The best health retreats on the Gold Coast
Forget hedonism. The Gold Coast is increasingly adopting a holistic lifestyle thanks to these leading health retreats and spas.
Queensland’s Gold Coast has long been known as a party girl, but when she throws off her high heels, trades her Pina Colada for a green juice, and swaps her favourite nightclub for an oxygen bar, she becomes the ultimate destination for healthy indulgence. Below find the top 10 health retreats and wellness spots on the Gold Coast now.
1. Eden Health Retreat
Eden Health Retreat, located on 160 lush green hectares in the Currumbin Valley, is Australia’s longest-running health retreat. It has undergone a dramatic transformation in the 30 years since I was last there, ditching dorm rooms, Pritikin diet principles and group therapy in favour of luxurious facilities, nutritionist-designed meals, and activities ranging from pilates to boxercise. During its 10-month, Covid-related closure, Eden built 12 new cabins and a yoga pavilion. “People used to come to a health retreat and look for ‘the guru’ to show them the way,” says manager Chris van Hoof. “Now they’re owning their own health.” Some things don’t change though – at Club Mud, you can still slather yourself in clay and sunbathe.
2. Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat
Established in 2006, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat is so alive with rainforest sounds that I fall asleep to rapturous frog song and wake to laughing kookaburras. Breakfast is served after a sunrise Qigong class, a brisk walk and a shot of apple cider vinegar (“to aid the digestion process”). Optional activities such as strength training or deep-water running follow, but afternoons are devoted to rest and relaxation. The spa at this Gold Coast health retreat is the southern hemisphere’s largest, with 33 womb-like spa treatment rooms. I don a cloud-soft robe, pour a cup of lemon myrtle aniseed tea, and head for the new wellness lounge, with its meditation chair offering guided breathing exercises, an air-purifier oxygen concentrate and zero-gravity experience.
3. Azure Spa & Fitness
Many glitter-strip hotel spas have closed, at least temporarily, because of the pandemic, but Azure Spa & Fitness, which opened in early 2018, is still soothing frazzled souls. Located on the pool deck level of The Star Gold Coast, the six-room spa offers an inviting range of facials, massages, body wraps and other treatments, some designed specifically for men. Bookend your treatment with a gym workout or a dip in the pool beforehand, and a meal at Japanese restaurant Kiyomi afterwards, where the sashimi, including petal-dusted seared scampi, comes highly recommended. The Star is the place to choose if you want to stay close to a craps table and cocktail on your health journey.
4. The Bathhouse
Under the shade of a sprawling fig tree, The Bathhouse, which opened in June at Ground at Currumbin, offers a barefoot, open-air experience. This Gold Coast health retreat includes a traditional cedar hot tub, two hydrotherapy spas, a cold magnesium-enriched plunge pool and a hand-built Finnish sauna complete with a woodburning stove and hot volcanic stones. Infra-red sauna sessions and (for the brave) ice baths can be booked separately. A range of natural therapies, including cosmetic acupuncture, shiatsu and sound healing, are offered upstairs in the renovated century-old farmhouse, which rocks its own relaxed vibe. Ground at Currumbin is situated in an award-winning eco-village where all homes are solar-powered and water self-sufficient.
5. Pasture & Co
Spilling out of The Bathhouse and into Pasture & Co next door for brunch is an effortless process. Pasture & Co features fresh, local, sustainable produce, and a cabinet full of vegan, raw and gluten-free sweet treats. The brunch menu spans choices that work equally well early or later in the day, such as zucchini and potato rosti, or the Ground bowl filled with roasted pumpkin, brown rice, zucchini noodles, miso dressing and, if you wish, smoked tofu. Cold-pressed juices are a further drawcard – the beetroot, apple, carrot and ginger blend strikes just the right note between earthy and sweet. Raw cake-making classes are offered on occasion. Pick up some Currumbin Valley honey or organic locally grown produce from the neighbouring Ground Grocer before heading off.
6. Soak Bathhouse
The centrepiece of Soak Bathhouse, which opened at Mermaid Beach in January, is an undercover pool heated to 34C and surrounded by treatment rooms where guests can undergo massages and LED facials or relax in the infra-red sauna. Soak also has two outdoor mineral spas, a cold plunge pool, an ultra-dry red cedar wood sauna, a eucalyptus-scented steam room and a sun deck. Choose the “soak and sip” option to enjoy two drinks from the bar. Chief executive and co-founder Alexis Dyson says bathhouses are back because they surmount the stress of social distancing. “People are feeling the need to connect with others,” she says. “You get huge health benefits from that connection.”
7. Tallebudgera Creek
Sparkling aqua waters make Tallebudgera Creek the perfect spot for stand-up paddleboard stretches with Pure Aloha Yoga. After paddling upstream and anchoring at a small sand cay, our instructor Miranda Jones leads us through a gentle flow. Manoeuvring on a floating paddleboard while embracing the sun, wind and other elements adds a new dimension to downward dog and pigeon pose. “It’s a completely different connection to what it would be in a studio,” Jones says. “We challenge people and encourage them to fall off because that’s part of the fun.” Sure enough, I spend more time in the water than out of it, but this only makes savasana at the end of the class all that more rewarding.
Denise Cullen was a guest of Destination Gold Coast and The Star Gold Coast.
This article was originally published in October 2021 and has since been updated.