SHANGHAI’S well-equipped hotel gyms have everything you need to maintain your workout routine while away from home. Exercise amid breathtaking surroundings, or simply relax and enjoy a dynamic view of the city.

Gym with an amazing view of Shanghai

Park Hyatt Shanghai

Imagine yourself relaxing in a calming pool with a bird’s eye view of the Huangpu River and the city skyline. At Park Hyatt Shanghai, located on floors 79-93 of the Shanghai World Financial Center in Lujiazui, guests can enjoy just such an extraordinary experience.

The hotel’s signature fitness and well-being center, Water’s Edge, is located on the 85th floor. As guests step off the lift, they are greeted by a stunning view and Park Hyatt’s renowned Water’s Edge pool.

A row of cozy lounge chairs and tables provide guests with a place to rest or enjoy light refreshment ordered from the Living Room, the café on the lobby floor.

With a Jacuzzi on its side, the rectangle pool is 20-meters long with a depth of 1.2 meters. The pool is open daily from 6am to 11pm.

Three running machines from leading fitness manufacturer Technogym are positioned by the window in the main gym area. Open around the clock, the gym has a full range of equipment for cardio and strength workouts.

Each morning (7:30am on weekdays and 8am for weekends), the hotel offers a complimentary tai chi class for hotel guests, taught by a master practitioner. Booking is recommended to ensure uniforms and shoes in your size. One-on-one private sessions can be arranged upon request in advance.

The hotel has a flexible membership scheme, with packages for day, evening and full membership. Prices for day membership are set at 2,850 yuan (US$427, excl. VAT), 7,600 yuan and 14,250 yuan for monthly, quarterly and half-year memberships respectively.

The hotel only accepts up to 30 outside members. “We would like to make it a private exclusive club,” said Leigh Shepheard, Director of Rooms at Park Hyatt Shanghai.

Apart from hotel guests, spa guests can use both the pool and gym for free. The Water’s Edge Spa offers a variety of treatments including body, massage and facials for both women and men.

The spa’s traditional Chinese medicine treatments include acupressure massage, reflexology and cleansing therapy at prices ranging from 480 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

Facility:

PT class: N/A

Swimming pool: 1.2m (depth), 20m (length)

Water temperature: 26-28 degrees

Private training room: N/A

Spa: Available

Privacy:

Brand new hotel gym in the city

Hyatt Regency Shanghai Wujiaochang

Hyatt Regency Shanghai Wujiaochang officially opened to guests on June 18. The 5-star hotel not only boasts a wide range of multi-functional rooms to accommodate different sized conferences and events, but also a comprehensive range of gym facilities.

The new fitness center is open around the clock, providing hotel guests with equipment for cardiovascular exercises, strength and endurance training or yoga and stretching. Advanced facilities from Life Fitness help hotel guests follow their workout plans while traveling.

Located on the 8th floor, the 25-meter pool offers a great view of the city’s landscape through its French windows. There’s also a giant Jacuzzi nearby with space for up to 15 guests. By the pool, there are warm-colored lounge chairs and seating areas. The pool is accessible by hotel guests and members between 6am and 11pm.

The hotel offers a range of membership packages. An annual individual pass is priced at 15,000 yuan (US$2,249, incl. service charge and VAT) while a family card for two adults and one child up to 12 years old costs 26,000 yuan. An add-on membership to a family card can be purchased at a discounted rate of 13,000 yuan.

As a promotion, purchasers of an annual pass before the end of the month will be rewarded a complimentary night stay in Regency Room, valid between October 1 and 7. Meanwhile, private training (PT) sessions are available, including swimming and normal ground training, at a rate of 400 yuan per class. A group-buy of 10 PT classes comes with one free class.

Facility:

PT class: Available

Swimming pool: 1.25m (depth), 25m (length)

Water temperature: 28 degrees

Private training room: N/A

Spa: N/A

Privacy:

Gym with a natural view

Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai

Located a few blocks away from central Lujiazui, Mandarin Oriental Pudong boasts a basement gym with a view overlooking a bamboo garden.

The 200-square-meter gym is well lit with a high ceiling. It is equipped with advanced equipment and technologies powered by Technogym, a world leading manufacturer of fitness equipment.

The running machine has pods for mobiles with either iOS or Android systems, allowing users to listen to music on their phones while exercising. The featured Kinesis-Personal Vision allows the user to perform over 200 different exercises with its 360-degree rotation cable loop system. The mirror finish of the three panels offers the user a view to check the posture easily.

The hotel uses a smart coaching system developed by Technogym. Its professional coaching app and mywellness key help exercisers to continue their personal training (PT) plans while on business trips. The system can be accessed in gyms at all Mandarin Oriental hotels worldwide. The key will record the length and intensity of a user’s workout in a bid to help them reach fitness goals.

The mosaic-tiled swimming pool is 25 meters long, with one children’s pool and one vitality pool on the side. The pool is open around the clock to the hotel guests, including residents of its executive apartments, and offers a restful haven for jet-lagged travellers to decompress.

With a view to the bamboo garden, there is a rest area reminding you of the beach by a luxurious travel resort in Southeast Asia. Visitors can order and enjoy refreshments from the Riviera Lounge on the lobby floor or just doze for a while.

Private training classes for both fitness and swimming are available at a rate of 400 yuan (US$59.97) plus a 16 percent service charge and 6 percent VAT. A 20-percent discount will be applied to purchases of eight PT classes. The gym has an individual room for private training sessions, including yoga, pilates, boxing and even martial arts such as tai chi.

