Kapuhala Retreat: Koh Samui’s New Eco Paradise On A Mission To Educate, Inspire & Enhance Lives

Located on Thailand’s pristine island getaway, Kapuhala Koh Samui Tropical Farm & Training Retreat is a brand new kind of experience in wellness tourism. Kapuhala creates life-enhancing experiences for athletes, overworked city-dwellers and corporate high-achievers with a focus on athletic and cognitive performance optimisation achieved through everything from biohacking workshops to fitness and mindfulness activities to world-class whole foods plant-based dining. Just a short direct flight away from Hong Kong, Kapuhala Koh Samui is a tropical oasis that transcends typical holiday offerings with a unique combination of plant-based nutrition, fitness, social living and a genuine eco-conscious, low-impact philosophy behind it.

Opening this December on the secluded yet accessible island of Koh Samui in Thailand, Kapuhala Tropical Farm & Retreat is the perfect relaxation destination for sustainability-minded travellers who are looking for new experiences.

Unique to the retreat, their approach to hosting guests is all about holism: from leaving behind a minimal impact on nature and the environment to becoming more effective mentally and physically. The retreat’s concept was born out of a global lifestyle brand Kapuhala, with operations currently running in Hong Kong and Sicily, offering visitors heritage-based, fitness-boosting, back-to-nature experiences – true to the brand’s name, which means “Hidden Tree” in Hawaiian.

“Translated from Hawaiian, Kapu means “Hidden” and Hala is a type of tree. Together the word Kapuhala represents the hidden potential in all humans to grow, evolve and elevate themselves to new heights,” explains founder Stefano Passarello. Now, with this expansion in Koh Samui, Kapuhala hopes to inspire a new style of travel that balances social, ethical and environmental responsibility with the comforts typically provided in high-end hotels. “Staying at Kapuhala is a life-enhancing experience because it enables people to become the best versions of themselves. Better athletes, more effective leaders, grounded spiritually, more giving to the communities they are in and more focused and aware of their carbon footprint.” 

Tented Paradise Amidst Ambient Jungle Sounds

The destination itself is set within a lush tropical area, where holidaymakers are able to fully immerse themselves fully in the beauty of Thailand’s rich and varied natural landscapes, diverse flora and wild species. And at Kapuhala Koh Samui, you can have the unique experience of sleeping while being surrounded by the ambient sounds of the jungle, yet still being able to enjoy the comfort and amenities available in conventional hotel rooms.

At the Retreat, guests stay in terraced Tented Villas that are designed by architects with sustainability in mind – something that is few and far between in the hospitality industry. The Tented abodes are made of multiple layered panels, enabling guests to decide for themselves how they want to connect to their natural surroundings from within the comfort of the tent. As these unique structures are semi-permanent – they can be packed away and are moved, with a minimal footprint on the planet, leaving behind only what was originally home to the natural environment. Guests can also choose to stay at the more traditional Farmhouse and Jungle Rooms.

Across the entire grounds of the environmentally responsible retreat, guests will find absolutely no single-use plastics and the team is consistently exploring new ways to reduce their carbon footprint, from dishing out new plant-based food creations to maintaining a low food stock to minimise residual waste, and composting whenever possible. Even the local sourcing of ingredients is a strategic move to minimise the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from international import and shipment of goods.

Explore Kapuhala Accommodations

Halapua: Unapologetically Plant-Based Dining Experience

Another aspect of the resort that is hard to come by in experiential travel is the plant-based food experience offered to guests. True to its eco-commitment, the retreat features a strictly vegan restaurant. Halapua is Koh Samui’s first high-end gourmet plant-based restaurant with a gastronomic ethos that celebrates fresh, local and vibrant produce.

Serving up beautiful and creative modern dishes with French flair, Executive Chef Gregory Hill hopes that the innovative restaurant concept will “highlight how physical and cognitive performance is directly linked to nutrition, by connecting gourmet plant-based dining with fitness and social living.”

