As the winner of the wellness category in Australian Traveller’s 100 best Aussie towns, Byron Bay is all about uplifting holistic experiences from the corporeal to the spiritual.

Wellness can be slippery to hold onto amid the seismic patterns of daily life. You might succeed at an hour of pilates here or a 20-minute meditation there, but it’s not long before the gravitational drag of obligations rattles your sanctum of peace. So here I am in Byron Bay, Australia’s wellness epicentre, to assertively reclaim my calm. Given the town took out Australian Traveller’s top spot for wellness in the 100 best Aussie towns to visit list and ranked third place overall, it seems like the right place to begin.

I’ve checked into Hide. Tucked behind Byron’s busy Johnson Street and hemmed by white walls curtained by lush tropical foliage, this boutique wellness stay is purpose-built for serenity. From stylish, minimally toned rooms that facilitate a clear headspace to the pool area where just a handful of guests flit between mineral dips, cold plunges and steaming in the infrared sauna, Hide is delightfully cloistered from the world beyond.

Yet, its location in Byron plugs it into the town’s innate sense of wellbeing. There is something here that insists on stillness and a slowing of pace. Whether you’re diving into the glass-blown waves of Wategoes, spotting whales from the Cape Byron Lighthouse or syncing with the bongo beat on the high street, Byron Bay has long drawn slow exhales from its visitors.

As such, you’ll find many ways to connect back to yourself, from healing therapies to outdoor immersions, bathhouses and day spas. And while these experiences have spread into neighbouring villages and the hinterland behind, everything you need to embark on your wellness journey is right in town.

Soak and soothe

Throw a spa slipper in any direction and you’ll hit a bathhouse or treatment room. While nearby Mullumbimby’s Banya gets a lot of (deserved) air time, there are plenty of equally soothing and stylish options in town that don’t require a drive up the M1. Book the signature lymphatic massage ‘The Vessel’ at Comma, an aesthetically appetising boutique bathhouse and spa, and be sure to extend your treatment with a spell in the bathhouse, which only welcomes eight guests at a time and is strictly phone-free.

Close to the centre of town and set in the same complex as the artfully sleek boutique hotel Basq House, Navia is a Scandinavian-style bathhouse that leans into the Danish wellbeing concept of hygge. Here you can scrub yourself salty at the salt station, enjoy a traditional Finnish sauna and bounce from steam room to cold plunge, mineral pools and lounge. Meanwhile, toward the southern end of town, The Byron Bathhouse is all about medicinal water therapy and offers soul-soothers, Australia’s first chlorine-free hydrotherapy spa. Here you’ll find the usual rotation of scrub, sauna and plunge, as well as red light therapy and onsite naturopaths.

Of course, Byron Shire en masse is proliferated with all-wrapped-up wellness retreats, such as SOMA and the long-running Gaia Retreat, but if you’re keeping it in town, look at booking Elements of Byron’s Rebalance Package. This four-night, self-guided retreat allows you to orchestrate your own wellbeing experience on your own schedule, and includes spa treatments using organic skincare from Vanessa Megan, sun salutation yoga on the beach, rainforest walks and pilates at nearby Bende.

Active wellness

A large part of Byron’s claim on wellness is due to its truly spectacular geography. Here at the most easterly point in Australia, the beaches are a coastal Eden, where glassy waves tumble softly onto languid stretches of shore. Dolphins frolic, whales breach just off the coastline and surfers slip down well-formed waves. We all innately know that saltwater and sunshine are essential ingredients to feeling good, so while you’re in Byron, it’s a given you’ll leverage your wellness by getting involved at beach-level.

Pushing out from main beach, chances are stacked in your favour to get up close to playful dolphins with Cape Byron Kayaks, but if your luck isn’t on form that day, you’re invited to book a second tour for free. If you’d rather give surfing a go, Soul Surf School will have you standing up within half a day, or if you’re really serious, book a five-day deluxe package to make sure you don’t kook it.

