As Meliá broadens its reach throughout Asia, Spain’s leading hotel brand is embracing local culture and unique experiences in the broad range of health-related offerings available to guests. From purification rituals in Bali to forest bathing in a national park in Vietnam, we’ve highlighted several novel wellness experiences at Meliá properties that are inspired by their locations.
Eat, Pray, Love in Bali at Meliá Bali
Elizabeth Gilbert’s captivating memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love,” and Julia Roberts portrayal of her life on the silver screen, introduced the mystical island to the masses. Years later Gilbert’s journey back to herself still looms large and the quest inspired Meliá Bali’s one day wellness retreat program, that shares the same name as the book. This full day journey was designed to cleanse body, soul and mind. The day combines a meditation and yoga practice, a healthy breakfast using the ingredients and spices produced at the resort’s own organic garden, a water purification ceremony at Tirta Empul, in what is believed to be the island’s holiest waters, and a private session with a traditional Balinese healer or palm reader.
The ultimate coconut experience in Koh Samui
This tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand is synonymous with coconut palms swaying in the warm ocean breeze. It is this local fruit that is the star ingredient in Meliá Koh Samui’s new “Samui Paradise Experience,” the ultimate 2.5 hours pampering session. The decadent therapy begins with a 15-minute steam and/or sauna to prepare the skin for a fresh coconut body scrub, followed by a virgin coconut oil massage. The treatment ends with a relaxing aromatic bath with a blend of natural essential oils to release stress and restore energy. The Samui Paradise Experience is available until December 2022.
Forest bathing at a nature preserve in Vietnam
Set within 108-square-kilometers of protected natural forest, Meliá Ba Vi Mountain Retreat is an ideal place to offer the practice of shinrin yoku (forest bathing). The picturesque resort inside Ba Vi National Park is one of the first properties in Vietnam to offer this mood-boosting, stress-releasing practice. The guided experience involves walking with intention through the resort’s surrounding tropical forest to a hidden stream. Guests are encouraged to tune into all their senses, noticing everything from the beautiful bird songs to the feeling of the rough bark of trees. Although spending time in the forest is nothing new, the act of slowing down and connecting with nature, in a world where we’re normally digitally distracted, has a myriad of health benefits, from reducing blood pressure to boosting the immune system. The whole experience lasts around two hours and is roughly five kilometers.
Tapping with Tok Sen in Chiang Mai
Meliá’s newest property in Asia, Meliá Chiang Mai, opened this year in the ancient city in Northern Thailand. Embracing both the local culture and the brand’s Spanish roots the property has launched a signature treatment, Tok Sen, at its YHI Spa. The traditional form of Thai massage, that originated in Northern Thailand, traces its roots back more than 2,500 years. A special wooden stick made from the bark of a tamarind tree is used in the 90-minute therapy, and is rhythmically tapped to relax the muscles and stimulate energy points
throughout the body. This distinct massage type is combined with unique Spanish massage techniques to relax muscles, relieve fatigue, and eliminate tension throughout the body.
Vietnamese coffee coats the body in Ho Tram
The Vietnamese may serve their coffee with a generous dose of condensed milk, but luckily you don’t need to worry about the sweet liquid making its way into your spa therapy at Meliá Ho Tram. The beachfront resort is however using the grounds in their cellulite-reducing 45-minute Coffee Treatment that’s available through the end of September at the property. The caffeine content in the thick aromatic coffee scrub helps dilate blood vessels, tightening the skin and reducing the appearance of skin dimples, while also improving circulation.
