Discover Your Own Thai Wellness Experience

If ever there’s been a time where we all deserve a bit of rest and relaxation, surely, this is it. Two years of being cooped up inside, stuck at or close to home, feeling every crick and crack in our bodies during endless Zoom meetings at makeshift office desks. We could all use a little revitalization—a little, shall we say, wellness in our lives.

Luckily, there are countries made for us with comfortable resorts where we can relax in beautiful natural environments and have professionals coax our bodies back to health. Thailand is arguably the best of the bunch, a haven for resorts and getaways that offer a chance for wellness and relaxation. While it can sometimes be difficult to sort through all the resort options across Thailand, from the jungles of Chiang Mai in the north to the sandy beaches of Phuket in the south, we’ve enlisted some expert help to offer a perfect sample of the wellness options available for us in Thailand.

We’ve talked to our Destination Specialists and our partners in Thailand and we’ve come up with six beautiful resorts with six unique wellness experiences across Thailand. Taken together, these resorts offer a wide variety of wellness experiences in an assortment of locations across the country, ensuring that you’ll find a wellness escape that matches your travel needs.

Thailand has a wellness escape with your name on it. Let us prove it.

Six Senses Yao Noi, Koh Yao Noi

This award-winning spa resort consistently ranks at the top of most lists about Thai wellness experiences. Set on an island 45-minutes from Phuket, the resort will activate your senses, with each villa boasting lush jungle surroundings and a private swimming pool. The resort offers a variety of wellness options, including yoga programs ranging from three to seven days.

Signature Yao Noi Journey Ritual - Escape to the resort’s hillside spa village for this herbal treatment using plants grown in the spa’s private garden. This relaxing, three-and-a-half hour experience begins with a Thai herbal body scrub, followed by a Thai herbal massage that’ll loosen your muscles and open up your senses. After getting loose and limber, you’ll enjoy a traditional silk cocoon facial that’ll exfoliate and tone your skin before you cap off the experience with a relaxing herbal steam.

Amatara Wellness Resort, Phuket

This is one of the leading luxury wellness resorts in the entire nation, and arguably the most comprehensive in Phuket. Set on Phuket’s secluded southern tip, Amatara provides a relaxing environment for wellness experiences. You can add treatments a la carte during your stay, but the resort also offers all-inclusive programs, with three, five, or seven-night options.

Amatara’s Thai Hammam - The nation’s first Thai version of the traditional Middle Eastern Hammam, this wellness experience combines temperature variations and herbal therapy, aromatherapy, and hydrotherapy to promote sweating, exfoliation, and general rejuvenation. You’ll pass through various treatment stages meant to cleanse, rejuvenate, and relax, and experience alternating hot and cold temperatures in a variety of environments, including heated stone beds and saunas.

RAKxa Wellness & Medical Retreat, Bang Krachao

The first place of its kind in Thailand: a fully-integrated wellness and medical retreat. Located just across the Chao Phraya River from Bangkok, RAKxa offers a tranquil oasis with a team of on-site doctors and holistic practitioners that offer personalized wellness programs, which combine traditional healing methods with the latest medical technology. 

Weight Control & Detox - RAKxa offers a variety of treatment options to those travellers who want to shed a few pounds and learn new insights into leading a healthier lifestyle. Programs span from five to 14 nights, with specific packages focused on gut health, weight management, and general detox. Rely on the expert advice of medical doctors and health specialists to personalize your program and craft the ideal way to manage your weight moving forward or simply to head back home feeling revitalized and refreshed.

Kamalaya, Koh Samui

Those looking for a spiritual approach to their wellness should seek out Kamalaya. The Kamalaya team approaches healing from the inside out, focusing on emotional control in order to rejuvenate the body and mind. All wellness environments offer harmony with nature, such as the Meditative Retreat, which is located in a cave that was once a place of meditation for Buddhist monks.

Asian Bliss - This stress therapy combines a variety of traditions, including Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and Thai medicine. Staff guide you through mental exercises and physical treatments, including Ayurvedic massages, lotus scrubs and wraps, and meditation or yoga. Programs are over five to 10 days and all come with one-on-one guidance from massage therapists and wellness mentors, who are dedicated to restoring your mental balance and relieving your stress.

Chiva-Som, Hua Hin

To call Chiva-Som award-winning is putting it lightly. This beachfront resort in the nation’s central coastal region was voted the “Top Destination Spa Resort in the World” by Condé Nast and “Asia’s Best Wellness Retreat” by World Spa Awards in 2021. The luxury accommodations, with natural woods, fine silks, and a jungle beachside environment, are impeccable, but it’s the wellness treatments that define Chiva-Som, with a holistic approach drawing on traditional knowledge and Western medicine to craft the right treatment for each guest.

Chiva-Som Signature Herbal Massage - Rely on Chiva-Som to perfect a classic, the relaxing herbal massage. Your expert masseuse applies heated Thai herbal packs and Chiva-Som’s own natural oils and uses a variety of deep pressure techniques to relax and warm your muscles. It’s a simple, natural way to relax and improve your health.

Pa Sak Tong, Chiang Rai

Located on a secluded estate of gardens and rice fields in the country’s north, Pa Sak Tong offers an intimate travel experience, with the two resort villas rented to a single reservation at a time. The resort’s exclusive guests enjoy the services of a private hostess, chef, and full therapy team, including a yoga master and meditation master, who offer a variety of spa treatments across three tranquil spa areas. 

Pa Sak Tong Thai Massage - Enjoy the quintessential Thai wellness experience. Allow seasoned professionals to relax your muscles and realign your joints. The therapists can even help relieve your specific aches and joint damage, as they’ve been trained in a variety of physiotherapies. Perhaps best of all, you can enjoy your massage in your choice of environments: the outdoor Spa Pavilion, the indoor Paradise Spa, and the traditional wooden Teak Spa.

This article was originally published in Vol. 29 of Globetrotting Magazine.

By Linda Warner