296 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
296 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
travel
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destinations
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middleeast
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uae
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7624382
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# Abu Dhabi: luxury hotels in the dunes
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## A new wave of five-star hotels is brightening up the deserts of Abu Dhabi.
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Nigel Tisdall checks in.
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![Abu Dhabi: luxury hotels in the dunes][1]
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Image 1 of 4
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The Yas hotel opened on the shores of Abu Dhabi city last October as a
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flagship for the emirate's brisk move into tourism
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![Abu Dhabi: luxury hotels in the dunes][2]
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Image 1 of 4
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Built beside a marina filled with superyachts, it has a Formula One track
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running underneath
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![Abu Dhabi: luxury hotels in the dunes][3]
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Image 1 of 4
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Opened in November, Qasr Al Sarab lies just 12 miles from the Saudi border and
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is built on a vast scale
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![Abu Dhabi: luxury hotels in the dunes][4]
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Image 1 of 4
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A one-bedroom villa in the Qasr Al Sarab resort
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By Nigel Tisdall 8:00AM BST 24 Apr 2010
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[Comments][5]
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How, I wonder, are children in the United Arab Emirates taught about their
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country's recent history? While we learn about wars and monarchs, in Dubai the
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timeline from pearl-fishing backwater to jet-set playground is surely mapped
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out in milestone hotels. First came the sail-shaped, "seven-star" Burj Al
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Arab, which opened just over a decade ago and was then the world's tallest
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hotel. Six years later, Abu Dhabi weighed in with the gargantuan marble and
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gold Emirates Palace, which the guidebooks trumpet as the most expensive hotel
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in the world. Now Dubai has fired back with the world's first Armani hotel,
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which opened last month in Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
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My dirhams are on Abu Dhabi to win this game of superlatives. It is hard not
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to see Dubai as the young, profligate playboy who has overreached himself,
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while the wise old uncle next door played the waiting game. Now, suddenly and
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spectacularly, the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi have leapt onto the dance floor to
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show the world they can cut it too. Of course, it helps to have nearly 10 per
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cent of world oil reserves in your back garden - but while Dubai wobbles, Abu
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Dhabi seems set to become the emirate of choice for the discerning traveller.
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One sign of this is the eye-catching Yas hotel, which opened on the shores of
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Abu Dhabi city last October as a flagship for the emirate's brisk move into
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tourism. Hitherto the focus had been on business, and a trip here was a dull
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and pricey affair. Now the rulers have set a target of attracting 2.3 million
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visitors a year by 2012 and if the Yas is a sign of things to come, their
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ambitious plan could succeed. Shaped like a lady's razor, this is the UAE's
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first design hotel - and it's a visual cracker. Built beside a marina filled
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with superyachts, it has a Formula One track running underneath - offering
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sensational views from your room on race days. The lobby is like a fridge-
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white art gallery, while its exterior is transformed from an unexceptional box
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into a bewitchingly 21st-century spectacle by a hairnet-like "gridshell" with
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5,000 LED lights that sparkle and swirl at night with slowly changing colours.
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As is customary with design hotels, you need to download a manual to work the
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shower and turning off the lights at night is a Mr Bean-like farce. The beds
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and pillows could be more comfortable and some guests have complained of being
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kept awake at weekends by late-night music in the hotel bar. It's a good idea
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to keep an eye on prices - a decent bottle of wine costs about £50 while a
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portion of Rice Krispies is £7. If the traffic is bad it can take an hour to
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get into the city centre and the surrounding Yas Island is still a building
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site. Soon, though, it will be home to a championship golf course, the biggest
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Ikea in the Middle East and Ferrari World, the world's largest indoor theme
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park, which will feature - yep, you've guessed it - the world's fastest
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roller-coaster. Meanwhile, on nearby Saadiyat Island they are building a
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Louvre, a Guggenheim, a performing arts centre by Zaha Hadid - oh, and 29 more
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hotels…
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## Related Articles
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* [More Middle East holiday ideas][6]
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23 Apr 2010
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* [Syria walking tour: feet first into history][7]
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14 Apr 2010
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* [Out of the sand, life springs anew][8]
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22 Mar 2010
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* [Just Back: the new generation of Ras Al Hadd][9]
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13 Mar 2010
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* [Amanda Wakeley's travelling life][10]
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05 Dec 2008
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* [Andrew Flintoff's Dubai][11]
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14 Feb 2010
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Overwhelmed? Well, don't go yet. Abu Dhabi doesn't just have pots of money, it
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also has bags of space. Now its whole western region, Al Gharbia - which
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covers 71 per cent of the UAE - is being opened to investors. The grand plans
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include a trans-emirate railway that will run all the way to the Saudi border,
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along with new highways, airports and the development of offshore islands as
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five-star tourist resorts.
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The first phase is the £2 billion transformation of Sir Bani Yas Island, which
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lies five miles off the mainland and was the private wildlife reserve of the
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UAE's founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Best reached on a
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50-minute seaplane flight from Abu Dhabi city, its landscape would be as flat
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and dry as pitta bread had it not been singled out for a "greening" that
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introduced 2.5 million trees, all planted in graph-paper rows with a life-
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support of umbilical black hoses.
