Vietnam Wellness Trends 2026: The Year Wellness Became Social

In short: In 2026, wellness in Vietnam became something you do with other people. Our dataset logs 58 wellness events and series from January 2025 to October 2026. 34 are in Ho Chi Minh City, and 61% of those with a known price were free to enter. Searches for community running have roughly tripled since 2021. Behind this sits a US$27.29 billion wellness economy growing 8.51% a year (GWI).

This is the first Vietnam Wellness Trends Report, published by the team at Ōmni Space in Thảo Điền, Ho Chi Minh City, as an independent, evidence-first annual report. It combines an original events dataset, our own Google Trends pull and published market and health data. Data was collected up to 12 October 2026. We name businesses only to describe the scene, never to rank them.

The market in numbers

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) puts Vietnam’s wellness economy at US$27.29 billion in 2024, 31st of 145 countries and up from 34th in 2019. It grew 8.51% a year from 2019, the 14th fastest of the 70 countries with a wellness economy above US$5 billion.

Two sectors stand out. The spa market reached US$1.74 billion (#20 in the world) after growing 25% in 2023–24, and wellness real estate entered the global top 20 for the first time (US$2.13 billion). Wellness tourism is not yet in the top 20.

Tourism feeds demand. Vietnam welcomed a record 21.2 million international visitors in 2025 (+20.4%) and 17.7 million in January–September 2026 (+14.5%). The mix is shifting: South Korea −5.5% and China +1.5%, but Europe +55% and Russia +160.6%.

Caveats in plain words. GWI reports in US dollars, so a weaker dong hides some local growth. GWI revises earlier years, so compare figures from one edition only.

What it means. For consumers, more choice every year, with prices spreading at both ends. For businesses, growth is real but uneven: spa and property are big, while wellness tourism is small for a country with this many visitors.

Trend 1: wellness becomes the new nightlife

A run in Saigon now often comes with coffee, an ice bath and a DJ, and Pilates has moved onto rooftops, pools and river boats. One organiser summed it up in an August 2026 Instagram reel: “Wellness Party is the new nightlife.”

A wave of “firsts”, July to October 2026. Organisers’ Instagram posts show a new format almost every month:

• 15 July: “Saigon’s First Wellness Party” by LAM ERA and ĀRCA at BAM. Pilates, red-light LED therapy and a DJ, 990,000 VND, 15 places.
• 23 August: Pilates on paddleboards in a villa pool in An Khánh, then a sunset DJ set (The Clubhaus and STAY Studio), billed as a first for Saigon.
• 19 September: LAM ERA’s rooftop party at KiN Hotel, District 1. Sunset Pilates with red-light masks, 990,000 VND.
• 4 October: “Saigon’s First Wellness Cruise” by ABOVE Wellness Club and ICON Saigon Cruise. Pilates, red light, a bikini workshop and matcha, with seven brand partners.
• 18 October: Saigon’s Morning Matcha Rave at Juno Hair, Thảo Điền. A free 5K run, matcha and a DJ, or 550,000 VND with Pilates and beauty extras.

All five included Pilates. The matcha rave itself is not new: a Saigon party of that name ran on 26 June 2026, with alcohol. What 2026 added is the morning, movement-first version.

The table above lists the 58 events and series in this report. Filter it by city, format and price; every row links to its source.

What the dataset shows.

• Cities. Ho Chi Minh City has 34 of 58 rows and Hanoi 12. Most others are coastal resorts.
• Price. 17 of the 28 rows with a known price (61%) were free to enter. Where you pay to get in, the median was 350,000 VND (11 rows).
• Free entry, paid upgrade. The Matcha Rave lets you join free and pay for extras, a new model in our data.
• Language. 47% of rows were promoted in English only, 38% in both languages and 16% in Vietnamese only.

