Royal Hammam Package in Dubai

Two treatments, run back to back in one two hour appointment. First the hammam half: steam in the heated room, black soap left on the skin to soften it, a kessa glove worked over the body in firm passes, and a warm rinse. Then the massage half, a full body massage with oil, started while the skin is still warm from the rinse. Neither half is shortened to fit the package. The price is 900 AED with a Classical Swedish massage and 950 AED with deep tissue or Balinese, at our DIFC branch, where the 5% VAT is already inside both figures. Towels are provided and you keep your underwear on throughout. Allow around two and a half hours in total once changing and the rinse are counted, and book ahead rather than walking in.

DIFC, on floor 45 of the Residence Inn by Marriott at 115 Sheikh Zayed Road, in Trade Centre Second. The package opens with a full hammam scrub, so it can only run where there is a heated hammam room, and it is sold under this name at that branch alone. DIFC opens at 10:00 and takes guests until midnight, seven days a week, charging 900 or 950 AED depending on the massage, with the 5% VAT already inside both figures rather than added at the desk. Our Al Barsha branch has no hammam room and offers massage only. Our Bur Dubai branch does have one and runs the Moroccan Bath there at 400 AED, but it does not print this two hour package, so book DIFC if you want the scrub and the massage as one appointment. Walking in for this one is rarely worth the trip, since it occupies the hammam room for two straight hours.

Only the massage in the second hour. Both start with the full hammam half, same room, same black soap, same kessa glove, same warm rinse. At 900 AED the massage that follows is the Classical Swedish: long draining strokes at steady medium pressure over the whole body, which is what most guests want on skin that has just been scrubbed. At 950 AED you choose deep tissue or Balinese instead, both firmer, and both better suited to a specific area that has been tight for a while than to a general reset. Neither version is shortened to fit the two hours. Say which you want when you book rather than on arrival, because the two need different therapists and the branch schedules them separately. One more thing turns on the choice: the Early Bird rate covers the 950 version only, bringing it to 725 AED for a start before 15:00, which puts it below the Swedish version at full price.

Hammam first, massage second, and the order is not negotiable for a good reason. The kessa glove removes the outer layer of dead skin, and skin in that state takes oil far more readily than skin that has not been scrubbed. Running the massage first would mean oiling a layer that is about to be scrubbed off, which wastes both halves. It also means you go into the massage already warm from the steam room, so the therapist spends less of the session simply getting the muscle to relax. Reception books the hammam room and the massage room in sequence when you reserve, so there is no waiting in between and the two halves run as one appointment. It also means you leave with skin that has been scrubbed and then oiled, which is the state most guests are actually after when they book the pair.

Usually, and it is worth doing the arithmetic rather than taking our word for it. On the DIFC menu the Moroccan Bath alone is 400 AED, and an hour of massage is 550 for the Classical Swedish, 630 for deep tissue or 420 for Balinese. So the Swedish pairing is 950 booked separately against 900 as the package, and deep tissue is 1,030 against 950. The one exception is Balinese: 820 separately against the same 950, because the package prices deep tissue and Balinese together. All of these figures already contain the 5% VAT. Price aside, the sequence is the real argument. As a package reception holds the hammam room and the massage room back to back, so you move straight from the rinse to the table instead of waiting for a therapist to come free, and the massage starts while the skin is still warm, which is the whole point of doing them in this order. Two separate bookings on the same day depend on a therapist being free the moment the rinse ends.

Two hours for the treatment itself, plus a little time either side for changing and for the rinse, so allow around two and a half hours from arriving to leaving. Booking a hard stop straight after is the one thing that spoils this package, because the steam phase at the start is what makes the scrub work and it is the first thing to get cut when the clock is tight. If you are coming before 15:00 to catch the Early Bird rate, aim to arrive with ten minutes in hand rather than exactly on time. DIFC, the one branch that runs the package, closes at midnight, so the last practical start is around 21:30. If Bur Dubai is the nearer address, its hammam room runs the Moroccan Bath on its own, and a massage booked after it is a separate appointment rather than this package.