When I, a wellbeing-obsessed, tennis-mad millennial, heard that the grand-slam tennis champ Rafael Nadal had opened a “wellness hotel” in the easternmost tip of the buzzy Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, I had to find out what was being served there.
In response to a contemporary desire to chill and recharge on holiday without letting go of our fitness routines, all-inclusive wellness holidays are on the up. According to the 2025 Accor trends forecasting report, there’s been a 50 per cent uptick in searches for “workout holidays” in the past year. But today’s new breed are rather different from the Mark Warner activities and watersports all-inclusives of my family holidays a decade ago, when days revolved around organised fun, tennis lessons and all-you-can-eat ice cream.
Now there are cutting-edge spa treatments, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, padel courts and whatever other activities are in fashion, alongside frozen margaritas, often in stylish settings. A small gym and a spa just don’t cut it any more.
Zel Punta Cana offers a relaxed take on the wellness hotel
But while some spa hotels offer a packed programme alongside specialised longevity and medical treatments, the new Zel Punta Cana offers a more relaxed version of a wellness break. There’s no rigid juicing plan or boot camp schedule — it’s pull-ups when you want them, piña coladas when you don’t.
The hotel is the third opening from Nadal and Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of the international hotel group Melia, with Zel, the younger, cooler hotel collection offshoot of the Melia brand. The partnership’s first two hotels, in Mallorca and on the Costa Brava, are already a success.
The new resort offers everything a typical Caribbean package holiday does — reliable weather, beaches, pools, complete relaxation — but with fitness activities included. Nadal says it has “the best of both worlds — the refined energy of Mediterranean hospitality, while embracing the rich culture and traditions of Punta Cana”.
It doesn’t take me long to get into the Zel way of life. After a surprisingly easy journey (a ten-hour direct flight from London, plus a 20-minute transfer) my partner, Jonny, and I are greeted by Alejandra, our personal concierge for the trip (all guests get one), in the grand terracotta-hued reception. She hands us ice-cold Presidente beers and asks to exchange WhatsApps — everything here is done via an app, including checking in and booking meals and activities. There go our intentions for a much-needed phone break.
The fitness aspect of our wellbeing holiday can wait too. Within minutes, we’re enjoying the first of several mojitos in Zel’s beach club, sitting before the twinkling turquoise waters of the Caribbean and a 32km stretch of pristine golden shore that the area is known for.
Sidonie Wilson in the hotel’s yoga studio
Jonny tries to distract me from a game of Monopoly Deal by bombarding me with facts about the Dominican Republic. Did I know it’s home to the Caribbean’s tallest mountain, Pico Duarte (3,101m)? And the largest lake, Enriquillo, as well as the oldest cathedral of the Americas, in the capital, Santo Domingo? It also has the biggest goldmine — and the largest economy — of the Caribbean islands.
We head back for a quick pre-dinner refresher in our room; the mini bar is replenished daily with beers and salty snacks.
What you need to knowWhere is it? Punta Cana, a busy beach town in the east of the Dominican RepublicWhat does it cost? All-inclusive doubles from £217Who will love it? Fitness and wellbeing-obsessed millennials who still like to drink
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The hotel rooms are all suites, with chic design
Like all 190 of the hotel’s rooms, ours is a suite, with a Mediterranean-style living room, walk-in wardrobe-cum-bathroom, separate shower room and balcony with two-person whirlpool bath. Some are swim-up or have interconnecting rooms; ours, a master suite, overlooks nothing but palms. The decor is so chic, I feel as if I’ve stepped straight into Zara Home: all dusty pink walls, wooden beamed ceilings, striped soft furnishings, and lots of ceramics and rattan.
When it comes to dining, there’s a lot of choice. Two restaurants are more formal and require booking, including the Japanese-inspired Nokyo, with good sushi and a “teppanyaki experience” around the chef’s table that involves knife throwing and saké chugging. Three other restaurants are more casual, and there are separate wine, cocktail and coffee bars. Our first dinner is at the smarter Volcan, an asador grill, moody and dimly lit, where we devour delicious cocktails, smoky scallops and charred hispi cabbage. The jet lag takes over before dessert, sending us off for the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.
