Amatara Wellness Resort: A Luxury Retreat in Phuket

For us, a vacation usually includes a full day of adventure tours and DIY sightseeing peppered with a little downtime and plenty of overeating and drinking. As much fun as we have, sometimes we return home worn out from our holiday. But on our latest trip we felt just the opposite: refreshed and rejuvenated thanks our the wellness stay at the Amatara Wellness Resort in Phuket.

We consider ourselves to be healthy people, which is why when we were invited to experience a wellness retreat, we were rather intrigued. Why hadn’t we thought of doing this before?

Sweaty seaside yoga? Daily shots of wheatgrass juice and seaside mocktails? A one-of-a-kind spa journey that includes hot steam rooms and cold showers alternating with smooth mud masks and rough scrubs that left our entire bodies baby butt smooth?

Don’t mind if we do!

What is a wellness retreat?

If you’ve never experienced a wellness retreat, you’re in for a surprise. It’s a place that focuses on improving your mental, physical, and (sometimes) spiritual health. It allows you to reset your health goals by practically eliminating the unhealthy temptations and stresses that come with a typical vacation.

Wellness retreats typically focus on detoxing (typically diet-centered but more recently there’s digital detoxing, too), weight management, head to toe pampering, or (especially popular in Thailand) yoga retreats. The atmosphere is peaceful, professionals are there to help guide you through your wellness journey, and there’s a wide variety of delicious and nutritious food to round off the experience.

The Amatara Wellness Resort provides these things and more to its guests. From the friendly well-trained staff and the calming scenery to the healthy food, fitness center, and the plethora of spa and massage treatments, the resort is a true gateway to wellness.

Amatara Wellness Resort Seaside Suites & Villas

The Amatara Wellness has over 100 suites and villas that have various views of the Andaman Sea and the neighboring bay. During our stay, we relaxed in a Pool Pavilion, which had its own private pool, a small terrace for sitting, and many large windows that were surrounded by foliage and bamboo window shades for privacy.

Their top-tier rooms are the Ocean View Pool Villas. They have a living room area, a private infinity pool overlooking the sea, and a gorgeous soaking tube. Check out all six incredible rooms styles here.

Room amenities include:

• Tea blends, loose leaf tea, herbal tea
• Pillow menu
• Unlimited water
• Soaking tub with Himalayan salt
• Private pools

Healthy Food: The Retreat, The Restaurant, The Grill

In the spirit of wellness, we made it a point to eat most of our meals at The Retreat, the resort’s healthy cuisine venue. The small waterfront restaurant emphasizes clean eating with a series of simple but nutritious appetizers, bone broth soups, raw salads, main meals, fresh juice blends, superfood smoothie blends, and coffee and herbal teas.

We felt good eating meals that contained unrefined ingredients, whole foods, free-range protein, and cold pressed oils. The entire menu features items that are prepared raw, steamed, poached, braised, or pan-seared, so it was easy to stay on our healthy course.

For example, the breakfast menu included:

• 3-Egg white omelet with goat cheese, salmon, and spinach
• Coconut buckwheat porridge with chia seeds, berry compote, walnuts, and yogurt
• Steamed asparagus with poached eggs, quinoa tabouli, and tomato and basil salad

The lunch and dinner menu had:

• Zucchini and avocado tartare
• Poached prawn salad with ginger and ginseng dressing
• Grilled tuna loin with kalamata olives and soft poached egg
• Mango “cheeze” cake

We did, however, indulge in one meal at The Restaurant (international and Thai cuisine) and another meal at The Grill (fine dining) during our four-day stay. These menus offered more familiar Western fare such as steaks and creamy pasta dishes as well as Thai classics such as stir-fried and curry dishes.

There are several other places around the property serving cocktails and snacks. There we enjoyed sundowners at the rooftop bar at Sun & Moon, high tea at The Library, and poolside finger foods at the Pool Terrance.

Amatara Spa

The Amatara Spa is the epicenter of the resort. With more than 2,000 square meters of space dedicated to steaming, soaking, massaging, and scrubbing, it’s impossible to not leave feeling revived, rejuvenated, and refreshed.

While waiting in the spa’s lobby for our appointment, we spent several minutes flipping through the half-inch thick binder. The Amatara Spa Menu contains a vast selection of facials, massages, mud masks, holistic and pain management therapies, and hair and nail treatments that made us say “I want that,” and “No, I want THAT one” in childish glee.

Thai Hammam Experience

The Amatara Wellness Resort’s signature spa treatment is the Thai Hammam. It was the most incredible spa treatment we’ve ever had. Mind you, this is our first full-on wellness retreat, but it set the bar unequivocally high for any future endeavors.

