Six Senses Takes Over Vana, the Himalayan Wellness Retreat
The 82-room retreat in the sal forest outside Dehradun, opened in 2014, became Six Senses Vana in January 2023, keeping its Ayurveda, yoga and Tibetan medicine.
Six Senses announced on 10 January 2023 that Vana, the wellness retreat outside Dehradun in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, had reopened under its flag as Six Senses Vana. The handover had been announced the previous year, and it gave the group a second address in India after Six Senses Fort Barwara in Rajasthan.
Vana was not a new project. The retreat opened in January 2014 on a 21-acre site in a sal forest, on the road that climbs from Dehradun towards Mussoorie and within reach of Rishikesh, and it had built a reputation of its own well before the change of name. Its buildings were designed by the Spanish practice Esteva i Esteva, and its 82 rooms and suites look into the trees.
What sets it apart from a resort with a large spa is that a stay is the programme. Every booking includes full board with a personal nutrition plan, a wellness consultation and screening, daily activities and treatments, and even clothing: guests are given white kurta pyjamas to wear around the retreat. The therapies draw on several traditions practised side by side. Ayurveda is the core, alongside yoga and Sowa Rigpa, the Tibetan medical system, for which the retreat has a trained practitioner, as well as natural therapies such as acupuncture and reflexology.
Guests choose an intention rather than a menu of treatments. Programmes built around sleep, detox or yoga start at five nights, Ayurveda and weight management programmes run for 14 nights, and the classical Ayurvedic Panchakarma takes 21.
Six Senses said it would work with the existing team, keep the retreat’s formula and bring it to a wider international audience, adding its own elements such as its Eat With Six Senses food principles. Vana’s cultural programme of exhibitions, visiting artists and performances was to continue.
For travellers looking at serious wellness stays in Asia, the significance is simple: one of India’s most respected destination retreats is now part of a global luxury group, without having been turned into a conventional hotel.