Chiva-Som

Chiva-Som opened on April 19, 1995, on 6.7 acres of beachfront in Hua Hin, where the Thai royal family built summer palaces in the 1920s. Its founder, the former Deputy Prime Minister Boonchu Rojanastien, was inspired by Europe's health farms and pulled down his own beach house to build it; it calls itself Asia's first wellness resort, and his son, Krip Rojanastien, has led it since 2007. British architect Jean-Paul Blissett drew on the traditional houses of Ayutthaya, and Ed Tuttle redesigned the rooms for the 25th anniversary. Every retreat begins with a Health & Wellness Advisor and includes three wellness meals a day. There are 15 retreat programmes and more than 200 treatments, therapies and activities across six areas: spa, fitness, physiotherapy, holistic health, nutrition and aesthetics, from Chi Nei Tsang, Watsu and Reiki to shiatsu, tai chi and qi gong. Produce comes from the organic garden, and the Krailart Niwate mangrove forest, which the resort has restored, forms part of the programmes. Phones are for guest rooms and the library, and alcohol is limited to wine and Champagne in the evening.