With a network of travel professionals and writers, Travel + Leisure has vetted hundreds of new and renovated properties in 35 countries for the travel magazine’s annual “It List”. The list puts the limelight on hotels and resorts worldwide that have made the most significant impression on editors and contributors.
All three new Six Senses resorts have made the list this year: Six Senses Fort Barwara – India, Six Senses Shaharut – Israel, and Six Senses Ibiza.
The pandemic has brought about many unprecedented challenges to the hospitality industry in the past few years.
According to Jacqueline Gifford, Editor in Chief of Travel + Leisure, this makes inclusion on the list all the more impressive. “We’ve aimed to showcase the properties at the top of their game and add something new to the conversation.”
Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs was especially delighted to see their teams’ hard work, unwavering resilience, and optimism acknowledged.
Quoted by Travel + Leisure:
Six Senses Ibiza (open since July 2021)
“Six Senses brings its healthy-but-fabulous vibe to Ibiza, an island more generally known for 6:00 am taxi rides home from the club, as opposed to 6:00 am yoga classes. But here, wellbeing feels utterly self-indulgent as opposed to self-denying, with food so delicious you won’t even notice you’re detoxing. The enormous cliff-top space has been sensitively designed to fit in with the island, using local materials for the buildings, and the gardens are filled with homegrown herbs of vegetables so that it feels fully integrated, as opposed to a chain brand clumsily dropped on a rock. The Sea View Premium Suites are especially great, as you’ll get your own little lawn and herb garden. On top of the facials, saunas and massages, the real jewel in the crown here is the Rose Bar, which offers state-of-the-art treatments, including cryotherapy and hypoxic training. And afterwards, you can walk straight into the sea and feel the wellbeing wash over you.”
Six Senses Shaharut (open since August 2021)
“Visitors must veer way off the beaten path to get to this oasis in southern Israel—it lies in the near-empty desert expanse along the ancient Incense Route. But when guests arrive, they’re rewarded with refreshing iced tea and date cookies, along with uninterrupted vistas of golden sand dunes and the dramatic red Edom Mountains. Instead of rising above its sandy surroundings, the property’s low-slung, rough-hewn buildings (made with limestone excavated on-site) are seamlessly integrated into the terrain. The 60 suites and pool villas are decorated with locally made ceramics and wall hangings that cover the TV (you can roll them up via remote control). Like all Six Senses properties, sustainability is at the forefront—most notable in the preservation of dark-sky conditions for optimal and a garden whose produce you’ll find at the property’s four restaurants.”
Six Senses Fort Barwara (open since October 2021)
“Visitors to this hotel will feel like they’ve stumbled out of a time machine: it occupies a restored 14th-century hilltop garrison that was once owned by a Rajasthani royal family. Within the 700-year-old walls are lush gardens filled with native plants and palm trees; two swimming pools; and 48 suites, all of which have views of either the starkly beautiful Rajasthani countryside or Barwara village, which lies a three-hour drive south of Jaipur. The Six Senses brand is known for its emphasis on wellness, so the spa gets the royal treatment, with 30,000 square feet for ayurvedic therapies, meditation, yoga, and more. And in the property’s three restaurants, the Cortile, Rani Bagh, and Roohani, you’ll find food that feeds the soul—ingredients for masala, paneer, and curries are supplied by local farmers and the on-site organic garden.”