Sponsors are not health brands. 32 of 58 rows name a partner. The most common types are venues (11 rows), embassies and government (8, mostly Yoga Day), drinks (6), sportswear (6), beauty (4) and longevity clinics (4). One clinic, ĀRCA Wellness, appears in events by both LAM ERA and ABOVE. Both organisers are openly recruiting brand partners.

Small rooms. The boom is in the number and variety of events, not their size. Listed capacities go down to 15, 5 and 3 places. Mainstream listings barely show this scene: of 120 listings we sampled on a major Saigon events calendar on 12 October 2026, only 2 (1.7%) were wellness. The scene lives on Instagram and club apps, out of sight of search engines.

The sober-social context. 45% of Vietnamese Gen Z say they limit alcohol at parties (NielsenIQ). Since 1 January 2026 the special consumption tax on beer and strong spirits is 65%, rising to 90% by 2031. Not everyone welcomes the new scene. Under posts by a Thảo Điền run club that starts and ends at bars, the top comment (128 likes) compared it to Bali’s run-club problems and said the city does not want this.

Global context. The Global Wellness Summit named “The Festivalization of Wellness” a 2026 trend. Eventbrite reported US coffee-clubbing events up 478% in the first half of 2025.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. The matcha and functional drinks at these parties are mostly a social hook: green tea’s L-theanine and caffeine show only small effects on focus and mood in short trials.

What it means. For consumers, you can meet people without a hangover; check what a ticket includes and expect small groups. For businesses, the money comes from beauty, drinks and venue partners more than ticket volume, and a bar finish may draw local pushback.

Trend 2: run clubs and the running boom

Running works on two levels. At the top are mass races: the Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon (December 2025) drew more than 23,000 runners from 81 countries, and a 2026 music half marathon drew 10,500. Underneath are weekly social runs:

• Runclub.VN has run six days a week since 2013.
• Ham Chơi Social Club in Sala runs twice a week, with coffee after.
• The Hanoi Run Club started on 1 June 2025, caps runs at 50–60 people and held about 12 themed runs in its first year.

Search data shows the social side. “Chạy bộ cộng đồng” (community running) has a yearly index of 13.9 in 2021, 44.5 in 2025 and 46.7 in January–September 2026, about three times the 2021 level. October 2026 is incomplete, so we leave it out. General “chạy bộ” searches are on a high plateau (76.8 in 2024, 66.1 in 2026). Globally, Strava reported 3.5 times as many new running clubs in 2025.

The newest twist is run plus recovery. Cá Hồi Run & Dip Club in Thảo Điền ran a “Sober Sunday” on 11 January 2026: a 5K run, breathwork, sauna and ice bath for 250,000 VND.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Strong evidence. Regular aerobic exercise such as running has strong, consistent evidence for lower all-cause mortality and better mood, and underpins the WHO activity guidelines.

What it means. For consumers, a free run club is one of the best-evidenced wellness habits there is. For businesses, races and clubs are crowded; the opening is what happens after the run.

Trend 3: Pilates matures

Pilates anchors 2026’s social events, but its search growth has paused. In our set (pilates, yoga, gym), “pilates” roughly doubled from 4.5 in 2022 to 9.6 in 2025, peaked in June 2025, then dipped to 8.6 in January–September 2026. “Gym” hit an all-time high in September 2026. Our interpretation: Pilates has moved from discovery to habit, booked through Instagram and studios rather than searched for.

The signs of a mature market:

• Prices. A group reformer class in central Ho Chi Minh City costs roughly 400,000–800,000 VND.
• Community. The Facebook group NGHIỆN PILATES has about 72,000 members.
• Teachers. Instructor courses are now taught in Vietnamese, and Power Pilates held a teacher conference in Ho Chi Minh City in September 2026.

No one has published a count of studios, so “boom” claims rest on press reports.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. A Cochrane review supports Pilates for chronic low back pain; claims about “toning” go beyond the evidence.