Mandarin Oriental Pudong’s Forbes award-winning spa is just opposite the gym. The butterfly-themed spa features 13 treatment rooms, all named ‘butterfly’ in different languages. The spa lounge has a great view of the garden with three multi-functional massage chairs, a resting area, and a self-service light refreshment bar, offering a wide range of fruit and flower tea. Be sure to try the hotel’s signature bamboo tea.

The hotel’s latest program Digital Detox requires guests to leave their digital gadgets, including their mobile phones, at the reception before they enter the gym or spa. The spa has also launched a new anti-radiation treatment.

If you love arts, don’t forget to pay attention to your surroundings since the hotel has some 4,000 pieces of artworks by renowned artists from around the world, including 3,500 pieces tailored or designed for its grand opening.

Facility:

PT class: Available

Swimming pool: 1.3m (depth), 25m (length)

Water temperature: 29 degrees

Private training room: Available

Spa: Recommended

Privacy:

‘Greenhouse’ gym with diverse fitness programs and facilities

Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao

Want to enjoy sunshine while exercising indoors? If you seek the best of both, the Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao offers a greenhouse-like fitness center located on the 3rd floor of Tower 2.

Boasting a spacious room of over 300 square-meters, the 24-hour main gym features a glass wall facing a garden and fitness machines from world-leading brand Precor. An on-site fitness consultant will provide handy information that exercisers need on equipment usage and workouts.

Hilton offers daily group classes in shaping, yoga, Pilates and dance in its aerobics room. Along with a view to the garden, the room has mirrored walls and a surround-sound system. It’s big enough for some 20 people to do yoga at the same time. One regular class is held every day. “More classes will be available in late mornings and evenings from November; about three classes a day,” says Neil Wang, manager of the hotel fitness center.

There are also two personal training (PT) areas — one built with a glass rooftop — that provide sandbags and TRX suspension training kits for hotel guests and members. PT classes range from boxing to dancing and are available by advance booking. Prices vary by class, with ground training at 600 to 800 yuan (US$90-120, incl. VAT and service charge) or 300-350 yuan for swimming for members.

The hotel’s curved swimming pool is adjacent to the garden with an open-air resting area, which is an ideal place to enjoy autumn breezes with light refreshment from the reasonable-priced Protein Bar or café Delicatessen on the lobby floor. A 25-meter lane is set aside where experienced swimmers can train without being disturbed by other pool users. At least two lifeguards are on duty at all times to ensure safety. The pool is open from 6am to 11pm daily.

The fitness center also has two outdoor tennis courts and one table tennis room, both free to use by hotel guests and members, though booking in advance is required.

Apart from regular membership packages, Hilton offers day passes (300 yuan), family cards (23,000 yuan/year for two adults and one child), group-buy memberships (33,000 yuan/year for a group of three), and off-peak member cards (9,000 yuan/year for periods between 9am-3pm on weekdays). A one-time joining fee of 2,000 yuan applies for new members.

Hotel guests in Executive Rooms are eligible to use the Executive Lounge for free, which is a one-minute walk from the fitness center.

Facility:

PT class: Available

Swimming pool: 1.1-1.5m (depth), 25m (max. length)

Water temperature: 28 degrees

Private training room: Three

Spa: Available

Privacy:

Gym for a short escape, high privacy

The Langham, Xintiandi, Shanghai

Only a stone’s throw from busy Huaihai Road, the Langham Shanghai in Xintiandi not only boasts a prime location but also great wellbeing facilities for hotel guests. Dimmed warm lights and modern décor create a calm atmosphere.

Located in the basement, the hotel’s gym facilities (B1) and signature Chuan Spa (B2) offer guests a wide range of choices to follow up their own workout plans or simply relax.

Equipment for aerobics and strength training are separated in two areas. Besides regular fitness equipment, the Langham features a multifunctional Kinesis class, which allows guests to train based on their own needs and fitness levels in small groups. With Kinesis, users can improve strength, coordination, flexibility, posture and even breathing control. There is a video guide playing on rotate. Alternatively, you can book a personal training session for a more tailored workout with Kinesis.

At Langham, a personal training class costs 280 yuan (US$42, excl. VAT) for hotel and spa guests and members, and 300 yuan (excl. VAT) for non-members for each class. Private swimming classes are available in its “underground” swimming pool. Tests for chlorine and urea are conducted every four hours to ensure water quality. The Jacuzzi by the pool may be the biggest in a 5-star hotel in the city. The pool is also available for rent for private occasions, such as corporate events or wedding parties.

To promote security and privacy, Langham only releases 10 gym membership slots (includes access to swimming pool) every year. An annual membership costs 30,000 yuan plus 6 percent VAT. Chuan Spa guests are eligible for free use of the gym and pool prior to treatment as a complimentary service.

Chuan Spa in Xintiandi not only provides the brand’s 19 signature spa treatments but offers a series of innovative and localized treatments for both hotel and local guests. Earlier this year, the spa joined hands with French fashion house Bonpoint and launched its Toddler Spa — the first of its kind in Shanghai — offering adults a luxurious child-free hour. Targeting children between 4 and 12, a 60-minute single treatment is priced at 680 yuan plus 15 percent service charge. “Mum & Me,” couple treatment for child and mother, costs 888 yuan and 988 yuan plus services charges based on different packages.

Booking is required for spa treatment but the gym is open 24/7. The swimming pool is open from 6:30am to 11pm. The hotel varies its special detox drinks daily for guests. Don’t forget to give feedback to hotel staff on your favorite drink!

Facility:

PT class: Available

Swimming pool: 1.5m (depth),
25m (length)

Water temperature: 29-30 degrees

Private training room: N/A

Spa: Recommended

Privacy: