I spent a week at the world’s most exclusive longevity retreat loved by A-listers

How far would you go for wellness? And I don't mean committing to yoga or sipping on your daily green juice - I'm talking about boarding a flight to another country to embark on a transformative retreat straight out of The White Lotus, where IV drips, oxygen therapy, and liver detox wraps are fundamental to helping your body achieve optimal health.

That's where Mayrlife has made its mark, a 'medical wellness resort' nestled in the Austrian mountains a couple of hours outside of Salzburg, and it's also the place a number of A-listers credit for transforming their lives.

Their philosophy lies in what they've dubbed 'The Cure' - a completely personalised, gut-resetting program loved by Naomi Campbell, Rebel Wilson, Karlie Kloss, and high-flying CEOs globally for helping carve an exclusive path to longevity.

Their 'classic program' starts at £2,300 for the week, and with accommodation, supplements, and specialised laboratory testing on top, you're looking at a cool £4,000-£5,000.

However, what the cost does include is an extensive list of examinations, diagnoses, and treatments Bryan Johnson would no-doubt approve of, including, but not limited to: Free radical and biological antioxidant exams, cryotherapy, electrolysis, acid-base and mineral nutrient analysis, lymphatic drainage, and daily appointments with doctors.

As a Deliveroo-indulging, wine-drinking, over-worked city dweller, this would be the perfect place for me.

I knew a few people that had undertaken the program before, and by the sounds of things, this was set to be no holiday.

I'd heard rumblings of strict rules around eating (apparently you have to chew each bite of food 60 times before you can swallow it - something about activating your digestive enzymes), morning epsom salt drinks that leave guests sprinting for the bathroom, and the uncaffeinated day-three feeling of simply wanting to quit.

I'll admit, I packed an emergency Creme Egg and a Diet Coke in the bottom of my suitcase, you know, just in case it all got a bit much.

However, I had also heard about the extreme highs you get after completing the week, and the feeling of total rejuvenation that keeps 50 per cent of visitors returning more than once, and somehow, that was enough to convince me that this could finally be the answer to my burnout woes.

Day one at Mayrlife: Chewing, Electrolysis, and Cardboard Bread

Having flown over to Salzburg the night before, unsurprisingly, I woke up this morning at 6am in high spirits, ready to unleash my inner wellness warrior. I was surrounded by incredible snow-capped mountains with a view over Lake Altaussee (hello, Instagram pics), and had a tonne of energy. What wasn’t to love?

It became clear that the reality of what I’d signed up for didn’t begin to dawn on me until I headed down to breakfast and got my first taste of Mayrlife cuisine. First things first, there’s no phones in the restaurant, and no conversations, as food has to be the main focus of your attention.

My debut of sitting in a packed-out restaurant where the only noise was the clinking of knives and forks felt incredibly eerie.

The few people around the room in couples whispered under their breath, but as I was here solo, staring at the wall it was.

Within seconds of sitting down at my assigned table, tucked away in the corner (you eat at the same table for every meal), a server dressed in a full dirndl explained that my menu would alter over the week based on results from physical exams and intolerance tests.

For breakfast and lunch, I’d choose two proteins or cheeses, and roughly half-a-fistful of carbohydrates known as a chewing trainer, which could be accompanied by a miniature jug of extra virgin olive oil for those extra health benefits. More importantly, the oils would help fill me up where food wouldn’t.

Bemused by the frankly random selection of ingredients on offer, I thought I’d play it safe and went with poached chicken, soya bread, and goat’s cheese rolled in herbs.

It would turn out I’d started with what would be my least-favourite meal of the week, for a few reasons.

The first thing I learnt about Mayrlife was that everything I’d been told about chewing was true. Chewing is the golden rule. 40-60 times per bite keeps you fuller for longer, and improves your digestion. As I got to chew 35 of my plain chicken, chomping away at what-had-become liquid, I knew this was going to be no easy feat.

