In a sky-scraping city that welcomes around 10 million visitors a year – many of them there to experience pumping shopping festivals, thrilling theme parks, and passionate sporting events – you might imagine it would be hard to find a quiet moment. But a soothing undercurrent runs through Dubai in the form of its many spas, where you can descend into bliss and feel a world apart. In true Dubai style, though, expect indulgent experiences and a healthy dose of glamour. Here are just five of the best spas in the desert city.

Talise Ottoman Spa

Picture: Talise Ottoman Spa

Talise by Jumeirah took out World’s Best Hotel Spa Brand at this year’s World Spa Awards.  It has no fewer than five locations dotted around Dubai, but it is the Talise Ottoman Spa at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray that earns rave reviews. Enter through giant, carved turquoise doors and work your way through 42 treatment rooms, steam rooms, saunas, snow rooms and thalassotherapy pools. As well as traditional Turkish cleansing, the marble-and-mosaic hammam offers coffee peeling, a gold mask, and ice massages. There is also a couples spa with its own hammam. It’s the last word in indulgent luxury.

One&Only Royal Mirage

Picture: One&Only Resorts

Domes and arches dominate the One&Only Royal Mirage spa, which operates 12 private treatment suites with a focus on tailoring treatments to the individual. Signature experiences include hot stone massages, and The One&Only Spa Experience, incorporating full body exfoliation, total body wrap, head massage, aromatherapy body massage and a tailored body ritual. Aussies will like the reviving sun treatments – pre-sun body polishes and after-sun cooling wraps. The spa also has a traditional oriental hammam – men and women are segregated – featuring masseurs from Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.

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Armani/SPA

Picture: Armani Hotel Dubai

Armani is a brand synonymous with luxury, and Armani/SPA at the Armani Hotel Dubai lives up to its name. The signature collection includes indulgent facials, an Armani black silk body wrap, plus Thai, traditional and shiatsu massage blended with acupressure and aromatherapy. You can add in foot massages and lymphatic drainage massages for an extra indulgence. The spa is a picture of sophisticated beauty, all dark tones and sleek surfaces, like hiding away in a luxury cocoon. You’ll emerge transformed.

The Spa at The Palace Downtown Dubai

Picture: The Address

If you are enchanted by the Arabic decor to be found in Dubai, then The Spa at The Palace Downtown Dubai is the place for you. It offers Oriental treatments using such elements as argan oil and prickly pear seed oil, amid the nine treatment suites, hammam slab, Oriental bathhouses, Jacuzzis, monsoon showers, steam rooms, relaxation lounge and Lakeside Cabana Spa with views of Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain. Take your pick of Balinese, Thai, Philippine, Hot Stone, Singaporean, Swedish and Lomi Lomi massage – or opt for the indulgent four-handed massage. Ladies can have a body polish with Dead Sea Salt as part of the The Queen’s Ritual.

Amara Spa, Park Hyatt Dubai

Picture: Park Hyatt Dubai

Enjoy spa treatments customised by your spa concierge, based on the healing themes of sapphire, ruby, emerald and diamond, as you sip fine Arabian tea. Try the coffee and cardamom scrub for couples, followed up with a sandalwood and rosewater body wrap, massage, facial and traditional delicacies on a private terrace. Or choose from a range of ‘ceremonies’, such as Spirit of Arabia, which uses Aleppo soap, which originated in eighth-century Syria; or White Sand Body Ceremony, which uses white sand and aromatic oils to exfoliate the skin. Bliss!

* Featured image: Talise Ottoman Spa's grand entrance (Picture: Talise Ottoman Spa)

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