#14 in Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels · ★★★★★
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape
No walls, no doors, wellness retreat as full-immersion in the canopy.
No walls, no doors, wellness retreat as full-immersion in the canopy.
"Banyan Tree's no-walls villa escape: 16 open-air villas on a jungle ridge, built for disconnection."
Why this rank: Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape opened in 2022 in the village of Buahan north of Ubud as a no-walls villa experience set into the jungle. Its 16 open-air villas have no exterior walls (retractable canvas covers handle the weather), each with a private pool and integrated outdoor living space. Wellness is woven through the stay: a host coordinates massage, meditation, yoga, and breathwork rather than a fixed class schedule, and the Open Kitchen cooks without a set menu from the garden and local producers. The honest caveat is the format, a truly open-air villa exposed to weather and insects is not for everyone, and the ridge is remote. Best for travellers who want immersion and disconnection over a programmed spa.
Best room: a canopy-edge Bale villa with a private pool and the longest jungle view
"No walls, no doors, wellness retreat as full-immersion in the canopy."
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape, opened in 2022 as Banyan Tree's most architecturally-radical property in Asia. The premise is simple and unusual: there are no walls, and there are no doors. Sixteen Bale villas, each an open-air pavilion on the Buahan jungle ridge, with the bedroom, bathroom, and private plunge pool exposed to the surrounding forest. There is mosquito netting around the bed and a thatched roof overhead; that is the entire architectural envelope. The result is a wellness retreat where the immersion in the jungle is total, the soundscape is birds and rain, the light is filtered through the leaves, and the temperature is whatever the Buahan ridge happens to be. Buahan runs no programme menu, there are no scheduled classes, no spa appointments, no fixed activities, the property is intentionally a do-nothing, live-with-the-jungle retreat. The kitchen is open-fire, the menu is set and served family-style each evening, and the lunch on the river-canyon hike is included. Buahan is the right pick for the wellness retreat where the goal is genuine disconnection rather than programme intensity.
A canopy-edge Bale villa, the open-air villa with the longest plunge-pool view.
Embrace the no-walls premise, sleep with the mosquito net only, listen to the dawn chorus at 5am. The set-menu evening dinner is communal-table; talk to the other six couples at the table. Skip the optional excursions, the retreat works best at zero activity.
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape sits at #14 within our Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels list. It scored an aggregate 9.6/10 across our three editorial criteria, earning its rank on a format no rival matches rather than on amenity count. The sibling entries are listed below.
If the dates are locked in, secure the room around the three-month mark. Expect the best-positioned suites to go early; in the busy season the lead time is months, not weeks. The plunge-pool and terrace suites, the categories that justify this ranking, tend to sell out before anything else.
Editorial · #14 on the Top 20 Wellness Retreat Hotels 2026 list
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape makes the list on a format no rival matches: a no-walls villa design at intimate scale. The 2022 property opened in the village of Buahan north of Ubud with 16 open-air villas, each with no exterior walls (retractable canvas covers for weather), a private pool, and integrated outdoor living space.
Wellness is built into the stay rather than booked by appointment: a wellness host coordinates massage, meditation, yoga, and breathwork. The Open Kitchen cooks without a fixed menu, drawing on the organic garden and local producers each day.
The no-walls design is the defining asset: guests sleep, eat, and recover in continuous contact with the jungle, a different sensory register from enclosed-villa rivals. The honest trade-off is that the same openness, weather, insects, and a remote ridge with little to do off-property, will not suit everyone. Best for travellers who want full immersion over a programmed spa stay.
A ranked shortlist, a special offer worth booking, and the overpriced stay to skip. Straight from the editors.