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Update Tuesday, May 20: To celebrate winter, we’re giving away a Wellness Weekend Package for two people at Gwinganna Retreat and Spa! Valued at $4,080, the prize includes 2 nights’ accommodation in a Wellness Villa, 1x 50-minute classic massage, all organic meals, access to all facilities and scheduled activities, plus complimentary transfers from Gold Coast Airport. You can enter via Instagram here.
As a special bonus, Gwinganna is also offering all Time Out readers 15% off Winter Escapes with the code WINTER15.
Once upon a time, ‘wellness’ felt like something reserved for die-hard yogis and green juice junkies. But in the last decade, somewhere between burnout and banana bread, we’ve all become a little more serious about self-care.
Gwinganna Retreat and Spa has been perfecting the art since 2006 – and has been awarded Australia’s best wellness retreat multiple times since then. Judging by the number of returning guests I met during my stay, that title feels well-earned.
Now, I’d consider myself a pretty ‘healthy’ person, but spending time at Gwinganna gave me a whole new perspective on wellness. With all-inclusive activities, organic meals, nature immersions, luxe accommodation and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest day spa, it’s honestly hard not to leave feeling calmer, clearer and genuinely recharged.
Days at Gwinganna start quietly. At 6am, we gather for lemon-infused tea and fresh tropical fruit, before wandering across the lush, green lawn to a hill for a restorative moving meditation called qigong. If you’d told me a few days earlier that I’d voluntarily wake up before sunrise for anything resembling tai chi, I would’ve said, "No, thank you." But standing barefoot in the cool grass, watching the sun rise over the ocean and birds soaring around us, I found myself deeply aware of – and grateful for – the beauty of it all.
Where exactly am I? I’m glad you asked. This magical sanctuary is tucked away on a 200-hectare plateau in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Gwinganna means ‘lookout’ to the local Indigenous custodians of this land – a nod to the breathtaking views of the Tallebudgera Valley and Pacific Ocean, revealed along 16 walking trails that snake around the property.
After qigong, we’re offered a choice: a gentle guided walk, a more challenging hike or a low-impact 'home option' designed to ease the muscles awake. It’s all about listening to your body – a luxury many of us can’t afford in the grind of everyday life.
By 8am, you’ll have definitely worked up an appetite – and luckily, a three-course organic breakfast is next on the agenda (plus a shot of apple cider vinegar). The food here is heavenly: chef-prepared, nourishing wholefoods, many plucked straight from the retreat’s thriving gardens. It felt like eating the rainbow! On shorter retreats like mine, barista-made coffee is even available – something our host, Linda, who’s been here for two decades, is still gently coming around to.
After breakfast, the fun begins. Using a yin and yang approach to movement, we’re once again encouraged to listen to our bodies when choosing a morning activity. Some days I gravitated towards the more peaceful option, whether it be yoga or meditation, while other days, I felt energised by higher-intensity options, like salsa dancing or strength and conditioning.
One of the many reasons Gwinganna is so popular is its abundance of offerings – arguably more than any other health retreat in Australia. Programs span from two to seven nights, each designed around specific wellness themes such as brain health, burnout, gut health and perimenopause. Mornings often conclude with a tailored wellness seminar aligned to your program, before easing into lunch and downtime.
Gwinganna intentionally slows the pace in the afternoon, giving guests time to unwind across its two infinity pools, gym, yoga studio and relaxation lounges, with guided mountain bathing and healing bee hive immersions among its newer all-inclusive offerings. But the pièce de résistance is the Spa Sanctuary – the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dressed in a fluffy white robe, I’m shown through the 1,500-square-metre complex, home to 33 treatment rooms arranged around a circular garden, with a crystal steam room and cold plunge downstairs. Multiple guests told me they’d had the “best massage or facial” of their lives here, and I now understand why. From 24K gold facials and Hawaiian bodywork massages to equine therapy, Reiki and astrology, Gwinganna’s treatment bible reads like a wellness universe in itself. You honestly can’t go wrong.
It almost feels wrong that after a long day of relaxing, all I wanted was to retreat to my villa and do even more of it. I was lucky to stay in one of Gwinganna’s newer Wellness Villas, complete with an infrared sauna, massage chair, outdoor bath and exclusive buggy to whiz you around the expansive property. I definitely didn’t miss having a coffee machine, a television or a mini bar, or really anything from the hustle and bustle of life back home.
Leaving Gwinganna feels somewhat like a bittersweet heartbreak – equal parts gratitude and sadness. You won’t depart a completely new person, just a slightly calmer, clearer version of the one who arrived – and honestly, that’s more than enough.
If there’s one takeaway from my stay, it’s that health really is wealth – and the best thing you can do is invest in your own.