19. Structure or Freedom
There are daily classes, wellness activities, treatments and talks, so you can fill your days with as much as you want. Equally, there is room to take things at your own pace.
You might start the morning with yoga, enjoy a treatment, spend the afternoon by the pool and finish with dinner at Soma. Or you might have a more comprehensive schedule with consultations, therapies and fitness sessions.
Kamalaya also encourages guests to embrace a digital detox, helping create some distance from the constant notifications and distractions of everyday life. Sometimes the best thing you can do is put your phone away, pick up a book and enjoy having nowhere else to be.
20. Understated, Barefoot Luxury
Kamalaya’s style is natural and understated, with thoughtful design and a relaxed atmosphere that reflects its tropical surroundings. You can move between treatments, the pool and restaurants in relaxed holiday attire, enjoying the easy-going rhythm of life at the sanctuary.
It’s a lovely expression of barefoot luxury, where the setting, genuine hospitality and sense of wellbeing are at the centre of the experience.
21. The Familiar Feeling That Brings You Back
After 14 years of working with Kamalaya, one of the things I appreciate most is that familiar feeling when you arrive. There is a quiet sense of calm that seems to settle around you. The team come out to welcome you, the familiar smells and sounds are there, the foods you look forward to are still on the menu, and the rhythm of life at the sanctuary feels just as you remember it.
That sense of familiarity doesn’t mean things have stood still. If anything, the experience has continued to improve. Treatments feel increasingly refined, therapists have developed their skills over the years, and there are more options to explore across the menus and wellness offering.
I hear this reflected in the feedback from my own clients. One recently told me, “Kamalaya is so wonderful, like returning home.” Another described their fifth stay, saying it was “great as usual”. Others come back having enjoyed another brilliant experience, or having discovered a new set of learnings along the way.
For me, that’s what makes Kamalaya special after all these years. It has managed to retain the feeling that people fell in love with in the first place, while continuing to find ways to make the experience even better. And it’s still a place I love returning to and feel confident recommending to my clients.
