Across Asia, luxury resorts and wellness centers are redefining the spa experience with innovative treatments and holistic wellness programs. From aqua rejuvenation to beachside massages and yoga under a full moon, these destinations offer unparalleled opportunities for relaxation and revitalization. Discover how each location blends traditional techniques with modern wellness practices, providing personalized, sustainable, and immersive experiences that cater to every guest’s unique needs.
Aqua Rejuvenation
evian SPA TOKYO, the Forbes Five-Star spa at Palace Hotel Tokyo, has launched a journey of wellness designed to offer in-water fitness through gentle resistance and stretching, delivering the benefits of a lower gravity setting followed by a personalized, rejuvenating body treatment. The privately guided “Aqua Move Experience” begins with a briefing with a trainer, followed by a 10-minute warm-up poolside before entering the water. Each session can be customized to each guest’s desired level of fitness. It can include light cardio paired with gentle stretching to promote mobility among seniors or more intense cardio paired with fat-burning exercises for those seeking a more vigorous aqua workout. At its conclusion, guests have the opportunity to relax with a brief soak in the hot tub before segueing to their choice of a 60- or 90-minute personalized body massage.
Pampering Amid Limestone Karst-Studded Waters
Ambassador Cruise, which has made a name for itself as the leading luxury cruise operator on UNESCO World Heritage listed bays Halong and Lan Ha, offers an array of treatments at its onboard spa. Based on Sothys Paris products, the menu features 60-minute and 90-minute-deep tissue massages, holistic massages, acupressure massages, Vietnamese massages, Thai massages, and Tibetan warm stone massages. A 90-minute “Sensory Spa Journey” entails various massage techniques followed by a “Sweet and Sour” scrub. The menu also includes a 60-minute body scrub with sugar and salt, 60-minute intensive care skin treatment, and 30-minute and 60-minute head, neck and shoulders treatment for spa-goers who are keen on scalp massages.
Draft Your Own Health Regime
Eco-friendly hotel brand Banyan Tree has now introduced a unique Wellbeing Sanctuary option for guests, allowing them to achieve their own health, nutrition and fitness goals while enjoying a relaxing luxury holiday at any of their resorts worldwide. In Thailand, two beachfront resorts, Banyan Tree Samui and Banyan Tree Krabi, offer the additional benefit of consultation with an Ayurvedic expert and yoga instructor ahead of their stay. In addition to the resorts’ award-winning spas, much of the holistic itinerary allows for time for meditation and reflection at the guest’s private tranquil villa. In Samui, each of the 88 villas comes with an infinity pool and jet pool, while at Banyan Tree in Krabi each room has a jet pool and is equipped with Wellbeing Sanctuary features such as yoga mats and Tibetan singing bowls.
Yoga Under a Full Moon
Alma Resort Cam Ranh, a 30-hectare beachfront resort on Cam Ranh peninsula, has appointed a full-time resident yogi to bolster its array of wellness offerings. Equipped with 20 years of experience in the health and wellness industry, Umesh Kamar Sharma joins Alma after working at nearby The Anam Cam Ranh for seven years as a yoga and gym instructor. In his new role, Umesh offers a variety of group and private yoga experiences including the likes of sunrise yoga, power yoga, full-moon yoga stretch, yoga nidra meditation and yoga practice tailored to the guest’s needs at numerous locations across the resort such as the beach lawn and yoga room.
All About Sustainability
Featuring seven treatment rooms designed in an underwater theme and a Thai herbal sauna and steam, Melia Chiang Mai’s YHI Spa offers a “360° Spa Signature Treatment” with a focus on protecting the environment. The 150-minute journey, priced at THB 3000, comprises 30 minutes of yoga and meditation, a 30-minute herbal blended steam, a 90-minute aromatic massage with Thai herbal compress balls, and a 360° cuisine set menu created via a cooking process to minimize food waste and reduce greenhouse emissions, using fresh ingredients grown in collaboration with nearby sustainable organic gourmet farms SEED and Rong Khum. Featuring farm-to-plate produce, executive chef Suksant Chutinthratip (Billy) and his team craft dishes using as much of every ingredient as possible. Leftovers are then returned to the farm as compost, coming full circle in a ‘plate to farm’ movement, with leftover cooking oil sent to be recycled into biodiesel.
Beach Spa
The Anam Mui Ne, an Indochine-era inspired resort in Vietnam’s popular beach town Mui Ne, has expanded its spa and wellness offerings with the launch of its “Beach Spa” specialising in express treatments. As its name suggests, The Anam Spa’s Beach Spa is absolute beachfront. Adjacent to the resort’s 266sqm saltwater infinity swimming pool and beach lawn, Beach Spa sits at the other end of the beach to the resort’s Lang Viet Restaurant & Bar, bookending the resort’s best view over the waterfront. Equipped with two massage beds, Beach Spa offers 15-minute and 30-minute head treatments, a 30-minute aloe-vera aftersun treatment, 30-minute back treatment, 30-minute head, neck and shoulder treatment, 30-minute foot treatment and a 40-minute organic facial treatment.