How to have a wellness holiday on the Sunshine Coast

Holidays can often be about cramming as many experiences and sights into the time you have, and returning to the ‘real world’ as exhausted as you left it. This Sunshine Coast wellness weekend is all about slowing down. And it starts with your accommodation.

Leave the bustling coastline and you’ll easily find a slice of serenity: meet farm animals and relax on 24 acres of rolling hills at Thirlestane Farm Cottage, sink into a deep bath while soaking up countryside at Mayan Farm’s luxe villas, glamp a stone’s throw from a UNESCO biosphere at Habitat Noosa Everglades Eco Camp, or indulge at Spicers Tamarind Retreat in Maleny, where luxury accommodation meets hatted dining and a magnesium spa pool you’ll never want to get out of. 

Take a hike

Get reacquainted with nature as you explore one of the many hinterland and national park walking trails. Take a short stroll to see Buderim’s Serenity Falls, or a slightly longer one to cool down under Kondalilla Falls near Montville. Hike to the summit of Mt Ngungun in the Glass House Mountains or follow the coastline around Noosa National Park (look up for koalas dozing in the trees). You could also climb Mount Coolum to greet the sun, or strap on your hiking boots for the far more challenging, multi-day Cooloola Great Walk.

Breathe deeply

Roll out your yoga mat on your Sunshine Coast wellness holiday and you’ll soon discover the benefits of improving strength and reducing anxiety. There are incredible yoga studios across the region that’ll help you perfect your downward dog: try Bikram Yoga in Caloundra, Yoga Vida in Mooloolaba, or Noosa Flow.

You can even practice your sun salutations from the water: Kat Harding Yoga and Noosa Stand Up Paddle both offer SUP yoga classes.

It might be a little more fast-paced, but surfers often say their time spent in the ocean is a meditative experience – so why not paddle out and take a surf class?

Check into a wellness retreat

Sometimes you need a total break. If that’s you, these Sunshine Coast wellness retreats are calling. Get off the grid at Bellbunya: a sustainable community and eco-retreat centre that runs on 100% renewable energy. Learn about sustainable living, take yoga, spiritual development and cooking classes using ingredients from their organic garden.

Living Valley heath retreat in Kin Kin is set on 145 acres of bushland, and the three day rejuvenation package is perfect for a weekend filled with remedial massage and facials, pilates, daily steam baths and healthy meals. There’s also 7 day power cleanses, 14 day detoxes plus 28 day programs for those who need a little extra love and care. 

Spend a day at the spa

If you really need some serious time out, take a trip to Bali just outside Noosa when you step inside the gates of Ikatan Spa in Noosa. They offer full-day retreats combining massage, yoga, meditation and spa treatments, along with fresh and healthy meals.

You’ll feel like a new person after a day at Noosa Spring Resort‘s spa. Work your way through the various zones of the HydroMassage pool, get your zen on in the flotation pool, detoxify in the infrared sauna, invigorate your circulatory system in the blitz shower or slather yourself in Dead Sea mud and nod off in the thermal capsule.

In the hinterland, Lillypilly’s Cottages and Day Spa is an experience you won’t want to leave (and won’t have to, with onsite accommodation). Or for something truly unique, book a massage or treatment immersed in the peace and natural healing of the Salt Caves in Mooloolaba.

Check out more Sunshine Coast day spas here.

Eat well

Forget falling off the wagon on your time away, Refuel your body from the inside out with so many wholesome local places to eat on your Sunshine Coast wellness holiday – no flavour sacrificed.

Pull over at any roadside produce stand and you’ll get fresh picked fruits and veggies – or you can pick your own. Or, visit Noosa Farmers Market, Eumundi Markets and Kin Kin General Store for farm-fresh food.

Kunara Marketplace in Forest Glen is the place to go to stock up on organic food, complete with an organic butchery, café and nursery. Other cafés and restaurants you can’t miss on your wellness weekend include:

• Belmondos Organic Market, Noosaville, is home to its own coffee roaster and cafe
• Greenhouse Café, Caloundra, is known for its healthy meals and droolworthy desserts
• New Earth Café, Coolum, for an organic plant-based menu of salads and superfood bowls
• Elixiba, Maroochydore, slings custom-brewed spirits distilled with superfoods and bush tucker ingredients, as well as non-alcoholic herbal elixirs
• Coconut Head, Noosa, serves up superfood smoothies and bowls
• Café Nurcha, Maroochydore and Kawana, is known as one of the best vegan hangs with a 100% plant-based food menu

Visit Chenrezig Institute

If you’re seeking a little spiritual development to cancel out the noise of the world, your wellness holiday on the Sunshine Coast should include a visit to Chenrezig Institute for an introduction to meditation.

In operation since 1974, this is one of the largest and oldest Tibetan Buddhist centres in the western world. There’s also accommodation a café, Garden of Enlightenment, library, meditation hall, art studio, and beautiful grounds which are all open to the general public from Tuesday to Sunday.

Really committed to finding your zen? Book in for one of their courses and stay on-site for a fully immersive experience that includes meditation retreats and Buddhist psychology workshops.