The resort
In the heart of Rawai, about one hour’s drive from Phuket Airport, you find Stay Wellbeing & Lifestyle Resort. My girlfriend and I traveled down to see whether the high expectations set by the immaculate, polished surface could be met.
In the middle of the resort, surrounded by a spa, a gym and the rooms, sits a large swimming pool area. The Stay Green Café, just next to the pool, offers coffee and lighter lunches to the guests lounging by the pool and to the hoards of digital nomads that type away on their laptops while sipping green juices.
The Gym
The gym, Stay Fit, is a three-story monolith towering over the guests making their way to and from the breakfast buffet, and reminding us all of the alleged reason we’re all here. We’re supposed to Stay Fit, aren’t we? It has all you can ask for in terms of equipment. You definitely won’t need to leave the resort to get that pump going. The are personal trainers available for hire as well.
The Spa
The spa—or rather: Le Spa, as it’s called—is located just opposite the gym (Le Gym?), and has massage rooms and a fully equipped onsen. There is a cold plunge, hot pools, dry sauna, steam sauna, and a cold room (complete with an ice wall). It’s the perfect activity after a day of workout sessions (or just work sessions).
To sweat or not to sweat…
In terms of experience, your stay at Stay becomes very much what you make of it. You can design it to be a relaxing getaway from the city where you just relax by the pool and recover in the onsen. Or you can sweat your soul out with no less than 9 (!) group classes to choose from daily. Realistically, you can make it to 4 of those each day. Or find some balance in between.
Classes
There’s a yoga studio (“Om Studio”) where all yoga classes are held. There are usually two classes offered in the morning and one in the evening. The teachers are accommodating all levels of experience and (luckily) stiffness. Although there’s no yoga block in this world tall enough to make up for my non-existent hip flexibility, I was not thrown out of a single class during my stay. Muay Thai is practiced at a beautiful rooftop just on the outer perimeter of the hotel, close to the obstacle course called “Stay Wild” and the hotel farm where fresh vegetables are harvested. HIIT is done on the ground floor of the gym. I signed up for a group HIIT class which left me a soaked mess on the floor once the 45 minutes were up. It was intense! As I happened to be the only one showing up for the group session, I didn’t even have a moment to catch a sneaky breath, as the instructor was hovering…
Food
Apart from the previously mentioned Stay Green Café, there’s a dinner restaurant (La Fresca) located by the lobby at the front of the hotel. This is also where breakfast is served. La Fresca focuses mostly on meat. If you are plantbased, you’ll find yourself exhausting the menu quite soon, but you can scroll your way to at least a few options on the iPad menus. Luckily, The Green Café has options as well. There are falafel balls, a tofu bowl and more for your snacks and light lunches. The highlight is the zucchini and avocado tartare starter.
Hotel app
The hotel app makes it easy to book the training sessions or massages and onsen, order food to the room, request more water or towels and take care of other practical matters.
Conclusion
If you want to get away from Bangkok for a few days to either relax or work out like a maniac, Stay Wellbeing & Lifestyle Resort is a convenient option. The overall vibe is friendly, the service is good and you can tweak your experience to fit your needs. It’s an option to go for if you want to stay at the resort because you will find everything you need in terms of food, workout and relaxation on the hotel premises. If you rather want to go for hikes, explore different areas of Phuket and try new restaurants every day, other options might suit you and your wallet better.
Just the room or the full package?
Okay, so you’ve decided you want to give it a go, but what to book? There are rooms, rooms with breakfast, apartments, packages and more. Depending on what your plan for the trip is, you can calculate whether a package makes sense for you. We booked the three-night Fitness package. The main benefit is that all group sessions are free to attend with this package, but to justify the almost 10,000 baht added cost compared to just the room with breakfast, you do need to attend quite a few group classes. For example, if you want to join a maximum of 3 group classes and do one onsen and one massage during your three nights, you’ll be better off booking just the room and paying for the added services. With the schedule below, doing a total of 12 group sessions (2 people) we saved about 2,500 baht compared to paying for rooms and training separately. However, we did squeeze more training into our schedule than we otherwise would have due to the package.
Regarding the rooms, upgrading to the 45 sqm room (instead of 35 sqm) costs about 150 baht per night, and I’d say it’s worth it for the extra space.
Schedule
Wednesday
Afternoon: HIIT Training (1) (400 baht)
Evening: Hatha Yoga (2) (800 baht) Onsen (2) (1300 baht)
Thursday
Morning: Hatha Yoga (2) (800 baht) 60 min Swedish massage 2 (2,380 baht)
Afternoon: Muay Thai (2) (800 baht)
Evening: Vinyasa Yoga (2) (800 baht)
Friday
Morning: Ashtanga Yoga (2) (800 baht)
Afternoon: PT (2) (3,600 baht)
Saturday
Morning: Yin Yoga (1) (400 baht)
Total added cost without package: 12,080 baht
Room w. Breakfast: 13,508 baht Fitness package: 24,100 baht
Cost if we would have done the same activities, booking only the room with breakfast: 25,588 baht + 1,000 baht airport transfer = 26,588 baht
All pictures from Stay Phuket Resort’s website: https://www.stayphuketresort.com/