With its wide-open spaces, dramatic scenery and locally sourced food, Canada can be labelled a wellness destination. Its history is deeply rooted in indigenous culture, which places high emphasis on wellness and relaxation with many visitors seeking restorative treatments. See the list below for some of the renowned restorative retreats in Canada
British Columbia
Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort
Known for its access to mountain air and ocean waters, this luxury resort in the southern Great Bear Rainforest offers outdoor massages to the natural sounds of birdsong and waterfalls to bring relaxation to the mind and body. The resort also offers a cedar hot tub, outdoor yoga classes, and meditative steam in the floating sauna, reached by paddling.
Tofino Resort + Marina
Located in Clayoquot Sound, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, this resort offers a five-hour rejuvenating and revitalizing spa experience. The experience starts with a 20-minute boat ride to a wood-fired floating sauna. Here, you’ll detox in the aromatic sauna and look out from the floor-to-ceiling windows to the Pacific Ocean. The experience includes time to dip in the ocean, relax in a hammock, or stand up paddle board.
Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat & Health Spa
This Nelson hiking and wellness getaway overlooks Kootenay Lake in forested mountains. At the retreat, you can spend three to four hours a day Nordic hiking, an activity that uses trekking poles to engage 90% of the body’s muscles. There are also yoga and cardio kickboxing opportunities and a spa with an outdoor jacuzzi and plunge pool.
Alberta
Forest Fix
This retreat places emphasis on the power of nature to soothe stress and connect people with themselves. Learn the Japanese art of Shinrin Yoku, also known as forest bathing, in a guided experience in Banff National Park. This practice is known for its benefits such as reduced anxiety, stress and anger, increased creativity and energy and a stronger immune system. This retreat also offers EcoYoga where you can hike and practice yoga amidst the mountain landscapes.
Azuridge Estate Hotel
Visit this year-round retreat to learn new methods of achieving modern-day well-being and personal growth. Their spa, uses the healing powers of crystal energy, essential oils, reiki treatments, massages, and nature trails to promote the well-being of each visitor. The retreat also creates a personalized wellness routine for each individual. With bright treatment rooms, an open-concept kitchen with healthy foods, and a self-love loft to practice meditation, yoga, and journaling, there are plenty of opportunities to relax and focus on healing.
Mahikan Trails
Visitors can join Mahikan Trails in a mountain meadow or forest in Banff for a plant medicine walk. Learn about plants, trees, and bushes that can used as survival tools. Whether it’s starting a fire, healing sickness or contributing to first aid, participants will learn about how much nature impacts human health and how we can live in harmony within it.
Quebec
Le Monastere des Augustines
This location has a rich history of mind and body healing that stretches back centuries and specializes in holistic health. The monastery is more spiritual than religious and offers multi-day retreats focused on rest, renewal and self-discovery. The retreat includes silent vitality breakfasts, yoga, tai chi, bodywork therapy, health consultations and mesotherapy. Self-introspection through the contemplation of historical artifacts is also encouraged.
Spa Eastman Health & Wellness Retreat
With seven pavilions for accommodation, this wellness retreat in eastern township includes hiking trails, relaxation gardens, nordic baths, and a fitness center. Their onsite restaurant serves a “tonic cuisine” dining experience rooted in the scientific research of food as medicine.
BALNEA
This 400-acre reserve offers yoga by the lake, mountain hiking, a sweat lodge, Turkish baths, and a thermal experience that reinvents the hot-cold-rest ritual.
Ontario
Grail Springs Retreat Centre for Wellbeing
This retreat offers a holistic non-clinical approach to well-being. Bathe, drink, and swim in the Chalice Lake where the natural alkalinity helps detoxify and purify the body. Visit the meditation labyrinth to promote inner peace. Interact with the rocky mountain horses known for their therapeutic effect. Enjoy the many wellness-focused experiences such as sound therapy, emotional healing, and a Himalayan salt temple.
Whispering Springs Wilderness Retreat
Go glamping in Northumberland County and enjoy the luxury experience of king-sized beds, mood lighting, and wine. This outdoor experience offers accommodation in tents or cabins, swim in a saltwater pool, enjoy the hot tub, outdoor gym, yoga classes, and play games at the onsite watering hole.
Saskatchewan
Little Manitou Lake
Known as the “dead sea of Canada,” this lake is known for its healing waters. With water five times saltier than the ocean, visitors claim that the lake has healed their arthritis, joint pain, and skin conditions. The area also has a beach, spa, restaurant, bar, and golf to enjoy.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Upper Humber Settlement
Near Gros Morne National Park, this is the only farm-stay bed-and-breakfast in Newfoundland and Labrador. Learn from owner Lauralee about her indigenous experiences and the traditional medicine wheel at the fire circle. Enjoy the farm-grown crops and fruit trees and bushes from the “food forest.”
Yukon
Northern Lights Resort and Spa
Another restorative retreat in Canada is located near Whitehorse. This resort offers glass-fronted chalets that show views of the outdoor landscape. Stay in log cabins and visit the spa to enjoy Finnish and infrared saunas, a gym, massages, and a jacuzzi. Look out and try to spot the famous aurora borealis.