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Faith, ritual & stillness

Sacred Journeys

Private journeys to the world’s sacred places, for every faith and for none: Himalayan shrines, Bhutan’s dzongs, Kyoto’s temples, Bali’s holy springs and retreats for stillness.

The idea

Sacred Journeys

Some journeys are made for the spirit as much as for the view: a dawn at a Himalayan shrine, a blessing beside a holy spring, a temple garden in Kyoto in the quiet of early morning. This collection gathers the houses we know beside the world’s great sacred places, for travelers of every faith and for those who travel in search of stillness rather than doctrine.

Every journey here is private and paced around ritual rather than a timetable: an expert guide who knows when a temple is at its quietest, ceremonies attended with respect, and a house that restores you between visits. Where access depends on a calendar, a festival or a monastery’s own rules, we say so plainly, and early or private visits can often be arranged when the season allows.

Beyond the houses below, we plan the great pilgrim journeys by conversation. In Rome, visits to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel before opening or after the public has left can often be arranged within the Museums’ own limited calendar, as can the guided visit to the Vatican Necropolis beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, where the tomb of the Apostle is kept, taken in groups of about twelve and booked well ahead. On the Camino de Santiago, the Compostela is awarded to pilgrims who walk at least the last 100 kilometres into Santiago, so the final stages from Sarria can be walked at your own pace, with comfortable evenings along the Way and a fine last night in the city. Jerusalem and the Holy Land, holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, are planned with current travel advice in mind.

Where this collection follows living ritual, pilgrimage and practice, our Temple Paths collection follows the great temple landscapes of Asia at first light, with Amanjiwo for Borobudur, Amansara for Angkor and Amantaka for Luang Prabang. For retreats where rest is the whole purpose, see Wellness Retreats, and for Japan written as one journey, Japan Rituals. Our Nepal, Bhutan and Kyoto guides set out the places behind the houses.

In motion

Evenings at Dwarika’s

Carved Newari windows, lamplight and a table laid for dinner in the heart of Kathmandu.

Video: The Dwarika’s Hotel

The chapters

Ways into the sacred

Four ways into the collection, each opened by a house close to a living tradition.

A gilded shrine lit for the evening Arati in a temple of the Kathmandu Valley
Courtesy of The Dwarika's Hotel

01 Kathmandu · Bhutan

Himalayan shrines and dzongs

The stupas and temples of the Kathmandu Valley, and Bhutan’s cliff monasteries and river fortresses, from Taktsang above the Paro valley to Punakha Dzong where two rivers meet.

  • The Dwarika’s Hotel

    A daily Nitya Puja in the courtyard, a dawn walk to Pashupatinath and an evening Arati at a temple few visitors ever see, from Kathmandu’s living museum of Newari craft.

  • Amankora

    A circuit of Aman lodges across Bhutan’s valleys, from Paro and Thimphu to Punakha, with temple visits and trail days matched to the season and the festival calendar.

Autumn maples along a forest path in the garden at Aman Kyoto
Photo: Aman / Aman Kyoto

02 Kyoto · Ise-Shima

Temples and shrines of Japan

Kyoto’s temple gardens, Ise Jingu, whose shrines are rebuilt every twenty years in the Shikinen Sengu, and Koyasan, the mountain monastery Kukai founded in 816.

  • Aman Kyoto

    A forested hillside below Mount Hidari Daimonji, with temple days at a gentle pace, soft private guiding and onsen waters for the evenings.

  • Amanemu

    Onsen suites on a sheltered bay in Ise-Shima National Park, in Mie Prefecture, with a shrine visit placed so it never steals the stillness of the stay.

A bale lit by candles at dusk beneath tall ceremonial penjor poles at Amandari, Ubud
Photo: Aman / Amandari

03 Ubud · East Bali

Bali’s holy springs

A Hindu island of temple ceremonies and sacred water, from the purification pools of Tirta Empul to the water temples of the subak, a UNESCO cultural landscape.

  • Amandari

    A sacred path to a holy spring beneath an ancient stone tiger, and a three night Nourishing Spiritual Journey that ends with a blessing at Amandari’s own temple.

  • Amankila

    A hillside above the Lombok Strait at Manggis, with East Bali’s temple country close by and the days paced around the island’s temple calendars.

Guests seated in meditation behind a curtain of falling water at Keemala's meditation cave
Photo courtesy of Keemala

04 Dhulikhel · Rajasthan · Phuket · Ninh Van Bay

Ayurveda, yoga and meditation

Practices for the inner journey, open to every faith and to none, with the evening Ganga Aarti in Varanasi, the ashrams of Rishikesh and Bodh Gaya planned by conversation.

  • Dwarika’s Sanctuary

    A dawn meditation walk through the Shiva Lingam Maze, a priest’s blessing, mantra chanting in the Meditation Cave and sound healing, on hills long a retreat for monks and seekers.

  • Amanbagh

    A Mughal-inspired garden in the Aravalli Hills, with a holistic spa and multi-day Immersions drawn from India’s ancient Ayurveda.

  • RAAS Chhatrasagar

    A spa in the Ayurvedic and Tibetan traditions, with yoga alongside, on the shore of a lake a Marwar noble dammed in 1890.