What it means. For consumers, compare price per class and teacher training, not décor. For businesses, growth now comes from new settings (events, corporate, rehab) more than first-time curiosity. Our history of yoga and Pilates in Vietnam has the background.

Trend 4: heat, cold and recovery

Searches for “sauna” doubled from 10.8 in 2021 to 20.2 in 2024, then levelled off. The Vietnamese “xông hơi” (steam bath) has been flat since 2023. “Ice bath” rose from near zero to 67.4 in January–September 2026, but its volume is tiny: 0.8 in a head-to-head set where “thiền” (meditation) scores 50.

Supply lags interest. We count about 3–5 dedicated sauna and ice-bath venues in Ho Chi Minh City. Recovery is increasingly attached to sport: a Saturday pickleball session in An Khánh with an ice-bath partner (120,000–280,000 VND), Fit & Chill Hanoi’s pool-club workout (100,000 VND), and a guided Aufguss sauna, a ritual where a sauna master fans scented steam (380,000 VND).

A warning about numbers. Vietnamese media often repeat “noradrenaline +530%, dopamine +250%” for ice baths. Those figures come from one small study of young men sitting in 14°C water for an hour, not a three-minute dip.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. Several meta-analyses of small trials support cold plunge for muscle soreness after exercise; contrast therapy (alternating hot and cold) is only Early evidence.

What it means. For consumers, keep cold dips short and skip heat and cold after alcohol or with a heart condition. Our ice bath guide and sauna guide go deeper. For businesses, demand is ahead of supply, and recovery is the partner slot sports events keep filling.

Trend 5: sound baths go small, and “floating”

“Sound healing” is the fastest-rising term in our set, from a low base: 5.5 in 2021, 44.2 in 2025 and 60.3 in January–September 2026. Sound now comes in two sizes. On the big stage, Sound Healing World’s 2026 concerts played Ho Chi Minh City (tickets from 3,190,000 VND) and Hanoi (nearly 800 people). In small rooms, Still Space held a singing-bowl session at Wu Wei in An Khánh with five places, and Ecstatic Dance Saigon pairs phone-free dance with a sound bath for 200,000 VND.

A new word has entered the marketing: “floating”. In July 2026 YATA Wellness Sanctuary and SK-II held a “Floating Sound Bath”. In Hanoi, Moonstone Wellness put guests on inflatable beds on water.

A floating sound bath is not float therapy. In a floating sound bath you lie on an inflatable mat on a pool, and the point is to add sound. In float therapy you lie in shallow, skin-temperature water with so much Epsom salt (about 500 kg) that you float on your own, in a dark, quiet room. The point is to take input away. Float therapy is a young but active research field: trials have shown clear effects on stress and anxiety, and new studies are under way. We rate it Promising for stress and anxiety. Vietnam has very few float centres; Ōmni Space, the publisher of this report, runs one in Thảo Điền. Read what float therapy is for the full picture.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. Small studies of singing bowls show people feel calmer, but the best-known study had no control group; gong baths have no good evidence yet.

What it means. For consumers, a sound bath can be a lovely way to rest, but “healing” is a marketing word. Ask whether “floating” means a mat on a pool or a float tank. For businesses, small premium formats sell, and clear words protect trust. Our sound healing guide compares the methods.

Trend 6: racket sports, from pickleball to padel

Pickleball went official in 2026. It joined the National Sports Games for the first time, and Đà Nẵng hosted the Pickleball World Cup (30 August – 6 September), the first in Asia. One operator, D-Joy, runs 76 courts and calls its 52-court cluster Asia’s largest (its own claim). In Saigon, pickleball has become a social format with a DJ, a beginner clinic and an ice bath afterwards.

Padel is next. The first official tournament was in 2025, with about 100 players. The Vietnam Tennis Federation plans four padel events in 2026 and an Asian Games squad.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. Studies on pickleball itself are few; racket-sport data is encouraging, but injuries rise when older beginners start suddenly.

