The Sand Castle

By Peter Myers

Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa is a new destination in the Dubai desert that allows the two-day guest to maintain an unremitting feeling of being in a Arabian fable.

A short drive out into the desert from Dubai’s centre, an Arabian destination was recently born. Part date palm-decked oasis, part Arabian fort, 115-room Bab Al Shams (‘The Gateway of the Sun’) is a masculine place: walls in the public bar are decked with stirrups, rifles and cowboy hats, while clubby, leather armchairs monopolise the floor space. The manliness is explained just before one enters the resort: the Dubai Endurance Racing Villa sits just outside its gates. Most popular for a two-night stay for guests wanting to split up a city/beach holiday, Bab Al Shams injects theatre into the resort experience. Huge, seven-foot Kenyans guard the entranceway, which is accessed through towering gates. Inside, steps lead down to a shallow, sunken pit where a fire is lit in the evening; guests can sit around telling tall stories in a Bedouin-esque manner. Traditional local musicians sit around the grounds adding to the atmosphere. Above the infinity pool, which looks on to endless, sprawling desert and policed by token lifeguards, Al Sarab, a rooftop bar, is a romantic option. Hookah pipes line a secluded alcove and waiting staff certainly look the part. A few steps from the pool, it is liberating to stroll around the fig trees which surround the ‘fortress’ walls, which are themselves festooned with cylindrical sandstone towers. Don’t wander too far though, you might never be seen again. Elsewhere, in the region’s first authentic open-air Arabic desert restaurant, Al Hadheerah offers diners a unique experience with scenes straight out of an Arabian legend, and features belly dancers, henna painters, live bands and a falcon display. Traditional ethnic cuisine from the Middle East is served from live cooking stations, wood-fired ovens, spit roasts and Arabic bread ovens. Rooms at Bab Al Shams are cavernous and welcomingly cool. Designed to represent traditional Gulf décor, emphasised by the use of natural stones, dark wood and Arabian glasswork, quirky touches such as leather trunks sitting on top of wardrobes and a bronze boot-shaped lamp add another fairytale element — I dare anyone to stay here and not rub that lamp!