10 experiential stays around the world you need to check out in 2025

Out for 2025: boring holidays, in: experiential stays…

2025 is the year we leave behind boring holidays and find experiences that allow us to fully disconnect, reconnect and immerse. Experiential stays are fast gaining popularity in this part of the world, with travellers looking for hotels and properties with meaningful connections and real memories to take home with. An experiential stay is so much more than just a hotel room and a dinner – it’s a different world you can slip into, and these 10 stays need to be on your list for 2025.

Jack’s Camp in Botswana

Jack’s Camp is located in the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Bostwana, a time caspule ironically tucked away in a land so vast and open and somehow still hidden. This 1940s camp is all about the safari life, and every feature so personal and individual, it’s unlike anything you’ll experience. Founded by Ralph Bousfield in the ’90s in honor of his father, Jack, the camp drips a mix of colonial style and archaeological treasures with the bare-earth, exhilarating air of pure, unadulterated nature.

Each of the nine canvas tents come with campaign desks and hand-carved beds and, on the outside, broad wood decks, swings, and plunge pools. You spend the day bouncing along on safari jeeps and quad bikes and horseback, exploring the great (truly) outdoors of the surroundings, interacting with the wildlife, and evenings at a communal 36-seater table with guests and guides to sample fine local cuisine. It’s a desert dream.

@jackscampbotswana

Kurula Bay in Sri Lanka

This property is located on the breathtaking Koggala Lake, the island’s largest and most scenic natural lagoon. Kurulu Bay sits on a private jungle estate on the southern shores of Sri Lanka’s Ahangama. This is a space for modest luxury and conscientious hospitality, deviating from the excessively fancy and allowing residents to connect with nature, themselves and the world around them. The barefoot escape focuses on slow living, well-being, serenity and accentuating the natural beauty of the carefully preserved Kurulu House.

There are 14 cottages and suites, newly constructed to reflect the new in contrast to the 1960s Florida meets tropical Bawa modernism of the pre-existing property. It’s also a haven for art and wellness enthusiasts, hosting yoga and wellness retreats all year around.

@kurulubay

Chandys Windy Woods in India

The valley of Munnar calls – Chandys Windy Woods is the place to be if you visit Munnar in Kerala, India. Perched on the side of a mountain, this cosy, comfortable stay offers a breathtaking outward view of the rolling hills and tea estates of the Munnar valley, a sea of green, mist and mountains. The hotel features an all-wood, cottage style of construction and loads of activities to immerse you into the local culture while you stay there.

With tours of the tea estates to mountain safaris, cooking classes, an indoor forest and more, there is much to see and do here, and the standard of hospitality at the hotel is top notch, coloured by the local culture. This is the best stay in Munnar, and you can’t miss it.

@chandys_windy_woods

JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge in Kenya

Steeped deeply in the air of Masai Mara, this is JW Marriott’s first foray into luxury safari stays. The Masai Mara Lodge gives guests a real chance to fully immerse themselves in the surrounding nature, escaping to a different way of life and living in the savannah.

The hotel features 21 luxurious tented suites (including a 2-tent family suite) located on community land, overlooking the Talek River and the Masai Mara National Reserve. Each tent has its own private outdoor Jacuzzi tub and deck. Besides all the typical hotel experiences, including the spa, the fitness centre, the pool, outdoor viewing deck, fire pit and meals featuring authentic local cuisine, this where you’ll experience a true African safari.

@jwmasaimara

Suján in India

Sujan, a property of Relais & Châteaux, has a beautiful story of origin, dating back more than 40 years and centered around a unifying love for the big cat – the tiger – and it’s home, Ranthambore. A long history of family entrepreneurship and a love affair with the great outdoors birthed the Sujan chain of hotels in 2000, and they’ve been showcasing the best of Indian safari life since. Sujan Sher Bagh was the first, and features 12 beautiful tents, designed to evoke the feeling of a life on safari.

The Serai will take you into the heart of the Indian desert, on a 100-acre expanse of indigenous desert scrub. This is where you’ll find peace, quiet, an expected oasis, and it’s a true taste of desert life. There is also the Jawai, set in a spectacular, sprawling dramatic wilderness and fusing luxury with the great outdoors.

@thesujanlife

The Cellars-Hohenort in Cape Town

Fancy a vineyard – we have one. The Cellars-Hohenort is the South African escape you’re looking for, perched in the midst of nine acres of stunning gardens filled with camphor trees, roses and the good-old wine-making produce. This property is an old 17th century manor, oozing elegance and the rustic beauty of a countryside retreat. With over 2,500 flowers to make up the surroundings, it has a true farmhouse feel.

The country estate is not just a taste of the rural life – it’s poised with luxury and fine dining and even finer wine, which the hotel is quite famous of having cellars and cellars of. The collections are top notch and so is everything else. Add the beautiful Table Mountain views, and you’re far, far away from the noise of the city.

@thecellarshohenort

Sitara Himalaya in India

Perched in the midst of the breathtaking grandeur and serenity of the Himalayas is the Sitara Himalaya, a property of Relais & Châteaux. As exclusive as it gets, this property features just ten rooms and is truly a disconnect from daily life, in every way possible. In here, times slows down, and you get a chance to revel in the silence of your own thoughts and being. Guided by the principals of meditation, yoga and Vedic spirituality, now this is a wellness retreat.