The quaint little town of Bonita Springs has experienced incredible growth over the past 8 years. After the city invested millions into renovating the Downtown strip of Old 41, businesses started flocking to the area. Since then, the growth has been exponential. The city’s walkable nature naturally attracted some health-focused businesses and now, the Bonita health scene is booming.

The Original Bonita Wellness Center: Shangri-La Springs

We can not mention the new health-focused businesses in Bonita Springs without first highlighting the original wellness center that opened nearly 100 years ago. Shangri-la Springs was first inhabited by the Caloosa Indians, who believed the property’s spring had healing powers. In the 1920s, the hotel was built and has passed through a few owners since then.

Now, Shangri-la Springs is a sanctuary dedicated to health and wellness. The hotel features a full-service organic spa and organic restaurant, which uses ingredients from their on-site 4-acre  organic garden. The hotel also hosts tons of health-focused events throughout the year, including weekly yoga classes.

Getting Moving

It is easy to stay active in Bonita Springs. Our beautiful downtown corridor, Riverside Park, and picturesque beaches allow walkers, runners, and bikers to get moving outdoors. The brand-new Bonita Springs Run Club focuses on just that, but adds an element of community. Each week, club members meet at a scheduled location and walk/run a designated route together- all at their own pace! This free run club makes it fun to get moving and is a great way to meet new people.

Bonita Beach Yoga offers the same sense of community in the most beautiful setting SWFL has to offer. This yoga class meets every Saturday on Bonita Beach at 8:30 am.

If you’re looking to hit the weights, there are plenty of indoor options as well. Crunch, Planet Fitness, Smash Fitness & the Bonita Springs YMCA all offer standard gym memberships, all with their own perks. The former LA Fitness/Esporta in the Springs Plaza on Bonita Beach Road and US 41 will soon reopen as Athletica Health & Fitness. This state-of-the-art gym will feature all new equipment, a juice bar, saunas, massage beds, classes, and most importantly for us, child care! The facility is currently under construction and is expected to open this Fall.

If small group training is more your style, you will want to check out the new Alloy Personal Training in the Lansdowne Plaza. Husband and wife team Sergio & Shauna Aguilar recently opened Alloy with a handful of rockstar trainers. Don’t let the small size of this gym fool you! The trainers use every inch of the place to ensure you get a great workout in–I know from personal experience! (Read my blog post about my first class here!)  The trainers at Alloy use small group circuit training to give the class plenty of one-on-one attention while moving through a series of different workouts. If you prefer CrossFit, check out Alloy’s neighbor, Ionic Fitness!

“What about Pilates?” Don’t worry, Bonita has you covered! Pilates Place recently opened in the Entrada Plaza on Bonita Beach Road and Old 41. This classic reformer pilates studio is owned by Dana Trenovich, who has 25+ years of experience and is such a fun instructor! She offers multiple levels of difficulty, all of which will get you toned without any harsh impact.

If you are the competitive type, or just love pickleball, Bonita Springs has plenty of places to “dink.” The Bonita Springs YMCA has courts open to the public and Sports Challenge America added 12 new courts to their facility last year. The Pickleball Club, a 34,000 square foot indoor pickleball facility, is currently under construction and is expected to open later this year or early 2026.

Next to the Pickleball Club at the new Bern Pine Center, IPC Naples is negotiating leases with two health-focused tenants. Details have not yet been released, but our insiders at IPC said they are currently working with a Physical therapist who offers pilates and a boxing gym that are interested in moving into the new plaza.

Recovery & Health Optimization

Sauna House Bonita Springs is the perfect place to recover and reset. This facility opened at the end of 2024 in the commercial space of Waterline apartments along Old 41. Sauna House focuses on contrast therapy, which entails cycling between cold plunge baths and hot saunas. This holistic therapy has a long list of benefits which, include improving circulation, burning fat, reducing stress, enhancing detoxification, and lessening inflammation.

If you love using holistic therapies to optimize your health, you will love Nuesana Health and Wellness. Nuesana offers a whole-body approach to health that was created by husband and wife, Albert and Sabrina Arguelles. Sabrina is an APRN who has been offering primary care out of their mobile office for years. Last year, she teamed up with her husband, who is passionate about holistic health therapies. Together, they opened Nuesana in the Homegoods plaza on US 41. Your health journey at Nuesana starts off with an assessment of your body’s current health with a series of in-depth tests. Sabrina and Albert review the results and recommend a diet plan, supplements, and holistic therapies to reach your health goals. Like Sauna House, Nuesana offers contrast therapy along with weight loss programs, lymphatic drainage massages, and so much more! To learn more, check out our blog post about Nuesana!

Refueling With the Good Stuff

If you’re looking for a fun way to hit your protein goals, take a trip to Summit Nutrition in the Ace Hardware Plaza on Bonita Beach Road. This nutrition shop opened in 2023 and has been serving up protein-packed shakes and donuts ever since.

If you want a great, healthy meal, head to Harvest & Wisdom organic farm-to-table restaurant in Shangri-La Springs. This restaurant uses organic ingredients from its on-site farm to create delicious dishes. For brunch, we recommend the Wagyu beef burger and the Turkey Brie Melt.

Time for a cheat meal? Sugarshack Downtown offers incredible bar food without any seed oils or preservatives. Their perfectly crispy French fries are fried in beef tallow, and their sandwich and pizza doughs are made in-house daily. We love being able to indulge without worrying about harmful ingredients!

Canary Club will soon be offering scratch-made pizzas just up the road from Sugarshack Downtown in the Waterline commercial space, neighboring Sauna House! This Mediterranean-inspired restaurant concept by Brandon and Cailtlin Schewe will offer a fresh menu of tapas on top of their pizza selection.

Brandon and Cailtlin, the trailblazing couple behind Downtown Coffee and Wine Company and The Bohemian, are already working on their next concept. The couple is currently in the early stages of creating a nutrition-focused, quick-casual restaurant that they are planning to open in the new Imperial 41 development.

 

Introducing: La Vida Bonita

I’m Brianna Opteyndt, and I have a passion for health, wellness, and the city I am so lucky to live in. It all started 8 years ago when my husband and I created the SWFL.Life blog as a tool for our real estate business. Over the past 8 years, I have simultaneously grown our real estate business in Bonita Springs, blogged about the boom we’ve been experiencing, and embarked on a personal health journey. This beautiful, winding road has led me to connect with local business owners that have a desire to make our community healthier as a whole.

I decided to wrap all things “health” and “Bonita Springs” into a new online community called “La Vida Bonita.” This Facebook group is meant to connect health-focused (or health-curious) individuals to form friendships, learn from each other, share recipes, workout tips, ideas, and most of all, better ourselves together. We’ve got some incredibly knowledgeable people in this group who are happy to answer questions about metabolic health, nutrition, fitness, and all-around wellness, so ask away!

I am so excited for this new journey, and I hope that you will come along with me! Join the La Vida Bonita Facebook Group!