Secondly, I found out the hard way that soya bread is bad. Really bad. The type of bread you leave in the cupboard and forget about, before realising it’s turned into cardboard when it’s too late. Thankfully later I’d go on to discover I have a yeast intolerance, which meant it got swapped out on my menu for boiled potatoes. A solid trade.

Thirdly, when you’re someone who’s used to eating at a desk or nonchalantly scrolling TikTok as you tuck into lunch, when you concentrate on eating properly, it takes time. I ended up sitting there for around 45 minutes, savouring each chew, glancing around at my fellow diners (and making up life stories for each of them in my head).

Admittedly, I took some comfort in realising that when you devote all of your energy to concentrating on eating, you somehow don’t feel hungry after. It could only go up from here.

I then scurried off to my morning appointments, which included an impedance analysis (body composition), and a finger prick for mineral and free radical analysis.

Free radicals are unstable molecules in the body that can damage your cells, and are linked to some rather serious long-term health conditions. Factors that cause free radicals can include stress and pollution - so unsurprisingly, my levels were three times what they should be (cheers, London), and I’d spend the next week trying to bring them down through antioxidant treatments and well - trying to stress less for once.

I also found out that like many people, my blood has unknowingly turned acidic from my current diet, so I was put on an alkaline-only meal plan to balance things out.

The doctor went on to prescribe me a bunch of supplements before sending me on my way. They included the dreaded epsom salts to be drank each morning for gut cleansing (which means exactly what you think it does), bitter drops and potassium capsules to be taken before each meal to aid digestion, mouth oil for oil pulling, and ‘base powder’ - an alkalising dust I’d need to mix with water and drink four times each day to even out my blood's PH levels.

Lunch soon rolled around and having been given the same options as breakfast, I’d learnt my lesson. I was going to get the hang of this now.

Compared to my self-induced breakfast fail, lunch felt like the buffet of dreams. Smoked salmon-trout neatly shaped into a rose, three slices of manchego cheese, and four boiled baby potatoes.

You’re not allowed water 15 minutes before or 60 minutes after eating (y’know, digestion stuff), so the manchego didn’t go down as easily as it would with chutney and a glass of something chilled on the side, but with the food noise mounting, I was just happy to be turning a corner.

The afternoon was filled with slightly more relaxing activities - first, a session of electrical muscle stimulation, promptly followed by an electrolysis foot bath.

It’s not too far-removed from a regular foot bath, bubbles and all, but the electrolysis element ionizes the salty water, helping to kickstart my body’s detoxing process below the surface, particularly in the kidneys, lungs, and intestines.

By the end of the 20-minute session, the water had turned a murky shade of brown akin to a post-spray tan shower, but I guess that means it’s working, right?

I opted to spend the rest of the day lounging around the spa, swimming a few lengths while I still had the energy, and sweating out the toxins in the sauna.

I headed down to dinner, and given that lunch had put me on a huge “wellness is so easy” high, you can only imagine the way my face dropped when I rocked up in my finest loungewear, plonked down in my usual spot, and found out that evening meals aren’t really a thing here.

The Mayrlife philosophy suggests breakfast and lunch should be the biggest meals of the day, with dinner being nothing more than a light bowl of vegetable broth or soup.

Ok, so it probably was the nicest bowl of parsnip soup I’ve ever had (the chefs make a particular effort on the presentation to spruce things up), but it was at this point I felt my energy levels quickly deplete.

So much so, in fact, that I decided to call it a night by 8pm, the time I’d usually be getting dressed up for the evening with a picante in hand, and instead got tucked up with The White Lotus and my final base powder cocktail of the evening.

A glass of base powder, to be drank four times per day to adjust the body's PH levels

Day 2 at Mayrlife - Kinesiology, Liver Detoxing, and Breaking Up With Cheese

Mornings at Mayrlife are nothing short of a military operation. On a typical holiday I can be lazing around in bed, probably hungover, until 9am, but by 7:30am here I’d done my daily supplement routine (epsom salts, usual vitamins, base powder, potassium pill, bitter drops, in that order), got dressed, and was heading to breakfast before my first appointment at 8am.

The daily morning exercise class is optional, but I sacked it off after hearing epsom salt-induced horror stories from other guests.

Egg day is a big deal here. Once every two days you’re allowed to choose from a scrambled, poached, or boiled egg to have with breakfast, so a puppy-sized portion of scrambled was a no-brainer alongside my usual salmon-trout and boiled potatoes. If you close your eyes, it’s just like being at brunch, actually.

The morning got even better when I arrived at the medical reception and found out my first treatment was a liver detox wrap. That meant getting borderline-mummified in blankets on a water bed, with a view over the mountains, while a hay sack filled with detoxing herbs rested on my stomach. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t doze off.

One thing I’ve learnt to love about Mayrlife is that beneath the outlandish treatments and celebrity appeal, underneath, it's all about the idea of slow living. Taking regular breaks, getting out into nature, stopping to be present - all things that are completely alien to any city-dweller, and a key part of longevity.

I had the rest of the morning off, so went to explore the quaint village of Altaussee. It’s incredibly quiet - people mostly travel there to ski or hike, and 60 per cent of the town’s properties are second homes. However, the views of the lake set to the backdrop of the mountains are nothing short of sensational. I’d seen other guests swimming in the freezing lake, but I wasn’t that brave just yet.

After lunch, I had three more treatments: First up, a massage (no complaints here), which was then followed by an abdominal treatment by my physician to help with more liver detoxing.

Then, we moved onto a kinesiology test, which was definitely one of the more unique alternative medicine assessments I did that week. The idea is that your muscles can detect intolerances to food, which is tested through comparing your strength before and after applying small drops of powdered ingredients onto your tongue. The physician holds your leg up, and you simply have to push against their strength.

It turns out that the protein found in cow’s milk and I aren’t exactly besties - there goes my love affair with cheese.

Before dinner, I had the chance to sit down with Dr Dieter Resch, the CEO of Mayrlife, who explained that what had made him fall in love with the ‘cure’ was that it wasn’t just about promoting a week-long crash diet, but simple fundamental principles you can apply to your daily life going forward, with good digestion being the key to long-term health.

"I had a medical problem for many years which was immediately solved by the treatment", he tells me, although, he admitted he does still love a glass of wine every now and then, and tries to disguise it as red wine being an antioxidant. I see you.

"Since then I have been doing the cure at least once, sometimes twice a year. I think I've done the Mayrlife treatment at least 15 times now.

"As a result I no longer get sick, am more creative and can cope with stress more easily."

He continues: "Each person has their own requirements regarding health status, lifestyle and stress, and as we know, the microbiome is individual too.

"Since it is not easy for anyone to change habits in daily life, our guests are supported at home by the Mayrlife doctors and nutritionists - via zoom if necessary.

"As 50 per cent of Mayrlife guests are returning guests, we can monitor their improvements in health year by year.

"One of my recommendations is to eat only three times a day and skip dinner on some days of the week. If, for example, good-quality food isn't available while traveling, I skip the meal altogether.

"Nutrition must be 100% individualized and is an important issue that must be actively addressed. The reward is a long and healthy life", he concludes.

Following his advice, I went to bed that night feeling more motivated at the prospect of what would prove to be a tough week becoming a lifelong shift for the better.

Day 3 at Mayrlife - IVs, Salt Peeling, and Cryotherapy

Day three is notorious at Mayrlife for one reason: Statistically, if you’re going to quit, this is going to be the day you do it.

For many people, day three is the day when your sugar levels are at an all-time-low, the caffeine withdrawal kicks in, and your energy hits rock bottom, with some people reporting headaches and nausea as a result. If I could get through today, I was one step closer to my Creme Egg at the end of this.

