The world’s best hotel gyms

Hotel gyms are a mixed bag. Even in top-flight spots, working out can be a jarringly sub-par experience. Machinery might be decades old; the water cooler might date to the ’80s office era. 

For years, hospitality didn’t invest in gyms as, unlike with restaurants and spas, “the gym usually doesn’t bring in any extra revenue”, says Michael Borges, general manager at Siro One Za’abeel in Dubai. But increasingly, top hotels are pivoting. “It’s important I keep the same fitness routines as when I’m at home,” says Emily Oberg, founder of clothing label Sporty & Rich, who works out six times a week. Her favourite hotel gyms include the Ritz Club in Paris (for the pool) and Il San Pietro in Positano (it has alfresco cardio equipment, tennis courts and views). “It’s motivating if the space is also beautiful.”

Gym lighting “needs to make you look and feel good while working out”, says interior designer Kelly Wearstler. “Acoustics should amplify without distracting; materials should perform functionally while still feeling refined.”

“The definition of luxury has changed,” says Christopher Norton, chief executive of Equinox Hotels. “Young people don’t want white tablecloths.” Adds Wearstler: “They want a sexy gym, with incredible equipment.” 

Best in Soho House

White City House, west London 

London is the British hospitality group’s home turf; White City is the House to stay in if the gym is a priority. It has an underground bunker of workout spaces with midcentury wood-panelled walls and dim (read: flattering) lighting, with a Hyrox space, a cardio room with 14 treadmills, four stair climbers and multiple weights racks. It’s so vast and well-stocked you’ll rarely queue for equipment, but it’s generally busy. Non-UK House contenders include Amsterdam and Rome – they’re on upper levels with natural light and have an elegant aesthetic with patterned floors that mimic an old-school gymnasium.

Best for adventure junkies

Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman

This fitness centre has to be one of the world’s most spectacular, perched at the edge of a 1,000ft drop off in the middle of Oman’s majestic Al Hajar mountains. Its separate cardio- and strength-training areas and meditation spaces – all adjacent to the Alila Spa – are housed in their own glass-and-stone pavilion; out front are a large pool and relaxation area and an alfresco yoga platform with jaw-dropping views (please note the vertigo potential attached to practices here).

Where Alila Jabal Akhdar excels is in tying the outdoors to fitness, from extensively mapped Wadi hikes (£289 for two) to its own Via Ferrata network (£125) – both reasons it’s a destination on the UK’s Healthy Holiday Company’s roster.

Best for recovery

Proper Hotels, Santa Monica 

Proper is going all-in on longevity with Proper Club, its upgraded and expanded wellness centre in Santa Monica. The 24/7 gym offers three types of bike (Watt, Zwift and Peloton), two reformer Pilates machines and woodway treadmills. “It’s an ecosystem for body and mind,” says its interior designer Kelly Wearstler.

A private recovery studio is bookable for an extra fee, starting at $145. It features an “Ammortal Chamber”, where tech-infused lounge chairs pulse with electromagnetic fields to deliver red light therapy to reduce inflammation and combat jet lag. There is also VO2 max testing for cardiovascular health, hydrogen therapy and other bio-optimisation treatments. Relax on the sun terrace afterwards, and don’t be surprised if you see Bryan Johnson on your way out.

Most exclusive

The Emory, Knightsbridge, London

Guests of the all-suite Emory have full access to Surrenne, a comprehensive wellness club with only 140 vetted members, which costs £15,000 per year to join. The gym is small but has 360-degree mirrors so it feels bigger. LA celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson has licensed her name to Surrenne; it’s the only place you can book her dance-cardio workouts in the UK.

Alternatively, guests can request the Surrenne weights trolley to their suites – it includes dumbbells, kettlebells, skipping ropes, yoga blocks, resistance bands and a leather gym ball. A Peloton bike can also be installed at whim.

Best for classes

Equinox Hotel, New York

Finding great fitness classes on vacation is time-consuming and expensive, and often they’re fully booked. Equinox Hotel New York offers a boutique gym with rooms. “Guests effectively become a member during their stay,” says Norton. (Membership costs $415 a month here.) Signature workouts include Best Butt Ever and a Skills + Drills swim session. At 60,000sq ft, the space is vast by hotel gym standards. The hotel doesn’t compromise, either; soundproofed rooms and custom mattresses align with its ethos that sleep is a wellness pillar, says Norton.

Stick around for the buzz: members stay an average of three-plus hours per visit, with lunch options and buzzy hang-out spaces that drop guests right into the local Manhattan bustle.

Best for business

Siro One Za’abeel, Dubai

Siro’s two-floor fitness and recovery lab includes separate sauna and cold plunges for men and women, and a gym, designed in consultation with AC Milan, that overlooks the Burj Khalifa. There’s also a 25m track, a 17-bike cycle studio, Hyrox classes and reformer Pilates (£40). An amenity worth the room fee: for fitness and recovery suite guests, Siro will launder three pieces of gym kit for free, every day of your stay. 

