Future retreats: The next wave of sustainable luxury hotels opening in 2025

From a zero-waste island in Norway to a LEED-certified Italian convent, the new generation of sustainable hotels is redefining what it means to travel well — and tread lightly. Georgia Boscawen explores seven luxurious openings where high-end meets high-impact for 2025.

Rumi on Louth Australia

Best for: Exhilarating activities
Opening: Mid 2025

Located on the privately owned island of Louth, 10 minutes from Louth Bay in South Australia, this resort is being developed alongside a AUD$10 million (£4.8 million) restoration and preservation project, which is rooted in respect for the island’s 200-year history as a sheep farm.

Focusing on the island’s pristine wilderness and ecology, this new retreat offers an opportunity to disconnect from the hustle and bustle and embrace an exhilarating form of eco-tourism. Guests can indulge in fossil fuel-free activities such as kayak fishing, beach picnics, stargazing excursions and e-bike expeditions. In-room massages are available too for more relaxing trips, along with cooking classes and paddleboarding.

With a paddock-to-plate philosophy, Rumi on Louth’s sustainable restaurant, Samphire, offers a modern approach to sustainable dining. Using seasonal ingredients, executive chef Jono Sweet focuses on local seafood and native ingredients. Guests can opt for casual dining or a six-course degustation menu to savour the best of the region. Drinks too celebrate the area with local herbs and botanicals in Samphire’s special cocktails.

While a portion of the retreat opened in 2024, the full resort is slated to open in 2025. Available for individual stays or as a whole island buyout for 22 guests, Rumi on Louth has contemporary lodges and a private retreat for up to 10 guests.

Penicuik House at Penicuik Estate Scotland

Best for: Serene woodland walks  
Beginning: 2025

Located 16 kilometres south of Edinburgh, Penicuik Estate is a peaceful rural retreat, home to a collection of elegant houses and lodges that exude timeless charm. Although the estate has welcomed guests for some time, 2025 marks a new chapter in sustainable hospitality for this family-run property. This year the Penicuik Estate embarks on a 20-year nature restoration project in response to climate and biodiversity emergencies.

This ambitious mission encompasses restoring the woodlands by removing non-native species, purifying the water and watershed habitat and preserving the estate’s cultural heritage. Penicuik Estate is striving to become the UK’s first estate to achieve FSC accreditation for Ecosystem Services, a recognition of its efforts in revitalising forest ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity and promoting carbon sequestration.

Additionally, the estate will introduce a nature-focused leisure centre, offering guided walks, astronomy evenings and foraging experiences, allowing guests to engage more deeply with the landscape. To play an active role in the restoration, guests can book a nature-centric stay in one of the estate houses or in the main house, which sleeps 32.

Lilløy Lindenberg Norway

Best for: Quiet mindfulness
Opened: February 2025

On an isolated island in the Bergen fjord system, Lilløy Lindenberg consists of a four-bedroom house and annex. Available as a single buyout or per-room stays, Lilløy is a tribute to the Nordic way of life with handmade ceramics, locally blown glassware, paintings by Bergen artists and natural Scandinavian cosmetic products.

Embracing a low-waste, plant-based philosophy, Lilløy has created a secluded haven designed for minimal impact. Its cuisine celebrates local and regional flavours, featuring seaweed harvested from its own underwater farm. Structures on the island are crafted from hand-gathered stones, while seaweed-filled mattresses enhance the connection to nature. The island is also completely plastic-free.

With a plant-based, low-allergen approach, dining options for private island buyouts range from hands-on to a private chef. Those that want to cook themselves can wander through the little vegetable garden or seaweed farm to harvest fresh ingredients or choose from the tiny island shop, stocked with plant-based regional delights and ready-to-cook meals that can be popped in the Aga. Alternatively, the private chef can create a seasonal plant-based menu with local flavours.

Activities include kayaking, fjord tours, artistic escapes, yoga retreats and meditation. The experience is wholesome, calming and quiet with cosy Nordic rooms, crackling fires and not another soul in sight.

NIHI Rote Indonesia

Best for: Off-grid experiences and wellness
Opening: November 2025

Created to give guests the sensation of staying at the edge of the world, NIHI Rote is an impending off-grid launch on Rote Island in West Timor, Indonesia. With a brand ethos that champions cultural richness and adventure, this new property is set to welcome travellers towards the year’s end, offering secluded beaches, a spa and rustic waterfront villas.