What it means. For consumers, warm up and build up slowly. For businesses, the money is in courts, social formats and recovery add-ons, not health claims.

Trend 7: longevity and recovery tech

“Longevity” reached Saigon through parties: red-light LED masks at the July and September events, and ĀRCA, a recovery-focused clinic brand, partnering with two organisers. Hospitals offer hyperbaric oxygen (breathing oxygen in a pressurised chamber), and clinics sell IV vitamin drips for skin and hangovers. Policy adds a push: a draft national scheme aims for about 750,000 international medical tourists by 2030.

Hype vs evidence. This is the widest gap in the report. Hyperbaric oxygen is well supported only for approved medical uses such as decompression illness, not “longevity”. A 2023 review in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin found no good evidence that IV drips help people who are not deficient, and some risk from very high doses. In 2026, Mexican media reported at least six deaths after unsupervised IV drips. These are medical procedures sold as lifestyle.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: No good evidence yet. IV vitamin drips for people without a deficiency have no high-quality evidence of benefit, and very high doses carry risk.

What it means. For consumers, ask whether a licensed doctor is in charge and what the evidence is for your goal. For businesses, longevity branding is easy to start and hard to defend once regulators catch up.

Trend 8: retreats and sleep tourism

Outside the cities, wellness means retreats. Garrya Mù Cang Chải (Banyan Group) was named the World’s Best New Wellness Retreat 2025 at the World Spa Awards, and in July 2026 promoted what it calls Vietnam’s first all-inclusive wellness retreat package, with a sleep programme. Hotels now run wellness on a calendar: our dataset holds 11 resort programmes tied to Global Wellness Day (June) and World Wellness Weekend (September).

Sleep is the selling point. A 2024 Booking.com survey found 67% of Vietnamese travellers looking for sleep-focused retreats; that figure is now dated. The visitor mix matters too, with more European and Russian visitors, who tend to stay longer, and fewer from Korea.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: No good evidence yet. “Sleep tourism” packages have not been tested as such; the proven insomnia treatment is CBT-I, a talking therapy for sleep, not a destination.

What it means. For consumers, a quiet, dark room and a steady routine do most of the work; our sleep tourism guide explains how. For businesses, Ho Chi Minh City still has no “sleep staycation” product. That is a gap.

Trend 9: mental health and “chữa lành”

The need is large and care is scarce. About 15 million people (14.9%) have a common mental disorder, and there are about 0.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. A March 2026 draft Ministry of Health circular proposes, for the first time, monitoring chronic work and study pressure as part of community mental health. Meanwhile “chữa lành” (healing) has become a market: hundreds of online groups, with prices from 250,000 VND an hour to a 55,000,000 VND “Reiki” package, often from unqualified providers.

The stress paradox. In Gallup’s 2026 workplace report, only 13% of Vietnamese employees felt daily stress, down from 35% in 2021. Yet only 9% were engaged at work, the lowest in South-East Asia. Anphabe’s 2022 survey found 42% often stressed. The surveys ask different questions. A fair reading is “calm but checked out” more than “burnt out”.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. Mindfulness and meditation apps show meaningful benefits for stress across many trials, though results vary and they do not replace care for a mental disorder.

What it means. For consumers, check credentials: in Vietnam, therapy is only allowed under supervision in licensed institutions. For businesses, employers will start asking for qualifications, so say clearly what your offer is and is not.

Trend 10: what’s fading or flat

Not everything is rising:

• Thiền (meditation) searches fell from 47.9 in 2023 to 31.9 in 2026, even as sound formats rose.
• Yoga is still the biggest term in its set but has slowly declined from its 2021 lockdown peak (76.8 to 59.2).
• Xông hơi is flat, and Pilates has plateaued.
• Matcha hit the mass market when Highlands Coffee opened its first Matcha Bar in April 2026. In our reading, that marks the peak of the novelty, not the end of matcha.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. A 2017 meta-analysis of 42 randomised trials supports yoga for stress; falling searches do not mean falling evidence.

