Pullman Dubai Downtown Review: Pool, Pool Bar & Gym Guide

Pullman Dubai Downtown’s facilities: pool, pool bar, and gym.

This is the final post in my Dubai Pullman hotel series!

I already covered the room, breakfast, and lounge,
and I’ll leave those links here~

Even though I stayed at Pullman Dubai Downtown
for quite a while,
my sightseeing schedule was so packed that I barely got to use
the hotel facilities. Such a shame… but at least I took photos.

On the 3rd floor, you’ll find the spa, gym, squash court,
and salon.

When you get off the elevator, there’s a staff member seated there,
and that area is BellaDonna Salon for hair and nails.

If you head down the hallway on the opposite side,
you’ll get to the gym and spa in their own separate rooms.

The Birdcage lounge bar straight ahead
shows up as permanently closed on Google Maps now…?

The gym’s official name is
state-of-the-art fitness.

Anyway, this is the entrance to the gym,
and you can get in with your room key.

First, a quick video tour around the space!

The gym isn’t huge,
but it’s thoughtfully equipped and makes good use of the space.

There were dumbbells and kettlebells in different weights,
and more than super-heavy lifting gear,
it seemed to have plenty of lighter weights that women would actually use.

There were step boxes too.

The equipment selection wasn’t massive,
but it was all Life Fitness, so the quality was solid,
and everything looked well maintained.

Two Western women were working out when I stopped by.

I didn’t actually get to exercise here myself—
I just had a look around. So sad.

Cable machine too, with a few different grip attachments.

There was also a note asking guests to wipe equipment down after use.

For cardio, this was about it:
one bike and three treadmills,
plus one stepper, give or take.

The gym view wasn’t especially impressive,

and the relatively short opening hours
were another small downside of this Pullman Dubai Downtown gym.
It’s open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

I didn’t see it myself, but there’s alsoa squash court,
and I heard there’s an extra charge to use it.

For more details, check the hotel information sheet above.

Next up: the pool bar!

The official name of this spot is
Lolita Pool Bar & Lounge.

The name is a little… bold, but it’s not a weird place, I promise.

Since I’m an Accor Plus member,
I went to use the welcome drink voucher
I received at check-in.

It’s on the PD floor, which apparently stands for pool deck.

While traveling around Dubai and Abu Dhabi,
I noticed that buildings in this region
often label floors with letters instead of just numbers.

In we go~
The opening hours are impressive—starting at 9 a.m.
and staying open until 2 a.m.

Since it’s a pool bar, there’s obviously a pool,
and even in photos it looked pretty tiny,
but in person it really felt more like a photo-friendly pool than a swimming pool.

The lounge itself was fairly big,
so I actually paused for a second deciding where to sit.

If I remember right, they had a pretty decent alcohol selection too.
Looking at the photo now, I can even see a draft beer tap…?

But when I asked, I think they told me
they only had bottled Peroni,

so maybe I should’ve specifically asked if draft beer was available.

Lolita Pool Bar is full of bright, colorful tones,
so photos come out really pretty here.

If you look at international Instagram girls’ feeds,
a lot of them seem to stop by this lounge bar for photos.

Pullman definitely has a younger vibe overall.
Rather than classic and ultra-luxurious,
it feels like it’s aiming for something youthful and trendy.

We went pretty late, around 10 p.m., so it was already dark,

but even at night the colorful lighting
and neon signs looked great, and it was nice not having to deal with the heat.

Each table had an LED lamp and a lip-shaped ashtray.

In the UAE, a lot of outdoor tables
allow smoking,
so non-smokers may find that a little uncomfortable sometimes.

They served a basic snack—some kind of seasoned beans?—and they were so good I kept reaching for more.

I went with a Peroni beer,

and my husband ordered a highball.

Highballs don’t seem especially common in Dubai,
but if you ask for whiskey, soda water, and ice,
they’ll usually bring you something pretty close.

And the view? Absolutely unreal.
Featuring my husband, the exclusive model of Oreum Unni’s blog.

As we sat there, we could see Burj Khalifa
doing its LED media facade show, so of course we watched.

The moon was beautiful too…
I seriously miss that night air.
Dubai is one of those places I already want to go back to.

I also filmed a video so you can get a feel for
the lounge atmosphere and the night view—definitely give it a watch.

It’s connected to the pool bar,
but I wanted to separate the pool info on its own.

Apparently I don’t have any daytime photos, haha.

I really wish they allowed night swimming too—
maybe it’s too hard to manage, who knows.

So instead, I borrowed photos of glamorous international girls
from the hotel’s official Instagram.

If you swim during the day, this is the kind of iconic travel shot you can get…

a Burj Khalifa view pool!!

Pool hours start at 8 a.m.
and go only until 8 p.m.

It also says to call if you want to book,
but I’m not sure whether that means
reserving pool access itself or just booking a sunbed.

If you go in person… please report back.

I packed several swimsuits for this trip,
but I never once got in the water at Pullman,
and I finally used one for the first time at my second hotel.

(Teaser for the next hotel: Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi… truly one of my all-time favorites.)

That’s it for the pool~

There’s also a convenience store literally right next to the hotel.
Loft Mini Mart

There’s a Domino’s Pizza next door too,
but flying all the way there to eat Domino’s felt a little pointless,
so I happily skipped it.

On the evening we checked in,
we came out to pick up a few things,
and of course there was Buldak spicy ramen—

along with all kinds of other products on the shelves.
But honestly, whether in restaurants or supermarkets,
food in the Middle East didn’t wow me the way Japanese convenience stores do,
and there wasn’t much I was dying to try for the first time,
so I just grabbed drinks and nacho chips and called it a day.

They also had Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
and Banana Boat SPF 100 sunscreen.

Before leaving for Dubai,
I’d seen other travel posts
saying that sunscreen like that was surprisingly hard to find.

But honestly… not really.
It was everywhere.
Pharmacies had it, supermarkets had it—

you definitely don’t need to stress about buying it in Korea before your trip.

There’s also a Carrefour Market near Pullman.
It’s not a big one—it’s more of a mini Carrefour—

but if you need groceries, it’s within a 10-minute walk, so it’s convenient enough.

We went there hoping to buy Hunter’s Gourmet truffle potato chips,
but they didn’t have them, so we just left.

This is what the Carrefour looks like,
and that parking lot on the right isn’t the main one—
the four spaces right in front of the store are basically it!

I still haven’t written up the nearby restaurants yet,
but we did try two good spots around the hotel.

I’ll just quietly leave the Google Maps links here~

burger and chicken burger spot

Vietnamese restaurant for pho

Pullman Dubai Downtown
hotel review officially done~!