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Al Bustan Rotana Hotel lies in the heart of Dubai, close to the city’s major shopping areas and just a few minutes away from Dubai International Airport and the World Trade Centre and Exhibition Halls. It is located so that the businesses and commercial districts of Deira and Bur Dubai are easily accessible, yet is also conveniently near the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Wonderland Theme Park, City Centre shopping mall and Festival City, which makes the hotel suitable for business and pleasure. It also has the award winning Blue Elephant restaurant which is one of the best places to eat here.
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The ultimate luxury desert inn, housing only suites with their own private pools. A good 45 minutes from the city, this is a romantic hideaway. Lots of desert activities to keep you busy as well.
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Opening late 2005, the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel & Suites is suitably located off Sheikh Zayed Road. The property is adjacent to the Dubai International Financial City, three minutes away from the convention centre and 10 minutes drive from the airport. It will have an impressive array of restaurants, including Lebanese, Italian and seafood, as well as a fun pub and a café service in the lounge.
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The most recognisable hotel building in Dubai for its striking presence, designed to resemble the sails of an Arabic dhow (boat). At night there are ‘Fire and Water’ shows, but if you’re not a guest that’s about as much as you’ll experience, unless you dish out to enter this most lavish hotel (seven stars, they say). Once you’re in you can decide for yourself if it’s your cup of tea. If the garish design gives you a bit of a headache, bask in the glory of your own personal butler 24 hours a day.
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This place has a small but cute cove-like beach and two pools, right in the heart of Jumeirah Beach close to old Dubai. Twelve very popular restaurants and nightclubs are on the premises, arranged around the cove for spectacular seaside nightlife. Sho Cho, Alamo and Boudoir are among the popular nightspots here. Prayers coming from the grand Jumeirah Mosque right across the street provide a nice surprise five times a day. If you don’t manage to stay at this hotel, don’t miss out on its Friday Brunch package. For £19 you can indulge in a buffet lunch and have full access to the beach club.
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Ideally situated on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dusit Dubai, a 5 star city hotel captures the essence of Far East elegance in the vibrant centre of Dubai’s business district. The hotel is a five minutes drive to the World Trade Centre & Dubai International Convention Centre and a 15 minutes drive to the Dubai International Airport and major shopping malls proving its location to be perfect for the business traveler. Dusit Dubai blends iconic architecture and latest in luxury amenities in all 321 rooms & suites with traditional Thai hospitality. With a superb choice of dining options, the hotel’s signature restaurant, Benjarong is the first specialty restaurant to bring Royal Thai cuisine to Dubai and the Pax Romana serves the finest Italian dishes in a distinctive and stylish setting. The Dusit Delicatessen is the place for express breakfasts, salads and sandwiches, while the Californian offers breakfast to dinner dining. Guests can enjoy the Thai themed Siam Bar or a pre dinner drink at the Champagne Lounge. Dusit Dubai is a truly unique hotel bringing the best of traditional Thai hospitality to the heart of Dubai.
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This super-trendy and highly popular hotel hosts and boasts equally trendy nightspots Peppermint Lounge, the Cigar Bar and the underground Tangerine. The rooms are very stylish and there is ArtSpace, a cool gallery on the 9th floor. The lobby is a party too, with Bridges Bar, which has the most extensive list of wines and cocktails in town. The building is always lit up at night and is one of the shining stars on the SZR strip.
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Dubbed Dubai’s ‘stress-free zone’, this is an 80-acre mountain retreat, roughly an hour and a half away from the city centre. Tennis courts, club house with indoor games, Friday camel rides and more. There are 50 chalets with patios overlooking rocky hills, which they call mountains.
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Super-cool and minimalist (by Dubai standards) design by Carlos Ott, this hotel offers the best views of the Creek. Gordon Ramsay, the British celebrity chef, heads up the restaurant Verre. Glasshouse, another sleek modern design, has floorto- ceiling windows. The pool on the roof also has a wonderful view, so don’t forget to bring binoculars. A good place to stay if you don’t want to be by the beach.