It was another day filled with routine, which I enjoyed, starting with an antioxidant IV packed with minerals and vitamins to bring my free radical levels down (I’ve got more needle punctures than a pin cushion at this point), followed by cryotherapy, a popular treatment for athletes that’s become big among the wellness crowd in recent years.

Simply put, cryotherapy involves stepping inside a Barbie box-style chamber which is -110 degrees celsius in temperature (yes, you read that right), for four whole minutes. It has a whole host of benefits including reducing inflammation, pain relief, and improved muscle recovery, as well as making you ineligible to complain about being cold ever again.

After warming up, I'd signed up for one of the wellness lectures before lunch, which was all about EFT (emotional freedom technique) tapping for stress and anxiety, a medically-backed alternative treatment with a growing fandom.

Studies suggest that by tapping different specific points on your body, such as your temples or fingers, can have different stress-managing effects. If anything, having something to concentrate on away from the chaos for a few minutes a day can be seriously soothing.

The serotonin hit from the class only continued when I went to lunch and discovered I’d finally graduated onto what we're now going to call 'real' food. I’d spent the last few days green with envy, seeing waiters carrying silver platters across the room to smug-looking guests at the other end - my curiosity piqued at what could be underneath. Why did they get the special food?

And it would turn out their smugness was warranted, because having my first ‘proper’ meal all week consisting of grilled octopus and vegetables felt like I’d won the lottery. I got to be the smug guy now.

Changing one meal a day to be a proper plate of food, even if it was small, was the program’s stepping stone to being able to follow the diet at home.

It’s a good job I left the table in high spirits too, because the afternoon kicked off with a personal training session in the luxurious on-site gym. I’m a regular gym-goer at home, but I also don’t average 300 calories a day there - so I wasn't going to be hitting any PBs today.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spend the first 15 minutes of the session trying to distract the PT by asking lots of questions so I didn’t have to do any exercise. However, she saw right through me, and before I knew it, I was on the rowing machine.

She went through my body impedance analysis from day one, and decided I could benefit from building my upper-body strength, so the hour was dedicated to showing me what machines I should be using to train. As someone who freaks out at the thought of going near the weights section at my home gym, being able to learn how everything works in a private setting was very much welcome.

After working up a sweat, it was time for a quick shower before the final appointment of the day: Salt peeling.

If you thought you were good at exfoliating, think again, because I found myself stripped near-naked while being doused head-to-toe in salt scrub, quite literally shedding a new skin after my detox. Was this a sign of new beginnings?

Frankly, weekly ‘everything’ showers will never be the same again.

Mayrlife

A Mayrlife goodbye, but hello to a new way of living

I spent the days following going through a similar routine of testing, training, and even embarking on a guided hike (offered to guests three times per week) around the lake with some of the other guests.

It was interesting to meet people from so many walks of life - Emmy-nominated film directors, business gurus, even one guest who had already been in the program for five weeks - but despite being so different, we were all there with the same focus: To reset.

And reset I had. I’d spent six days alone in a new place finding out more about myself than I ever could’ve imagined, and somehow, by the end, the trembling at the mention of soya bread had subsided.

In fact, it’ll feel quite strange not walking the corridors of Mayrlife, where talk of colon-cleansing is as common as the weather.

On my final day, I met with the in-house dietician who explained a typical meal plan I should follow once let loose back into the real world, to wean myself off the detox. The core principles remained the same: Take your time, chew as much as possible, and stay alkaline.

I was also advised to steer clear of yeast and milk for a further three months to avoid a bacterial overgrowth in my stomach. Thankfully, potatoes had become my new obsession.

I then braced myself for one final finger prick, an updated free radicals analysis, which showed that in just one week, my levels had dropped, making me even more determined to keep up my progress at home. I’d even managed to shift 4kg too.

I went into Mayrlife telling people it would either “change my life" or “make a great dinner party story”, and I’m happy to confirm that between persistent epsom salt-themed dreams and now satirically calling people out on their chewing habits, it somehow managed to do both.

You can learn more about Mayrlife's program offering here

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