Altocumulus

We are taking a trip in October to the Middle East and I would love itinerary suggestions; we have not vacationed in the region before. We will stick to luxury properties only.

We will have our almost-4-year-old son and our newborn daughter (2-3 months old by then) with us. We will have 12 days and will be flying in/out of DXB.

We want to spend some time in Dubai (maybe 3-4 days at one end and 1-2 at the other) as we have friends there and I believe there are good activities there for kids. Good food is important to us. Given our circumstances, what are the best Dubai hotels? One and Only Royal Mirage? Four Seasons? others?

Aside from Dubai, as potential options I am looking at a few days in one or more of:
-Muscat (I believe the Chedi is the right choice here?)
-Qasr Al Sarab
-Six Senses Zighy Bay (although "extreme rustic" is not so appealing to us - should we rules this out?)

We are also open to other suggestions.

Thanks for your views!

vuittonsofstyle

With such young kids, I suggest Four Seasons Dubai and The Chedi Oman - both excellent.

pricesquire

While I would agree that, overall, Six Senses is the 'rugged lux chain'...I think Zighy Bay is the least rustic of any SS I've ever seen. I wouldn't avoid it.

Travel K

The Four Seasons always does a great job with kids. The feedback I have gotten from several is to stay away from the PH Dubai until they decide to do a major renovation. The PH Abu Dhabi is great though.

The Address Downtown Dubai has a spectacular location with plenty of good restaurants in walking distance. It is also close to the mall and fountains.

For things to do with kids, a 4 year old would probably get a big kick out of the Ski Dubai.

Altocumulus

thanks for the input here.

One follow-up question - any thoughts on Qasr Al Sarab vs Banyan Tree Al Wadi? TBH wouldn't normally consider a Banyan Tree but it is an easier trip from Dubai that Qasr al Sarab, and it might be fine to serve as the sand dunes/camels/falcons element of our trip..?


EDIT - just did some reading about Al Wadi and it sounds like it has some unacceptable issues so think we will eliminate that option. Any recent views on Qasr Al Sarab?

aa213bb

Was there in late March this year, with my wife, and we had a great time. The desert is truly magical.

For what it is worth, we greatly enjoyed Oman as well - stayed at the RC, but did pop in and check out the Chedi, which seemed nice. Hired a car and drove all about.

Lastly, we've enjoyed our stays at The Address - Downtown, in Dubai. Rooms are nice, though the service is not truly luxurious. However, for views over the Burj/Fountains and location in the midst of everything, I'd recommend it. Of course, if you're looking for beach, it is not the right location for you.

Enjoy!

The_Daddy

Altocumulus I have been going to this region with young kids quite often for 10/12 days and I have been combining Dubai usually with

Abu Dhabi - St. Regis Saadiyat Island
Oman - Six Senses Zighy Bay


I'll be back now early December for 10 days and it looks like it will be FS Dubai and Six Senses Zighy Bay, even if we have still some thinking going on about a desert experience and my kids love the staff at the St. Regis kids club.

I have been always considering Muscat but I have the feeling the road (round) trip will be a bit too much.

Unfortunately, if good food is relevant for you (it is for us as well) you should cautiously consider Zighy Bay: both my previous experiences were not great and I have been reported mixed experiences even recently. It would be great to have a first hand recent feedback from regulars of this forum both on the food and the quality of the water (sea).
But the beach villas make for it especially if you have young kids and want to relax...I do not think there is anything even close in the region.

have you made your choice already?

aniaw6

The Four Seasons in Dubai is the way to go there. In Oman - definitely go with Chedi.

Oman is home to over 500 castles and forts so your son may get a kick out of visiting one or two of them. I highly recommend Jabreen which is famous for its castle’s fine dungeons, passages, room and ceiling decorated with fine carving and paintings.

I also think that the Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa is a great option too. It is a stunning property and is home to about twenty turtle nests which may be fun for your son to see. From there, you can also visit Al Hoota Cave. Estimated to be over 2 million years old, this magnificent underground cavern and lake system is home to over a 100 animal species. I also suggest a drive along the coast road with stunning views of the Arabian Sea on one side and the rocky cliffs on the other with a stop at the Bimmah Sinkhole, a limestone crater with blue green water. After taking a dip in the vibrant waters, head for a second one at the White sandy fins beach.

PM me if you would like assistance with booking the hotels, activities etc!

Altocumulus

Here is a report of the trip I asked about in my OP (thank you for the suggestions)...

