Discover our handpicked selection of wellness hotels and fitness getaways, offering everything from celebrity-endorsed gyms to nutritionist-approved menus
Long gone are the days where holidays meant we relinquished all responsibilities — and one the travel industry is taking increasingly seriously is guests being able to maintain, if not enhance, their fitness routines.
Nearly one third of Britons would rather keep active while on holiday than lounge on a sunbed or enjoy sipping on a cocktail, according to research by Hilton.
Enter fitness-orientated hotels: hospitality’s growing sector that caters to those who don’t want to fall out of their exercise and nutrition routines and expect stand-out gyms, healthy menus and fitness-forward programmes.
Here, Living360 unveils the best in the world, so you can stay fit no matter where you fly.
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Siro One Za’abeel, Dubai
Spanning four floors of the One Za’abeel skyscraper, Siro’s first Middle East outpost was designed from an athlete’s perspective.
Centred around five biohacking pillars — nutrition, fitness, sleep, recovery and mindfulness — the hotel is home to 132 specially designed rooms that aim to mitigate jet lag and promote restorative sleep.
Siro tapped into the nous of the trainers at AC Milan Football Club to create its Technogym-equipped Fitness Lab, which hosts a range of classes from endorphin-pumping HIIT to low-impact Pilates.
Thermo-regulating mattresses and in-room recovery cabinets come as standard but there’s no restaurant here — just a state-of-the-art vending machine filled with cold-pressed juices and salads crafted by the in-house nutritionist. Ginger shot, anyone?
From £530 per night. For more information or to book, visit Siro Hotels.
Bio- and Wellnessresort Stanglwirt, Austria
On a mission to prove wellness and sustainability go hand in hand is Bio- and Wellnessresort Stanglwirt, a stalwart on the international fitness hotel scene.
Having first opened its doors more than 300 years ago in the Kitzbühel Alps, the family-owned resort has evolved to offer world-class sports facilities, including 13 tennis courts that are part of the Peter Burwash International Tennis School, or alternatively get in the saddle with private riding lessons at the equestrian centre.
Other active pursuits such as guided hikes through Wilder Kaiser, teeing off at Stanglwirt Driving Range and mountain biking the nearby Gaisberg Trail are encouraged, while the gym equipment was donated by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.
From £430 per night. For more information or to book, visit Stanglwirt.
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Daios Cove, Greece
Londoners who can’t get enough of BXR — the Instagrammable boxing gym endorsed by Anthony Joshua — will no doubt love the five-star Cretan resort Daios Cove.
Sicne partnering in 2018, regular BXR retreats and a dedicated boxing area forms part of Daios Cove’s wider wellness offering, Kepos by Goco, inspired by the ancient Greek wellbeing philosopher Epicurus.
The spa-come-fitness-studio incorporates advanced treatments such as cryotherapy with cutting-edge fitness equipment and classes, such as aerial yoga and Pilates.
Unwind in one of 284 sea-view rooms and take your pick of six in-house restaurants — but keep an eye out for ‘Kepos’ indicators on the menu that highlight nutritionist-approved lighter dishes to help track macros.
From £260 per night. For more information or to book, visit Daios Cover.
Equinox Hotel New York, USA
Where to sweat it out in style on Manhattan’s West Side? Equinox Hotel New York, in Hudson Yards.
The property, created by the same team behind the eponymous world-renowned gym brand, comes complete with not only its signature health club — where you can expect personal training and group classes on tap — but also a 60,000sq ft gym, four pools, saunas on the terrace and a dedicated SoulCycle studio.
Wellness is at the heart of the hotel, from the rooms being scientifically optimised for maximum regeneration to the fast but healthy food, such as poke bowls, served at the Broken Coconut and ingredient-focused options at the Earthbar.
There are few better places you can go to maintain peak performance.
From £700 per night. For more information or to book, visit Equinox Hotels.
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BodyHoliday, St Lucia
‘Give us your body for a week and we’ll give you back your mind’ reads the tagline for BodyHoliday. It was a concept first pioneered back in 1988, however it remains highly popular with fitness enthusiasts across the world.
Guests at the 155-room, all-inclusive hotel are encouraged to find their own balance with an array of medically endorsed preventative therapies, sleep-inducing ayurvedic massages, strict weight-loss diets (or indulgent dining) that are all found at its world-ranking spa.
Both a personal training session and a spa treatment per day are included in the standard rate, while a roster of 40 daily fitness classes ensures there’s quite literally something for everyone.
From £3,000 per week. For more information or to book, visit BodyHoliday.
Feature image: Bio- and Wellnessresort Stanglwirt
