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After abandoning my noble attempt at Dry January on the fourth day of the month, I was comforted to learn that I’d lasted a full 24 hours longer than 27 per cent of aspiring self-improvers. Right now in Sydney, tables outside our favourite venues are overflowing with friends, day parties are running well into the night, and goblets of Aperol Spritz are glowing in the refined strain of January sunshine. All that’s to say: silly season is showing no signs of slowing down.
If all the hedonistic fun is taking its toll, we hear you. And so, apparently, does one of our favourite Sydney hotels, which has launched a new wellness-centred suite designed to help you reset without giving up the good life. When we were invited to try out Manly Pacific’s new Ocean Terrace Sauna Room on a Friday night in late December, we jumped at the chance. Spending a night by the ocean in a beautiful space designed to help you feel like your best self is a certified win – an indulgent, ritualistic reset for body and soul, and the perfect complement to the floods of not-so-good-for-you fun that come our way at this time of year.
Designed in partnership with Nimbus Co (one of Australia’s most genre-defining wellness brands, and the first to bring infrared saunas to Sydney), the room has been created to make incorporating wellness into your holiday feel almost seamless, guided by the ethos that “wellness isn’t a routine, it’s a rhythm.”
Inside the perfectly appointed, light-flooded room, you’ll find yoga mats, weights and resistance bands waiting for an in-room (or on-balcony) workout. The minibar is stocked with healthy treats, there’s a bottle of Sisuu magnesium spray waiting by the bed to help you recover while you sleep, and in the bathroom you’ll find a selection of gorgeous products from Aussie-made skincare brand Foile. Out on the balcony, you’ll find the suite’s magnum opus – a barrel-shaped infrared sauna overlooking the ocean.
“With the rising demand for meaningful wellness escapes, our new suite offers guests a place to restore, reconnect and indulge in a deeper sense of calm,” explains Dylan Cole, General Manager of Manly Pacific.
We arrived late in the afternoon, finishing work a little early and zipping over from the CBD in around 30 minutes – the hotel’s easy-breezy proximity to the city is one of its key drawcards. After heading out for a surf and an ice-cream (balance is everything), we fired up the sauna for a quick sweat before dinner. The sauna takes between five and ten minutes to heat up, making it easy to slot in a session between holiday activities. Outside the room itself, the treats take a more epicurean turn, with Cibaria (the in-house Italian restaurant) serving some of the best Mediterranean-inspired food I’ve eaten this side of the equator. Surfed and sauna’d, we sat down for a wildly delicious Italian feast served in a space that feels worlds away from Sydney.
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The health-boosting effects of a stay at Manly Pacific aren’t limited to guests in the Ocean Terrace Sauna Room – wellness has been baked into the ethos of the hotel since day one. Massages and fitness classes are available to book on demand, and on the top floor, there’s an infrared sauna (available to book via reception) and a magnesium-spiked infinity pool overlooking the waves. At breakfast, you’ll find wellness shots, fresh fruit and wholesome omelettes cooked to order. And while the menu at Cibaria isn’t exactly low-cal, it’s the kind of food that makes you feel happier (and therefore more holistically enriched) than a gluten-free salad ever could: fresh, divinely flavoursome dishes made with love, the Italian way.
After a morning spent between the ocean, the sauna and the sun-soaked rooftop, we stepped out of the hotel and back into silly season feeling entirely reset.
You can learn more and book your stay over here.
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