Wellness travel wasn’t supposed to look like this.
Nearly four decades after my last attempt, I found myself once again being peer-pressured into attempting a headstand. This time, by my kids. In what was supposed to be a relaxing first-time family yoga session, I instead found myself being instructed on how and where to place my head on the yoga mat in preparation for my inversion.
I managed only because my feet were still planted firmly on the ground. Knees bent, of course, I’m not that flexible. As I was bent forward and down, looking behind me through my legs, our instructor grasped my feet and pulled them straight up in the air.
Holy moly. I suddenly found myself doing a headstand, and the only thing stopping me from toppling over was a very loose grip on my right big toe. I was also acutely aware that I now needed to pee and had reflux.
The kids and my husband loudly voiced their approval at my feat, and fortunately, I was gently lowered back to the mat, where we finished the relaxing part of our family yoga session with some gentle stretching and a newfound lightness in both my body and mind. I mean, it’s not every day I get to do a headstand for the very first time.
Why wellness travel rarely includes families
Parents are often sold wellness as a chance to temporarily disappear from their children and if you’ve ever researched a wellness retreat, you’ll quickly find that kids simply aren’t catered for.
They are nearly always adults-only, giving off quiet, polished, spa-robe-and-silence vibes. They cater to solos, groups of women, sometimes groups of men and to those seeking a romantic escape without their kids.
I have always felt disappointed that wellness travel for families doesn’t have a bigger focus here in Australia. I mean, it’s an industry that prides itself on being open-minded. Why can’t they be open-minded about this? Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids how to look after themselves both physically and mentally, too?
Well, if there is one place in the world where I could find it, it’s got to be Bali, right? After all, it has a solid reputation for wellness travel and is also family-friendly. Having never visited before, I turned to Google, which promptly informed me that Ubud is “universally considered the wellness capital of Bali”.
Ubud: Where we learned to slow down
That little Google snippet is how we found ourselves at the Westin Resort & Spa in Ubud, Bali, and it was here, somewhere between the infinity pool overlooking the jungle and a slow breakfast in the middle of a rice field, that we realised something unusual had happened – we had stopped rushing.
Not just physically, either, but mentally as well.
Like most families, we’re usually moving from one activity to the next. School, work, after-school sports, emails, orthodontist appointments, dinner, laundry… basically, I’m planning the next thing while still doing the current thing. Even on holidays, there’s often this unspoken pressure to maximise every moment. To see more, do more and fit more in.
But in Ubud, that seemed to quietly go out the window. Our stay at The Westin Resort & Spa Ubud, Bali felt less like checking into a resort and more like stepping into a slower and easier version of life. The property itself is incredibly beautiful with roomy family suites, but in a boutique, calming kind of way, rather than over-the-top luxury. Perched above a river and bordered by jungle and rice fields, the whole place seemed designed to encourage you to pause for a moment instead of constantly looking for what was next.
The infinity pool quickly became our favourite spot. Not because of the swim-up bar or heated spa, but because….well, kids. We floated, looking out over the trees high above where we had gone white-water rafting down the river a few days earlier. The kids swam, conversations stretched longer, and suddenly, an entire afternoon disappeared without anyone checking the time.
And that’s when I started questioning what wellness travel actually looks like for families. There were no silent retreats, no strict wellness schedules and no pressure to become a completely transformed version of ourselves by the end of the stay. Instead, wellness seemed to show up through space, calm, and simply having time together without distraction.
The moments that felt most restorative
One of the most memorable experiences was dressing in traditional Balinese clothing and learning about Canang sari together as a family, the daily offerings and prayer rituals. It would have been easy for this to feel like just another tourist activity, but it surprisingly became one of the most grounding moments of the trip, particularly for the girls. Slowing down long enough to learn the meaning behind the offerings, carefully placing each part together and hearing the stories behind the traditions felt special in a way I hadn’t expected.
The breakfast picnic in the middle of the rice fields was another moment that has stayed with me long after returning home. Sitting in a small hut surrounded by bright green rice paddies and the sounds of a nearby school in the background was a world away from the overstimulated pace we’re all so used to. There was no rush to get anywhere. Just breakfast, fresh air, food I didn’t have to cook or clean up, and the realisation that maybe doing less was actually the whole point.
Even smaller experiences ended up becoming highlights. Walking through the resort’s farm, learning about local produce and attempting Balinese craft using young coconut leaves were all memorable shared moments that we wouldn’t have experienced back home.
