Heal & Rest Wellness travel
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Mind & nervous system

Sleep3Burnout & exhaustion3Stress & anxiety3

Body & metabolism

Digestion & the gut3Weight & metabolic health3Back, neck & joints3Detox & the annual reset3

With a diagnosis

Chronic & rheumatic pain2After illness3Longevity & prevention3

Where you are

Menopause & perimenopause3Fertility & preconception1A first retreat3Travelling alone3Going together3

By problem and place

Ayurveda retreats in IndiaThe thermal kur retreats in AustriaThe thermal kur retreats in CzechiaThe thermal kur retreats in GermanyLongevity retreats in JapanLongevity retreats in SwitzerlandEvery list →
Start with the problem

15 concerns, each answered with what helps, what a fortnight can and cannot do, and where the evidence stops.

All concerns →

Asia

KeralaIndiaRishikeshIndiaThe Ayurveda coastSri LankaBhutanBhutanUbudIndonesiaKoh SamuiThailandBeppuJapanOkinawaJapan

Europe

Baden-BadenGermanyKarlovy VaryCzechiaBad GasteinAustriaQuiberonFranceMontreuxSwitzerlandTyrolAustria

The Americas & beyond

The Nicoya peninsulaCosta Rica

Booking from

United KingdomIrelandGermanyFranceSpainSwitzerlandEvery market →
The atlas

Every destination, the season each one is genuinely best in, and the months we would talk you out of.

Open the atlas →

The houses

Somatheeram Ayurveda VillageIndiaKalari KovilakomIndiaCarnoustie Ayurveda & Wellness ResortIndiaAnanda in the HimalayasIndiaSix Senses VanaIndia
Barberyn ReefSri LankaSantani Wellness ResortSri LankaAmankoraBhutanCOMO Shambhala EstateIndonesiaFivelements Retreat BaliIndonesia

By kind

Medical clinicsAyurveda hospitalsThermal curesRetreats
All 23 houses

The properties the world has actually heard of — and which of them we can book for you.

See them all →
White sand and clear shallow water on a Thai island
Thailand · The south and north coasts

Koh Samui

The island where the Western detox holiday was productised — and where the season is the most misunderstood in Thai travel.

See the housesWhen to come
2013
Practitioner licensing act
2019
Nuad Thai, UNESCO
445 mm
November rainfall
Feb–Aug
The windows

Why here

The case for Koh Samui

  • Thai traditional medicine is a licensed profession. The Thai Traditional Medical Professions Act B.E. 2556 (2013) regulates practitioners through a statutory council, and the Health Establishment Act of 2016 licenses spa and massage businesses separately — so the distinction between a practitioner and a shopfront is a legal one, not a marketing one.
  • Nuad Thai was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2019.
  • The programmes are old. Kamalaya, built around a cave used by Buddhist monks for meditation retreat, has run essentially the same structure for two decades, which in this field is an unusually long track record.
  • Thailand is a serious wellness economy rather than a fashionable one: Global Wellness Institute data puts its wellness tourism spend around USD 14 billion, fifteenth in the world.

Checkable, not adjectival

  • Thai Traditional Medical Professions Act B.E. 2556 (2013) — licensed profession under a statutory council.
  • Health Establishment Act B.E. 2559 (2016) — spa and massage businesses licensed by the Department of Health.
  • Nuad Thai inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, December 2019.
  • Kamalaya is built around a former monks’ meditation cave; the name means "Lotus Realm".
  • November is Samui’s wettest month, averaging roughly 445 mm of rain.
The honest caveat. The signature Samui product — multi-day fasting plus colon hydrotherapy — rests on a weak evidence base, and we will say so before you book. Colonic irrigation has never been shown to remove "toxins" and carries real risk: electrolyte disturbance, dehydration, disruption of gut flora and, rarely, bowel perforation. Supervised fasting itself has a better case, and the properties we list run daily bloods and a structured re-feeding week. We do not sell the colonics.
  • Turquoise water from above
  • Bodywork on a treatment mat

The houses

2 houses in Koh Samui

All houses →

When to come

The months that actually work

Samui does not follow the mainland or Andaman calendar, and this catches people out constantly. The northeast monsoon pushes across the Gulf from October, so October to December is Samui’s genuine wet season — November is the wettest month of the year. February to April and June to August are the reliable windows.

Book: February, March, April, June, July, August.

