Wellness in Vietnam 2026: Trends, Science & Saigon Guide

In short: Wellness in Vietnam is growing fast. The Global Wellness Institute put the country’s wellness economy at $19.6 billion in 2022, and spa revenue grew 25% in 2024. The biggest trends in Saigon are Pilates, sauna and ice baths, breathwork, sound baths, mind tech and float. We rate the evidence for each.

Looking for a place to try any of this? Browse our Saigon Wellness Map: 94 yoga, Pilates, sauna, sound healing and recovery places, checked in October 2026.

This guide is written by the team at Ōmni Space in Thảo Điền. In 2017 we brought float therapy to Vietnam, and since then we have watched new wellness ideas arrive in Saigon almost every season. We look at all of them through one question: what does this do for the nervous system, and how strong is the evidence? Below: the big picture, a trend map, an honest rating for each trend, and where to try it. Ratings use the Ōmni Evidence Scale.

The big picture: Vietnam’s wellness economy in numbers

The most careful numbers come from the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a non-profit research group. Its country rankings, published in January 2024, put Vietnam’s wellness economy at $17.42 billion in 2019. It fell to $15.77 billion in 2020 during the pandemic, then rose to $16.77 billion in 2021 and $19.60 billion in 2022. That placed Vietnam 35th of 145 countries. Per person, the figure was about $200 in 2022, and wellness made up 4.82% of the economy.

GWI’s 2025 Global Wellness Economy Monitor adds newer detail for 2024:

The global wellness economy reached $6.8 trillion, up 7.9% on 2023.
Vietnam’s spa revenue was $1.74 billion, ranked 20th in the world. It grew 25.0% from 2023 to 2024, and 15.6% a year on average since 2019. GWI lists Vietnam among the fastest-growing large spa markets of the last five years, alongside China, India, the UAE, Indonesia and France.
Wellness real estate in Vietnam reached $2.13 billion and entered the global top 20 for the first time.

GWI has not yet released a total for Vietnam’s whole wellness economy in 2024 in a form we could check, so we do not quote one.

Why the demand? Part of it is stress. At a 2022 World Mental Health Day event, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Health, Trần Văn Thuấn, said 14.9% of the population is affected by mental disorders. Sleep is another driver: in a 2024 Booking.com survey, 67% of Vietnamese travellers said they wanted a sleep-focused retreat. The question is which ways to slow down actually help.

The 2026 trend map

Every trend in this guide on one page. The label rates the research, not any business.

Trend	What it is	Ōmni Evidence Scale	Where in Saigon	Deep dive
Yoga	Postures, breathing and meditation	Promising (for stress)	Studios citywide; International Day of Yoga events	Yoga & Pilates guide
Pilates	Core-focused training on mat or reformer	Promising (for back pain)	Many studios, several in Thảo Điền	Yoga & Pilates guide
Finnish sauna	Hot room, about 80°C	Promising (heart health)	Social saunas and gyms	Sauna guide
Infrared sauna	Gentler heat, 45–60°C	Early evidence	Ōmni and a few others	Sauna guide
Cold plunge	Short dip in cold water	Promising (muscle recovery); Early evidence (mood)	Sauna clubs, recovery gyms, Ōmni	Ice bath guide
Contrast therapy	Hot and cold in turns	Early evidence	Wherever sauna and cold sit side by side	Sauna guide
Wim Hof breathing	Fast breathing, breath holds, cold	Early evidence	Occasional workshops	Ice bath guide
Singing bowls	Bowls played to relax a group	Early evidence	Sound studios, concerts	Sound healing guide
Binaural beats	Two tones, one per ear	Promising	Apps and headphones	Sound healing guide
Mind tech	EEG headbands, light-and-sound devices	Early evidence	Few places; Ōmni’s Neuro Align	Devices compared
Float therapy	Lying in skin-warm salt water in the dark	Promising (stress, anxiety)	Ōmni Space	What is float therapy?

Movement: yoga and Pilates

Yoga has a long history in Vietnam, and it now has a big public face. The first International Day of Yoga in 2015 drew about 500 people in Hanoi and more than 300 in Saigon. By 2023 events ran in 35 provinces and cities. On 21 June 2025, nearly 1,600 people rolled out their mats on Nguyễn Huệ walking street, with the theme “Yoga for One Earth, One Health”.

An outdoor yoga session at Global Wellness Day Vietnam 2019, Pullman Vũng Tàu hotel. Photo: Global Wellness Day Việt Nam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. A 2017 meta-analysis by Pascoe and colleagues pooled 42 randomised controlled trials and found yoga eased markers of stress.

Pilates arrived later, and quietly. A coach told Viet Nam News that it first served mostly foreigners in District 2. In February 2022, the paper reported that Pilates was taking off in Saigon, most popular with people aged 25 to 45. By late 2022 VnExpress described a clear rise in studios after Covid-19. Today Thảo Điền alone has several reformer studios, and teacher-training schools such as Power Pilates and BASI run courses in Vietnam. On Facebook, the group NGHIỆN PILATES counts about 72,000 members.