We took a 14 day vacation to the Middle East over the Chinese Golden Week holiday, with our son (who turned four right after the trip) and our daughter (about 2 months old when we traveled). Traveled CX J from PVG to DXB via HKG (where we checked out the new first class Pier lounge; very clubby style, lovely space, nice amenities); travel was fine except for a fog diversion coming into Dubai which involved sitting on the tarmac at Fujairah for 4 hours waiting for a refuel and for the fog to lift.

Park Hyatt Dubai
We spent one night at the Park Hyatt on arrival to recombobulate, as it is very close to the airport and we were departing for Muscat the next day. We also spent one night there for golf reasons upon returning from Muscat (it is right next to Dubai Creek Golf Club).

I won’t spend much time on this property as we were only there for two short nights. A few observations:
-the Lobby is actually worth a mention as I thought it was really rather striking, a beautiful dome with arabic patterns in window lattices etc.
-we had a deluxe room with a rollaway for our son; room was generously sized and pleasantly decorated in a neutral palette.
-in terms of dining, we had room service one night (cutting our losses with 2 tired kids after the trip from Shanghai); this was good, with a decent selection. the other night we dined in the Thai Kitchen which a local friend had recommended - it was excellent; very authentic. The breakfast at Cafe Arabesque was also excellent (I’m not sure why this surprised me) with an extensive buffet of both western and arabic options, probably the single best selection of baked goods & pastries I have ever seen in a hotel, and a la carte options also (eggs, pancakes, french toast, and more regional options like shakshuka and ful). The only underwhelming meal we had was a casual lunch at the “Terrace” which had a fairly limited menu and average food.
-the pool is large and pleasant with little “alcoves” all around due to its shape, which allowed us plenty of space to bring the kids in without them being near any other guests (more relaxing when one isn’t so concerned that they are driving other guests crazy). Pool service was prompt but a bit lacking in attention to detail (I noticed a small trash item on the ground by our loungers and some uncleared towels nearby from guests who had left).
-the location was great for our quick stays; very close to the airport and right beside a good golf course (if that matters to you; we have one golf addict in our family…). We found the Dubai Creek area interesting culturally (all the old dhows lined up along the creek shipping cargo over to Iran; little abra passenger boats along the river, and the gold and spice souks nearby - we picked up some custom gold and excellent spices). That said we covered it in an afternoon with kids in tow so it doesn’t exactly take long to explore (although we could have easily spent more time on the spices etc). However we were glad that we only spent the two nights here for our specific purposes (airport, golf, creek/souks) as it is not well-located for the majority of other Dubai attractions.


The Chedi Muscat
We made a very enjoyable three-day visit to Muscat, staying in a Club Suite at the Chedi. There was a hotel representative waiting for us in the airport on arrival and he brought us to a very large comfortable Mercedes van with an appropriate car seat for our son (we had our daughter’s own infant seat with us) along with Voss water and the customary dates. It was a 15 minute drive to the property where we were given welcome drinks, the kids were given camel soft toys, and we were promptly checked in. The only problem here was that the paths all around the resort consist of narrow strips of concrete alternating with pebble-filled ”dips” which make it impossible to roll a suitcase or stroller along (the bellboys have to use special luggage carts with incredibly fat tires). This is not a major issue for most as you don’t typically have to cart your own stuff around but it was somewhat infuriating for us as it necessitated carrying (rather than rolling) our daughter’s stroller whenever we wanted to go anywhere. This feature also makes it very easy to trip over, especially for a small child, or indeed for an adult after a few drinks..

Room
The Club Suite consisted of a large living room (very high ceilings) with sofas around the edges and 2 coffee tables; a door out to a furnished terrace shaded by louvres, and the door through to the bedroom and bathroom beyond. The minibar was complimentary along with some snacks and three decanters with vodka, gin, and whisky (which we probably should have moved out of their position in a corner of the sofa, as we walked into the room at one point to find our 3-year-old pouring himself a large glass of vodka, announcing that he wanted “a glass of water”). The spirits weren’t exactly top shelf but a nice idea.

The bedroom featured a beautiful silver-leafed domed ceiling with a traditional arabic lantern hanging in it, and a comfortable bed. One of the stretches of sofa in the living room had been comfortably made up for our son. The bathroom was spacious with very large shower room, bathtub and vanities, and full size Acqua di Parma amenities.

