Where to Spa in 2025: Dubai Tops the World Spa Awards, Global Nominees Revealed
- Dr. K.
- Sep 25, 2025
- 5 min read
This year, the World Spa Awards named Dubai the World’s Best Spa Destination.
The global honor doesn’t go to one hotel or resort, but to entire regions that shape how travelers think about wellness.
From Austria’s alpine thermal towns to the hammams of Morocco, these destinations show how spa culture is both ancient and forward-looking.
Dubai — United Arab Emirates (Winner)
Dubai topped the list this year by proving it can do everything, all at once. The city has built an ecosystem where hammam rituals, couture beauty, and diagnostics-driven longevity live side by side. You can spend a morning in the sleek Dior Spa at The Lana, book a full assessment at the Longevity Hub by Clinique La Prairie at One&Only One Za’abeel, and still have time to swim through the AWAKEN Wellness hydro circuits at Atlantis The Royal.
It isn’t just volume; it’s variety. Dubai’s spa culture thrives on scale, design, and access. By gathering global brands and local traditions under one skyline, the city has become a showcase for what wellness tourism can look like when resources and ambition meet.
Australia
Australia earned its place with a balance of natural assets and hospitality polish. Along the Gold Coast, the Chuan Spa at The Langham and Spa by JW at JW Marriott bring structured wellness programs into luxury hotels, while down in Melbourne, Alba Thermal Springs and Peninsula Hot Springs lead the country’s thriving hydrotherapy culture.
Australians treat spas as lifestyle spaces rather than rare indulgences, which is why visitor numbers at hot springs have climbed year on year. It’s a destination where you can pair surf lessons with mineral baths, or follow a city break with a restorative coastal retreat.
Austria
Austria is where European medical spa culture was born, and it hasn’t slowed down. Clinics like MAYRLIFE Altaussee continue to refine the Mayr method of digestive health and longevity, while the Gastein Valley remains famous for its radon-rich waters and alpine thermal complexes like Alpentherme and Felsentherme.
In 2024, Austria’s thermal spas welcomed 8.6 million visitors, a 1.4 % rise from the year before, and the sector supports thousands of jobs nationwide. Here, a spa trip isn’t a luxury holiday — it’s woven into the national health system, and that depth of integration makes Austria a global model.
Bali (Indonesia)
Bali’s nomination is no surprise. Its name is practically shorthand for holistic retreats and healing holidays. Ubud is home to COMO Shambhala Estate, one of the world’s most admired integrative retreats, while Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve layers Balinese ritual therapies onto modern spa menus.
The island’s wellness sector is estimated at nearly US$7 billion annually, and it remains Asia’s strongest contender for travelers seeking a blend of yoga, meditation, massage, and energy work. Few destinations combine affordability, design, and atmosphere quite like Bali.
California — United States
California represents the American spa story: part innovation, part natural heritage. In Silicon Valley, the Asaya Spa at Rosewood Sand Hill draws locals seeking resilience and mindfulness. Down south, Golden Door has been setting standards for structured retreats since the 1950s, while Two Bunch Palms keeps Desert Hot Springs on the wellness map with its mineral pools.
The U.S. spa market as a whole logged 187 million visits in 2024, generating US$22.5 billion in revenue, and California accounts for a leading share of that activity. Wellness here stretches from urban mindfulness hubs to desert sanctuaries, making it a leader in both volume and variety.
Jamaica
Jamaica keeps its spa identity intimate and boutique. At Rockhouse Spa in Negril, treatments unfold cliffside with waves below. The Ocean Spa at Jamaica Inn offers open-air pavilions facing the sea, while Round Hill Spa in Montego Bay merges heritage design with modern therapies.
What stands out is the island’s ability to tie wellness directly to its natural environment. Jamaica may not have the scale of Dubai or Austria, but its spas offer a sense of place that keeps travelers returning year after year.
Maldives
In the Maldives, the spa isn’t an amenity — it’s the core of the travel experience. JOALI BEING positions itself as the world’s first “wellbeing island,” with every element designed around health and restoration. At Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi, the spa features the country’s first Aqua Wellness Centre, an intricate circuit of jets, sauna, and cold plunge.
The islands now host over 170 resorts, nearly all of them with full-service spas, making wellness the country’s most consistent tourism draw. Guests fly across oceans not just for turquoise water, but for the ritual of spa itself.
Mexico
Mexico brings together ancient traditions and cutting-edge science. At NIZUC Spa by ESPA in Cancún, guests move through a full thermal circuit before sampling Mayan-inspired treatments. At the other end of the spectrum, SHA Mexico near Costa Mujeres runs advanced longevity programs with diagnostics and anti-aging protocols — programs that helped it win the World’s Best Longevity Program 2025.
Mexico’s wellness tourism market generated USD 17.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to USD 43.1 billion by 2030. It is one of the few places where you can spend a morning in a temazcal sweat lodge and an afternoon with a medical team.
Morocco
Morocco’s spa culture begins with the hammam — a tradition so widespread that there are an estimated 12,000 hammams operating nationwide. Luxury hotels have elevated this heritage into high design, none more so than the Royal Mansour Spa in Marrakech and its new counterpart in Casablanca.
Travelers come to Morocco not just for treatments but for immersion in a cultural ritual that has lasted centuries. It is living proof that spa culture doesn’t need reinvention to feel fresh — sometimes, authenticity is the ultimate luxury.
The destinations on this list shape the kind of wellness you’ll experience.
Dubai demonstrates how ambition and investment can create a spa capital almost overnight. Austria and Bali draw from tradition. California and Mexico ride the wave of wellness innovation. Jamaica and the Maldives remind us that setting matters, while Morocco proves ritual still carries unmatched power.
For travelers, the choice is less about “where to spa” and more about what kind of wellness story you want to step into— heritage, science, luxury, or local culture.
