Global searches for the term “biohacking” have jumped 53% in the past year, and searches for wellness retreats are up 22% year on year. More people are actively looking for places to optimise their health, and a new study has identified which cities around the world are best set up for exactly that.
Biohacking, broadly speaking, is the practice of using science-backed tools and treatments to improve physical and mental performance. And according to new research, no city on the planet does it better than Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai takes the top spot by a significant margin
The study, conducted by beauty and wellness booking platform Fresha, ranked cities worldwide based on a combination of wellness infrastructure, spas, yoga studios, and fitness clubs per 10,000 people, and environmental factors such as air quality, water quality, and noise levels.
Chiang Mai came out on top with the highest densities of spas (37.4 per 10,000 people), yoga studios (2.8 per 10,000 people), and fitness clubs (2.3 per 10,000 people) of any city analysed. That is a level of wellness access that no other city in the ranking comes close to matching, making it the most practical destination in the world for integrating biohacking and recovery practices into daily life.
The city’s score reflects something that anyone who has spent time in Chiang Mai already knows: wellness is not a niche offering there; it is woven into the fabric of how the city operates. From traditional Thai massage studios on every street to specialist retreat centres in the mountains surrounding the city, the infrastructure for recovery and self-optimisation is genuinely unmatched.
The top 10 cities of biohacking
| Rank | City | Country | Spas per 10k | Yoga studios per 10k | Fitness clubs per 10k | Air quality | Water quality | Noise level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiang Mai | Thailand | 37.4 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 18.8 | 40.1 | 54.9 |
| 2 | Helsinki | Finland | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 90.2 | 86.4 | 22.8 |
| 3 | Harrogate | UK | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 75.0 | 78.6 | 21.4 |
| 4 | Porto | Portugal | 3.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 77.7 | 77.5 | 34.2 |
| 5 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 75.0 | 76.4 | 40.0 |
| 6 | Florence | Italy | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 59.7 | 64.9 | 43.2 |
| 7 | Rome | Italy | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 51.5 | 78.5 | 38.6 |
| 8 | Madrid | Spain | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 53.6 | 85.1 | 39.5 |
| 9 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 28.0 | 87.7 | 30.8 |
| 10 | Zurich | Switzerland | 4.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 21.9 | 80.5 | 38.1 |
What the rest of the top three look like
Helsinki takes second place, scoring the highest air quality of all cities analysed at 90.2 and ranking in the top five for water quality at 86.4. Its Nordic wellness culture, built around sauna traditions, nature immersion, and cold-water recovery practices, makes it a natural fit for the biohacking category, even if its wellness infrastructure density is a fraction of Chiang Mai’s.
Harrogate in North Yorkshire, UK, rounds out the top three. Known historically as one of England’s spa towns for its mineral-rich waters, it recorded the lowest noise level score of any city in the study at 21.4, giving it a naturally quiet and restorative setting that works well for recovery-focused travel.
The treatments people are searching for most
The study also identified the most searched biohacking treatments globally in 2026. Microneedling leads the list with over 673,000 monthly searches worldwide, followed by red light therapy at 550,000 searches and cryotherapy at 246,000. All three are available across Chiang Mai’s extensive network of wellness and aesthetic clinics, adding another layer to the city’s case as the practical biohacking capital of the world.
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