Honest review
If you are choosing where to stay on Palm Jumeirah in properly grown-up style, this is one of the leading candidates: the bet here is on food, spa and calm rather than parties.
Plan your dinners ahead: for Italian, Social under Heinz Beck, a Michelin-starred chef; for Vietnamese from an unexpected angle, LAO; for familiar classics, Mezzerie. For an aperitif there is the Venetian-style Serafina bar, by day Californian dishes and signature cocktails at Palm Avenue, and the signature Waldorf Astoria tea is served in the iconic Peacock Alley.
Set aside a full day for the spa: 12 treatment rooms, two couples' suites and more than 50 treatments — hurrying is not the done thing here.
The beach is private: 200 metres of white sand. For activity there are tennis, windsurfing and fishing; the children can meanwhile be left at the Coco's club in professional hands. The rooms come in a calm palette of ivory, sand and turquoise, with panoramic water views.
Take this resort if Dubai, for you, is about service and gastronomy: the city is close, but come evening you will be glad of the quiet.
