For many of us, finding balance in our lives is a constant and ongoing struggle. When you put great effort into your career and work life, much needed wellness-focused vacations are deservedly due. Even the most conscientious and hard-working people need to take a break to relieve stress, clear their minds, and find peace. So when it comes to where to travel – let’s consider Canada! Where should YOU wellness travel in Canada?
Below are just a few suggestions that we can personally recommend because over the years we have had the pleasure to visit and experience each property. Plus, these same wellness travel options continue to make the top faves for wellness travel in Canada.
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Located in the heart of Banff National Park on the shores of Lake Louise and offering all-inclusive wellness retreats since 2011, the luxury Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is Canada’s only wellness-focused resort located in one of Canada’s national parks. The resort has a long history of promoting wellness and wellbeing through connection with the pristine, natural environment to retreats led by world-renowned facilitators and to outdoor activities available year round including skiing and ice skating during the winter months to kayaking the turquoise waters of Lake Louise during Canada’s warmer seasons.
Grail Springs Retreat for Wellbeing
An award-winning establishment founded by author Madeleine Marentette, Grail Springs Retreat For Wellbeing for Wellbeing is located on a lake side setting, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The focus at Grail Springs is to inspire and renew the body, mind and spirit through lifestyle experiences and education, and guests are encouraged to learn to manage stress with daily yoga and meditation, plus enjoy spa therapies, eat healthily, and connect with nature through daily hikes and a unique program in equine meditation.
Le Monastère des Augustines
Raise your hand if you’d like to plan a wellness vacation away from the constant stress, noise, and congestion of the busy, bustling city life and take a well-deserved break.
Dating back to the 1600s, Le Monastère des Augustines in Quebec City, has been a location dedicated to healing, serenity and inwardness for nearly four centuries. Located in the historic district of Old Quebec, Le Monastère des Augustines is the perfect place to unwind and clear your mind off the pressures of daily life. Le Monastère is not your typical retreat. They take a more spiritual and sense-of place approach to wellness which accommodations in a 17th-century cloister. Guests also have access to healthy cuisine highlighting local products, immersive museology, daily activities such as meditation and yoga classes, spa treatments, soothing concerts and personalized two to seven- day retreats. Le Monastère is a non-profit organization, and by staying with them guests contribute to the many local initiatives as well as their “sustainable tourism” efforts.
Spa Eastman
Located about an hour’s drive from Montreal on 300 plus acres and with a striking view of Mont Orford, Spa Eastman is one of Canada’s original properties catering to wellness-minded guests. On site facilities include seven pavilions to accommodate guests, miles of hiking trails, pristine gardens for relaxing, Nordic baths, a gym for daily fitness and yoga classes, customized seven or fourteen-night Health Immersion packages, and daily workshops and lectures. The Spa Eastman restaurant offers the signature Tonic Cuisine, a unique and healthy culinary experience based on current scientific research that food can be one’s medicine. A variety of wellness-focused activities that can be incorporated into your wellness vacation or wellness retreat include Thermotherapy, yoga sessions, walking or running the forest trails, taking a dip in the outdoor jacuzzi, sitting by the lake, and simply relaxing by an outdoor fire while gazing at the stars.