What it means. For consumers, the best-evidenced practices are often the least fashionable. For businesses, novelty fades within a year or two; formats built on proven practices last.

What to watch in 2027

These are predictions, not facts. Each is based on the signals above.

1. Prediction: “sober social” becomes the default frame for Saigon wellness events.
2. Prediction: Ho Chi Minh City gets its first multi-day wellness festival. LAM ERA has said it plans one for 2027.
3. Prediction: run-plus-recovery venues multiply in Thảo Điền and Thủ Đức.
4. Prediction: padel becomes the premium “new” racket sport as pickleball goes mainstream.
5. Prediction: contrast therapy goes mainstream, with more dedicated sauna and ice-bath venues.
6. Prediction: longevity branding outpaces regulation, and at least one public warning about IV drips or unlicensed services appears.
7. Prediction: matcha settles into a staple, and the next drink hook is “calm” (electrolytes, adaptogens), with evidence still early.
8. Prediction: “chữa lành” faces a qualification shake-out as mental-health rules tighten.

Methodology

Who and when. Researchers working for Ōmni Space compiled this report between 10 and 12 October 2026, with data collected up to 12 October 2026.

The events dataset. A wellness event is a public, scheduled gathering where a wellness practice (movement, heat or cold, mind-body work, sound or a wellbeing talk) is a core part of the programme. Parties that only serve a “wellness” drink were logged as context and excluded. Sources: organiser sites, Reclub, Meetup, Luma, news, and public Instagram posts read directly on 12 October 2026. We logged 69 rows. The 58 in the report have a date or a recurring schedule plus a source. The 11 excluded are unverified or undated leads and one context item. Price bands use the lowest price needed to take part. All numbers are computed by script from the published dataset.

Google Trends. Monthly data pulled on 12 October 2026: Vietnam, all categories, January 2021 to October 2026. Values are a relative index (0–100) within each comparison set, not search volumes. Yearly figures are monthly means, and “2026” means January–September because October was incomplete. Charts show 3-month rolling averages.

Limitations. The dataset leans on Instagram and English-language listings and is biased toward Ho Chi Minh City, especially Thảo Điền, where the team is based. Attendance is rarely published. It is a sample, not a census, so a higher count can mean more events or just better visibility. Evidence ratings follow the published Evidence Scale; ratings for practices not yet listed there are marked for review.

For the principles behind biohacking, and what is worth skipping, see Float Vietnam’s biohacking guide.

FAQ

What is the biggest wellness trend in Vietnam in 2026?

Wellness as social life. In Ho Chi Minh City, runs, Pilates and saunas now come with coffee or matcha, DJs and brand partners, and a new “Saigon’s first” format appeared almost every month from July to October 2026.

How big is Vietnam’s wellness market?

US$27.29 billion in 2024, ranked 31st of 145 countries, growing 8.51% a year from 2019 to 2024 (Global Wellness Institute, 2026).

Are wellness events in Saigon expensive?

Many are free: 61% of events with a known price in our dataset. Where you pay to get in, the median was 350,000 VND; premium parties cost about 990,000 VND.

Is a floating sound bath the same as float therapy?

No. A floating sound bath means lying on an inflatable mat on a pool while bowls or gongs play. Float therapy means floating effortlessly in shallow, very salty, skin-temperature water in a dark, quiet room. One adds sound; the other takes input away.

Can I use the data in this report?

Yes. The report is licensed CC BY 4.0. Please credit “Ōmni Space (2026), Vietnam Wellness Trends Report 2026” and link to this page.