The community now has its own day. Pilates Day Vietnam 2025 took place on Sunday 7 December 2025 at Chill Corner, 34 Đường 11, District 2. It was organised by Nutrifort Academy with Nicole Hankins, and choreographer John Huy Trần led a Pilates class set to drums. The organisers announced the Top 12 for their community “Pilates Day Vietnam Calendar 2027” project on 10 October 2026, and those 12 receive tickets to Pilates Day Vietnam 2026, whose date had not been published when we wrote this.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. A Cochrane review (Yamato 2015), one of the most careful kinds of review, looked at Pilates for low back pain and found it may help.

Heat and cold: sauna, ice bath and contrast

In June 2026 Kenh14 described “cool kids” in Saigon trading drinks for a 10°C ice bath after pickleball or a run. In Thảo Điền you can now find Cá Hồi Sauna & Ice Bath Social Club on Nguyễn Văn Hưởng and Primal on Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, a gym with a hot stone sauna and ice barrel. Dii Sauna & Icebath on Hoàng Sa offers a Finnish-style sauna closer to the centre.

Inside a Finnish sauna: wooden benches and an electric heater filled with stones. Photo: Santeri Viinamäki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. For Finnish sauna and heart health: a large Finnish study followed men for about 20 years and linked frequent sauna use with fewer heart deaths, but it was observational and included only Finnish men.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For infrared sauna: there are small trials, mostly in people with heart failure, and no head-to-head trial against Finnish sauna.

An ice hole (avanto) cut for winter swimming at Peurunka, Laukaa, Finland, with steps and a ladder into the water. Photo: Tiia Monto, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. For cold plunge and muscle recovery: several meta-analyses of many small trials show less muscle soreness, but plunging straight after weight training may reduce muscle gains.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For cold plunge and mood or alertness: the study behind most claims put a few young men in 14°C water for a full hour, very different from a short dip.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For contrast therapy: a 2013 meta-analysis found it eased soreness compared with rest, but every trial was at high risk of bias.

Vietnam’s own herbal steam, xông lá, is a lovely family ritual, but we found no clinical studies on it, so it sits at No good evidence yet. Safety matters with all of these: cold shock raises heart rate and blood pressure, so people with heart conditions or who are pregnant should ask a doctor first, and nobody should plunge alone.

The infrared and red-light sauna at Ōmni Space (45–55°C).

Breath: Wim Hof and breathwork

The Wim Hof Method rests on three pillars: breathing, cold exposure and mindset. In its best-known study (Kox 2014), 12 trained men had milder flu-like symptoms than 12 untrained men after an injected bacterial toxin.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. One small, well-run study, but it tested breathing, cold and meditation as a bundle, so we cannot say which part did what.

In Saigon, breathwork is still scattered. Mandala Wellness in Thảo Điền has hosted breath and ice bath workshops, and a few gyms include breathwork in their memberships. One rule is not negotiable: the Wim Hof Method itself warns never to practise the breathing in water, in the shower or while driving. Fast breathing can cause blackout without warning. Breathe on the floor first, then get in.

Sound: singing bowls, gongs and binaural beats

The “Journey Into Silence” Sound Healing Concert filled White Palace on 6–7 September 2025, promoted as the first sound healing concert in Vietnam, and returned on 12 September 2026 at GEM Center. Near us in Thảo Điền, Be Here Now and Amanaki Thao Dien offer singing bowl sessions.

A hand-hammered Tibetan singing bowl with its wooden mallet; rubbing the rim makes it ‘sing’. Photo: Praewjarat, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For singing bowls: the main study (Goldsby 2017, 62 people) found people felt calmer after a session, but it had no control group, and a 2025 review called for proper trials.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. For binaural beats: a 2019 meta-analysis of 22 studies found a moderate effect (g = 0.45) on memory, attention, anxiety and pain.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: No good evidence yet. For 432 Hz music: a 2025 review found the theory rests on historical and philosophical ideas, not on experimental data.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: No good evidence yet. For gong baths: we found no good-quality studies of gongs on their own.

Mind tech: headbands and light-and-sound machines

Meditation devices come in three groups. Some measure, like the Muse EEG headband, which plays sounds as feedback. Some stimulate with flickering light and sound, like Lucia, DAVID, roXiva and Kasina. Some stimulate without light, like Apollo’s vibration or Elemind’s sleep headband, which ships only to the US and Canada.

A light-and-sound mind machine (Proteus by MindPlace) with LED glasses and headphones. Photo: Kemitsv, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For EEG headbands: the signals are real, but there is no strong proof that feedback beats meditating without it.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For light-and-sound devices: most studies are small or run by the makers. Sana is the exception, with a sham-controlled trial.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For non-light stimulation (Apollo, Elemind): small or company-run studies so far.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: No good evidence yet. For Hapbee: we found no independent study.

