At 9am, I arrive at SIRO straight from a sunrise desert shoot, sand still in my shoes. Over two days, I’m producing videos for two cover shoots, Kate Ferdinand for Women’s Health and Rio Ferdinand for Men’s Health, both going on sale the same day, with a playful rivalry running through the entire schedule. After the desert, I head straight into our next shoot in the SIRO gym and, as I’m setting up the kit, we’re hit with a bombshell. Members of the royal family use this gym, and if one of them walks in, filming has to stop immediately. After flying all that way to produce two high-pressure cover shoots, that worried me.
We’ve been given just one hour to film everything we need. The pressure is already on when, halfway through the shoot, it actually happens. A member of the royal family walks into the gym. Filming stops instantly and we’re calmly ushered into another room while they train. Luckily, the free-weights room is fully kitted out, so we’re able to regroup and keep shooting. Twenty minutes later, they leave, and we’re back on track. It’s stressful, surreal, and oddly impressive all at once. There aren’t many gyms where this is a realistic contingency plan.
Maximising your ClassPass credits
Once the cameras are packed away, I head to the sauna to decompress, and this is where SIRO really surprises me. Sitting next to me is a group of women deep in post-workout chat. Curious, I ask if they’re members. None of them are. Instead, they all use ClassPass, and they swear SIRO is the best deal in Dubai. To put it into context, most group fitness classes sit at roughly 17-21 credits just for the class. A class at SIRO, on the other hand, starts at 12 credits and includes full-day access to the class, gym, sauna, steam room and cold plunge. They come for hours at a time, turning it into an entire wellness day rather than a quick workout. From royalty to bargain hunters maximising their credits, the range of people sharing this space is diverse.
Rooms fully equipped for every workout
By the evening, I’m too exhausted for the resistance bands, exercises ball and pull-up bar that are built into every room. Instead, I opt for a slower wind-down, rolling out a mat in my room for a Nikita Desai yoga session streamed via YouTube on the projector. Blocks and a meditation cushion also come with the room, so I can meditate to the skyline view as the sun sets all the way to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Nutritious room service
Dinner is in bed, I track all my meals, and my Oura Ring logs everything I ate at SIRO as nutritious. Think plant-based burgers with sweet potato fries for protein to support muscle repair, Greek salad with feta for magnesium to aid sleep, berry salad with pumpkin seeds for antioxidants that support heart and brain health, and dark chocolate mousse with nutty crumbs, rich in flavonoids for circulation and mood. As someone constantly jumping between shoots, flights, and early starts, it’s a welcome change from grabbing something on the go from a petrol station.
Recovery-focused room design
The room itself is designed with recovery in mind too. There’s a dedicated relax mode button next to the bed, which gently dims the lights and draws the curtains, without forcing you to turn off five different lamps. It sounds minor, but when you’re exhausted, it’s exactly the kind of detail you appreciate.
SIRO sits at an unusual crossroads in Dubai’s wellness scene. On one hand, it’s polished, elite and discreet enough to attract royalty (one regular is in their eighties and still very active). On the other, it’s genuinely accessible, offering some of the best value wellness experiences in the city, seamlessly bridging both worlds.
Go there!
Rooms at SIRO One Za’abeel start from £270 per night BOOK NOW
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