My mind is constantly racing. It’s the reason I have trouble sleeping, truly unwinding, and why the notes section of my phone is robust. But here in Tasiilaq, one of the most remote towns in the world, my thoughts begin to clear as sweat beads on my forehead. I can’t resist relaxation as I peer out the lone window to a real-life screen saver: Greenland’s endless mountainous tundra and an iceberg-riddled fjord.
It doesn’t get more “middle of nowhere” than this sauna experience in the wilderness, part of a weeklong trip through East Greenland run by Tasliiaq Tours. As I’m discovering in real time, the distant location is the key to dissolving my bodily tension: I have no other options out here except to give in and relax.
On our last day, my partner and I alternate between bone-chilling dips in the adjacent arctic lake and happily roasting in a tiny, bright-red wood-fired sauna, the only structure for miles. We’d booked a private two-hour session, and there we felt as if we had an entire corner of the world to ourselves.
Accessible only by boat or foot in the summer and by dog-sled or snowmobile in the winter, the off-grid, hand-built sauna is an extreme example of a new direction in wellness travel: wild wellness.
Tasiilaq in Greenland is one of the most remote towns in the world.
Photo by muratart/Shutterstock
“After years of overstimulation, stress, and digital overload, consumers are prioritizing low-density environments, limited-access settings, and experiences that don’t feel crowded or overexposed,” states the Global Wellness Institute’s report “2026 Wellness Tourism Initiative Trends.”
I’d always gravitated toward remote destinations, but the tour in Tasiilaq unlocked a fresh form of well-being for an adventure-loving traveler like me by combining isolated valley hikes, secluded ghost settlements, deep-sea fishing, and visits to giant icebergs with a far-flung wellness experience. Though the tour company is currently refurbishing and moving the sauna (which it hopes will be running in the next year or two), the team is unlocking a trend that is growing around the world.
Companies like U.K.-based Much Better Adventures are also combining active outdoor pursuits with wellness in wild places. Many of their itineraries feature remote yoga, wild swimming, natural hot springs, and wood-fired saunas after a day of adventure in a rugged setting.
“Our customers often talk about the emotional payoff of earning their sense of calm through active experiences in wild settings, happy to trade polished luxury for access to properly wild places,” says Sam Bruce, Much Better Adventures’ CMO and cofounder. “Well-being is no longer about being pampered or being forced to relax by doing very little. It’s about feeling grounded, present, and reconnected to nature in different ways.”
If you’re looking for a reset in a distant place, here are a handful of other wild wellness experiences around the world.
Where to embrace wild wellness
Island saunas in Tasmania
Wild wellness in Australia’s island state of Tasmania is done in fantastic fashion, with floating saunas in the mountain-biking town of Derby. But for the ultimate sauna in solitude, head to an island off the island: Satellite Island. This exclusive-use property is home to a sea sauna nestled in a cliff, accessed by a winding timber walkway. “Wellness in Tasmania is about embracing the island’s elements,” says Sarah Kingston Clark, Tourism Tasmania’s CEO. “Tasmanians have always lived this way. More than ever, it’s what travelers are seeking too.”
Related: You Need to Get Yourself Into a Floating Sauna This Summer
Wild swimming in Sweden
Much Better Adventures blends adventure and wild wellness seamlessly with its wolf-tracking and wild-swimming retreat. The excursion takes place in a secret location in central Sweden’s pine forests that’s revealed to guests only after they arrive at the first meetup point. The experience includes wildlife spotting (watch out for moose, lynx, beavers), foraging, wood-fired tent saunas, and wild swimming in remote lakes.
Waterfall meditation in Japan
On a one-day retreat to the sacred site of Shirataki Daimyojin, offered by The Shirataki Donguri Koya no Kai Association, travelers can get a guided look into the practice of Shugendo. This ancient spiritual tradition is centered around nature and self-reflection. The serene forest within the Mie Prefecture of Japan’s Ise-Shima National Park is accessed by Kintetsu Railway. Here, guests can participate in waterfall meditation to gain clarity, spiritual cleansing, and renewal.
Slow safaris in Kenya and Tanzania
“In the last two years, we have seen a shift in the way people are traveling to Africa,” says Shaun Stanley, owner of Stanley Safaris, a World Luxury Travel Award winner and A-lister Safari Expert three years in a row. “It’s no longer about ticking off the Big Five, but slowing down and immersing themselves, connecting with the wilderness around them.”
Northern Kenya’s Kalepo Camp is already far removed, as it’s reachable only by bush plane or helicopter—and its wellness offerings match that isolation. Guests can slow way down on a walking safari led by a Samburu guide or on a helicopter with Kenya Choppers for a private sunrise yoga practice atop a peak in the Matthews Mountains.
Stanley also suggests Chem Chem Lodge in Tanzania, the birthplace of the “slow safari,”
which allows guests the freedom to explore the camp and environment at their own pace, without a rigid schedule. The lodge also offers silent safari walks, designed to take distracting conversation out of the picture, giving way to heightened senses and a more immersive, transformative experience. Led by a Maasai guide, the 45-minute walk concludes at Lake Mañana with the symbolic act of writing something you’d like to get rid of in your life and tossing it in a bonfire.
“These experiences—surrounded by nature and wildlife—are soothing for the body, soul, and mind, recalibrating something in you that a massage simply cannot reach,” Stanley adds.
Bird-watching in Chile
Birding soared in popularity during the pandemic, and it’s stuck around—there are even apps built around the hobby—as a proven form of wellness. According to an article on Science Direct, there’s a “relationship between birdwatching and mental health and well-being,” and it even suggests that “exposure to birds may be more influential than other forms of nature.” At Awasi Atacama in Chile, guests can embark on a private birding expedition to the remote Chaxa Lagoon. Time slows as you observe the three South American flamingo species feeding at dawn or dusk, immersed in the curious beauty of life and the surrounding landscape.