Flickering light carries a real risk for people with photosensitive epilepsy, which affects up to about 1 in 4,000 people. Any business offering these sessions should screen guests first. Ōmni’s own Brainwaves Neuro Align is a 30-minute light-and-sound relaxation session, with a health questionnaire before your visit.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Early evidence. For Brainwaves Neuro Align: we offer it for relaxation and make no medical claims.

Rest and float

Float therapy began as science. In 1954, John C. Lilly built the first isolation tank at the US National Institute of Mental Health to study the brain without outside input. Today you lie on shallow, skin-warm, salt-heavy water in quiet and darkness.

Floating at Ōmni Space.

The research is real but still small. A 2005 meta-analysis by van Dierendonck and te Nijenhuis pooled 27 studies with 449 people and found positive effects on stress markers and well-being. A Swedish trial in 2014 gave 65 healthy adults 12 floats over seven weeks and saw lower stress, anxiety and depression, and better sleep, compared with a waiting list. Feinstein and colleagues in 2018 found that a single one-hour float cut anxiety sharply in 50 people with anxiety disorders, but there was no control group.

Ōmni Evidence Scale: Promising. For float therapy and stress or anxiety: a meta-analysis and several trials point the same way, but samples are small and it is hard to blind people to floating. We rate our own core service by the same rules as everyone else.

Float is not a treatment for depression or any illness. If sleep is your concern, see our insomnia plan or what float therapy is.

Other rising trends in Saigon

A few more trends are clearly growing. We have not rated them on our scale, either because they are sports and social activities, or because they are medical procedures that belong with a doctor.

Ecstatic dance. Free-form dance with no alcohol and no phones. Ecstatic Dance Saigon has run Sunday sessions at Lặng Spot in Thảo Điền, with a sound bath included. Check their page for current dates.
Run clubs. Running is booming: Run To Live 2025 drew about 10,000 runners in Thủ Thiêm. Some clubs now finish with sauna and ice bath.
Padel. The Vietnam Open in Saigon in 2025 was the country’s first official padel tournament. Courts rent for about 500,000–600,000 VND an hour.
IV drips. Several clinics in Saigon offer IV drips. This is a medical procedure, not a spa treatment. Talk to a doctor.
Hyperbaric oxygen. Hospitals such as Tâm Anh and Military Hospital 175 offer it. Again, this is medicine, not wellness.
Longevity and biohacking. Talked about a lot, but still early in Vietnam. We found no independent longevity clinic covered by the press.

How to choose: questions to ask any wellness business

Whether you book a sauna, a sound bath or a float, ask:

What exactly happens in a session, and for how long?
What does the research say, and can you show me the study? Was there a control group?
Who should not do this? Do you ask about heart conditions, pregnancy or epilepsy before I start?
Who runs the session, and what training do they have?
Do you make medical claims? (A careful business will not.)
Can I stop at any time, and is someone nearby if I feel unwell?

Why we wrote this

Ōmni is where Saigon comes to understand rest. Ōmni Space opened in Thảo Điền in 2025, run by the team that brought float to Vietnam in 2017. We sell float, sauna and cold plunge, so we hold ourselves to the same standard we use for everyone else. Nothing here is rated Strong evidence yet. That label needs several large, independent, well-controlled trials that agree, and no trend in this guide has that today. We will update these ratings as new reviews appear. Our services page lists what we offer, and our Thảo Điền guide covers the neighbourhood.

Visiting Saigon? Our travellers’ page gathers everything in one place: airport times, luggage, late-flight and layover tips, rainy and hot days.

FAQ

How big is the wellness market in Vietnam?

The Global Wellness Institute put Vietnam’s wellness economy at $19.60 billion in 2022, 35th of 145 countries. Spa revenue alone reached $1.74 billion in 2024, up 25% in one year.

Which wellness trend has the best evidence?

None has reached Strong evidence on our scale. Yoga for stress, Pilates for back pain, Finnish sauna for heart health, cold plunge for muscle soreness, binaural beats and float for stress are rated Promising.

Is an ice bath safe?

For most healthy adults who go in slowly, yes. Cold shock raises heart rate and blood pressure, so ask a doctor first if you have a heart condition or are pregnant. Never plunge alone, and never do fast breathing in water.

Where can I try float therapy in Saigon?

Ōmni Space at 16C Quốc Hương, Thảo Điền, open 9:00–21:00 daily. Floats start at 1,500,000 VND for 60 minutes.

What is Pilates Day Vietnam?

A community event organised by Nutrifort Academy with Nicole Hankins. The 2025 edition took place on 7 December 2025 at Chill Corner in District 2. The 2026 date had not been announced when we wrote this.

Are IV drips and hyperbaric oxygen wellness treatments?

We treat them as medical procedures, offered in Saigon by clinics and hospitals. Speak with a doctor first.

Wellness in Vietnam 2026: The Trends, the Science and Where to Try Them in Saigon