Jumeirah Creekside Hotel. Have Goggles, Will Travel Pool #24

My favourite Dubai hotel.

I’m in Dubai visiting the GITEX technology trade show at Dubai World Trade Centre, and Jumeirah Creekside near Deira City (about 10 minutes from DXB airport) is my go-to hotel when visiting Dubai.

Why do I return to this hotel and pool often? The people and location. The staff at Jumeirah Creekside are fantastic (they are consistently the best team of all the hotels I visit worldwide). The hotel is closer to the old town of Dubai. It has a different feel to the more tourist areas along the coast toward Jumeirah Beach and the Marina - which are fantastic, but for a regular visitor, I prefer somewhere with a more laid-back style.

The pool is located behind the hotel, adjacent to their fantastic gym, next to the Emirates training facility and across the pond (which is full of turtles) from the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis arena, where they hold pro circuit tennis competitions, and the Irish Village, complete with several restaurants, coffee shops and the Dubai Irish Pub which is often host to fantastic live music events. When I was here last October, they built a stage over the pond for a UB40 live concert! As a hotel guest, I enjoyed the free gig from the outdoor restaurant, with a seat and a perfect view from the rear of the stage!

The pool mixes fitness with leisure and includes three 25m lanes with a casual swim space and a waterfall cascading down from the circular kid’s pool on the deck level above. This may also be the first pool on the list with a swim-up bar!

The pool deck is huge and split across several levels with sunbeds, cabanas and palm trees providing shade. The poolside team hand out free towels and water throughout the day, keeping the area clean and tidy. They also stock a range of swim accessories, such as pull buoys and float jackets, free for guests. It’s also great to be able to jump straight out of the pool and order my favourite Creekside burger!

I usually swim early morning or wait for the sun to set and the pool deck to clear before starting a swim - for all the times I’ve swum here, I’ve probably picked the slowest shortest swim!

There is a second pool at the hotel that I really do need to add to the list; it’s located on the rooftop bar and has a glass bottom that looks down several stories into the hotel lobby - but it’s more of a decorative piece with sunbeds tight up to the edgeless pool, I need to find a time when it’s quiet to fit in a quick, wave free, low splash 1km!