Finally, a wellness centre in Asia that does take itself seriously but also knows how to have fun. If you want to detox and then have, well, a debauched dinner, it’s all possible at Layan Life, part of the Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, named for the river it overlooks.
America-born Bill Heinecke, who is the best-known and most prolific hotel owner in Thailand, had in 2014 bought the already-operating Bundarika resort for its 400 metres of private beach and 6.4 hectares of surrounding land that were just calling out for creativity. Sure enough, he provided it, in the form of a rebuilt 77-room resort, with 15 stupendous villas for sale, restaurants galore, a wedding chapel, and, as of November 2024, the Layan Life wellness centre.
According to the charming Anantara GM, Frédéric Varnier—surely the best luxury hotelier ever produced by the South Pacific island capital of Nouméa—he and Bill Heinecke, who has a villa here (partly to house a couple of cars and a much-used Vespa), were daydreaming about wellness. As we all know, wellness, betterment, longevity, maximising life, and combating ageing are now not only mainstream concepts but a way of life—and a big-bucks business.
The result of their conception is spectacular. Imagine a two-floor rectangular building set in a football-field-sized lake. The architect of the 2,767-square-metre facility is, in fact, Martin Palleros of Tierra Design, and the interiors are by Bangkok’s cult residential specialists, P49. What do you find within? Naturally, there’s a brilliant gym, with the latest Technogym equipment, and dedicated studios for Pilates and yoga. The hydrotherapy area has more than enough saunas and steam rooms. There’s cryotherapy, IV therapy, and colonic hydrotherapy, and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that resembles a Musk-to-the-moon pod: climb into it, someone closes the mirrored lid, and watches minutely. After, say, 30 minutes, every ounce of blood feels rejuvenated.
Of course there is traditional Thai medicine, not a mile removed from TCM, traditional Chinese medicine, and there’s pain management, perhaps not surprisingly the most popular treatment. My therapist, working on a back muscle aggravated by a recent fall from a rowing machine, worked with one of Layan Life’s three different Winback deep-tissue wands from Korea. The equipment throughout is, as any Heinecke follower would expect, the best—as are the therapists, some of whom honed their skills working at Chiva-Som’s satellite setup in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Ultra-enthusiasts could spend all day, every day, working their way through the many treatments on offer. Everyone has a pre-arrival assessment, virtual, and, after checking in at the resort, there’s a one-on-one consultation, which includes the dreaded standing on scales (while holding your breath in as hard as you can). Yes, the nutritionist can design a bespoke weight-management programme, specially for you. Although regular retreats are planned, at this early stage of Layan Life, every multi-treatment concept is one-off.
Meanwhile, your other half can be sunning or running or windsurfing. You can both, at any time, enjoy some of Asia’s best steaks at Age, or new-wave Thai at Dara. Toast that evening with a glass or more of Thai rosé—the 2024 GranMonte Sakuna rosé, for one, from Khao Yai. Produced by Thailand’s preeminent female oenologist Visootha “Nikki” Lohitnavy, it received a gold medal at the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition (HKIWSC) in 2024. Honestly, Layan Life layers wellness with so much fun.
