Santani is the first and only purpose-built wellness resort in Sri Lanka, designed according to the highest sustainability and eco-standards.
The resort provides guests with luxury escapes beyond compare in Sri Lanka.
This 19-hectare former tea plantation within a pristine forest has allowed to create a restorative destination spa, which is completely accessible yet blissfully secluded.
The rooms are built for natural ventilation and are air-condition free - far healthier for you, and better for the environment, because this saves over 70% of energy compared to an air-conditioned hotel.
Santani offers a welcoming place to retreat and rejuvenate within an unspoilt wilderness in the spiritual centre of Sri Lanka.
The temperature at the resort is comfortably cool at 853 meters above sea level.
The guests are free to roam around these 19 hectares of tropical jungle and fertile rice fields, to practice yoga or to meditate along the Hulu River.
Dive in and go for a swim if you wish.
In the evening enjoy a glass of bubbly by a campfire, relax in the lounge or meet friends at the bar - the choice is yours.
In place of dogma or rigidity, Santani offers a relaxed philosophy and a personalised approach to rebalancing, whatever that means for you.
Each person is unique so the hotel's team customises every restorative programme around that individuality, based upon a scientifically developed questionnaire to determine the wellness components right for you, so that you are able to have a unique luxury escape.
The only strict "rule" is that children must be at least 12 years of age to accompany their parents at Santani.
Created by and for successful, worldly professionals, Santani is about seeking and finding inspiration, knowledge and encouragement to balance external demands with inner fulfilment.
Offering effective, meaningful wellness without artifice, Santani has a pure and simple purpose: to help you get unstuck.
The owner choses to design the contemporary dwellings based on the concept of the "ambalama", which is the Sri Lankan word meaning "place of rest".
Historically, pilgrims and traders moved around this sun-kissed island on foot.
Simple shelters called ambalama came into being, offering these travellers somewhere safe to rest up for the next leg of a long journey.
This human need to rest has not changed; today's travellers too are in need of a place to rest up, along the journey of life.
Stylish and utterly comfortable, the interiors too are deliberately minimal.
As in ancient Buddhist meditation caves in the mountains surrounding Santani, this lack of distraction allows you to focus your mind solely on slowing it down.
To further support your efforts to "reset", the rooms do not have televisions.
While digital detox is a key component of the Santani experience, the hotel's team do offer in-room Wi-Fi on demand.
By blurring the distinction between inside and out, these private retreats invite you to rest, relax or meditate while inhaling the pure fresh air and taking in the pristine, truly inspiring scenery around you.
Nestled between the hills and rainforest in the heart of Sri Lanka, Santani exists for the singular purpose of nourishing your soul.
When it comes to actual nutrition, the hotel's team believes balance rather than extremes, and in the value of pleasure in the lives.
Whether you like juicing, vegetarian, vegan and raw foods or you prefer heartier traditional fare, Santani is about freedom and choices which are yours to make among the nutritious and delicious food served in the elevated restaurant with capacity for 60 guests and at the open-air main pavilion lounge with its biodynamic wine & fresh juice bar
Your experience at Santani includes a personalised approach to gourmet wellness cuisine.
In place of a printed menu for everyone, Santani's experienced, internationally trained chefs prepare your healthy natural dishes according to a custom meal plan created in co-ordination with the Head of Wellness and Santani's in-house Ayurvedic doctor based upon your health goals and physical condition.
Personalised meal plans draw upon the most recent scientific research in three main areas: Ketogenic, Ayurvedic Vegetarian, Detox.
Santani's modern approach to the traditional Sri Lanka Ayurveda diet comprises fresh foods representing the six Ayurvedic tastes - sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
This time proven practice ensures that all major nutrients are included, and prioritised according to your Ayurvedic body type known as the Doshas - Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
Every is born with a unique balance of these doshas; every activity and function of the mind and body is dependent upon the balanced or unbalanced state of the doshas.
This diet, designed to cleanse the body of impurities and thus rebalance the doshas, encourages energy stimulation and calms the mind, which makes it a valuable tool in elevating mood, energy and metabolism.
SAMPLE DISHES
Fennel barley and citrus fruit salad with toasted sesame dressing.
Rocket lettuce, pine nuts and goat cheese tortellini in a tree tomato consomme.
Aubergine and cashew nut filo parcels with local spices and olu rice, blushed tomatoes, garlic chilli sauce.
Traditional Sri Lankan rice & curry with organic vegetables and chutney.
Trio of French creme brulee - masala chai, raspberry cream cheese and jasmine tea & white chocolate.
The Santani approach to detox and cleansing is still very much about gourmet dining and fulfilment; the non-juice detox diet and the raw juice & smoothies programme are restricted short term diet plans which focus on eliminating caffeine, alcohol, salt, sugar and processed foods.
The purpose of this diet plan is primarily to support and cleanse the liver, intestinal tract, kidneys, lungs and skin through the elimination of toxins in the body.
