On my first day at Canyon Ranch’s $20,000 four-day Longevity8 retreat in November, the schedule sounded dauntingly packed: I received a list of appointments with doctors and wellness specialists across a range of fields, from fitness to flexibility, meditation to mental health. In between electrocardiograms, carotid ultrasounds, and DEXA scans, I would attend spa appointments, fitness classes, and group hikes through the Santa Catalina Mountains; hobnob with the resort’s high-powered guests over dinner and at the pool; and explore the latest tools for neuro and muscle stimulation to reduce stress and reverse the signs of aging at the Center for Life Enhancement.
By day two, I was a believer.
It helped that a torturous treadmill test yielded an explanation for a host of seemingly disparate health problems that had long stumped my regular doctors. This is how I found out that I—a reasonably healthy 42-year-old who couldn’t understand why tennis teammates nearly twice my age ran circles around me on the court—have been afflicted by long COVID. Then, on the third day, a physical therapist eliminated years of persistent neck pain with a quick realignment of my pelvis.
For many high-end travelers, a $20,000 vacation could mean a private jet to a remote tropical island, or a luxury villa suspended over a glistening turquoise ocean. Four days in the Arizona desert (in my case, furnished by the ranch to showcase the program) might not sound worthy of a five-figure price tag—but the cost starts to look quite different when you consider it a down payment on your long-term health.
Longevity has become big business in the U.S. and worldwide. Human life expectancy has increased by nearly three decades over the past century, but for many the focus has switched to “health span,” defined as the portion of our lives when we are free from serious disease. On average, we have nine years of life left once our good health runs out, according to a 2021 Mayo Clinic study.
Now, a health and wellness sector driven by advances in biotechnology, AI, and preventive health is testing the outer limits of what we can do to live longer, healthier lives. The longevity industry, as it has come to be known, is expected to reach $8 trillion by 2030, according to UBS.
Players run the gamut from clinics and quick-fix med spas to products and supplements intended to slow the ravages of age. The sector has produced new celebrities such as biohacker Bryan Johnson, who sells supplements under the brand name Blueprint, with the tagline “Don’t Die.” And veterans of the self-help world, such as motivational speaker Tony Robbins, are getting in on the game, too. Robbins opened a chain of longevity-themed clinics, Fountain Life, and is expanding the concept with the 2026 debut of the Estate, a group of luxury longevity resorts and residences. The first location is slated to open in Los Angeles’ Century City, at $35,000 for an annual membership.
Canyon Ranch, the holistic wellness resort founded in 1979, launched Longevity8 at its flagship location in Tucson in 2024, naming the program for the eight principles it espouses: integrative medicine, flexibility and fitness, nutrition, sleep, spiritual wellness, mental and emotional health, outdoor activity, and strength and endurance. It’s the brainchild of CEO Mark Rivers, who,facing his 60th birthday, wondered how he could extend not just his life span but his health span. Over 18 one-on-one consultations, clinicians measure more than 250 crucial biomarkers.
Canyon Ranch’s program is distinctive, but a few other immersive, longevity-focused luxe getaways can be found around the world. Six Senses Ibiza, Europe’s Lanserhof resorts, and Three Forks Ranch in Colorado offer genetic testing, disease screening, and cutting-edge treatment alongside lavish spa pampering. The Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore houses Chi Longevity, Asia’s first such clinic. Its flagship program starts at $14,000 and includes consultations and sessions with a dietitian and a psychologist, as well as a host of medical, physical, and cognitive tests.
It’s the newest version of the health spa vacation, a tradition that has been popular among those who could afford it for thousands of years—from ancient Greeks crossing the Mediterranean to Epidaurus and Indians climbing the Himalayas for yogic healing, to medieval British travelers flocking to the curative mineral waters of Bath and 19th-century European sojourners seeking high-altitude health retreats in the Swiss Alps.
Canyon Ranch’s approach has taken off among entrepreneurs on the cusp of burnout. “I’ve learned in 34 years of working here that Canyon Ranch tends to attract a type AAA personality,” Mike Siemens, the property’s ridiculously fit director of performance science, told my cohort. “That can be great for the business world—but all-or-nothing perfectionism is lousy when it comes to exercise.”
Together, we 11—a mother and daughters trio who own an adventure travel company for women, a longtime married couple, and six solo participants (myself included)—took a journey into the unknown, sharing exquisite-but-abstemious meals, sweat sessions, and anxieties. We bonded over the constant screeches emanating from our smartphones, which—courtesy of the stockpile of Bluetooth-enabled devices we were given each day—measured everything from our sleep quality to our sugar intake.
“I probably did more for my health in any single day here than I have in two and a half years,” Jack Kramer, an attorney from Indiana, shared at our group’s closing circle. “I have hope now. There’s a tiger in me that just wants to take the world by the horns, and I feel like that guy again.”
At the end of the program, we were each presented with a personalized binder that neatly organized the reams of medical data and test results we had generated. We were also each assigned a personal “board of directors”—including all the experts we had seen, from nutritionists to physicians to mental health providers.
After participants leave, that board gathers at a conference table to pore over each binder of medical results and “what you’ve shared with us in terms of your intentions, goals, and challenges,” Dr. Stephen Brewer, medical director at Canyon Ranch Tucson, explained, calling it an “amazing moment.” Long after they fly home, participants continue to receive advice and insights.
But the most important takeaway of the program is a mindset, Siemens said. “If you take home only one thing, make it this,” he told us. “Stay in the game. Don’t be a perfectionist.”
Live long—but make it luxe
Longevity-focused vacation retreats are beginning to take off worldwide
Three forks ranch: An all-inclusive luxury resort outside Steamboat Springs, Colo., offers a longevity assessment, which includes an AI-predictive electrocardiogram and a multi-cancer early detection blood screening for more than 50 kinds of early stage active cancers. From $1,995.
Rosebar: A dedicated, state-of-the-art longevity clinic, sits inside Spain’s Six Senses Ibiza resort. Its six-day program includes medical consultations, NAD+ drips, automated ice baths, hyperbaric chambers, and cutting-edge devices with cell-rejuvenating red-light panels. From $5,600.
Lanserhof: A global leader in holistic medicine, operates medical wellness resorts in Germany, Austria, and, beginning in 2026, Spain. The Lanserhof Concept integrates medical science with alternative healing. There’s also a London outpost inside the city’s members-only Arts Club. From $3,400.
This article appears in the February/March 2026 issue of Fortune.
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