Reviewed by: Tanya Joslin
After two days of glorious overindulgence in Vietnam and nearly a full day of travel, I arrived at TIA Wellness Resort carrying the predictable consequences. I was overstimulated, overtired, and trying not to think about the deadlines I had left behind in Australia. What I needed was to stop. Over the next few days, TIA met me exactly where I was.
The Philosophy
TIA isn’t a luxury hotel with a spa bolted on. It’s a wellness resort built around a refreshingly pragmatic philosophy: they give you tools, not promises.
Where most wellness retreats operate on fixed schedules (arrive Sunday, depart Friday, here’s your programme), TIA lets you check in whenever life demands it. Burnout doesn’t wait for convenient dates. Neither does grief, exhaustion or hormonal chaos. General Manager Ramon Imper explained it clearly: “We want to offer wellness that has long-term benefits guests can take home. Wellness is not a quick fix.”
That ethos runs through everything, built around four key wellness pillars: FLOW, BREATHE, CREATE, NOURISH. The resort offers three pathways, each calibrated to different needs:
Wellness Inclusive: two 80-minute wellness treatments per person per night, plus daily classes (vinyasa yoga, HIIT, breathwork master class, creative workshops).
Retreat Inclusive: everything above, plus one exclusive retreat therapy per night (Reiki, energy work, sound healing), a plant-based full-board meal plan, and a personal wellness guide to tailor your entire stay.
Private Retreats: four or seven-night programmes in Strength & Recovery, Creative Healing, or Body & Mind Cleanse, with daily private coaching, prescribed therapies, and personalised nutrition.
For couples, the structure is quietly brilliant. One partner can be smashing through HIIT and ice baths while the other leans into restorative yoga and meditation. You reunite for treatments, meals, and villa time without either person compromising their needs.
And what sets TIA apart is their insistence that wellness continues after checkout. Their WELL with TIA online platform gives guests access to the full class library (from 10-minute glute burners to 60-minute vinyasa flows), so the habits you build here follow you home.
The Treatments
The wellness centre sits among tropical gardens with a waterfall at its heart. Treatment rooms, hydrotherapy suites, steam rooms, indoor yoga studios: it’s the centre of TIA’s identity.
The Lymphatic Detox massage was gentle, almost deceptively so, with light rhythmic movements designed to stimulate natural drainage. I walked out feeling like the therapist had unravelled the knots I knew were there, but the real shift came later: less fog, less puffiness, a clearer sense of inhabiting my body again.
Perhaps my favourite massage, The Bamboo Roll Out went between a warmed bamboo stick rolled methodically along legs and back and the therapist’s knowing hands – the perfect mix of rolling out tension and undoing knots, with a settling rhythm. Stretch and Release followed the next day, a Thai-inspired treatment focused on joint mobility, and I chose this because I suffer from tightness around my hip area, and the therapist achieved genuine openness.
My Reiki session came immediately after. I walked out feeling more settled, with space to process the stress of the preceding weeks. Whether it was the treatment itself or simply permission to pause, I left quietly hopeful.
The Movement
One defining experience was sunrise tai chi at Marble Mountain. Led by Duy, TIA’s Assistant Wellness Manager, we moved slowly in the courtyard of Linh Ung Pagoda while incense curled through the air. The Lady Buddha stands in the distance on the Son Tra Peninsula, visible from the coast below. The session felt culturally anchored, unforced and deeply atmospheric, the kind of moment that settles into you quietly.
Back at the resort, TIA offers six daily classes: Vinyasa Flow, power HIIT, Hatha, creative workshops and breathwork. In two days, I managed breathwork and the creative workshop, both led by Duy, and both were excellent.
On the morning my allergies flared, I skipped class entirely and opted for a massage instead. TIA’s flexibility at work. For guests who prefer structured training, there are two fully equipped 24-hour gyms: one for strength and functional training, the other for cardio.
Whilst not a ‘movement’ class, the Creative Workshop is a regular offering and worth doing. I found it pushed me further out of my comfort zone than I expected, which I suspect is where the magic lies. The exercise involved painting blank masks, with the front representing the version of ourselves we present to the world, and the back representing the parts we keep private. An unexpectedly moving activity for someone who doesn’t paint and doesn’t spend much time considering the masks we all carry in life.
The Food
TIA’s food philosophy is centred on nourishment without austerity. It’s the rare wellness resort where you feel like you’re eating generously yet leave lighter.