In general the decor was what I would describe as “arabic minimal”; I liked it; chic, but it could have been made marginally more comfortable for my tastes (e.g. some select floor coverings in places might be nice for a break from the polished concrete) and it errs slightly on the dark side with small windows (although this is probably a good thing as large windows would lead to a losing battle for the AC in summer)

Dining
We breakfasted in the main restaurant all three days. It had an extensive buffet and a la carte options. Both were fine; buffet not quite up to the standard of PH Dubai in terms of extremely high quality and freshness, but pretty good.
We had dinner one night in the beach restaurant (seafood-focused); this would have been particularly nice had we sat outside on the terrace but when I walked over earlier to reserve, the maitre d’ told me that mosquitoes would be a big problem if we did so, so we avoided that. Food was good but not great. We had snacks at various times in the club lounge (included with a club suite) - this was a nice space with a good selection of books and various local craft items. The man running it was very attentive with providing drinks and other service, and keeping the well-chosen selection of canapés stocked. The club lounge worked very well for us with kids as it was generally pretty quiet and we were able to have a lot of space with sofas etc, and not be near other guests and risk imposing upon them the constant discussions of dinosaurs currently featuring in our family.

Pools
There are three large pools at the Chedi, two of which are adults-only. I must admit I was a little concerned about this before we went, assuming that we would be stuck with the kids at the inferior pool. But the pool where kids are allowed (the Serai Pool) was actually my favorite - large size, by the beach, with lovely big shade “sails”, and much less busy than the adult-only pools (and since we knew people without kids had the option of the other two pools we weren’t too concerned with muzzling the kids. The pool was big enough anyway to give everyone ample space and solitude). Service was generally prompt.

The two adults-only pools are the “Chedi Pool”, a regular sized one fronting the beach with a casual beach restaurant alongside, and the “Long Pool” a 100m-long one perpendicular to the beach. We took it in turns to hang with the kids/go look around the Chedi Pool and get a swim workout in the Long Pool. The Chedi pool was very busy; when I went I would say it held 90% of all pool-goers in the resort. The Long Pool was very quiet - I was almost alone in it most of the time, with a few people on loungers. It is quite striking and great for a swim.

The beach itself is beautiful at sunset. Sandy with a lot of small shells. The water has quite a lot of seaweed (but the relatively “clean” kind of seaweed that isn’t revolting). It’s shallow and protected by a sandbar about 50 feet out, so it’s good for kids to play in; not so much for adults trying to get a good swim.

Service
We generally found service here warm and helpful. I had been warned that this wasn’t a very child-friendly hotel but we did not find this to be a problem; in fact they were nothing but friendly to our children.

Activities
We took a private tour around Muscat, visiting the Mosque, Opera House (both beautiful and well worth visiting), the souk, the Amouage perfume factory, and a couple other spots down the coast for tea and views (notably at the Al Bustan Palace (an RC property) and the big Shangri-La complex of three hotels. Incidentally I had looked into staying at both of these properties when I was advised that the Chedi was not child-friendly, but I’m very glad we didn’t. RC felt very corporate, and both were relatively distant from the main attractions compared with the Chedi. If I had any doubt that the Chedi is by far the best choice for Muscat, these short stops took care of it).
We had also arranged a private dolphin-watching cruise for the following day but unfortunately had to cancel due to windy weather. Aside from this we filled our time at the pools and beach and with golf at Almouj.


Four Seasons Dubai at Jumeirah Beach
Our initial arrival just involved dropping our luggage off on the morning before going to meet friends. We returned in the afternoon to check in for a week, and were shown to our suite. We had booked a Junior Suite and were upgraded to a Sea-view (thanks DavidO). Arabic snacks were there for us, and a tray of candy etc for our son; the bathtub was decorated in welcome for him.

Room
Our suite had a large foyer and living/dining room with a powder & shower room attached. The sofa bed here was made up for our son (they switched it between sofa and bed when we asked). We had a decent-sized balcony with teak furniture overlooking the pool area and sea. The bedroom was also generously sized with a long walk-in closet and big bathroom. Only downsides are that I didn’t much care for the Etro amenities (beautiful packaging and pleasant fragrance but basically the contents is cheap junk), and our bedroom was a touch on the dark side as the window looked out onto our balcony so didn’t receive direct light (as at the Chedi though, this is probably a good thing particularly in summer; I really dislike when the AC can’t overcome the heat..). The lighting in the bedroom was well executed though so one would barely notice this issue.

A particular note on the decor in the rooms and the hotel more broadly - I think they have done an exceptional job here of tastefully bringing in beautiful arabic influences alongside the best of Four Seasons luxury/comfort. The art selection all around the property was one of my favorites at any hotel. It really was one of those properties that is an aesthetic pleasure to stay in.