  • Keemala

    Mala Holistic Spa in the rainforest above Kamala, where the days are for relaxing, meditating, exercising and cleansing.

  • Six Senses Ninh Van Bay

    Yoga, aerial yoga and sound healing in the Wellness Pavilion, and a hilltop spa above a bay reached only by boat.

Featured

Leading stays

Bhutan · Resort

Amankora

Amankora is Bhutan as a journey: a circuit of Aman lodges across valleys where temples, trails, dzongs, and farm landscapes change with each drive. Exclusive Villa Collection treats…

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The collection

Further stays

Kyoto · Resort, Villa

Aman Kyoto

Aman Kyoto sits on a forested hillside below Mount Hidari Daimonji, inside a restored secret-garden landscape that keeps cultural Kyoto close and tourist-bus energy away. Exclusive Villa Collection…

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Ise-Shima · Resort, Villa

Amanemu

Amanemu sits on a sheltered bay in Ise-Shima National Park: Aman’s onsen retreat where hot-spring waters, forest-coast air, and seafood evenings replace capital intensity. Exclusive Villa Collection sends…

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Ubud · Resort, Villa

Amandari

Aman's village above the Ayung River Gorge: thirty one thatched pavilions and villas behind paras stone walls, each with a garden of its own, in Kedewatan, ten minutes…

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East Bali · Resort, Villa

Amankila

Amankila occupies a hillside above Manggis on Bali’s east coast, looking across the Lombok Strait: Aman’s cliff-and-pool grammar away from Seminyak density and south-coast corridor noise. Exclusive Villa…

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Rajasthan · Resort, Villa

Amanbagh

Amanbagh rests in Ajabgarh’s countryside as Mughal-inspired palace-garden living: arched courtyards, pool light, and arid Rajasthan landscape held away from Jaipur’s busiest wedding corridors. Exclusive Villa Collection recommends…

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Phuket · Resort

Keemala

Thirty eight private pool villas on a rainforest hillside above Kamala, on Phuket's west coast, each inspired by the mythical clans of the island's first inhabitants: cottages of…

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Traveler questions

Before you choose

  • Are these journeys for one faith? No. The collection is open to every faith and to none. Some travelers come for pilgrimage, others for meditation, sacred architecture or simply quiet, and every journey is private, shaped around what you hope to find rather than a group itinerary.
  • Can private or after-hours visits be arranged? Often, though never by promise. In Rome, visits to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel outside public hours follow the Museums’ own limited calendar, and the Vatican Necropolis admits small guided groups booked well ahead. Temples and monasteries keep their own rules and festival days, so access is confirmed for your dates before anything is planned.
  • Can we walk the Camino de Santiago in comfort? Yes, in its final stages. The Compostela is awarded to pilgrims who walk at least the last 100 kilometres into Santiago for religious or spiritual reasons, which on the French Way means setting out from Sarria. The walking is yours, and the evenings and the arrival in Santiago can be arranged in comfort.
  • Which Buddhist pilgrimage places can be included? Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, and the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in India, where he attained enlightenment, are both UNESCO World Heritage sites. Lumbini pairs naturally with Kathmandu and Dhulikhel, and Borobudur and Luang Prabang are followed in our Temple Paths collection.

Photo courtesy of RAAS Hotels

Journeys

Written conversation-first

Every week begins with a conversation: seasons, transfers, and houses are shaped with our team rather than taken from a catalogue. Browse our journeys, or begin here.

Browse journeys Plan My Trip

The places

Explore by destination

The destinations behind the houses above, for when you want the map before the week.

Destination

Nepal

The Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayan foothills: seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, living Newari craft and ritual, and the stillness of the hills at Dhulikhel, with the snow peaks on the horizon.

Destination

Bhutan

Bhutan’s multi-lodge journey: Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey, Bumthang when the kingdom should feel like dzongs, valleys, and Aman lodges linked as one circuit.

Destination

Kyoto

Northern Takagamine’s hidden garden under Hidari Daimonji: Kyoto when the week wants forest moss and temple mornings, not only downtown ryokan noise.

Destination

Ise-Shima

Ise-Shima’s Ago Bay: pearl rafts, national-park forest, and onsen weeks when Japan should feel like water and shrine country, not only city floors.

Destination

Ubud

Ubud’s Ayung River gorge: rice-terrace Bali when the week wants Kedewatan quiet, not Seminyak neon.

Destination

East Bali

East Bali’s Manggis coast: three-tier pools above the Lombok Strait when Bali should feel like cliff shade and ancient kingdom country.

Destination

Rajasthan

Rajasthan’s Aravalli foothills near Ajabgarh: Mughal-garden India when the week wants haveli courtyards, fort day trips, and pool-pavilion shade.

Destination

Phuket

Phuket’s quieter west-coast peninsula: Andaman sunsets, Pansea sand, and villa weeks when Thailand should feel like coconut shade, not Patong neon.

Vietnam

Ninh Van Bay

A secluded bay on the Heo Peninsula across from Nha Trang, reached only by boat, where Six Senses Ninh Van Bay keeps sixty-two pool villas beneath forested mountains.

Plan My Trip

Begin with a conversation.

Tell us the season, the company, and the feeling you want to keep. We will write back with a considered path, not a link to a search.

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