Spicy drumstick soup with roasted jack seeds.
Indian pennyworth and bulgur salad with tamarillo and grapefruit salsa.
Crunchy banana blossom salad with shredded coconut & tamarind dressing.
Young coconut, passionfruit and basil detox juice.
Healing & calming smoothie of almonds, vanilla dates and black chia seeds.
Deep cleansing smoothie with lemon, lime, chilli, ginger and kithul treacle.
Blood cleansing & liver detox juice with wheatgrass, green apple and ginger.
The low-carbohydrate Keto meal plan comprises certified meat, freshly caught seafood and garden fresh vegetables, most from the own organic garden.
Santani does not use any processed or refined foods and the Keto diet excludes starch-rich foods such as rice, breads, yams and pasta.
This newly popular approach to weight loss focuses on re-balancing the body's energy usage through food.
When human eats foods high in carbohydrates, the body produces glucose and insulin.
Glucose is the easiest molecule for the body to convert and use as the body's main source of energy.
Insulin is produced to process that glucose in the bloodstream.
As glucose is acting as the primary energy source, fats are not needed.
They are therefore stored in the body.
This low carb diet is carefully designed to bring your body into the metabolic state of ketosis, a natural process the body initiates when food consumption, or in this case carbohydrate intake, is low; during this state, human body produces ketones from the breakdown of fats in the liver to be used as energy.
The Keto Diet substitutes carbohydrates for healthy fats, so that the body instead of storing fat, the body begins to burn ketones as the main energy source and stored fat will be burned away.
Pumpkin veloute with duck confit, caramelised apple and sage.
Citrus and beetroot cured pink salmon with tarragon and horseradish sauce.
Grilled Australian grass fed beef tenderloin steak, herb layered summer squash cake and wild mushroom puree with micro-herbs and tamarind sauce.
Multi-texture strawberry platter with homemade pepper ice cream.
"Rama entrusts Hanuman must leap to the Himalayas and bring back the healing herb from the Medicine Mountain to save Lakshman's life.
So Hanuman leaps over the ocean, and across the whole of India, to the Himalayas.
When he arrives at first he can't find the Medicine Mountain.
When he finds it at last, it is covered with herbs and he doesn't know which is the magic healing herb.
So Hanuman wraps his arms around the whole mountain, pulls it out of the ground, lifts it up onto the palm of his hand and flies with it back to Lanka" - Ramayana, the Indian epic.
The hotel's team soughts out the latest innovations in health science from around the world to harmonize with the most effective treatments among the rich heritage of Ayurveda in Sri Lanka.
Building upon the global philosophy and extensive therapeutic amenities, Santani takes a lifestyle approach to wellness with two essential components.
The hotel's team pamper your body in an environment designed at every level to revitalize you and the hotel's team educates your mind so that you leave with healthy habits and practices which allow you to sustain greater mental, spiritual and physical well-being for years to come.
That is the Santani lifestyle.
How does this work in practice?
As muscles, including the mind, relax, watch your body bend in new ways and your spirits rise.
Your mind soaks up new knowledge and practices which you take back when you leave us.
Beyond the plethora of healthy indulgences for the mind, body and spirit at Santani, the success rests upon the mindfulness so that you may thrive in every aspect of your life back home.
Come to Santani and immerse yourself in a wellness experience to last a lifetime.
Ayurveda in Sri Lanka is characterised by two distinct forms of treatment: Shamana alleviates symptoms and Shodhana, which literally translates as "to wash away", cleanses the body to remove the root causes of dis-ease.
A blend of wellness experiences, history and policy discussions, while being immersed in the cool Sri Lankan mountains, and the tropical beaches of this paradise island.
The tri-level spa tucked into the hillside's natural contours has been thoughtfully designed with holistic wellness in mind.
This experience will showcase a village of craftsmen honing and practicing their skills, making copper and wooden handicrafts, as well as batik fabrics and much more.
You will pass breathtaking vistas of the knuckles mountain range, while walking past smaller tea plantations and paddy fields.
The gushing of the river over the rocks, is a complete immersion into the surrounding natural environment, and is a great place for a morning meditation session.
The Knuckles Conservation Range is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a collection of peaks across the central region of the country. The drive to the summit, goes along the Rangala road.
A quick hike across the river will lead you to a short, flat trail which takes you past two waterfalls that open up into small ponds of water. The waterfalls border the picturesque Kukul Oya region.
The degaldoruwa temple features some of the oldest paintings recorded in the Kandyan Kingdom. The temple, hidden away in a cave by a mountain outside of Kandy, was built by King Keerthi Sri Rajasinha.
A visit to the sacred temple of the tooth relic, a trip to the peradeniya botanical gardens, and a walk around the Kandy lake are some of the options that are on offer.
SANTANI WELLNESS RESORT & SPA
Arantenna EstateWerapitiyaKandySri Lanka