THE BEST HOTELS FOR FITNESS LOVERS

If the excitement of an upcoming holiday is dashed with the added anxiety of how you will get in your daily workout while away, then we’ve got five solutions for you. From hotels attached to world-class gyms to ocean-side hotels packed with water sports options, we’ve selected five getaways ideal for the fitness fanatic.

Colosseum Hotel & Fitness Club - Dar es Salaam

This grand hotel in Dar’s Oyster Bay neighbourhood is built to look like a Greek temple and there is plenty of opportunity to sculpt your body into suitably Adonis or Aphrodite-like shape at the onsite fitness club. Guests get complimentary membership of the club during the length of their stay, giving them access to one of the country’s best-appointed gyms with the latest Technogym machines, a lovely swimming pool, squash courts and a daily timetable of exercise classes such as yoga and body pump led by certified instructors. Should you want to ease your aching muscles, the hotel also contains Cleopatra’s Spa, which offers a range of massages, including Balinese and Thai. To refuel after your exercising, head to the hotel’s News Café Restaurant, which serves a variety of freshly prepared light snacks and wholesome meals.

For more details, visit colosseumhotelandfitness.com Double rooms start at US$110 per night

Best Western CBD Hotel - Dar es Salaam

The top floor of this city centre hotel is given over to a sprawling fitness centre that offers a fantastic choice of exercise equipment as well as incredible panoramic views across the Dar cityscape. Guests have the entire gym at their disposal during their stay with facilities including cardio and resistance training machines, a huge free weights area and a studio with spin bikes and array of functional equipment for stretching and strength work. There is also a sauna room to provide a relaxing end to your workout or you can cool down with lengths of the outdoor pool a few floors below.

For more information, visit cbdhotel.co.tz Double rooms from US$100 per night

Hotel Verde - Zanzibar Island (Unguja)

If you are just as keen on improving the earth’s health as your own, Hotel Verde – Zanzibar’s greenest hotel – has sustainability to its core even when it comes to keeping fit. The fitness centre at the hotel just north of Stone Town is equipped with human-powered treadmills, bikes and elliptical trainers that allow guests to generate power while working out, which is then stored in the hotel’s energy bank. Guests are also encouraged to make use of the walking and running trails within the hotel’s lush gardens for some al fresco exercise. Hotel Verde rewards its guests for such eco-friendly endeavours with ‘Verdinos’, its in-house currency, which can be used to buy a healthy smoothie or coffee at the hotel’s Vanilla Lounge or put towards your bill at its Roystonea Restaurant.

For more information, visit verdehotels.com Double rooms start at US$215 a night

Fish Eagle Point - Subutuni, Tanga

If you prefer to keep fit with outdoor activities rather than being cooped up in a gym, this familyrun lodge, sympathetically slotted in among the coral forest along the remote coast of the Boma Peninsula, has plenty to offer. Its cottages (including one on stilts), campsite and freshwater pool all fringe the secluded Mkadini Beach while a jetty housing the lodge’s restaurant and bar stretches into the crystal-clear water. The coastline here forms a natural cove that shelters the waters and secures safe conditions for kayaking, swimming and snorkelling. Other active pursuits available include fishing, beach volleyball and hiking into the surrounding bio-diverse forest, which the lodge’s husband and wife owners have done much to protect since establishing Fish Eagle Point in 2008.

For more information, visit fisheaglepoint.com Email reservations@fisheaglepoint for cottage room prices. Hired tents are US$10 and then US$10 extra for each person a night.

Fundu Lagoon - Pemba

For those who want to escape everything but their commitment to their fitness goals, this Pemba hideaway is ideal. A 15-minute speed boat ride from Mkoani port will get you to this barefoot luxury establishment, which won the i-escape African Hotel of the Year 2020, with its 17 rooms moments from a stretch of unspoilt beach. The waters along Pemba’s west coast here are protected and the Pemba Marine Reserve, across from Fundu, is a haven of pristine corals and diverse marine life, best explored with the hotel’s excellent onsite dive centre, Dive 710. There are also paddleboards and kayaks to hire and opportunities to go kitesurfing while this remote part of Pemba allows for fantastic adventures on foot to explore neighbouring villages and a wealth of bird life.

Fundu Lagoon re-opens on June 30 2021.

For more information, visit fundulagoon.com Rooms start at US$ 350 per night