By the time we left Ubud, wellness no longer felt like a luxury add-on or something reserved for adults-only escapes. It arrived through slower mornings, shared experiences and the rare feeling that nobody needed to be anywhere else.
Nusa Dua: When wellness became something we could actually do together
If Ubud was where we slowed down, Nusa Dua was where we realised wellness travel didn’t actually have to be quiet.
Arriving at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua felt like stepping into an entirely different side of Bali. The jungle backdrop had been replaced with beachfront paths, ocean air and a much more energetic atmosphere, but somehow, the focus on wellbeing still remained.
There were family yoga sessions, outdoor workouts, bike rides along the foreshore, sound bathing, and even cold-water immersion experiences on offer throughout the stay. And rather than feeling overly serious or intimidating, the entire approach was surprisingly welcoming for families.
Which, by the way, is how I somehow ended up doing a headstand in a family yoga class.
Before this trip, I wanted to be able to marry the idea of family travel and wellness travel, but I also expected deep down not to be able to. In my mind, I had lumped wellness travel into categories such as silent retreats and adults-only spas – the kind of experiences that sound lovely in theory, but not particularly realistic once you add children into the mix.
But our stay at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali challenged that idea almost immediately.
The resort has a strong focus on wellness woven throughout the guest experience, but what stood out most was how family-friendly it all was. Under the guidance of Dr Jiendra Pokhriyal, we found ourselves trying experiences I probably would have dismissed as “not really our thing” before arriving, such as that headstand I mentioned earlier. To be fair, the kids were much better at Yoga than I was.
What I loved most about the session was how playful it felt. Nobody took themselves too seriously. There was laughter, wobbling, groans as I attempted to reach my toes without bending my knees, and a very clear reminder that wellness doesn’t need to look perfect to still be valuable.
That same feeling carried through the rest of our stay.
The wellness experiences we didn’t expect to enjoy
One afternoon we had a sound bathing session, lying quietly together while the soft vibrations and music echoed through the room. I asked the kids to have an open mind and try it for me as it was one of those experiences I wasn’t entirely sure we would be able to gel with. I won’t lie and say they loved it, but they sat through it and surprisingly, my husband (and the least likely to try something like this) got the most out of this session.
Another day involved a short outdoor workout in the tropical heat, followed by a cold water immersion session. I can’t say that freezing cold water is my thing, but the kids seemed to relish the challenge.
Here, at the Westin Resort Nusa Dua, wellness stopped feeling like a curated luxury trend and started feeling much more practical than that. Something that we could continue at home.
Even our hotel room played a part. When we arrived, there was a welcome message in our family suite saying, “welcome home,” and honestly, it did feel like that – if home had been freshly renovated, had a balcony with a day-bed, boasted a beautiful bathroom with an oversized bath, and included someone making the beds for you every morning while you were out.
What struck me most throughout our stay was that none of the wellness sessions on offer felt exclusive or out of reach for families. It wasn’t about strict routines, expensive treatments or escaping from everyday life. If anything, it was about becoming more engaged with it… together.
And for the first time, wellness travel stopped feeling like something designed for other people. It felt like something families could genuinely enjoy, too. They even had a dedicated kids’ spa if that’s your thing.
Maybe wellness travel needs a different definition for families
At the start of this trip, I viewed wellness travel the same way a lot of parents probably do – as something slightly aspirational and slightly unrealistic. The kind of holiday designed for people who wake up naturally at sunrise, drink green juices without complaining and somehow find inner peace while sitting silently beside an infinity pool.
Not families.
Families are noisy, messy and busy. Someone always needs snacks and someone always inevitably forgets swimmers. Parents spend half their holidays mentally calculating when they next need to get the kids to reapply sunscreen and negotiating whose turn it is to choose dinner.
But somewhere between breakfast in the rice fields of Ubud and yoga sessions in Nusa Dua, I realised wellness travel doesn’t actually have to mean escaping family life at all. Maybe, for families, wellness travel is simply about creating space to reconnect.
This trip didn’t magically turn us into a permanently zen family. We still came home to school lunches, emails and the usual chaos waiting on the other side of the airport. But we also came home feeling more rested, more connected and with a few healthier habits we actually wanted to continue.
And perhaps that’s what wellness travel for families really looks like.
Where we stayed
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