You can watch those novice surfers and kayakers from the Walgun Cape Byron Lighthouse walking track, which you pick up at Clarkes Beach. The 3.7-kilometre loop curls up and around cliffs, winding by The Pass and famous Wategoes Beach, before rising up to the iconic lighthouse. There’s a fair amount of stair action involved here, but you can pause at beaches and cafes along the way. Just remember to keep your eyes in the trees and out to sea, lest you miss glimpsing koalas, wallabies, water dragons, dolphins and, when the season is right, whales.

For the equine inclined, trot along the beach with Zephyr Horses. Their two-hour tours lead through bush trails and out onto one of Byron’s perfect sweeps of beach. If you’re after a cinematic-style canter, mount your steed for the sunset timeslot. Or you could lead your horse to a watering hole on the pub lunch tour that includes a delicious spread at the perfectly laidback North Byron Hotel.

Spiritual centring

Beyond its beguiling beaches, there is something much less tangible about Byron Bay that has long drawn people to engage in healing and a holistic lifestyle here. Some local theories suggest this is down to a geological element from ancient volcanic activity that imbues Byron with a sort of crystal-induced magnetism. Anthropologically, you could say it’s because certain-minded people have attracted birds-of-a-feather, who in turn, have created the general ambience of the place. Or perhaps it’s as simple as the lure of geographical loveliness that dictates a renewed perspective. In any case, it has spurred a veritable healing circle of spiritual-adjacent therapies and activities entrenched since the ’60s.

Start off your journey with the hypnotic hum of crystal bowls during a sound healing with Byron local Ruby Rose (not the celebrity) of Divine Sound Healing. Rose also offers other esoteric therapies, such as energy healing and hypnotherapy. Or, if you would like to partake in a more mechanical manipulation of your body to reach a serene state of mind, try the practice of breathwork. Breathwork Byron holds retreats and one-on-one sessions to help balance the nervous system and heal emotional scars.

For meditation guidance, take a retreat at Sangsurya. Each month, there are several multi-day retreats held at this rainforested stay, from yoga to meditation and even relationship renewal retreats for couples.

If all you need is a light-touch wellness top-up to complement your Byron stay, one of Australia’s longest-running yoga and wellness centres, Byron Yoga Centre, offers day visits alongside their multi-day retreats that focus on everything from women-only and men-only programs to teacher training and over-55s.

Nourishing plates

Sometimes, the best thing we can do for our wellness is to enjoy ourselves, maybe even indulge a little. Byron does balance well – all in a single day. Wake up for sunrise yoga and a walk to the lighthouse to kick those glutes into gear, then head to one of the many great cafes for a delicious breakfast and good coffee. Combi’s nourishing bowl is a seasonal treat of goodness, while Bayleaf Café is widely applauded as one of the best cups of coffee in town, and ‘the General scramble’ at The Byron Bay General Store is worth getting out of bed for.

Flip that coin later in the day to add some indulgence to your schedule. That may look like a half-size martini at Bar Heather, followed by a silky pasta at Pixie, or a luxe night out at Belongil Bistro. But if I can offer one must-do dining suggestion that is a wellness practice in itself, it would be to grab a cocktail-in-a-can from Luna Wine Store and a pizza from Il Buco. Now, find yourself a patch of grass at Main Beach and soak up those Byron vibes as the sun goes down.

How we chose the winners

Australian Traveller’s 100 best Aussie towns to visit were selected by a voting panel of much-loved Australians, industry experts and category authorities from across the country. The expert panel consisting of 15 travel experts, including the likes of Accor’s Adrian Williams, Ernie Dingo and Catriona Rowntree. Byron Bay was voted ‘Best Wellness Town’ and came in third place overall in ‘Best 100 towns’ in Australia.

Here is the shortlist of what not to miss in Byron Bay

• Check into Hide for a wellness stay powered by mineral pools, cold plunges and infrared saunas
• Steam and soak at Navia, a Scandinavian-style bathhouse in the heart of Byron
• Join a tour with Cape Byron Kayaks for a chance to get up close to dolphins
• Learn to surf with Soul Surf School
• Run or walk the 3.7-kilometre Walgun Cape Byron Lighthouse walking track
• Ride horseback along Byron’s coastline with Zephyr Horses
• Relax your nervous system at Breathwork Byron