15 Hotels That Make Exercise Easy

Photo: Joseph Montezinos

It used to be hard to exercise when traveling. Sure, you could squeeze in a jog if the weather was nice, but finding engaging, fun fitness facilities was always much trickier. Happily, more and more hotels have been creating health-friendly solutions to help guests stay on top of their exercise regimens, offering handy in-room amenities and on-site classes.

Take, for example, Refinery Hotel in New York. Turns out the hotel offers more than one of the city’s best rooftop bars (hello, porch swing), having teamed up with a travel and wellness design firm to curate in-room tablet offerings like meditation sessions with Deepak Chopra and classes from trendy local studios.

Looking for a hotel to keep your activities on track? Read on.

1. Even Hotel in New York City

The concept behind New York’s new Even Hotel, IHG’s fitness-oriented brand, is to make exercise accessible, convenient, and fun, which is why fitness walls—complete with resistance bands, balancing balls, and mats—are stationed in your room. There are also on-demand short-length workout videos assure that you can manage a quick body-strengthening or stretching session in between business meetings and sightseeing outings. If you need motivation, you can join an on-site yoga or spin class free-of-charge or tag along on a group jog led by the wellness concierge (who just so happens to be the general manager).

2. 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami

Barry Sternlicht’s glossy new hotel brand not only has an eco-ethos but a fitness bend as well, and is bringing the pulsing energy of SoulCycle all the way to South Beach. Guests of the minimalist, natural-wood accented rooms are privy to a 54-bike studio with adjoining locker rooms and an apparel boutique. It’s one way to get your blood pumping (and a good excuse to order a second cocktail at the rooftop bar with Biscayne Bay views).

3. Loden Hotel in Vancouver

In a city where there’s a jogger, biker, or roller-blader around every corner, this Coal Harbour property channels Vancouver’s vibrant energy and spirit of well-being. The Garden Terrace rooms, located off a courtyard garden with a reflection pond, soft-falling cascades and Buddha statues, are a perfect place to deepen your yoga practice with the aid of mats, bands, and blocks, and a 24-hour TV channel with live broadcasts of a local yogi.

4. Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona

In addition to a brand-wide initiative that delivers Reebok gear to President Club guests, this desert retreat hosts out-of-the-ordinary classes that take the drudgery out of working out. Participants of aerial yoga twist into poses suspended from hammocks; and HoopFIT students can cardio and resistance train on LED-lit hula hoops. There’s also a core-strengthening SURFset TRX class, which is an engaging alternative to any hum-drum run.

5. Resort at Pedregal in Mexico

CrossFit fanatics don’t have to leave their addiction behind on vacation. In fact, they can get their abs and pecs beach-ready without ever leaving their hotel. The en-suite training at this Cabo resort was designed by CrossFit Games champ Jason Khalipa whose training segments can be adjusted for lightweights or amped up to suit the hardy and hardcore; you can also duplicate his workouts with kettle bells and rowers at the resort’s state-of-the-art fitness center.

6. Four Seasons Bali at Jimbaran Bay

For some, the island of Bali is already a calming patch of bliss. But at the Four Seasons Bali at Jimbaran Bay— a scattering thatched-roof pavilions in the central highlands— a rotating roster of practitioners-in-residence bolsters the resort’s beach-sports activities (boogie boarding, sea kayaking, swimming). The program exposes guests to various disciplines—athletic and otherwise—from beach boot camps to Muay Thai boxing; and healing arts workshops like singing bowl massage and Yin yoga encourage guests to incorporate wellness principles into the day-to-day instead of as once-in-while occurrences.

7. The Breakers in Palm Beach

The heart of this Flagler-era grand dame’s wellness offerings is its brand-new Ocean Fitness center that occupies 6,000 square feet, complete with an ample terrace for open-air stationary biking and yoga sessions. The Breakers’s expansive schedule of on-site classes includes a whopping 60 choices per week, plus peaceful, mindful walks along the length of a white-sand beach. The best part? Everything is included in your stay price.

8. Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort in Saint Lucia

Fitness always feels better when you’re in not in a tight, cramped space sweating alongside a fellow gym mate. At this collection of bungalows and villas, the arenas for exercise include a sprawling lawn, a golden-sand beach, and the warm waters of the Caribbean. Programming centers around one-on-one training and a packed roster of classes—many of them hosted outdoors—offered at a frequency that rivals non-hotel gyms (there are at least eight a day). Some require no more than gentle stretching, others are more hardcore, like body burn and squat blasts. Our favorite? A pound-shedding peddle on the Schiller aqua bikes—a cross between a catamaran and bicycle.

9. Westin Austin Downtown, Texas

What’s fitness without refueling? The Westin Austin Downtown features energizing power snacks and vitamin-packed juices to sustain you through concierge-guided runs and rooftop yoga classes. The options don’t stop there: you can whisk yourself into the Stella San Jac kitchen for a super foods cooking demonstration or Azul for juicing classes (Note: It’s more than just throwing fruit into a machine.) Don’t fret if you forgot to pack your gear, you can handily borrow sneakers and t-shirts from Westin’s New Balance lending program.

10. Refinery Hotel, New York

Who knew that fitness could be as easy as the touch of a tablet? That pretty much sums up this industrial-chic hotel’s wellness offerings curated in partnership with Wellthily. From an in-room Tablet, you can access mini-meditation sessions with Deepak Chopra; a 10-block map that pinpoints healthy hotspots; and order Under Armour apparel through Zappos.com. You can even sign up for classes and discussions at Refinery’s rooftop space (it’s hosting a particularly robust line-up of experts this month, from local studios such as Nu Fit and Muscle & Flow.) Plus. There are a ton of goodies—herbal teas, dark chocolate, and essential oils—in the welcome kit.

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For 5 more hotels that make exercise easy, visit travelandleisure.com.

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