From reading getaways to fitness bootcamps, reset retreats are growing in popularity. Photo: Unsplash
From reading getaways to fitness bootcamps, reset retreats are growing in popularity. Photo: Unsplash
From reading getaways to fitness bootcamps, reset retreats are growing in popularity. Photo: Unsplash
From reading getaways to fitness bootcamps, reset retreats are growing in popularity. Photo: Unsplash

From reading to running, reset retreats to try around the world


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In today’s world of constant connectivity and endless distractions, truly switching off can feel impossible.

A reset retreat offers the ideal solution, providing the space and time to disconnect and recharge physically, mentally and energetically.

In 2025, travellers are not only looking for places to digitally detox but also for experiences that fully immerse them outside of their daily routines.

From soothing sleep retreats in Oman to full-body blasts in Sri Lanka, here are seven reset retreats in the Middle East and beyond.

Biohack the body in Dubai

The Recovery Suite is one of the accommodation options at Siro One Za’abeel. Photo: Kerzner
The Recovery Suite is one of the accommodation options at Siro One Za’abeel. Photo: Kerzner

Endorsed by AC Milan, Siro One Zabeel is Dubai's “first fully integrated fitness and recovery hotel” where footballers go to hit reset. With biohacking at its core, the five-star establishment near Downtown Dubai is the pinnacle of science and technology, with a slick 900-square-metre Fitness Lab gym and a Recovery Lab spa bursting with cutting-edge gadgets.

Upstairs, each of the 132 rooms is geared towards reset and recovery, from thermoregulated mattresses to antigravity chairs for spinal decompression. Rooms are also fitted with projectors for virtual Technogym classes, while cupboards are stuffed with workout equipment and healthy snacks spill from the minibar. Guests can take on a high-voltage blast during some electrical muscle stimulation or blow the cobwebs away with a zap of detoxifying infrared light.

From Dh1,233 a night, excluding taxes

Thrive for longer in Abu Dhabi

Rosewood Abu Dhabi runs a 24-hour longevity and renewal retreat. Photo: Rosewood Hotels
Rosewood Abu Dhabi runs a 24-hour longevity and renewal retreat. Photo: Rosewood Hotels

Slowing the signs of ageing is popular with many in the UAE, but an increasing number are now turning their focus inward. Longevity simply means living healthier for longer, and with life expectancy rising, resetting the biological effects of ageing has never been more relevant.

Rosewood Abu Dhabi’s 24-hour longevity and renewal retreat is a quick fix that aims to leave guests feeling centred and refreshed. The retreat starts with a 30-minute longevity consultation with a health coach, providing personalised tips for lasting vitality, followed by a 60-minute massage designed to release tension, improve circulation and enhance mobility.

Guests wake up the following day to an early 45-minute session of morning yoga and breathwork, before a revitalising aromatherapy experience and a guided journaling session offering a chance to reflect and set personal intentions.

From Dh900 per night, excluding taxes

Get shut-eye in Oman

Visit the beautiful Six Senses Zighy Bay and catch up on some sleep. Photo: Six Senses
Visit the beautiful Six Senses Zighy Bay and catch up on some sleep. Photo: Six Senses

Sleep is the ultimate reset. Studies show that just one night of quality sleep can improve memory, boost mood and enhance overall performance. At Six Senses Zighy Bay, guests can forget counting sheep and tot up the mountain peaks of Oman’s Musandam peninsula instead.

The five-star hotel’s programme has a sleep doctor who can use data from a personal sleep tracker to prescribe bespoke yoga practices, meditation, massage and nutrition advice designed to help guests drift off to the land of nod.

The programmes range from three to seven nights, and if the holistic massage and low-intensity training don’t do the trick, the Moroccan hammams, ice caves and stunning mountain views will certainly help.

Sleep programme from Dh3,398 per person

Get lost in a book in Morocco

Ladies That Lit organises reading retreats around the world. Getty Images
Ladies That Lit organises reading retreats around the world. Getty Images

Many have sprawled out on the beach with a summer read, but a literary retreat takes the experience to an entirely new level.

Typically hosted for intimate groups of up to 12, reading retreats offer book lovers the chance to escape to shared accommodations, where a mix of optional social activities and ample reading time create the perfect environment for a literary reset.

It’s a rare opportunity to read without distractions or guilt, embracing the joy of books without the weight of your to-do list. There’s no set text. Instead, guests are free to dive into whatever captures their imagination, whether that’s War and Peace or Harry Potter.

The popularity of reading retreats has surged in recent years, with groups like Ladies That Lit organising trips for women from the Cotswolds to Morocco.

Meanwhile, Reading Retreat, based in the UK, provides a similarly immersive experience, typically on British soil, for those looking to unwind with a book in hand.

Prices vary

Push your limits in Sri Lanka

Makahiya Fitness is located nearby Unawatuna Beach in Sri Lanka. Photo: Unsplash
Makahiya Fitness is located nearby Unawatuna Beach in Sri Lanka. Photo: Unsplash

Think of Sri Lanka, and it will probably involve being stretched out on a pristine beach. Not 7am alarms, intense boot camp sessions and freezing ice baths. But for those looking to hit reset, the island offers more than just tranquil shores.

Makahiya Fitness in Unawatuna is nestled among palm trees and paddy fields where daily workouts, jungle surrounds and nutritious food are a reset for both body and mind. Top-spec facilities include a rooftop yoga shala, an infinity pool overlooking the Sri Lankan jungle and a poolside restaurant offering fresh, wholesome food.

Away from boot camps, Makahiya also has a gym with top-of-the-range equipment. The boutique hotel, meanwhile, hosts a maximum of 16 guests across eight plush rooms and is just ten minutes inland from Unawatuna Beach.

Retreat packages from Dh1,663

Reclaim your energy in Qatar

In today’s stressful world, burnout is becoming increasingly common, often requiring a full reset to recover.

If a few days on the sofa won’t cut it, it is worth considering Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som, a dedicated retreat designed to combat those heavy feelings of exhaustion and negativity.

Located in Qatar’s beautiful northern coastal region, Zulal’s Stress and Burnout Recovery Retreat begins with an assessment to determine stress levels, followed by a bespoke programme that includes relaxing massage, yoga and pranayama, a nutritious eating plan and an exercise regime.

Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine (TAIM) treatments are also available, including the Al-Batin stomach massage that aims to clear blocked energy. Offering packages over three, five or seven nights, the retreat encourages a holistic transformation that fosters a shift in mindset, daily habits and motivation.

Retreat package is Dh2,772 per guest, per night

Unplug and recharge in the UK

The Cumbria countryside offers a digital detox retreat with Yoga Retreats & More. Getty Images
The Cumbria countryside offers a digital detox retreat with Yoga Retreats & More. Getty Images

Who doesn't need a break from their phone? Yoga Retreats & More allows guests to retreat like it's 1999 in a beautifully restored 1872 vicarage in Cumbria, England. Surrounded by rolling green hills, even northern England’s grey skies can't dampen the spirits of the team, who organise regular tech-free getaways for the device-addled.

Meticulously curated four-day detoxes involve twice-daily yoga sessions, sound baths, guided walks, cold water therapy and stargazing around the firepit. Shared meals, meanwhile, encourage like-minded guests to connect without distractions over a plant-based feast.

With no Wi-Fi or social media in sight, this is the perfect place to disconnect, reset and rediscover the joy of living in the present moment. Retreats are held throughout the year, with single and double rooms available.

Prices vary

The specs: 2019 Haval H6

Price, base: Dh69,900

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km

Leaderboard

63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)

64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)

66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)

67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)

69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
'Top Gun: Maverick'

Rating: 4/5

 

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris

 
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

Facebook | Our website | Instagram

 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV

Power: 360bhp

Torque: 500Nm

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Price: from Dh282,870

On sale: now

Match info

Australia 580
Pakistan 240 and 335

Result: Australia win by an innings and five runs

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Astroworld
Travis Scott
Grand Hustle/Epic/Cactus Jack

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Updated: April 27, 2025, 7:11 AM`