Zel offers a packed schedule with at least five activities a day, from early morning until the evening, many of which you can rock up to without booking. There’s everything from beach runs and HIIT in the studio to classes in the pool. Owing to a sports-related back injury, I’m more up for tuning into a bit of mindfulness on this trip.
A sushi, sake and teppanyaki table
After a quick pedal around the grounds on one of the hotel bikes, I opt to skip the aerial yoga for vinyasa, in a gorgeous indoor-outdoor studio. I’m instantly lulled by the swishing palm trees and cooling marble floor. It’s so soothing — apart from the odd nibble from a passing mosquito — that I find myself coming back to the studio later in the week for hatha yoga and a reflexology class.
Breakfast is just as relaxing, at Parda, an open-plan buffet restaurant in a large thatched rotunda with whitewashed walls, wooden furniture and a marble floor, beside a teal tiled pool bar, with hanging textiles and swinging rattan shades.
One side is completely open, overlooking the pools and palm trees. On the other is the kitchen, which serves a bit of everything, including freshly made omelettes and the juiciest tropical fruit.
Though the hotel is large, it’s very spacious, with a relaxed vibe — and never feels busy. Multiple interconnecting pools snake around the main areas and we easily find a quiet spot away from other guests to zonk out in a cabana, never far from the friendly pool bar staff looking to top-up my bloody mary.
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There are tennis courts, with a gym, padel and pickleball coming soon
The hotel has five tennis courts, a spanking new tennis centre, with a gym, plus padel and pickleball courts opening in September. While initially disappointed that Nadal doesn’t join us on court to feed a few forehands, I’m secretly relieved as, because of my injury, I have to sit on the side while Jonny enjoys an hour’s lesson with the bemused instructor Manuel. I’d usually be the one smashing winners across the net, but I settle for the role of ballgirl and promise Manuel I’ll return for a knock-up when my back is better.
We earn our long lunch under the shade of the poolside restaurant, Tacorini, whose quirky Mexican-Greek fusion food — fish tacos meet gyros — are perfect post-tennis fare.
Sidonie taking a 10km walk along Bavaro Beach
Most afternoons we head to the pristine white sands of Bavaro Beach, a ten-minute amble away alongside mangroves filled with southern hicoteas (freshwater turtles) and banks busy with basking iguanas (there’s also a shuttle bus).
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As well as beaches and partying, the island offers adventure activities and culture
Many visitors to the island come to Punta Cana just to party and bask on the beautiful coastline, but Santo Domingo’s Unesco-protected architecture is worth a trip. The island’s varied tropical landscape is ripe for adventure — canoeing and rafting in rivers, birding and caving, or hiking in rugged national parks in the Cordillera Central mountain range and to waterfalls. If golf is your thing, there’s a top-notch 27-hole course nearby, where Melia guests get 50 per cent off green fees.
But Zel is the sort of hotel you can happily hole up in, following a routine of your own design. Ours means early-morning activities, delicious food, then reading by the pool and sea. One afternoon we’re taken out on a Hobie Cat, a small catamaran, for a smooth glide across the bay. The usual water sports are available, as well as huge party-boat day trips. Zel hosts fiestas too, where local artisans set up stalls for an evening of live music and dancing, and at which I have my tarot read.
The morning before we fly home, we head out before sunrise for a 10km walk along the beach in an easterly direction past the many resort fronts that line the coast, until they peter out and there’s nothing but wild palms and turquoise waters.
You have to pay to use the spa but it’s worth it
We make it back just before the sun starts to sizzle, and dip into the Aua spa — the one thing that costs guests extra (entry £37), though it is free to use if you pay for a treatment. Our couple’s massage (£140), followed by the hot hydrotherapy baths and cold plunge, is well worth it.
The hotel’s hydrotherapy pool
The friendly staff, who come from both sides of the island, the French-speaking Haitian side and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republican, have gone above and beyond. They know when to bring the party — encouraging dancing to live music with free-flowing cocktails in the Voltaje lobby bar — and when to bring the chilled-out vibe.
It’s hard to know exactly what constitutes a “wellness hotel” these days. Zel is more about relaxation than fitness, and is certainly not of the medi-spa variety — if they were to take my bloods they’d find I’m 98 per cent piña colada. But do I feel well when I leave? Absolutely.
Sidonie Wilson was a guest of Zel Punta Cana, which has all-inclusive doubles from £217 (melia.com). Fly to Punta Cana