Breakfast is all day. You begin with one of three platters: Mindful Vegan, Savoury Wellness, or Sweet Tooth, then order à la carte.
After airport food and two days of rich Vietnamese meals, I wanted something restorative. I ordered a freshly pressed carrot, orange, turmeric and ginger juice the moment I sat down, hoping it would quiet the allergy I could feel brewing. An almond cappuccino followed. The avocado and mushroom tacos were bright and clean, the sort of dish that feels both satisfying and sensible. A good reset.
The other option for breakfast is the buffet in The Dining Room. It is generous and beautifully put together, with tropical fruits, Vietnamese salads, yoghurts, congee, pho, pastries and raw desserts, along with hot dishes cooked to order. I went on my second morning and found myself full far earlier than planned because everything tasted so fresh and bright. Although you can add an à la carte dish if you have room, I didn’t come close after filling up on the beautiful fresh salads, fruits, raw treats and juices.
Lunch at Ocean Bistro was generous and beautifully presented. Pomelo salad arrived layered with avocado, pomegranate seeds, herbs and edible flowers. The scallops were baked with garlic and herbs. The fish cakes were fresh and light. I ordered the keto bowl expecting restraint and found something far more interesting, a combination of seasoned beef, pickles, cheese and avocado that tasted surprisingly good.
Dinner at The Dining Room felt slightly more refined. The crab wontons were presented in a wooden box lined with dried hay and dotted with tiny purple flowers. The lotus salad came with an actual lotus bud. Dessert was a chocolate mousse divided between deep dark chocolate and matcha. It felt indulgent without being heavy.
Throughout all of this, TIA’s “Eat Light, Feel Bright” system is quietly at work. Menus indicate how energising each dish is, helping you understand how certain foods might affect your energy levels throughout the day. Retreat guests follow a personalised plant-based plan, but the food never feels punitive. It’s colourful, nourishing and purposeful without losing the pleasure of eating well.
There’s also a wellness beverage menu with collagen lattes and gut-friendly elixirs. The resort has curated Vietnam’s first fully organic and biodynamic wine list.
Best Room for Two
TIA’s One Bedroom Pool Villas are the ideal set-up for couples who want privacy, space and a sense of exhale the moment they close the door. The design is contemporary and calming, with an open-plan living room, bedroom and bathroom that all flow towards a private courtyard garden and swimming pool. The palette is deliberately simple: soft whites, dark accents, speckled floors.
Inside, the villa feels both spacious and grounding. The lounge area overlooks the pool through full-length glass, so even quiet moments feel connected to the greenery outside. The bed sits under crisp white draping, giving the room a serene, almost cocoon-like quality. And the bathroom is the feature guests remember: an enormous black marble bathtub set beneath floor-to-ceiling windows, with the pool and bamboo just beyond. It is luxurious without being flashy, and exactly the place you want to collapse into after a day of treatments.
What I loved were the thoughtful touches that support the broader TIA philosophy. A notebook waits on the desk for guests who journal. The fridge is stocked with things that feel good to eat: wholegrain cacao cookies, dried pineapple, roasted nuts, seed crackers, herbal teas and detox water infused with cucumber and orange. A yoga mat hangs in its own wooden holder, ready for sunrise stretches or a quiet afternoon practice.
For couples, the villa strikes the right balance. There is space to retreat into your own rhythm without drifting apart, and plenty of room to reconnect. One of you can be by the pool while the other unwinds in the bath. You can both take your treatments at different times, return to the villa and fall back into the slow pace you arrived seeking. It is one of those rare rooms where staying in feels like the day’s most luxurious choice.
The Verdict
As someone whose husband refuses to do a structured, regimented health retreat with me, TIA is the rare place I know we’d both get so much out of. Whilst I’d be choosing restorative yoga, energy work and long spa treatments, he’d likely opt for HIIT classes, the gym and the creative workshop. We’d get plenty of time together whilst also honouring our own unique needs. Even on the Wellness Inclusive package, two treatments per person per night means neither of you has to compromise.
For more information, or to plan your own wellness journey, head to TIA’s website.
Tanya co-founded Holidays for Couples with her mother Rhonda in 1996. For more than 25 years, the magazine defined romance travel in Australia before Tanya reimagined it as a digital platform with a strong SEO and social media presence. Tanya has lived in Canada, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Macao and now Saudi Arabia. When not in the office working on Holidays for Couples magazine, she is either planning her next trip or already boarding the plane.