Sources

1. Global Wellness Institute: The Global Wellness Economy – Country Rankings (Jan 2026)
2. Global Wellness Institute: Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025
3. DTiNews: International arrivals to Vietnam in 2025 (GSO data), 6 Jan 2026
4. VIR: Vietnam attracts 17.7m international visitors in nine months, 6 Oct 2026
5. Global Wellness Summit: Future of Wellness 2026 trends
6. Eventbrite: soft clubbing trend data (H1 2025, US)
7. Thị trường Tài chính Tiền tệ: NielsenIQ on Gen Z drinking and the alcohol tax, 16 Jun 2026
8. LAM ERA × ĀRCA: Saigon’s First Wellness Party (Instagram, 9 Jul 2026)
9. LAM ERA: “Wellness Party is the new nightlife” (Instagram reel, 5 Aug 2026)
10. The Clubhaus × STAY Studio: Saigon Social Wellness (Instagram, 9 Aug 2026)
11. LAM ERA: Saigon Rooftop Wellness Party (Instagram, 10 Sep 2026)
12. ABOVE Wellness Club × ICON Saigon Cruise: Saigon’s First Wellness Cruise (Instagram, 25 Sep 2026)
13. ABOVE Wellness Club: cruise partners (Instagram, Oct 2026)
14. LAM ERA × Juno Hair: Saigon’s Morning Matcha Rave (Instagram, Oct 2026)
15. NOT A PARTY: Matcha Rave Meets French Villa (Luma, 26 Jun 2026)
16. Babarathon social run, Thảo Điền (Instagram, Jul 2026, with comments)
17. Cá Hồi Run & Dip Club: Sober Sunday 2026 (Reclub)
18. Saigoneer events calendar: Tea Meditation & Sharing Circle listing (sampled 12 Oct 2026)
19. Tinhte: Strava Year in Sport 2025 (running clubs 3.5×)
20. PR Newswire Asia: XTEP × Techcombank HCMC International Marathon, Aug 2026
21. VOV: 10,000+ runners at the HCMC music half marathon
22. Truyền Thông Trẻ: The Hanoi Run Club interview, 12 May 2026
23. Việt Nam News: Runclub.VN, 30 Oct 2025
24. Pilatesaigon: classes and prices (2026)
25. Power Pilates: Continuing Education Conference, Ho Chi Minh City, Sep 2026
26. thaodien.app: Cá Hồi Sauna & Ice Bath Social Club
27. Sound Healing World: Sound Healing Concert 2026
28. Still Space: Rest & Reset sound bath at Wu Wei (Instagram, Sep 2026)
29. YATA Wellness Sanctuary × SK-II: Floating Sound Bath (Instagram, 23 Jul 2026)
30. Moonstone Wellness: “Let It Flow” floating sound bath, Hanoi (Instagram, 7 Apr 2026)
31. Tuổi Trẻ News: Pickleball World Cup to debut in Vietnam, 23 Mar 2026
32. Lao Động: Pickleball ahead of the National Sports Games
33. Việt Nam News: Vietnam Padel Open 2026
34. Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin: IV vitamin infusions (2023)
35. El Imparcial: deaths after unsupervised IV vitamin drips in Mexico, 7 Apr 2026
36. VietnamPlus: wellness and medical tourism targets to 2030
37. Garrya Mù Cang Chải: all-inclusive wellness retreat package (Instagram, 16 Jul 2026)
38. World Spa Awards: World’s Best New Wellness Retreat 2025
39. VTV: 67% of Vietnamese travellers seek sleep-focused retreats (Booking.com, 2024)
40. What’s New Asia: Global Wellness Day 2026 in Vietnam at Fusion hotels
41. Vietcetera: Vietnam may start tracking work stress, 19 Mar 2026
42. Tuổi Trẻ News: online therapy boom and expert warnings, 16 May 2025
43. Gallup: State of the Global Workplace 2026, Vietnam data
44. The Investor: Anphabe survey, 42% of workers often stressed
45. Znews: Highlands Coffee Matcha Bar in Ho Chi Minh City
46. Google Trends: Vietnam, 2021–2026 (pulled 12 Oct 2026)
47. Ōmni Evidence Scale: how we rate wellness evidence