How I turned my family vacation into a DIY health spa retreat (for a fraction of the cost)

How I turned an all-inclusive resort spring break trip into a personal wellness getaway.
spiral staircase at the spa at Club Med Cancun
The spa at Club Med Cancun (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

While my family sleeps peacefully, I slip into my gym clothes and tiptoe out into the warm morning, strolling along the Caribbean seaside path to the fitness palapa for morning yoga. After class, I meet up with my kids and husband at the beachside open-air restaurant. I head to the fresh-juice bar and watch as the chef presses me a pineapple, ginger, lemon, and celery juice (better than it sounds, I swear). After breakfast, it’s off for a float in the ocean, a lunch of grilled fish and veggie tacos, and a blissful massage. And suddenly, it’s late afternoon, time for another swim and then sunset pilates. 

yoga palapa at Club Med Cancun
The yoga palapa (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

Though I have big aspirations, I’ve never made it to an actual wellness spa. As much as I (really, actually) want to wake up with the dawn for an aerobic hike followed by stretching, eat quinoa porridge and warm lemon water for breakfast, get body scrubs and mineral wraps, and sweat it out in the sauna, every time I look at the cost of a wellness spa ($1,000 and up per day per person), I’m sidelined by the sticker shock. 

But three days into a spring break at Club Med Cancun with my family, I have a realization: I have accidentally stumbled into a wellness spa loophole. At a fraction of the cost, the resort has all the elements—fitness classes, healthy food (along with less healthy food), plenty of ways to relax, and a spa—I want out of a health spa experience, all packaged as a family-friendly beach resort. 

spa relaxation area at the spa at Club Med Cancun
The spa’s relaxation area looks out over a mangrove lagoon (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

Once I realize I’m living a DIY health spa dream, I make extra efforts to preserve the delusion. I eat a little healthier, make a little more room to relax, and notice that I feel a little stronger at the end of every fitness class. I fall into deep sleep at the end of each day, worn out by fresh air and exercise, and rise easily each morning. 

AROUND THE WORLD: 9 best Club Med resorts for all vacation types

A true health spa would be a hilariously bad place to vacation with my family—my teen just wants endless burritos and pool time and my tween would be into the facials but balk at the early wake ups and the no french fries. 

children jumping in the waves on the beach at Club Med Cancun
The resort has a great beach with swimmable Caribbean water (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

But in this version of my spa vacation, everyone gets what they want. The kids roam the resort with the teen club, zooming down waterslides, playing big games of hide and seek, and going with new friends to archery and trapeze. My husband lingers over his oceanfront coffee, heads to the gym for a solo workout (he is not into the idea of exercising with others), and reads by the pool.

FIRST-TIMER TIPS: How to prepare for a Club Med vacation

dance robots at Club Med Cancun
Sometimes dance robots join the nightly dance parties (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

The French quirkiness of Club Med keeps our together time interesting. Every evening at 9, there’s a dance party, sometimes with people dressed up as giant robots. My daughter and I are on the dance floor every night, learning the steps and laughing together. One evening, we kick back on the beach at sunset, sipping drinks and dancing to a DJ set; and every night, catch a new performance featuring folklore dancers, contortionists, acrobats, aerialists, and more.

fish main course at La Hacienda, the buffet at Club Med Cancun
At every meal, healthy and delicious options abound (Photo: Christine Sarkis)

At the end of the week, I feel more relaxed than I’ve been on any other family vacation ever. And when I return home, it feels easier to transfer the (mostly) healthy habits I’ve been practicing all week. Rather than falling into my usual slow-back-to-the-gym, let’s-get-takeout-because-jetlag post-travel routine, I manage to weave a bit more exercise, relaxation, and healthy eating into my chaotic life, and notice that these moments feel just a little more like vacation than they used to. 

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Christine Sarkis
A traveling parent and longtime travel writer and editor, Christine Sarkis is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of FamilyVacationist. She is the former Executive Editor for TripAdvisor travel magazine SmarterTravel.com, she has spent nearly two decades finding and sharing the best places to go with an audience of enthusiastic travelers. Her stories have appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her expert advice has been quoted in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, Here & Now, Life Kit, and California Now. Her stories have been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008, and she is working on a travel memoir. Christine and her husband first met in Paris, and travel remains a big part of their shared experience. With their two kids in tow, they have piloted a barge down canals in France, befriended llamas in Peru, tended olive trees in Italy, and gone snorkeling with sea turtles in Hawaii. The family lives in California and loves traveling around the state. Their California favorites include Yosemite National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.