Taste & Wellbeing Guide: wellness, spas & yoga

A wellness holiday could be just the ticket. Gemma Nisbet reports.

Wellbeing is one of the great travel trends of recent years and there’s scarcely a resort or a large hotel or a cruise ship worth its salt without yoga and other fitness classes and a day spa. And if you’d prefer a more in-depth experience, there are plenty of options.

Many people seeking a wellness holiday will opt for a retreat and if you’d prefer to stay close to home, there’s lots on offer locally.

For example, Samudra (samudra.com.au), in Dunsborough, offers non- residential yoga retreats, including options specifically for women, and others combining yoga and surfing — its upcoming Slowing Down and Diving In retreat, from September 18-20, is designed to help participants de-stress and costs $495 per person.

Swahini Retreats , in Albany, runs residential yoga and surfing, and yoga and art retreats (swahiniretreats.com), while Bridgetown’s KalyaaNa Spa & Wellness Retreat (kalyaanawellnessretreat.com. au) offers a range of treatments and activities, including massage, shiatsu, nutritional counselling, various alternative therapies, guided meditation, yoga, personal training and bushwalking, with a special focus on healthy eating.

Elsewhere in Australia, possibilities range from the relatively undemanding — such as a package at Peninsula Hot Springs (peninsulahotsprings. com) on the Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne, which might involve hot-spring bathing, spa treatments, accommodation nearby and local activities such as golf, horseriding and yoga — to something more focused, such as a two to seven-night program at the Golden Door Health Retreat & Spa Elysia (goldendoor.com.au) in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales (which has a number of special offers over the winter months), or at Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat (gwinganna.com), in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland, where a three-night package, including accommodation and meals, costs from $1280 per person. You might even like to combine wellness with skiing: Trackers Mountain Lodge (trackers.com.au), in Falls Creek in Victoria, will run its first Ski and Yoga Retreat from September 13-18, with five days of morning and evening yoga plus plenty of opportunity for snow sports, massages and beauty treatments or just exploring the area. It costs $995 per person twin share.

Looking further afield to South-East Asia, there is no shortage of options. The well- regarded Chiva-Som (chivasom.com), in Hua Hin, Thailand, has been offering health and wellness retreats for two decades and has packages from 48,000 baht ($1810) per person twin share for three nights, ranging up to 14 nights or even longer.

For example, local travel agent Bicton Travel (bictontravel.com.au) has a Chiva-Som Stress Cleanse Package, from $4606 per person twin share, including five nights accommodation, a health and wellness consultation, spa cuisine meals, daily fitness and leisure activities, various wellness sessions including personal training and physiotherapy, and a range of spa treatments including massages and a facial, for travel until September 30.

Not far away on Koh Samui, Kamalaya (kamalaya.com) runs fitness, weight-loss and yoga retreats from three to 14 nights — its five-night Asian Bliss program combines Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Thai therapies, and costs from 77,873 baht.

Bali is well-known as a destination for wellness and yoga holidays, particularly in the Ubud area. Many, if not most, hotels, resorts and even private villas on the island offer yoga classes and spa treatments to incorporate an element of wellness into your holiday.

Options for residential retreats include Fivelements Puri Ahimsa (fivelements.org), near Ubud, which offers wellness and meditation retreats of three days to 21 nights, a raw-food restaurant and treatments ranging from massage and spa treatments to traditional Balinese rituals, wellness consultations and colonic hydrotherapy. Its Signature Rejuvenation retreat costs from $US1690 ($2180) per person, double occupancy, for three nights.

Accommodation group Como has its wellness flagship Como Shambhala Estate (comohotels.com), near Ubud, where it offers wellness retreats from three to 21 nights combining meals, treatments and activities such as yoga, pilates and fitness sessions with cultural activities, trekking, bike riding and rock climbing, and spa treatments. Its three- night Stress Management retreat costs from $1530 per person twin share.

For something further afield, you might prefer to join an organised tour group.

WA-based Journeys of the Spirit (journeysofthe spirit.com.au) offers health retreats, wellness holidays and spiritual journeys in small groups to destinations including India, Bhutan, Cambodia, Peru, France, Italy and Japan. Options include 14-day Ayurvedic retreats in Kerala, including meditation, yoga and treatments, with regular departures from August to October, or the Cambodia Building Dreams trip, from November 7-20, which includes five days spent building a house for a family in need.

You might also look for tours which offer a wellness component with other activities — for example, New South Wales-based Soulfit Adventures (soulfitadventures.com) offers yoga retreats in various destinations, including Bali, Cambodia, France, Italy and Laos, a number of which also include a cycling holiday component. For example, its 11-night small-group Yoga Retreat & Cycling Holiday Cambodia includes yoga each morning alongside the chance to explore the country by bike — it has departures on November 9 and January 30, and costs $US2950 per person twin share.

Many cruise lines offer a wellness component. Uniworld (uniworldcruises.com.au), for example, offers a wellbeing program on its European river cruises which includes stretching, yoga and fitness classes, meditation, personal training and cycling tours plus health-conscious menu options.

There are also wellness and yoga-themed cruises. Crystal Cruises (crystalcruises.com) has a 14-day cruise from New Orleans through the Caribbean to Miami, departing on December 6 next year. It has a Mind, Body and Spirit theme, with guest instructors and speakers focusing on yoga, pilates, tai chi and fitness (from $US3725 per person).

Silversea (silversea.com) offers a series of Wellness Expedition aboard Silver Discoverer with fitness classes, healthy food and spa treatments as part of a program of themed voyages which also includes food and wine, bridge, birding, scuba diving and other trips. For example, a 14-day Wellness Expedition from Cairns to Indonesia next October costs from $13,750.

And tall-ship cruising company Star Clippers (starclippers.com/au) has yoga- themed sailings with yoga and meditation sessions and lectures, including a 21-night transatlantic voyage from Malaga in Spain to St Maarten in the Caribbean, from $3725.