Wellness travel has no limits, especially when it comes to age. It’s becoming easier for the 60-plus to venture to vacation destinations with health goals in mind. For those seeking a healthy and wholesome way to spend a week or longer, there is a broad range of travel options. From tours and retreats to getaways and medical centres, active seniors can combine leisurely trips with healing experiences that include relaxation in mineral waters, energy renewal through yoga or massage, and detoxification of the body with holistic treatments.
Here’s a sampling of health retreats and tours that cater to the wellness-minded 60-plus traveler:
Binh Chau Hot Spring seniors’ health tour
Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam
Thirty-three hectares of hot springs in coastal forest air is the setting for this health recovery tour designed expressly for seniors. The Ben Thanh Tourist Company offers a two-day trip through the Binh Chau Hot Spring Resort and Vung Tau City. Located about 150 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, the springs have natural wells as hot as 83 degrees Celsius. Testing the waters – guests buy eggs at the resort and lower them into small hot pools where they boil within 10-minutes. Services include hot mud baths, massages and soaks in hot mineral waters for relaxation.
Active Seniors’ Yoga Getaway
Nevada City, California
Nestled in the spiritual community of Ananda Village, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just outside Nevada City, this retreat combines gentle yoga techniques with meditation practices. Cardiac yoga instructors teach guests how to customize yoga postures to suit their own body needs. The four-day retreat is designed to boost energy levels through increased flexibility, strength and balance. Workshops connect yoga to daily routines, emphasizing how yogic principles produce lifestyle changes. The getaway also focuses on improving concentration levels through a simple meditation technique. Participants are also encouraged to take daily nature walks through the nearby meadows and forests trails.
Space Age Natural Health & Beauty Care Centre
Mumbai, India
The SpaceAge Natural Health and Beauty Care Centre combines a vacation with a clinic offering holistic, herbal and natural treatments. This centre caters to medical tourists by offering a comprehensive preventive health checkup. Promising to address all chronic health issues, the clinic specializes in detoxification and rejuvenation of the body. Intracellular nutritional treatments focus on cardiac problems and other medical conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and body aches. The clinic also offers anti-aging medicine for all age groups and immunity-boosting programs. The Centre says it does not use drugs, chemicals or synthetic hormones in any of the treatments.
Hills Health Ranch
Mile Ranch, British Columbia
Surrounded by ranchland and wilderness in the B.C. interior, this spa-vacation resort combines outdoor adventures with spa treatments, nutritional counseling, daily fitness programs (such as yoga, Pilates and aerobic classes) and other health and wellness options. Guests can opt to receive guidance from professionals including kinesiologists, body therapists and lifestyle counsellors. The spa is working with the National Research Council to look at the health and healing powers of plants in the area. Hills Health Ranch produces its own Rosehip oil used in spa services like scrubs, facials and anti-ageing treatments. Because the plants grow wild in a pristine environment, the resort says the rosehips have higher than average levels of nutrients.
Ban Ing Nam Health Resort and Spa
Bangkok, Thailand
Fruit orchards, exotic plants and birdlife surround this holistic health resort located within an hour’s drive of Bangkok. This resort tailors its programs to the individual requirements of guests. For seniors, those requirements might include high blood pressure control, diabetes management and cardiovascular programs. Fitness activities, like aquatic exercise, also cater to older guests. Tropical gardens surround the spa, which offers body treatments that include traditional Thai, hot stone and reflexology massages. Wellness health, medical fitness and dietary consultation assessments are available as are scheduled classes such as meditation, Tai Chi and healthy cooking.
By Kristy Thomson