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Make sure you get to enjoy the wonderful views onto the creek when booking your room. Great if your business is in Deira as you don’t really have to leave the area. All the outlets here are great. If the fashionable Italian La Moda gets too crowded you can go to the Persian Shabestan or enjoy food 24 hours a day at Boulvar. Finish off with jazz at Up On The Tenth. Yum is the [name] of the Chinese restaurant, which really says it all. Stay up late at the pub or dance all night at the trendy nightspot Ku-Bu lounge bar—a good place to spot Dubai expats enjoying a night out.
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Situated on fashionable Al Diyafah Street, the hotel is a 10-minute drive from Dubai International Airport and just a few minutes away from the World Trade Centre and Exhibition Halls.
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The hotel that looks like a big breaking wave—you can’t miss it—sitting close to its big brother the Burj. The interior design is based on the four elements of nature: earth, air, fire and water. Sounds peaceful, but it’s really the perfect kids’ experience hotel, with a great family beach and Wild Wadi (a huge water park) nearby. If you want some peace and quiet away from the holidaying families, stay elsewhere or book one of 19 sea-facing villas. Do bear in mind that this is one for the package holidaymaker.
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Very much in the tradition of a JW Marriott. Good for a simple business visit with nothing much more on your mind. Well, maybe food, and there are 13 places to choose from. JW’s Steakhouse lives up to its reputation as the best steakhouse in town. Order it just the way you like it, but make a booking—it’s usually crowded with carnivores sitting in the wing-back leather chairs. That said, this isn’t the place to kick back and bask in holiday bliss.
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Very much in the tradition of a JW Marriott. Good for a simple business visit with nothing much more on your mind. Well, maybe food, and there are 13 places to choose from. JW’s Steakhouse lives up to its reputation as the best steakhouse in town. Order it just the way you like it, but make a booking—it’s usually crowded with carnivores sitting in the wing-back leather chairs. That said, this isn’t the place to kick back and bask in holiday bliss.
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A perfect hotel to spend the night, if that’s all the time you’re spending in Dubai due to a transit flight. A great one-night stand if you don’t mind all the single ladies propped up at its restaurant bars. Somewhat tacky, it has to be said.
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This boutique hotel is part of a growing complex, the Madinat Jumeirah. The resort is designed in a pseudo-traditional Arabic style, with a traditional souk and the Six Senses Spa, the largest in the Middle East. All are linked by a waterway. Mina’s lobby is a discreet social scene. The resort’s pool features 300 glowing fibre-optic lights, a tribute to the clear Arabian night sky. If you enjoy a lively night out, head down to Trilogy.
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Ask for the view of the creek, Have a pint at the pub after a dhow cruise or walk to the gold souk nearby. Not that much to choose from in food—Italian, Japanese or Indian—but a pleasant hotel nonetheless.
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The Royal Mirage is divided into three sections with a kilometre of private beach available to its guests. This palatial hotel is almost cathedral-like with a very Arabic decor, in spite of its modern sophistication—one of the top hotels architecturally in Dubai. It has recently been expanded. The place to stay if you can afford the lushness of it all.
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The best hotel on the beach (competing with the Royal Mirage until the drilling sounds of the Palm Island project are over), it’s made up of little private villas tucked away from the madding crowd. Known for the best tea-time experience, with its own resident ‘Tea Master’. As always, the Ritz-Carlton doesn’t disappoint, and this one lives up to the standard. Lovely outdoor dining at Amaseena opens in the winter months.
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The understated nature of this hotel is belied by the famous Long’s Bar and trendy Teatro restaurant. These are two of the most popular places on the SZR strip (see below). Teatro in itself is a very good reason to be here now.
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This one is close to the airport, but not to worry as the rooms are soundproof. New and good value for money. Watch the planes from the indoor swimming pool. Use your spare change to jump in a taxi and head to the Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) strip and the older, ritzier sister hotel Shangri La. The gym, pool and Junction restaurant are open 24 hours (as well as the Lobby Lounge), so you could eat and work it off the same day or night.
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