Here’s what you can expect during the 105-minute invigorating Thai Hammam experience:

1. Undress completely and then adorn oneself with a disposable bra and g-string set (for the ladies) or disposable briefs and a small Thai sarong wrap (for the gents). We recommend doubling up (!) if you have anything other than a slim, petite body.
2. Sweat for 10 minutes in a softly illuminated 130+ ⁰F dry sauna that smells of fresh cut wood
3. Invigorate oneself with a shockingly cool walk-around rain shower
4. Open skin’s pores with a 10-minute Thai herbal steam room session
5. Lie on a heated stone bed and receive a full body wash of black soap (argan oil, olive oil, neroli essential oil)
6. Fully open your pores for another 5 minutes in the Thai herbal steam room
7. Rinse off with cool water
8. Lie back on the heated stone bed and prepare for a deep exfoliation body scrub with a Kessa glove
9. Relax while a spa therapist shampoos and conditions your hair
10. Receive another cool rinse and then apply shaved ice all over your body
11. Relax as herbal clay is applied to your face and entire body
12. Rinse out your hair and rinse off your entire body in a private shower
13. Breath deeply in salt cave therapy for 15 minutes

Just WOW. We were utterly, completely relaxed at the end of our Thai Hammam experience. Our pores were purged of whatever toxins had been in there. We were cleansed of the dull, dead layers which revealed the plump, smooth skin underneath.

Wellness Programs

The Amatara offers seven wellness programs. Each includes the Thai Hammam. You can sign up for a one-day treatment but wellness packages come in 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, and 21 days.

Amatara Detox
Detox your body through the lungs, skin, lymphatic system, and digestive system to feel rejuvenated and revived.

Spa Revive
Enjoy this calming, pamper-centered program complete with yoga and meditation, spa therapies to induce a total relaxed state.

Weight Management
Develop longterm weight loss goals with a focus on nutritious eating, extensive exercise, holistic treatments.

Amatara Active
Professionally guided fitness sessions, physiotherapy, and deep tissue massages to support an active lifestyle

Amatara Yoga
Retreat to your own yoga sanctuary where you will be given the tools to practice asana, mindfulness, and meditation.

Holistic Anti-Aging
This program focuses on treatments inside and out to include stress management, nutrition and supplements, and facial therapy.

Bespoke
A personally tailored program that takes aspects of detoxing, weight management, relaxation, activeness, meditation, and anti-aging.

Fitness Center & Outdoor Activities

A wellness center wouldn’t be complete without the personnel and equipment dedicated to the demands of physical exercise. Additionally, Amatara’s wellness packages come with a one-hour consultation, so we were able to discuss our fitness and nutrition goals and get tips for some specific areas of our body we needed to focus on.

Although we don’t have photos to prove it, both Chris and I did some morning yoga on the property’s sala overlooking the Andaman Sea. I’ve been trying to get Chris to do yoga for years (It’s calming! It’ll improve your flexibility!) and he finally succumbed. And guess what? He loved it!

The impeccably clean facilities and fitness amenities at the Amatara include:

• 55-Meter infinity pool overlooking the Andaman Sea
• 24-Hour gym with free weights, weight machines, and treadmills
• Pilates studio with resistance machines, yoga sala, Muay Thai classes, and meditation classes
• Tennis court and table tennis
• Stand up paddle boards and kayaks

Amatara Wellness Resort Contact Information

Phone: (076) 318-888
Website: AmataraPhuket.com or check rates on Agoda or Booking.com
Address: 84 Moo 8 Sakdidej Road, Vichit, Muang, Phuket, 83000 Panwa Beach, Thailand

The Amatara offers both wellness and leisure stays. That means that you can be a guest there even if you haven’t signed up for one of its multi-day wellness programs. So, families with young children are welcomed here as well as couples in which one partner wants to detox while the other prefers to relax, wine, and dine. The resort also welcomes walk-in guests who simply want to enjoy a nice meal or splurge on a spa treatment. Although there’s buzz that’ll one day become a 100% wellness resort, it isn’t yet, so that means anyone can go.

The Amatara Wellness Resort really opened our eyes to a different way of vacationing – one that had us feeling recharged rather than drained. If you’re looking for a truly relaxing vacation in a quiet corner of Phuket, then we recommend taking a closer look at this resort. Between the beautiful ocean views, the serene atmosphere, and nutritious food and drink, you can look forward to returning home not needing a vacation from your vacation!

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Disclosure: Our stay at the Amatara Wellness Resort was sponsored but all of our opinions are our own. We share an honest recap of our experiences so that you can make an informed decision as to whether or not to include this resort in your upcoming trip to Thailand.