In December 2024, Book Retreats revealed its ranking of the World’s Most Relaxing Holiday Destinations, and within it they uncovered the best destinations for wellness. And if you’ve been looking to add some more “me time” into your calendar this year you’re in luck–the United States was selected as the world’s best wellness destination!
Book Retreats stated:
The United States dominates the global wellness scene with over 10,000 experiences for visitors seeking restoration and rejuvenation in 2025. The country’s diverse landscapes create distinct wellness experiences: thermal springs wind through the Colorado River region, wellness centers nestle in Utah’s red rock country, and beach retreats dot shorelines.
And we more than anyone know how true this rings–with endless spas, this garage-turned-bathhouse, this wellness retreat in the Catskills, this wellness speakeasy in Chelsea, and these hikes you can get to by train, there’s tons of places to head to focus on wellness–and that’s just in and around NYC!
Looks like National Geographic was right when it named this NYC spa a top global wellness retreat!
Japan follows the United States in second place. Ranking 15th globally for relaxation, Japan is Asia’s most relaxing destination for 2025. Visitors here can “explore over 9,000 unique wellness experiences, and forests cover more than half of the country’s land area (66.99%),” according to Book Retreats.
Rounding out the top 10 of the world’s best wellness destinations is as follows:
1. United States
2. Japan
3. United Kingdom
4. France
5. Italy
6. Canada
7. Australia
8. India
9. Spain
10. Germany
And as for the number one most relaxing destination in the world, that title went to Australia, home to 4,700 wellness experiences.
To come up with the ranking Book Retreats compared 76 countries across five key dimensions: safety, solitude, serenity, nature, and wellness. Each dimension was then evaluated on nine individual metrics, such as peacefulness, crowd density, forest coverage, and number of retreats and wellness centers. Each country’s weighted average across all metrics was then used to calculate its overall score.
Here’s the full study if you’re interested in finding out where else made it onto the list!