On 16 March 2016, we registered Vietnam Detox as a Trademark of Urban Healing Company and today we look back on 10 years Vietnam Detox, ten years of guiding fasting retreats across Vietnam. On paper, it was just a line in a registry. In reality, it was the beginning of a journey that has touched hundreds of bodies, hearts, and lives.
Ten years later, we feel overwhelmingly grateful.
What these ten years have taught us
For many guests, especially founders and professionals, a fasting retreat sounds like “pressing pause” on life. In practice, we see something different:
- A well‑held fast upgrades the system that runs everything else, not just the body.
- When you remove food, noise, and rush for a few days, clarity, emotional regulation, and decision‑making change in measurable ways.
- Leaders who return regularly use these weeks as part of their long‑term strategy for healthspan, resilience, and focus.
From Dalat Edensee: where it all began.
Of the cool air at Tuyền Lâm Lake, the quiet mornings, and the courage it took to invite the very first guests to try something almost unknown in Vietnam: a structured, medically informed Buchinger fast in nature.
This would not have been possible without Mr. Phương, the then‑owner of Dalat Edensee Resort & Spa. As someone who knew “Fastenwandern” in Germany, he immediately understood what we wanted to build. He opened his beautiful resort to us, gave us generous conditions, and trusted a small idea that had no proof yet. Because of him, our first retreats could take root in a truly healing landscape, and for that I am deeply, deeply thankful.
Four years at Alba Wellness Valley
From Đà Lạt, our path led to Huế and to Alba Wellness Valley by Fusion. For four years, Alba was our home. We shared onsen waters, forest walks, storms, sunrises, and even ran fasts during the uncertainty of COVID. Together with the Alba team and their General Manager, Hylton Lipkin, we welcomed hundreds of guests and watched as Vietnamese families, couples, and individuals discovered that fasting can be a gentle, guided reset. To everyone at Alba who believed in our work and held space for our groups: cảm ơn from the bottom of my heart.
Hue partnerships: Azerai and Le Ba Dang
During the most challenging phases of the pandemic, another very special Hue partner opened their doors to us: Azerai La Residence. Under the leadership of General Manager Anh Minh, we were able to host private, custom‑tailored retreats in a setting that felt both safe and deeply nurturing, right by the Perfume River, in the former French Governor’s residence, with a creative spa and a saltwater pool that our fasting guests loved. Our private retreat guests were truly spoiled by the attentiveness and professionalism of the entire Azerai team, and it was a privilege to care for guests in such an elegant, quiet, and exclusive environment. Their trust and flexibility during uncertain times meant more than words can say.
In Huế, another very special place found us: Le Ba Dang Memory Space.
In this garden of light, stone, and art – created to honour the life’s work of painter Lê Bá Đảng – we were given the opportunity by Ms Hang and Ms Lê Cẩm Tế to host our Buông Retreat in the Kim Sơn Art Home. Fasting surrounded by art, trees, and open sky has a different quality. Over the past two years, these retreats have become a kind of quiet jewel in our work. We are grateful to the Le Ba Dang Memory Space team for welcoming us and for allowing fasting, contemplation, and contemporary art to live together.
AnHill Boutique, Hue
We are also grateful for the support of Anh Phước, General Manager of AnHill Boutique, a beautiful Hue resort that weaves traditional Huế architecture and culture into a contemporary, comfortable setting. Together, we have already designed detailed retreat plans for this property, aligning its spaces with our five pillars of fasting, rest, movement, knowledge, and connection. We hope to soon welcome guests there and let them experience Buchinger fasting in the gentle, poetic atmosphere that is so unique to Huế and An Hill.
North to Yen Tu
Our circle then expanded northward, to the mountains of Yên Tử.
When the owner of Legacy Yen Tu – MGallery, Anh Thuan, invited us to visit, we knew within hours that this was a place made for deep work. The architecture, the sacred history, the silence between the peaks: it all supported what we wanted to offer. Since then, Legacy Yen Tu has become the backdrop for some of our most powerful retreats, weeks where guests not only cleanse their bodies, but also clarify what truly matters in their lives. To our partners at Legacy Yen Tu: thank you for trusting us with your space and for so generously supporting our An Retreat with your marketing.
Family retreats with Le Care Hanoi
We also want to honour two very special partners from Hà Nội: sisters Lan and Phương from Le Care Hanoi. After joining our 5‑day Hot Spring Detox retreat at Alba Wellness Valley in Huế, they felt the impact so strongly that they invited us to design two private family retreats in 2023 at their villas in Flamingo Đại Lải, just north‑west of Hà Nội. A year later, we returned for two more retreats and had the chance to learn deeply from their Darwin Organic Farm, about soil, food quality, and what it means to raise a family around real nourishment. Thank you, Lan and Phương, for your trust, for opening your extended family to this work, and for allowing us to witness what “family bonding through fasting and real food” looks like in practice. It has been a beautiful, humbling experience.
Hoi An, water and herbs
Thanks to the generous support of our previous retreat guest, Ms Phạm Thị Thanh Hà from Halis Water Filters, we co‑created the Halis Wellness Retreat by Vietnam Detox at Silk Sense Hoi An River Resort. Over six retreats, guests experienced fasting alongside clean-water education, riverside walks, bicycle rides through scenic rice fields to the ancient town, and the special feeling of ending a week dedicated entirely to their health. To the Halis team and to Silk Sense: thank you for standing with us and for showing how corporate responsibility and true wellness can meet.
