HIDDEN DESERT RESORTS
Beyond Dubai’s towering horizon of look-at-me landmarks and hotels, lie rustic retreats nestled between the dunes
Ras Al Khaimah:
The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert
In the most northern emirate, Ras Al Khaimah’s Ritz-Carlton offers guests an elevated spa experience among the dunes. Beyond age-defying Espa facials and spiced oil massages, there’s “The Rainforest”. This hydrothermal suite has 13 stations, among them the “Igloo” with crushed-ice body scrubs, a hammam, salted steam room, herbal sauna and pebble foot spa.
The gym is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Horse-, pony- and camel-riding lessons are available, alongside archery, biking, stargazing, bird-spotting and nature tours of Al Wadi’s 500ha protected reserve.
After all that, sleeping is easy in luxury Bedouininspired villas with private pools.
Pool villas for two from AED1997 ($864). ritzcarlton.com
Dubai:
Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa
The original Arabian desert retreat, Bab Al Shams opened in 2004, intended as luxury lodgings for Dubai’s equestrian set in Al Qudra, occupied only by stables and racetracks (and now with the addition of cycle paths and manmade lakes).
Its name translates as Gateway to the Sun, which makes sense as I watch the sunrise from the comfort of the resort’s infinity pool.
By night, stars help navigate the way to Al Hadheerah, one of four restaurants, best described as an experience. Part culinary bazaar, part cultural theatre, Arabian singers croon, drummers dance to a beat of their own and horse and camel riders re-enact historical tales.
Double rooms from AED694 ($300). babalshams.com
Abu Dhabi:
Jumeirah Al Wathba
Neat and beige with brass bedside lanterns, the rooms are pristine at one of the newest desert resort in the United Arab Emirates — and its airconditioned stables are almost as spotless.
Daily pampering sessions, nutritious treats and adoring handlers account for the amiable nature of the horses. The guided rides, at sunrise and sunset, are a highlight of any stay here. Other activities include off-road fat-biking (the vehicles’ oversized tyres are especially suited to traversing dunes) and slacklining, a bit like tightrope walking across lines of webbing elevated above the sand.
Home to a Talise Spa, a yoga pavilion, an infinity pool and a children’s pool and multiple restaurants, there is much to occupy body and mind. Double rooms from AED725 ($313). jumeirah.com
Sharjah:
Al Faya Lodge
In the 1960s, a grocery store, clinic and petrol station were built an hour’s drive east of Dubai on a lonely road deep within Sharjah. The singlestorey blocks with steel-framed windows were later abandoned and might have crumbled to dusthad not the local authorities had another idea: design firm Anarchitect was commissioned to turn the plot into a five-room boutique retreat, incorporating the original buildings and adding a spa, a pool and a terrace restaurant with firepits.
The effect is compelling, with one lone rusting BP pump standing in what’s now the lodge’s forecourt as a sculpture and reminder of the region’s past.
Doubles from AED715 ($310). al-faya-lodge.hotels-sharjah-uae.com