NIHI Rote will feature 21 thatched pool villas, allowing guests to immerse themselves in nature while enjoying a range of experiences, from surfing and spa safaris to family-friendly “Edge of Wildness” camps and pickleball.

Guided by a philosophy rooted in community and conservation, NIHI Rote will follow in the footsteps of its sister property, NIHI Sumba, by launching the Rote Foundation. This initiative supports local communities through English and hospitality training, employment opportunities, programmes such as malaria prevention, and nutrition education and the construction of a new village school.

Embracing its secluded location, NIHI Rote is all about off-grid wellness and fostering a connection with the natural world.

Tella Thera Greece

Best for: Sustainable low-impact dining
Opening: Mid July 2025

In the Bay of Kissamos on the Greek island of Crete, Tella Thera is a newly established wellness retreat that draws inspiration from nature and is constructed with sustainability at its core. With zero-waste kitchens, holistic wellness and nature-inspired suites, every inch of the property is environmentally considerate.

Located a few metres from the coastline and replete with Mediterranean foliage, Tella Thera will open with more than 20 suites and villas, a large spa and a sustainable zero-waste restaurant. Furniture has been crafted by a carpenter less than eight kilometres away, the workforce is local and energy consumption is minimal. The new hotel has partnered with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for its sustainability and carbon management strategy, and Athens-based Pieris Architects were also selected for their expertise in bioclimatic building design.

With a plant-forward approach, chosen for its minimal environmental impact, the cuisine is seasonal and health-conscious. True to Greek tradition, the restaurant, Anemoia, is best enjoyed as a shared experience, offering family-style platters alongside à la carte options.

Vista Ostuni Italy

Best for: A sense of place  
Opening: Summer 2025

Originally constructed as a convent in the 1300s in the whitewashed city of Ostuni, Vista Ostuni is a new hotel housed within a historic palazzo. Featuring just 28 rooms and suites, the property is being developed in line with the eco-conscious LEED certification (the first in Puglia), which requires the building to use less energy and water, utilise renewable energy and fewer resources, create less waste and preserve land and habitat.

The property spans two hectares of private gardens, featuring an olive grove, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and two restaurants. Inside, guests are welcomed by high vaulted ceilings, a grand central hall and elegant water features. The rooms are thoughtfully designed too, with locally sourced wood and stone enhancing the natural feel.

A key aspect of the group’s sustainability approach is the restoration of historic buildings and the preservation of existing structures. Vista Ostuni will open this summer with four bars and restaurants overseen by chef Andrea Berton, whose restaurants previously won a total of four Michelin stars. Experiences here are immersed in regional culture, with visits to the narrow streets of Matera at sunset and tasting olive oil in the ancient groves.

El Nido Lagen Island The Philippines

Best for: Immersion in nature
Opening: Autumn 2025

First opened in 1998, under the limestone cliffs of the Palawan archipelago, Lagen Island has long been a distinguished name in luxury eco-tourism. Now, following a comprehensive transformation, the resort is set to make a grand return. While sustainability was a founding principle, the new Lagen Island raises the bar on its eco credentials with a new marine and biodiversity centre and a nature-focused spa. To allow the island’s natural environment to flourish, Lagen Island has also reduced its number of villas from 50 to 42.

The new spa, named The Nest (El Nido in Spanish), will serve as a central feature, in contrast to the previous arrangement of two treatment rooms. Emphasising both mental and physical wellbeing through a connection with nature, it spans two levels and has a tranquil garden, a gym, yoga studio, Watsu pool, plunge pools and more.

Signature activities are predominantly nature-focused, ensuring minimal environmental impact (motorised water sports are off the menu). Guests can enjoy forest walks, see turtle hatchlings and explore mangroves. Lagen Island is also a world-class diving destination, boasting vibrant coral reefs and underwater caverns.

El Nido’s new Marine & Biodiversity Discovery Centre is an engaging, interactive space where visitors can gain insight into the Philippines’ diverse marine and terrestrial life. Guests can discover the rare and vulnerable Palawan peacock-pheasant, found nowhere else in the world, and the Palawan birdwing butterfly, while also learning about the property’s dedicated conservation efforts to protect these and many other species.

Through its Be GREEN initiative (guard, respect, educate El Nido), staff receive training in ecological waste management, water and energy conservation and biodiversity. elnidoresorts.com

First published in the June 2025 issue of BOAT International US Edition. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.