The Ultimate Biohack: Why Your Next Getaway Is the Key to Longevity

We live in an age of wellness gadgets. Sleep trackers, supplements with names nobody can pronounce, cold plunges, red lights. A great deal of effort goes into finding the one thing that will make us feel better and last longer.

This post is not going to sell you another one. We are not doctors, and we won’t pretend a weekend away is medicine. But most people already know, without anyone showing them a chart, what makes them feel most like themselves: a proper rest, time outside, and long, unhurried hours with the people who know them best. That is what a getaway is for.

The oldest wellness plan there is

Think about the last time you came home from a trip actually rested. It probably wasn’t the place alone. It was who you were with, and the fact that for a few days nobody needed anything from you except your company.

That is the part of a weekend away that is hard to recreate at home, where everyone has a commute, a calendar and a phone that keeps lighting up. Getting your parents, your siblings, your college roommates or your grown children under one roof for a few days takes some organizing. It is worth it.

Around one table

Most of what people remember from a group weekend happens at the table. At Hilltop the dining rooms are built for whole groups: 48 seats at the Castle, 32 at the Mansion, 16 at the Farmhouse and 8 at the Lodge. Nobody eats in shifts, and nobody splits up across three restaurants.

If nobody wants to cook, Cuisine Rustique will bring a buffet to your building, set it up and clear it away. You book them directly; the services page has their details and the other vendors’.

After dinner the evening tends to drift: out to the fire pit at the Castle, the Mansion or the Farmhouse, in to the wood-burning fireplace at the Farmhouse or the Mansion, or down to a film in the theater.

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Outside, on purpose

Hilltop sits on 130 private acres in the Pocono Mountains, two hours from New York City and Philadelphia, with 4 miles of walking trails through the woods and meadows. There are two loops: an easy one of a mile and a half, and a moderate one of two and a half miles. Pack walking shoes. A walk before anyone else is up, or one in the evening as the light goes over the meadow, is the easiest way there is to slow a weekend down.

If you would like to know what you are looking at, Laura Chávez Silverman of the Outside Institute, a naturalist, leads walks through Hilltop’s woods: the plants, the fungi, and what can be foraged without harming either. She is booked directly, too.

And at night, step outside. You are a long way from the bright lights of the city, and the stars are abundant.

Rest, properly

A getaway only works if you let it. A few things that help, depending on which building you book:

• Leave the schedule loose. Plan one or two things a day and let the rest happen.
• Sleep in. The beds are high-end Beautyrest beds, and there is nowhere you need to be.
• Swim, whatever the weather. The Farmhouse’s heated indoor pool is open all year.
• Warm up. The Mansion and the Farmhouse each have a sauna, and the Mansion has an indoor hot tub.
• Stretch. The Castle has a yoga room, with 40 yoga mats.
• Put the phones in a basket at dinner. No building can do that one for you.

Make time for what matters

Nobody can promise you a longer life, and we won’t try. What a long weekend with your people can give you is a better few days, and the kind of stories that come up at every family dinner for years afterwards.

The people you would want there are already in your contacts: your parents, your siblings, your oldest friends, your children. Pick the dates, send the group message, and get everyone under one roof. The Farmhouse sleeps 16, the Mansion 26 and the Castle 44, and all four buildings together sleep 92, each a short walk from the next. The friends and family page will help you find the right fit for your group.