The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Cairo is blessed with a wealth of gyms, and
they couldn’t be more needed than right now. Three weeks of massive fetars, hours
of Ramadan TV viewing and kilos upon kilos of oriental sweets have surely
pushed the average weight of Egyptians to a peak. Fear not, Cairenes; we have compiled the best gyms and workout classes to start
working the pounds off at, and their Ramadan hours.

The ‘ladies only’ branches of Samia Allouba
in Mohandiseen and Maadi are open from 8AM to 11PM, but are closed at fetar
time between 6PM and 8PM. The unisex branch in Maadi opens a little earlier at
6AM while the Shell building branch – also in Maadi – opens 7AM, and the
Mohandiseen branch opens its doors at 8AM. All branches close at 1AM, and stay open
during fetar. The Heliopolis branch also stays open during fetar, and operates
between 9AM and 10PM. The dance and aerobics schedules have had to
suffer a little modification. Starting at 9AM, the last classes of the day
before fetar are at 5:30PM, with resumption at 8PM before ending at around 11PM.

The branches of Gold’s Gym on the Giza Nile Corniche and
in Maadi open their doors at 6AM and stay open during fetar all the way till
1AM. The 6th of October City branch is open between 7AM and 1AM, and
it too stays open through fetar time, as does the Sheikh Zayed branch, which operates from 9AM till 1AM. The only branch of Gold’s that does close for fetar is the
one in Mohandiseen, but it is open between 10AM and 2AM.

Curves on Maadi’s Road 10 starts the day at
1PM, and close at 5:30PM for fetar, before reopening at 8PM, and closing at 10:30PM. The Mohandiseen branch opens at noon before closing at 5:30PM and opening again 8PM, and closing at
11:30PM. The Kattameya branch operates at the earlier hours of 11AM to 3:30PM and
8PM to 11PM. Curves in Nasr City opens between noon and 4PM and then between 8PM
and 10PM, while in Dokki, hours are noon to 5PM and 8:30PM to 11:30PM.

Things are a
little more complicated over in 6th of October City. From Sunday to Wednesday,
the branch’s hours are 11:30AM to 4:30PM and 8:30PM to 10:30PM while on Thursdays it’s
only open between 11:30AM and 4:30PM. They’re closed on Fridays and Saturdays.

Nasr City’s branch of Pro Center opens at
noon and shuts briefly for fetar before shutting up shop completely at 1AM. On
the other hand, the Mohandiseen branch is open between 10AM and 2AM, and doesn’t
stop service during fetar.

Oxygen has branches in Dokki and
Mohandiseen, and both have resisted changing their hours for Ramadan. Both venues are
open 24 hours a day, and don’t stop for fetar.

World Gym in Heliopolis also works right through
fetar, and is open from 9AM till 1AM. Nile Gym in neighbouring Nasr City opens at noon and
closes at 5PM before reopening at 8PM. It shuts down for the night at 11PM.

Health and Fitness Academy in Mohandiseen
opens at 8AM, but is for some reason only available to female users till 10PM,
as opposed to male users who are welcome till 1AM. It doesn’t close for fetar. Neither does Platinum Gym, also in Mohandiseen,
whose day starts at 6AM and ends at 2AM.

During its opening hours of 9AM to 1AM, Coliseum
in Dokki does not close for fetar.

Last but not least, Zamalek’s Fitness and Dance Academy runs
full services from 9AM till midnight and works through fetar.

Well,
there you go Cairo, get going; Eid is only a few workouts away!