Those with the budget could also book into one of six fitness suites (from £700) – each includes a treadmill, bike, boxing bag, weights bench and dumbbell rack, so you can squeeze the most out of any downtime. A smart fridge in the foyer offers on-the-go, nutritionist-designed meals that list all macros; think tofu wraps and pasta salads. 

Most exotic 

Singita Sabora Tented Camp, Grumeti Reserve, Tanzania

The burpees come with Karen Blixen energy at Sabora, the most classic of safari camps and lodges on the 350,000-acre Grumeti reserve.  The comprehensive fitness centre makes for a welcome way to stretch after sedentary days in the back of a Land Cruiser and is housed in its own spacious tent on the plain so that the stationary bikes, ellipticals and treadmills face out over the go-on-for-days views. You might see zebra or elephants grazing under the acacias. There are extensive free weights, bands and balls for strength training, and a cool-down and movement zone for yoga and mat Pilates.

Best concept

Power, The Dean, Cork, Ireland 

A great gym chain in the lobby of the hotel? Power, Ireland’s leading boutique workout provider, has partnerships with The Dean hotels (Cork, Dublin and Galway) and The Mayson (also Dublin). In the gyms, there’s a functional fitness area with a custom athletic rig and Astroturf track; a lifting area, free weights, and a cardio area equipped with Technogym Skillrun treadmills (which cost £20,000 each), rowers, SkiErgs, Wattbike Pros and more. There are several 45-minute classes, including Run (treadmill-focused speed workouts) and Metcon (cardio and strength). Guests can recover afterwards in the Hyperice suite, which is stocked with massage guns and foam rollers.

Best on a budget

Mob House, Paris 

Mob House is an affordable, atypical Parisian hotel with a surprising sports offering. The Japandi-style gym is a wood-structure outbuilding with a polished, industrial feel; it’s built into an inner-city garden, with wall-to-wall windows. It has a small but well-formed equipment list, with cardio machines and a weights rack, as well as an outdoor, 20m pool which is lap-able from March to November.

Best for families

Gleneagles, Perthshire, Scotland 

Think of Gleneagles as the Ralph Lauren of gyms. The sheer surface area of the Scottish grounds means there’s real estate to enjoy here, with plenty to entertain teenagers, from padel and tennis courts to a 7m-high bouldering wall and horse riding. Naturally the golf course is a must, but there’s also a good indoor gym, pool and hot tub, plus complimentary water bottles (pre-chilled, obviously) and a Theragun station for on-the-spot recovery massages.

Best tropical-island fitness

Palm Heights, Grand Cayman 

Looking to fly and flop, but also stay fit? Palm Heights in Grand Cayman is a design-led hotel that feels like a vacation village. It also has one of the most comprehensive outdoor fitness suites; Ramla Ali trains here and has previously hosted retreats.

Designed by New York architect Dong-Ping Wong, the gym at Garden Club comprises an outdoor boxing ring, a sled and sprint turf track and weights rigs. It’s great for Crossfitters or Hyroxers who want to get their sweat on alfresco. There are morning-run clubs and padel courts; paddle-board yoga at sunset will challenge both core strength and balance. Palm Heights Athletics, the in-house activewear brand, offers kit as souvenirs, from bike shorts and boxing gloves to Tropical Fitness caps.

Best for Type-A personalities

The Standard, Bangkok

This vibey hotel chain is renowned for its clubby atmosphere, but the gym offers a welcome respite. A light-filled, birch-ply space with well-organised Technogym stations that combine versa-climbers with adjacent benches that neatly pack dumbbells underneath, it maximises space and offers efficiency for functional training. There’s also an outdoor weights rig and pull-up bar, with views of the city, and “Hollywood” dance classes soundtracked to 1980s disco.

Most scenic

Amanzoe, Kranidi, Greece 

Summer escapes are all about picturesque locations, seafront settings, a quaint and quiet locale and, often, ancient European history. Amanzoe’s gym offers all of the above, and then some. The resort has its own Unesco-protected ruins, but it’s the outdoor, shaded weights area, overlooking the Aegean sea, that is the real sell according to Tim Blakey, a personal trainer and founder of workout app Primebody. “We go on holiday to be outside,” he observes. “There’s a slight breeze, the sun is usually out, and you can get your nature fix while you lift weights.”

Best for fitness plus wellness

Como Metropolitan Singapore, Singapore

Como Hotels’ Christina Ong is a titan of travel wellness. The pinnacle of the brand’s offering is in Singapore, where guests of Ong’s Como Metropolitan hotel have unlimited access to the members-only Como Shambhala wellness space. Designed by Paola Navone, it’s a fourth-floor haven in luxe white and turquoise; more than 70 movement classes, from spin to mat Pilates, are offered across four studios each week; the 1,500sq ft gym offers more than 20 kinds of functional equipment. There’s access to an infrared therapy room, plus hyperbaric oxygen and cryo chambers, heat and cold hydro therapies and physios on site.

Additional reporting by Maria Shollenbarger