Your Next Wellness Escape: Losinj, Croatia

I spent my first couple of days on the north Adriatic island of Losinj trying to figure out how to pronounce it. My Croatian hosts said things that sounded almost like familiar words. Lotion? Lozenge? I never did quite master it.

No matter. My mispronunciations worked for me. Lotion, lozenge, Losinj: All are meant to soothe and heal.

If you’re still with me, I assume you know about the first two. The last is possibly new. Popular among Slavic and German-speaking Europeans, Losinj is under the radar for much of the world. Which makes it all the more healing and appealing.

Since the 19th century, it has been known as an island of vitality thanks to the research of botanist Ambroz Haracic. Considering sunshine, humidity, temperature and latitude, he determined that Losinj had the healthiest climate in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As soon as Emperor Franz Josef heard about this, he took a trip.

And that was before Haracic planted the seeds for hundreds of pine trees. Once he did that, the pines thrived despite not being native and turned much of the formerly windswept and desolate island into forest. That, in turn, allowed hundreds of plants, herbs and healing flowers to take root beneath the protective canopy. Now the species diversity extends to some 1,200 species of therapeutic and aromatic plants.

Losinj’s first heyday was as a retreat for people with respiratory problems. Even now, the air feels ridiculously easy to breathe. Forest air and sea air—like well-being filling your lungs. (Unless you have allergies, in which case you might consider avoiding the spring blossoming season.)

Back then, if you stopped coughing, you were probably pretty happy. Now, it takes a whole lot more to satisfy guests. But a Croatian company gave it their best shot a few years ago, and the result, Losinj Hotels & Villas, the island’s only luxury development, is satisfying. (Disclosure: I recently visited as their guest.)

At the center of picturesque Cikat Bay, the collection includes the lovely Art Nouveau Villa Mirasol, with its eight bedrooms, and the more contemporary Villa Hortensia, designed by leading Croatian architect Dean Skira, with ten bedrooms accented with furniture from Ligne Roset.

For those who aren’t vacationing with 15 of their closest friends, there are the lavish rooms and suites in the Boutique Hotel Alhambra & Villa Augusta (part of which dates from 1902 and is the oldest accommodation on the island), which looks a bit like its name suggests, and in the much larger Bellevue Hotel. They share a number of concrete “beaches,” various restaurants, from Japanese to steak house, and a serious, multifaceted spa clinic.

I don’t know why this one isn’t mentioned more often in the same breath as better-known European spas. It spans the entire ground floor of the hotel (which, with 206 rooms, has a big footprint) and has indoor and outdoor pools, steam rooms and saunas; areas for aromatherapy workshops; and spaces for daily yoga and cross-fit.

The program—developed by one of the smartest women in the spa business, Liliana Matic Moore—is equally vast. Matic Moore has spent more than 25 years working for top brands like Kempinski and Bliss Spa at W Hotels in locations from Singapore to Qatar to London to New York. What’s different is that as the corporate wellness and spa director here, she’s free from the approval processes at big companies. If she knows from experience or her constant research that something works, she can do it.

And so the services range from Tibetan sound bowl therapy on a waterbed, Ayurveda and acupuncture, to consultations and blood work with medical doctors, cryotherapy and scientific metabolic analysis. Guests can go for a walk with spa therapists to gather herbs and make their own aromatherapy balms, or book an appointment for a high-tech Hydrafacial or Eximia (which uses radio frequency and vacuum therapy to counter cellulite). The spa products include certified organic cosmetics using olive oil and aloe vera to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals that employ the latest nanotechnology.

There’s an entire clinic dedicated to injectibles and non-invasive medical aesthetics treatments. Many guests find out about it only after checking in to the hotel and decide now is the time to finally go for it and get that little touch-up they’ve been considering, since they know the doctors will be good.  

But many other guests come away with a glow that comes not from medical interventions but from simply being on the island of vitality. Away from the hotels, there’s some pleasant hiking. Mali Losinj is a cute harbor town that’s lively but still blessedly free of overtourism. (Try saying that about certain other Croatian islands.) And those therapeutic plants are everywhere. Outside the hotels, a good place to learn about them is the Garden of Fine Scents, an interactive center and shop with plots of more than 250 species of herbs, and an adorable dreadlocked sheep named Roko.

The last big reason to visit Losinj is the Croatian Apoxyomenos, a larger-than-life bronze statue of a Greek athlete that dates from 2nd or 1st century BC. It is already an astonishing artwork. What is even more astonishing is that it spent centuries beneath the Adriatic Sea and was only discovered, near Losinj, by a research diver in the 1990s. After a careful archaeological effort, it emerged from the seabed almost intact. Specialists spent years scraping off the marine organisms, earning international acclaim and awards for their restoration work. After it made the rounds on the international archaeological museum circuit, it came home to be housed it in a lively, playfully designed museum.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the bronze sculpture is also so well preserved, but it did make me think.