Umbria is a landlocked region in central Italy, the only one on the Italian peninsula with neither a coastline nor a border with another country. Known as the 'Green Heart of Italy', it is a land of rolling hills, oak forests, olive groves, and medieval hill towns. Umbria is famous for the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, the Gothic Duomo of Orvieto, the festivals of Spoleto and Perugia, and a hearty cuisine built around black truffles, cured pork from Norcia, lentils, and the powerful Sagrantino red wine of Montefalco.
Top spas
Curated picks for treatments and day spas.
Terme di Fontecchio
The only historic thermal complex in Umbria, in a neoclassical 1868 building near Città di Castello, fed by two springs - one sulphurous, one salt-bromine-iodine - known since Roman times, with pools, mud therapy, and inhalation cures.
Terme Francescane Village
A thermal village near Spello built around naturally sulphurous spring water, with heated thermal pools, sauna, Turkish bath, and a mud cave in the green heart of Umbria close to Assisi.
Borgobrufa SPA Resort
A five-star adults-only resort with a 3,000 sqm spa - the largest in Umbria - featuring indoor-outdoor heated pools, multiple saunas, a salt cave, and a snow room, set among vineyards and olive groves.
NUN Assisi Relais & SPA Museum
A restored 13th-century monastery whose spa sits underground amid the ruins of a first-century Roman amphitheatre, with Roman columns and vaulted brick archways, a unique museum-spa at the gates of Assisi.
Eremito
A remote hermitage retreat on a hilltop above the Chiani valley, surrounded by some 3,000 acres of nature reserve, offering a stripped-back digital-detox experience with single cells, silent dinners, and daily meditation.
Wellness retreats
Multi-day immersive experiences.
Tara Nature Retreat
A small nature and yoga retreat centre in oak forest just outside medieval Todi, with a seven-room guesthouse villa, an indoor yoga studio, and glamping in two hectares of garden.
Where: Hills outside Todi (Perugia province)
Agriturismo Baldeschi
A family-run agriturismo near Lake Trasimeno whose top floor is dedicated to wellness, with a 50 sqm heated yoga room and a sauna, run by yoga enthusiasts for retreats and quiet stays.
Where: Lake Trasimeno area, Umbria-Tuscany border
Signature treatments
Local specialties worth seeking out.
Overview
Umbria's wellness offering centres on its thermal and mineral waters and on rural, contemplative retreats rather than coastal spas. The signature experiences are sulphur-based thermal cures, mud therapy, and inhalation treatments, alongside massage, hydrotherapy, and the meditative rhythm of the region's hermitage and yoga retreats.
Items
Yoga & meditation
Studios, classes, and meditation centres.
Wellness travel tips
Get the most from your wellness experience.
Umbria is landlocked and quieter than Tuscany; wellness here leans toward thermal springs, monastery and silent retreats, and agriturismo spas rather than coastal resorts
Book thermal-cure cycles (mud, inhalations) in advance at Fontecchio and Terme Francescane, as traditional cures run on a seasonal calendar and may need a brief medical check
Pair wellness with the landscape - Assisi, Spello, Todi, and Lake Trasimeno all sit near these venues for walking and slow-travel days
Borgobrufa is adults-only and one of the few large luxury spas in the region, ideal for couples; book the private spa-for-two as an add-on
For a true digital detox, Eremito enforces a no-WiFi, single-occupancy cell format with communal silent dinners - go expecting solitude
Shoulder seasons (May-June, September-October) give the best mix of warm weather, open thermal pools, and lower crowds