect of the environment," he says. "It creates mental clarity. It allows space for reflection." In his view, Kronenhof embodies where modern luxury is heading: quiet, intentional, and deeply restorative.

Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary, Koh Samui, Thailand

Built around an ancient meditation cave once used by Buddhist monks, Kamalaya is the destination on his list that most explicitly addresses the emotional dimension of wellness. Programmes here focus on stress recovery, sleep, emotional balance, and mindfulness, delivered with what Balasuriya calls compassionate rather than clinical warmth.

"Modern life has created an epidemic of overstimulation," he observes. "People are exhausted mentally long before they realise it physically." Kamalaya, in his view, creates the space to reconnect with oneself. He is also drawn to the way it weaves Eastern healing traditions together with contemporary wellness thinking, a balance he considers vital for the future of the industry.

Santani Wellness Resort, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Santani earns its place on the list for the elegance with which it reframes Ayurveda for a modern sensibility. Set in the mountains near Kandy, the property is deliberately understated: minimal architecture, abundant silence, and nature doing most of the work.

"Sri Lankan Ayurveda has always fascinated me because of its deeply preventative approach," Balasuriya says. It is concerned not with treatment alone, but with balance across sleep, digestion, emotion, and energy over the long term. He believes Santani communicates these philosophies in a way that feels globally relevant without losing its cultural roots.

Six Senses Vana, Dehradun, India

The final entry on his list is perhaps the most philosophically aligned with his own worldview. Set in Dehradun, Six Senses Vana draws on Ayurveda, Tibetan healing, yoga, and meditation to offer what Balasuriya describes as quietly confident wellness no spectacle, no excess, simply deeply personalised introspective journeys.

"There is a growing global return toward ancient sciences because modern society is beginning to realise that wellbeing cannot be solved through efficiency alone," he says. Sleep, emotional balance, nervous system regulation, and human connection, he argues, are becoming the new markers of luxury. Vana, in his view, understands this as well as anywhere in the world.

Across five very different destinations and cultures, the thread running through Balasuriya's recommendations is consistent: the best wellness experiences help people reconnect with themselves. In a world that rarely stops, he suggests, that may be the most radical offering of all