The refined plant-based cuisine features an entire menu made with just-picked seasonal ingredients that are either grown on-site at Kapuhala’s natural farm and microgreens greenhouse or sourced from neighbouring local farms.

Every dish is crafted with the intention to nourish one’s wellbeing – physically, mentally and spiritually. Menu highlights include the Lentils & Pear with Coriander, the Dates and Curried White Bean Hummus and the Roasted Beetroot with Avocado, Quinoa, Cashew Puree, Pomegranate and Red Rambo.

Those with a sweet tooth can indulge in mouth-watering vegan-friendly desserts, such as the signature Blueberry Cheesecake made from macadamia nuts, coconut, cashew cream and topped with a spirulina pea glaze as well as espresso tuile.

Beside the restaurant is a Rooftop Mixology Lounge, serving up specially crafted cocktails and refreshing blends of high nutritional value superfoods, house fermented bitters and herbal infusions. With its healthy, nutritious plant-based take on gourmet dishes and unusual craft cocktails, Halapua’s menu offerings will no doubt impress herbivores and omnivores alike. 

The cocktails at the lounge may seem like a contradiction to the concept, when in fact they are entirely complementary in a form of celebration, an idea that is central to social living, interpersonal connections and a form of a centuries-old way of relaxation. Having said that, thoughtfully, the lounge also offers cocktails of lower alcohol content for those that want to stay social for longer!

Discover The Entire Halapua Menu

Personalised Fitness With A Purpose

As if these dining credentials are not enough, guests at the Kapuhala Retreat can also get interactive through the wide range of services and activities available at the retreat, all of which are designed to enhance one’s lifestyle. First up, is their indoor fitness and yoga studio and 25-metre swimming pool, providing functional training equipment for those preparing for triathlons and other competitive races such as Spartan Race, or others who are simply looking to burn calories with high-intensity interval training or build strength through resistance training.

At the core of the Kapuhala’s training philosophy is optimising one’s athletic performance by first understanding how our bodies are affected by natural circadian rhythms and hormone fluctuations and how that correlated with cardio, strength and yoga training. Stefano Passarello, Kapuhala’s founder and a multidisciplinary athlete, ensured that every program offered at the Retreat was designed with bio-hacking techniques that that can be applied to one’s own fitness regimen back at home, with the goal of raising athletic and cognitive performance beyond the walls of Kapuhala retreat. It is this unique approach to fitness that “motivates and inspires, and now is the reason why so many people gravitate to Kapuhala” enthuses Passarello. “Kapuhala enables and supports people to access their evolutionary ability to optimise their mental and physical performance and to enhance their own wellbeing.”

Holistic Wellbeing, Cognitive Mindfulness

Another central element of physical health and wellbeing is mind and cognition, and Kapuhala has that covered too through their deeply interconnected offering. The social aspect is deeply rooted in the Kapuhala concept; group fitness, communal dining, evening cocktails, all of this is designed to connect people in order to elicit the release of endorphins and encourage a sense of belonging, after all, “loneliness is a silent epidemic that no one talks about” Passarello astutely observes. The retreat also offers a range of yoga and meditation workshops, relaxing sauna and in-room massages for a complete experience.

To stand out from the crowd of conventional resort getaways, Kapuhala aims to “enable people to become the best version of themselves” through these activities, said, Stefano Passarello. This enhances all areas of one’s life, as he added, whether it is to become a “better athlete, more effective leader or giving to the communities they are in and being aware of their carbon footprint.”

Kapuhala Koh Samui Tropical Farm & Training Retreat: Chaweng Noi 104/86 Moo 3, Bophut, Koh Samui, Suratthani 84320, Thailand.

Available for reservations now– for Plans & Pricing, contact samui@kapuhala.com.

Exclusive Deal For Green Queen Readers: Quote GREENQUEENTENT in the reservation email to get 30% OFF* the Tented Villa Experience- offer valid for booking until May 31st 2020.

All images courtesy of Kapuhala.

This is a Green Queen Partner Post.

*This offer cannot be combined with any other ongoing promotion.