Hunter Valley Set to Become Home to Australia's Biggest Wellness Retreat
The Hunter Valley is about to become home to Australia's largest integrated resort wellness precinct, with Avani Cypress Lakes Resort set to launch in a staged rollout from October 2026.
The new resort brings together two familiar names on the Pokolbin landscape, the long-running Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort and the neighbouring Elysia Wellness Retreat, folding them into a single 138-hectare property under the Avani banner. Surrounded by the vineyards and cellar door that put this part of the region on the map, it's a location that already had a head start when it comes to slow, restorative travel. It will be the largest Avani-branded resort anywhere in Australasia once complete, and the first place in the country to carry the group's AvaniWell wellness concept, which previously debuted at Avani+ Hua Hin Resort in Thailand back in 2024.
The resort will offer 204 rooms and suites across two distinct accommodation experiences, giving guests a choice between the resort's golf and lifestyle side and its dedicated wellness offering. Wellness is where the scale really shows. AvaniWell will include 70 wellness suites and 26 treatment rooms, along with ten Pilates reformers, infrared saunas, outdoor cold-plunge pools and a magnesium pool. Rather than being reserved purely for overnight guests, the wellness centre and its day-spa programmes will also be open to day visitors and locals, with flexible packages designed for people dropping in for a single treatment as easily as booking a multiday retreat.
Golf remains part of the picture too, with the resort keeping its 18-hole course for guests who want their wellness time balanced with a few hours on the fairway, and pickleball has been added to the mix with three dedicated courts to match the sport's rising popularity across the country. There's an outdoor cinema, a pool bar with its own DJ booth, and hot-air balloon experiences on the way for those wanting the classic Hunter Valley sunrise view from above. Families are catered for through AvaniKids, a program built around movement, creativity and time outdoors rather than screens. On the dining front, guests will have two concept-led restaurants to choose from, plus all-day dining and a pool bar, with Chakraya set to bring Sri Lankan cuisine and culinary traditions to the resort's food offering, a genuinely different addition to the regional dining scene. For business and events, the property will hold 24 meeting and event spaces, positioning it as a serious option for conferences and celebrations alike, not just leisure stays.
Craig Hooley, Chief Operating Officer of Minor Hotels Australasia, said the Hunter Valley was well placed to become the country's leading wellness capital.
"The Hunter Valley has all the hallmarks to establish itself as Australia's home of wellness," he said, adding that modern wellness is "personal, flexible and increasingly" woven into everyday travel rather than treated as a separate, occasional indulgence.
The launch will happen in phases rather than all at once. The first of the new facilities are expected to open from October 2026, while the precinct is scheduled for full completion in the third quarter of 2027. That staged approach means locals and early guests can watch the expansive resort continue to bring freshness over the best part of a year.
Avani Cypress Lakes adds to the brand's fast-growing local footprint, following the openings of Avani Mooloolaba Beach in May 2026 and Avani Queenstown in September 2026, making Cypress Lakes the third Avani property in Australasia and by far the largest of the three. For the Hunter Valley, the timing lines up neatly with a broader shift in how the region is positioning itself, moving beyond its reputation as a weekend wine destination and leaning into wellness, slow travel and longer stays.
For anyone who has visited Cypress Lakes over the years for a round of golf or a spa day at Elysia, the scale of what's coming will be hard to miss. Rather than replacing what was there, the new precinct builds on both properties' existing strengths and stitches them into something considerably bigger, a resort designed to hold its own against wellness destinations anywhere in the country. With bookings opening from October, now is the time to book in your stay with special opening offers including up to $150 resort credit when you book direct before the end of October.
