Spas in Dubai: Massage, Hammam and Russian Banya

A spa in Dubai is one of the best ways to balance a day of sightseeing in the heat. The city has a spa in almost every large hotel, as well as independent places that specialise in a single kind of treatment. On this page we have gathered several very different spa experiences: a massage with a flower bath, a facial for women, a Turkish hammam and a heat-and-water complex at a hotel on the Palm, and a private Russian banya. Each option is a single booking, in one place, at a time set in advance.

Soul Senses at Oasis Mall, in Al Quoz near Sheikh Zayed Road, offers a package of a massage and a flower bath. It starts with a 60-minute massage, aromatherapy or deep tissue. Then come 30 minutes in a warm bath with fresh flowers and scented extracts. You choose a theme for the bath: red grapes with lime and cinnamon, an aromatic milk bath, or a Cleopatra ritual with rose petals and milk. You can book for one person or for a couple in a shared room.

Chado is a spa and beauty centre in Jumeirah 2 that works with Swiss skincare products, vegan and alcohol-free. The treatment we offer there is a 50-minute deep facial cleanse, for women only. The therapist cleanses the skin, chooses a peel to match your skin type, and if needed uses steam and extracts blackheads. It finishes with a soothing mask, a moisturiser and sunscreen.

Serenity - The Art of Well Being is on the first floor of the Fairmont The Palm hotel, on the trunk of the Palm. Its Thermal Oasis complex includes experience showers, a jacuzzi, a steam room, a sauna and an ice fountain. With us you can book two options there: entry to the Thermal Oasis, or a Turkish hammam ritual. Both are from age 18.

La Villa Banya is a Russian banya in a three-storey villa in Jumeirah 1. The villa has six private banyas, two of them with a wood-fired stove and a view of Burj Khalifa. The session lasts 3 hours, and the whole banya is yours. It includes traditional or aromatic steam, a citrus scrub, a full body massage or a body scrub, a cold plunge and rest in the hayloft, with herbal tea from a samovar, cookies and pancakes.

How do you choose? Anyone looking for a treat for two and beautiful photos will enjoy the flower bath. Anyone who wants quiet inside a hotel by the sea will pick Serenity. Anyone arriving with friends who wants something completely different will pick the banya. The facial at Chado is the shortest of them all, and it also fits a free morning between attractions.

A spa suits any season, and it is a good place to spend the hot midday hours. Serenity is open Monday to Friday between 12:00 and 21:00, and on Saturday and Sunday between 11:00 and 21:00. Chado is open between 10:00 and 19:00. The exact time is set when booking.