Dining
Breakfast at the casual restaurant, Suq, was of high quality, with the usual buffet and a la carte options (the only thing I didn’t love was the patisserie selection. It was a wide range, but the items were not individually that good IMO. I thought the same at the Chedi for that matter). The manager sought us out on the first day and impressed upon us that they could make us anything we wanted, in particular given our relatively long stay. Indeed they graciously and faultlessly delivered daily on our son’s requests for random fresh juices (grape; pomegranate etc), babyccinos, pancakes with Nutella and “strawberries-no!-blueberries-no!-raspberries” etc. By day two they were delivering our tea/coffee/juice orders right after we sat down without our request.

We had a couple of evening meals at Sea Fu, the seafood restaurant by the beach. Pleasant environment and good, but not exceptional, food. We also enjoyed room service a few times; this was of a high standard. Mercury Lounge and Hendrick’s were nice (and very different) options for drinks. And I dined with a friend one night at JG Kitchen, which had a great atmosphere and good food, with the notable exception of dessert, which I found mediocre.

We also enjoyed Arabic afternoon tea at Salon Shai, with a harpist and flautist accompaniment. It was delicious, and provided for wonderful people-watching.

Service
Service was generally excellent. Reception, dining, kids club, pool, and housekeeping were all extremely friendly and attentive.

The kids club welcomed our son and were fine with him being there even though their starting age is 4 and this was 1-2 weeks prior to his birthday. He loved it there and ended up asking to go down there quite a few times during our stay. At the end of our week guest services sent him up some gifts to the room, along with a birthday cake delivered for him our last night.

Guest services also made a great effort at distinctive, customized service, checking in with us frequently on how everything was going, and sending little amenities up to the room (e.g. a big cheese platter and other snacks and a card awaiting us when we returned from a desert safari). For a property of this size, we were impressed at how well they managed to remember us, keep track, and provide appropriate tailored service that we usually experience only in smaller places (i.e. Amans).

We only had 2 very minor issues during the week of our stay - one lady from housekeeping came in to deliver something and we made maybe three specific housekeeping requests (e.g. add to our preferences that we would like the sofa bed switched between sofa and bed daily for our son; bring us extra water etc. nothing extravagant). But none of these three requests were carried out and we had to re-request all. Not a big deal, this particular lady clearly just forgot (although forgetting all three requests was impressive). All other housekeeping requests were dealt with perfectly and promptly.

Secondly one day we could hear construction/renovation noise coming from a room beside/above ours. Wasn’t an issue during the day as we weren’t in the room much (except when a drill or jackhammer noise horrified our newborn) but the noise continued well into the evening and it took 4 phone calls from us in the 9:30-10pm window for it to finally be stopped (when apparently the manager on duty walked the contractors off the property herself). We received 2 in-person apologies and a written note in our suite the next day. Fine, they did think to apologize, but on the other had it wasn't exactly mind-blowing service recovery; we felt they missed an easy opportunity to send up a bottle of wine or similar and leave us feeling much better about the incident. However the whole thing was a fairly minor irritation and we did not follow up on it any further.

Apart from these two very small issues, we found service in all areas to be excellent.


Facilities
There are two large freeform outdoor pools (one adults only) and an indoor pool in the gym area. All were high quality with excellent service. I found the pool food menu to be a bit limited for snacks and appetizers (what we normally order poolside) but it wasn’t enough of an issue to prompt me to ask for anything off-menu. The gym was also very well equipped.

Overall we had an excellent and very enjoyable stay here (by far my favourite of the three properties on this trip), and found service levels to be exceptional, with impressive execution for a property of this size. And, as I said, the surroundings/decor/art were a pleasure to inhabit.



Lastly a quick side-note regarding Dubai and culture - this was our first trip to Dubai and I have often heard people say it is devoid of culture so I wasn’t expecting much. But we were actually pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of fascinating arabic culture with architecture, markets, desert (and all that entails), and people from across the region. We also found the background of Dubai’s and the UAE’s recent development interesting. Granted we may have been able to see more than the average of this side of things as we have close friends who have lived there for several years and they were able to share a lot of their “local knowledge” that some other visitors may not have access to. And indeed if one’s definition of “culture” is limited to western art, history, museums and theaters you won’t find it here; this isn’t Paris/Rome/London/New York. But IMO with an open mind, Dubai (and certainly the broader region) can provide enough interest for at least one trip. Also - not important for everyone but was for us - Dubai is an exceptionally good destination for small kids, with endless activities (to name a few that our son enjoyed - meeting a penguin at Ski Dubai, trampolining at “Bounce”, going up Burj Khalifa, watching the Dubai fountain, heading out into the desert to see oryx, sand dunes, falconry, camels etc, and enjoying the pools and beach..)

Barnaby100

Amazed the food at the Chedi wasn't great. Have to say consistently the best food in all the hotels that we stay at. The sashimi is amazing.