Ananda in the Himalayas

India's first destination spa, opened in 2000 by Ashok and Neelam Khanna on the hundred-acre palace estate of the Maharaja of Tehri-Garhwal, above Rishikesh and the Ganges valley. The Viceregal Palace at its centre was built in 1910 for a visit by the Viceroy of India that shaped the estate around it.

The setting is the argument. Sal forest on all sides, the river valley below, and the Himalayan foothills beyond — in the region where yoga and Ayurveda originated, which is not incidental to what the place offers.

The programme structure is serious. More than a dozen structured programmes run from seven to twenty-one nights — Panchakarma, holistic detox, stress management, sleep, hormonal rebalance, and unusually specific tracks for PCOS and fertility. Ayurvedic physicians lead them, with yoga taught by teachers trained at the Bihar School, and a spa of 27 treatment rooms carrying more than eighty therapies.

Two things to understand before booking. Panchakarma is a demanding classical detoxification protocol, not a spa treatment with a Sanskrit name; guests who arrive expecting massage and mountain views find the first days confronting. And meals are tailored to your body type and your programme — deliberately smaller than most guests expect, which is part of the proposition rather than an oversight.

Short stays are possible — the minimum is two nights, and five-night Foundation versions of some programmes exist. But the structured programmes run seven nights and upward for a reason. A two-night booking gives you a palace hotel with excellent treatments, which is a fine reason to come; it just isn't the same thing.

The estate sits several hours from Delhi, and rates begin above a thousand dollars a night, all-inclusive of accommodation, meals and daily therapies.