And now a new chapter is opening.
In Hội An, we are honoured to partner with Namia River Retreat and Lumina Wellbeing to create the Vietnamese Herbal Detox. Here, our Buchinger framework is woven together with Vietnamese herbal wisdom, broths, teas, and practices of this land. In April this year, we begin this next evolution. We are excited, humbled, and determined to honour both traditions fully.
Across all of these places, certain patterns became very clear to us.
Why we chose to stay small
Over the years, people have often asked why we do not scale Vietnam Detox more aggressively. The honest answer is that depth and safety tend to disappear when numbers grow too large.
Working with intimate groups allows us to:
- listen carefully to each person and their body
- adapt the programme and pace as needed
- hold the physical, emotional, and relational dimensions of fasting with real attention
This choice to stay small is strategic, not accidental. It is how we protect the quality of work we care about.
What we see again and again after a retreat
Across these ten years and many retreats, some patterns are very consistent, especially for people in demanding roles:
- Sleep becomes deeper and more regular in the weeks after the retreat.
- Energy throughout the day is more stable, with fewer crashes.
- Decision‑making feels simpler because there is less internal noise and reactivity.
- Food, alcohol, and late‑night work are chosen more consciously, not automatically.
- Boundaries at work and at home become clearer, with more space for what truly matters
These are not promises; they are patterns we see again and again in guests who fully engage with the process. All of this has been held by a very small core team.
The small team behind Vietnam Detox
Vietnam Detox is, at its heart, very few people:
- Trương Tấn Hoàn, co‑founder and retreat manager, who believed in fasting for Vietnamese people before the market did, and who has walked every meter of those trails, checked every room, and held every logistical detail with care.
- And Dieter Buchner, co‑founder and retreat leader, is bringing the Buchinger tradition and his years of experience as a fasting coach to this Vietnamese soil.
Around us stands a quiet, vital circle of support: our retreat assistants and translators,
Khanh, Hoa, Phương and Thuyen, who turn Dieter’s English into Vietnamese and your stories from Vietnamese back into English. And a very special thanks to Trang, our most dedicated support member, who has been preparing all the delicious juices and broths with Hoàn for over six years now.
Our webmasters who create and update our website and make sure your registrations work smoothly, our organic farming partners who ensure we offer you the freshest and healthiest vegetables, herbs and fruits, our accountant who makes sure we pay our bills on time, and the friendly drivers who bring our team and all our equipment to our retreat partners. Without them, there would be no shared understanding, no depth, no trust. You have all been the bridge between cultures and bodies. Thank you.
Our guests
And then there is the most important part of Vietnam Detox: Y O U!!.
- who came to our retreats in Dalat, Hue, Yen Tu, and Hoi An.
- who decided that prevention is worth your time.
- who chose one week of structure, simplicity, and honesty in a world that constantly invites you to numb and distract yourself.
Over ten years, you have helped us become a recognised name in Vietnam for professionally guided Buchinger fasting retreats. Something that began “against all odds”, in a country where fasting was almost unknown, with no clear word for it, is now a trusted option for many. Not because of marketing, but because you shared your results, your stories, your before‑and‑after choices with your families and friends.
If you are reading this as a leader
If you are a founder, executive, or professional and you,,
- feel your body is paying the price for your responsibilities
- want more healthspan, not just more years
- sense that thinking time and real rest are now strategic assets
then this is the kind of retreat we have been quietly crafting for ten years.
Our core pillars
Our work rests on five pillars. Over ten years, our guests have given life to each of them.
- Fasting
We guide guests through four to seven days of Buchinger fasting. This not only changes blood markers. It also calms the nervous system and establishes a new baseline, making life and work feel different. - Rest and relaxation
Daily massages, hydrotherapy where available, meditation, breathwork, naps, and nights without screens help the body and brain remember what true rest feels like. Once you have felt this again, it becomes easier to recognise when you are overriding your limits at home. - Movement
Walks, hikes, cycling, stretching, yoga, tai chi, and qigong show that movement can be medicine, not punishment. Guests often return home seeing movement as a non‑negotiable support for their energy and mood. - Knowledge and inspiration
We share practical education on food, sleep, breathing, devices, and stress. The goal is not dependency on us, but the ability to design days and weeks that match your biology, not just your calendar. - Connection
Our groups are small, usually nine to sixteen people, and the connections are deep. Many guests stay in touch for years, checking in on one another’s blood tests, habits, and joys. For us, this quiet community is one of the most meaningful outcomes.
To every guest who has trusted us with their time, money, stories, and health over the past ten years: thank you. You are the reason we keep refining, keep learning, and keep saying no to shortcuts.
To every partner: thank you for opening your doors, your landscapes, and your hearts to this work.
To Hoàn, my co‑founder, and to our extended team: cảm ơn for your patience, your resilience, your humour, and your faith.
Today we celebrate ten years. But in many ways, it feels like we are just beginning.
If Vietnam Detox has been part of your journey and you feel it has made a difference, we would be very grateful if you shared that experience on our Google profile.
Your words help others decide whether a serious fasting retreat is right for them and support us in continuing this work with depth and integrity.
You can leave a short review here:
Thank you for walking this path with us. May the next decade bring even more clarity, more courage, and more quiet, powerful transformations for all of us.