When to travel to each destination, by month
DestinationJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Koh SamuiThailandJan: perfectly goodFeb: book thisMar: book thisApr: book thisMay: perfectly goodJun: book thisJul: book thisAug: book thisSep: perfectly goodOct: we would talk you out of itNov: we would talk you out of itDec: we would talk you out of it
Book this
Perfectly good
We would talk you out of it

Average daytime high, °C

  1. 29J
  2. 30F
  3. 31M
  4. 32A
  5. 33M
  6. 32J
  7. 32J
  8. 32A
  9. 32S
  10. 31O
  11. 30N
  12. 29D

Samui runs on a different calendar from the rest of Thailand: its wet season is October to December, when the Gulf coast takes the northeast monsoon. The mainland’s rainy months are dry here.

Getting there

Flights, routings and the transfer

How the flight desk works →

Getting there

Samui USM

Koh Samui — a privately owned airport on the island itself

Flights byTripClub
  • Bangkok

    Direct, roughly hourly, on the airline that owns the airport.

    1 hour 10
  • Singapore, Hong Kong & Kuala Lumpur

    Direct.

    2–3 hours
  • London & western Europe

    One stop to Bangkok, then the domestic hop. Same-day connections work if the long-haul lands before mid-afternoon.

    15–17 hours door to door
  • India & the Gulf

    Via Bangkok, or via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

    8–11 hours
Transfer
20 to 40 minutes across the island. Included.
Worth knowing
Samui is a small private airport and its fares behave accordingly — they do not fall, and the last seats are expensive. The alternative is a flight to Surat Thani and a ferry, which saves a meaningful amount and costs four hours. We will price both and tell you which we would take, which depends entirely on what time your long-haul lands.
How we book flightsflights@healandrest.com

On request

What else there is in Koh Samui

Arranged on request and quoted separately. Each one carries when to take it — because a good day out on the wrong day of a treatment course is not a good day out, and no excursions list anywhere else will tell you that.

  • NatureFull day

    Ang Thong marine park

    Forty-two limestone islands, an emerald inland lake, and kayaking between them. The big-boat day is a scrum; ask for the small-boat departure.

    Before the programme
  • Active3 hours

    A muay thai evening

    Chaweng stadium on a fight night. Loud, ritualised and unlike the gym version — the wai kru before each bout is the part to arrive for.

    On a rest day
  • NatureHalf day

    The Na Muang waterfalls

    The second fall is a twenty-minute climb and empties the crowd out of it. Best right after the rains rather than in April.

    On a rest day
  • FoodAn evening

    Fisherman’s Village at Bophut

    The old Chinese shophouse street, and a Friday night market that is still mostly for people who live here.

    Any time
  • ActiveOvernight

    A dawn on Koh Tao

    Ninety minutes north by catamaran, and the best accessible diving in the Gulf. Not compatible with a fasting or detox week — the exertion and the dehydration both work against it.

    After the programme

Add nights either side

The half of the trip a wellness agency cannot sell you. These are booked on the same invoice as the programme, with the flights routed to suit them.

  • Bangkok, on the way through2 nights · Either end

    Almost every routing connects there. The Grand Palace at opening, Wat Pho, and dinner on a Chao Phraya klong.

  • Chiang Mai & the north4 nights · After

    Lanna temples, the Sunday walking street, and an ethical elephant sanctuary — the Thailand that is not a beach.

  • Krabi & the Andaman4 nights · After

    The opposite coast, on the opposite monsoon calendar. When Samui is wet, Railay is perfect.

What you can book

2 programmes here

Compare all →

Practical

The unromantic part

Airport
Samui (USM) direct from Bangkok and Singapore, or Surat Thani plus a ferry for a fraction of the price.
Screening
A medical questionnaire is required before we confirm a fasting programme, and some are declined.
Medication
Bring everything, keep taking it, declare it. Several drugs need dose adjustment during a fast and that is your own doctor’s decision.
After
Do not fly home the day a fast ends. Build in two days of re-feeding and do not attempt to repeat it at home.

Questions we are actually asked

Is extended fasting safe?
Under supervision, for a screened healthy adult, for a defined period — yes, and that is exactly why you do it here rather than at home. Refeeding syndrome is a real risk afterwards, which is what the last days and the final bloods are for.
Do you sell colonics?
No. The properties we list offer them; we do not include them in anything we sell and we will tell you the evidence is poor and the risks are real. If you want them, that is a conversation with the physician on site, not with us.