Three Days at Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som

Evidence-led, heart-led: TAIM consults, tea rituals and a holistic reset with micro-habits to carry home.

There are times in everyone’s life when things start to pivot; roles change, responsibilities morph, and overwhelm sneaks in. You either power through it somehow, or you can step back, reset, and more forward purposefully. The latter option presented it to me in the most pleasant way. I had just dropped my youngest at university; and after the last few years packed with exam and tuition schedules, university applications, pick-ups and drop-off, and non-stop activity, the house fell quiet in the way you can never be prepared for. What I wanted and required, was to slow down and decompress, and what I received at Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som was so much more.

Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som sits on Qatar’s northern coast in Al Ruwais, an expanse of pale shores, where the desert slides into the sea. Long celebrated for setting the global benchmark in integrative wellness, Thailand’s Chiva-Som brings its expertise to the Middle East with a distinctly regional sensibility. The result is delightful, and grounded in Qatari hospitality and ethics, backed by an international team of specialists. Being the Middle East’s first full-immersion wellbeing resort and the world’s first contemporary showcase of Traditional Arabic & Islamic Medicine (TAIM), this is also Qatar’s largest dedicated wellness destination.

From the minute you enter the resort, a sense of calm effortlessly takes over. Tea sommelier Aung welcomes you to a session of tea sipping (a genuine role here, and one I came to enjoy immensely). He chooses blends to suit the time of day; fortifying in the morning, light and floral as the sun sinks at dusk, always with a small story to accompany the pour. This simple hospitality gesture truly sets the rhythm for your stay, and remind you that you are here to slow down, to savour, to listen. The digital-light ethos at Zulal means that phones are discouraged; and the split-floored library is a beautiful invitation to read, and keep reading, a habit slowly fading with the busy pace of life. The space smells faintly of old paper and cedar; it’s the sort of room where you can sit endlessly and rediscover the simple joy of the pages, with a cup of tea by your side.

My programme began with a consultation with Ashley; his calm presence anchored me and set the tone for the days ahead. We talked intentions, energy, sleep, stressors; and then I met Dr Bibi for a deeper assessment through the lens of TAIM. At Zulal, TAIM works as a framework for personalised care: considering constitution, nutrition, movement and mind-body balance. And in that, the trip was starting to feel less like a ‘getaway’ and more like an education, and a kind of recalibration.

Sessions began, appropriately, with the body: physiotherapy and alignment. Within minutes, a long-standing knee ache found it’s culprit - my foot habitually points slightly outward, causing a discomfort in my knee. The correction was small, yet important: toes forward, weight evenly distributed. And I’ve kept it since. From there, days flowed between hands-on therapies and several moments of quiet. By quiet, I don’t mean a holding back of conversation or a forced silence, it was something far deeper. It was the kind of quiet that reaches your core. A restorative massage (my therapist Orn had the rare combination of skill and intuition) released the sort of tension you don’t realise you’re carrying. After that, I spend time in the salt-room, drifting into the deepest, most restorative nap. Facials were meticulous and relaxing; and I left with real glow thanks to Dr Lasheen and Wanida.

The surprise of the weekend was a deep-stretch session with Waleed, which I nearly skipped because I hadn’t packed trainers and had secretly hoped I could swap it for another massage. It was, at first, an extreme sense of discomfort, with long holds and deep breaths! But by the end of it, my knee pain had eased by about 80% and my body felt so light and flexible. Waleed is truly a treasure; if you go to Zulal, ask for a session with him.

Between appointments, I’d read, cover to cover - in the library, in the lounges, before meals, and drank every blend of tea that matched the vibe and time of day. The physical space and architecture of the resort invites you to mindfulness and presence: wide verandas; pathways with insightful signposts that suggest you meander in joyful silence, with purpose from one appointment to another.

Meal time was definitely delightful, and also a kind of lesson. At Acacia (international and Arabian flavours) and Al Sidr (pan-Asian, served three times a day), the cooking is flavour-forward and marvellously satisfying. It’s interesting to note the deliberately smaller sized portions, and I came to appreciate why: eat slowly and with awareness and you savour more, notice more. And so naturally you stop sooner, instead of overeating (which is easy when the food is so delicious). Programmes include three wellness-focused meals daily, and I looked forward to each one.

Zulal has been designed as two resorts in one: Serenity, the adults-only haven where I stayed, and Discovery, the family-centred side that brings children into wellness with age-appropriate spaces and activities. It’s a sensible model for this region - respectful of family life while preserving the quiet required for deeper personal work.

Whether you are wellness data-driven (with numbers, metrics, before/after), or prefer a more fluid plan, both are possible. What impressed me most was the simplicity of the structure: consult first, personalise with expertise, treat with intention and send you home with tools you’ll actually use.

It may not read “glamorous” on paper, but this is pure transformation in practice. Which is, I think, the point of a wellness retreat. Zulal skips the theatrics of wellness and goes straight to the work of it. And yes, it works.

Chiva-Som has earned its reputation globally as the premier name in integrative retreats; Zulal carries that standard with a Qatari touch, cultural flair and an ethical backbone that fits well for the Middle East sensibilities. While the team is international, the sense of place is unmistakable. You feel looked after and more informed instead of feeling over-scheduled or over-whelmed.

And so, when I left, I carried with me the sense of being incredibly well-rested and an awareness of how easily I had slipped into burnout. I realized that the thing we keep misplacing in life is presence; and I gratefully packed this gift to take back home. Back in the hustle of everyday life, my rituals look slightly different now: a book instead of scrolling, a pen and paper instead of the notes app, and yes, toes forward.

Three days in Zulal were well lived and well worth the investment. This was a small yet necessary course-correction and reset that I needed, and that is now mine to nurture.