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Most visitors to Sir Bani Yas are Emiratis taking the children to see the
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animals and for a snoop around what was once a royal retreat. At its northern
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end sits the 64-room Desert Islands Resort, which began life as a VIP
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guesthouse and has been turned into an assured luxury escape by the Thai hotel
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group Anantara. It's as if the Queen were to allow Ritz-Carlton to open a
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hotel on the fringes of the Balmoral estate. The diversions here include
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mountain biking, archery, Arab cooking classes and a spa, along with game
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drives through the wildlife park that covers almost half the island. While the
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Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, black buck and giraffe (along with some elusive
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cheetah and hyena) are of some interest, there is no escaping the
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artificiality of the place.
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In these world-is-your-oyster times, I find it hard to recommend a sojourn on
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Sir Bani Yas - unless you fall into one of three categories. You are a
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trysting expat; you are looking for a hideaway seaside resort in the sun where
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you can read books, enjoy spa treatments and eat well without disturbance; you
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are in dire need of a good night's sleep (at more than seven-feet square, the
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hotel's beds are bliss in a box).
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Far more appealing is Al Gharbia's other great shimmering asset, the Rub al
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Khali (Empty Quarter). Stretching all the way to Yemen, this vast sand desert
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gnaws at the emirate's southern border and was famously crossed twice by
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Wilfred Thesiger in the late Forties. Back then it took the explorer a week to
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travel between the coast and the palm groves of Liwa, where the rulers of the
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UAE have their roots. Today you can drive from Abu Dhabi city in under two
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hours, crossing a landscape of - well, that's hard to say, because the day I
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took this road to nowhere the country was besieged by a _shamal_ (north-
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westerly wind) that provoked sandstorms, choppy seas and - my goodness - rain!
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The visitation was strangely pleasing, like the reverse of a snow day, and a
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reminder that the desert is not some slumbering beauty reclining on a box of
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dates but a capricious, living beast. Huge streamers of sand flew up from the
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dune-tops and the tarmac turned orange, as if the desert were quietly pointing
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out how, for all our puny efforts at civilisation, in the long run it will
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always win.
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But, hey, we are trying, and down near Hameem, at the eastern end of Liwa, the
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new kings of Arabia have built a grandiose hotel that deserves, at the very
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least, an A* for aplomb. Opened in November, Qasr Al Sarab lies just 12 miles
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from the Saudi border and is built on a vast scale. There are only 206 rooms,
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but this fortress-like resort is more than a mile long, gently curved to take
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in panoramic views of mountainous dunes, a valley dotted with luminous bean
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caper bushes and the setting sun. If your idea of a desert encounter is one
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that comes with a palm-lined swimming pool, coconut bodywraps and wagyu beef
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tail parmentier on the side, then Qasr Al Sarab is a mirage come true.
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And what else would you expect from Abu Dhabi? While some hotels you love
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instantly, others take time to befriend - and that is the case here.
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Unusually, the cheapest rooms are arguably the best, with a spacious garden
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area. Others come with a balcony or terrace, while families and honeymooners
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are well served by commodious villas with private pools and sundecks. Thai
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therapists float through the spa, an accomplished French chef oversees the
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gourmet restaurant, the lobby doors are opened by 7ft-tall men specially
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imported from Pakistan. There's an engrossing library and a children's club,
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along with the expected camel treks, 4x4 desert drives and dinner in a Bedouin
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tent.
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All this is good holiday fun, but of course many of us are drawn to the Empty
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Quarter because it is exactly that. While Qasr Al Sarab is manna for the well-
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heeled winter sun-seeker, it can also satisfy guests who yearn to take a lone,
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soul-succouring walk into the sea of dunes. As an old Arab saying goes, "The
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desert is the Garden of Allah", from which all superfluous life was removed so
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that "there might be one place where He can walk in peace".
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Just watch out for the bulldozers.
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**Getting there **
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**Etihad Airways **(0800 731 9384; [www.etihadairways.com)][12] flies to Abu
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Dhabi from London Heathrow and Manchester, from £358 return including taxes.
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**Where to stay **
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**The Yas Hotel **(00971 2 656 0000; [www.theyashotel.com),][13] double rooms
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from £151. **Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara** (00971 2 801 5400;
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[www.anantara.com),][14] doubles from £301 including breakfast and two
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excursions. **Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara** (00971 2 886 2088;
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[www.anantara.com),][14] doubles from £362, including breakfast.
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**Packages **
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**Destinology **(0800 634 2866; [www.destinology.co.uk)][15] offers tailor-
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made packages. A six-night tour, spending two nights in each hotel, costs from
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£1,459 per person including return economy flight from Heathrow, transfers by
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road and breakfast (price valid for holidays booked by May 15 for travel
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between June 1 and July 15). Other operators include Best At Travel (020 7849
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4180; [www.bestattravel.co.uk)][16] and Premier Holidays (0844 493 7542;
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[www.premierholidays.co.uk)][17]
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**Information **
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**Abu Dhabi **(Berlitz £4.99) is a new pocket guide. Useful websites are
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[www.visitabudhabi.ae][18] and [www.algharbia.ae][19]
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[What are these?][21]
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* Share: [Share][20] [ ][22] [ ][23]
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[Tweet][24]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/uae/7624382/Abu-
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Dhabi-luxury-hotels-in-the-dunes.html
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Telegraph
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## [UAE][25]
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* ### [Travel »][26]
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* ### [Hotels »][27]
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* ### [Middle East »][6]
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* ### [Nigel Tisdall »][28]
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[X][20] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][21]
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Share:
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* [ ][23]
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* [Tweet][24]
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* Advertisement
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![][29]
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telegraphuk
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Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][30] [blog
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comments powered by Disqus][31]
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## [Telegraph Cottages »][32]
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var puffs_5978637 = new Array();
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