The new year is a time to give your mind, body and soul a well-deserved reset. In 2025, we're ditching the routine overhaul and making small changes that stack up to a better year. We're talking better sleep, less doom scrolling, and more moments of wellness that are steeped in *actual* self-care.
Whether you're keen to pursue a new passion or just need a lunchtime sesh to soak away the stress of 2024, we teamed up with the legends at T2—and their wellness tea range—to round up the best wellness spots around Aotearoa for 2025.
Top Wellness Spots In Aotearoa
- Mode
- Contemporary Yoga
- Sala
- Studio Box
- Shut Up And Dance
- Rae Face
- Chill Wellness
- Sa-Ni Spa
- SO/ Spa at Auckland
- Kula Muriwai
Mode
Ponsonby, Auckland
Forget everything you think you know about gym memberships because Mode is on another level. Not strictly a fitness studio, this gem is part group exercise centre, part wellness space.
Their bread and butter is a flat fee membership that treats you to unlimited group classes, and unlimited use of their infrared sauna and contrast therapy. Juggle your budget and wellness goals? That's a one-way ticket to a better 2025.
Plus, to really entice you into this Ponsoby hotspot, together with T2 and Mode, we're giving away a stack of goodie bags to take a little bit of self-care home with you. Kicking off from 17 February, ask in venue for more info.
Contemporary Yoga
Remuera, Auckland
No creature loves a daytime snooze more than seals, so it makes sense they're the inspo behind Remuera’s Contemporary Yoga Seal Sessions. Centred around joy and rest, you'll find these in the schedule every month—alongside a pick and mix of yoga classes that all focus on restoration, breathing and foundations for the good life.
Sundays are a big day at Contemporary Yoga, with a rotation of sound baths, dance and rest gatherings and deeply restful Yin Yoga. Sunday scaries, be gone.
Sala
Ponsonby, Auckland
Reformer Pilates, barre, yoga of all kinds, and strength and conditioning are on the cards at Sala. Not sure where to start? Their stacked timetable and credit class-pass system make visiting easy, whatever your sleep schedule or office hours.
Classes at Sala are soul-soothing from the second you walk through the door. Each class starts with a whiff of incense (their own blend) and ends with a rested mind and spirit—plus maybe a few aching muscles.
We seriously rate that their soothing sound baths—an absolute must-experience—are also part of the bundles and membership offers.
Studio Box
Newmarket, Auckland
There’s plenty to supercharge your soul (and endorphins) at Studio Box. Their high-energy boxing classes have a cult following and for good reason—with dim lighting, a pumping sound system and choreographed moves, you'll be kept on your toes for every 45-minute session.
There's also a huge emphasis on mind, body and community, with breathwork integrated into every warm-down, and Flow classes designed to condition and stretch the muscles you've been working.
Shut Up And Dance
Wellington and Greater Wellington Region
Pōneke pals, you're in luck. Shut Up & Dance offers classes all over the Greater Welly region—and their 2025 timetable just dropped.
True to their name, the dance-cardio classes here are about letting loose, breaking a sweat and doing it all in a judgement-free space. There are dance routines inspired by a genre, movie or music video for each class—but going off-piste is welcome in the name of good ol’ boogying fun.
Rae Face
Hobsonville, Auckland
Your best self is one free from jaw tension, pinched shoulders, a tight scalp, and forehead tension (it exists). Here to save you from all of the above is Rachel from Rae Face, a facial sculpting, lymph-draining, buccal massaging, tension-releasing extraordinaire based in Hobsonville.
You’ll completely side-step decision fatigue here: their holistic 'Face Sculpting' is the only treatment on the menu. It’s a thoroughly mindfulness-led moment—slow breathwork and a scalp massage bookend the face-sculpting experience.
Chill Wellness
Victoria Park, Auckland
True to its name, Chill Wellness is a mecca of sub-zero wellness experiences in Auckland’s Victoria Park. Cryotherapy is their poster child—and our pick for a lunchtime pick-me-up. We're telling you, serious healing happens in the 2-3 minute sessions in the cryo pod.
In toastier news, Chill also has plenty of Red Light treatments for cellular-level healing: full-body pods, LED LightStim Lights facials and infrared saunas. They’re also open seven days a week, with late-night appointments available most weekdays.
Sa-Ni Spa
Auckland CBD
They say that when you’re overwhelmed (by life, an overflowing inbox or your kiddos) the best way to tackle it is to redirect the touch. Our vote? A massage at Sa-Ni Spa.
If you need a lingering pick-me-up, the 'Deep Sleep Therapy' massage should be on your self-care bingo card, while a 'Sports and Deep tissue' session will help you hit reset. A 'Traditional Thai massage' here will heal you mentally and physically, and their aromatherapy treatments trigger healing through all your senses.
SO/ Spa at Auckland
Auckland CBD
What could be more restorative than being hypnotised by a wall of glowing Pure Pink Himalayan Salt bricks? Maybe swanning about the heated lap pool, jacuzzi, sauna or gym room pre-and post-treatment? SO Hotel Auckland's spa treatments are designed to nourish the skin, body and soul, and sessions are priced by time, not by your chosen ritual.
There’s a pure pink Himalayan salt scrub and stone-buffing treatment, shiraz-wine-powered facials, and a slew of massage options. Plus, SO/ Spa is housed in a former gold vault. How’s that for special treatment?
Kula Muriwai
Muriwai
If it’s not the lush surroundings that slow down your heart rate, it’ll be the handpicked wellness events and retreats that Kula Muriwai hosts in their purpose-built wellness retreat. Step away from the big smoke—just a 45-minute drive away—and into a luxurious cliffside retreat. Here, lush community yoga classes, day retreats and bookable wellness facilities await.
Round up your crew and book out their social steam sauna (part of their Hauora offering), which is surrounded by lush greenery and birdsong. Or, take it up a notch and lock in an ice bath for four.
Ready to reset and find more moments for yourself this year? Head here for our full guide to thriving in '25, or check out the T2 wellness range here.
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by T2 and proudly endorsed by The Urban List. To find out more about who we work with and why, read our editorial policy here.
Image Credit: Urban List.