Bab Al Shams slowly reveals itself, its sandstone exterior – an ode to traditional Emirati forts – half-hidden by date palms and sand dunes. In a city that so often leans towards excess, the grande dame of Dubai’s desert resorts works its magic with restraint.
For almost two decades, UAE residents have made the 45-minute pilgrimage from the city to Al Qudra Road – passing oddly shaped man-made lakes, twisting cycle paths and endurance races – to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and indulgent weekends at Bab Al Shams . The city may be getting closer, but this is still the place we come to get away from it all. The resort’s much-photographed infinity pool, which cascades into a vast expanse of sand in a paradox of elemental opposites, is the attraction for many. For me, it is silence, which encompasses everything and is absolute. The resort comes into its own as the sun sets, the silhouettes of the dunes framed in pink and purple. bamboo torches – flickering along the perimeter and lanterns creating a play of light and shadow on the outdoor walkways.
Now Bab Al Shams is fresh off a 10-month, no-strings-attached renovation with new bragging rights as the first property in the Rare Finds Hotels & Resorts collection from the Kerzner Group (Atlantis, One&Only). The exterior remains largely unchanged, the deep solid walls, arches, niches and geometric motifs lifted directly from UAE vernacular architecture. But the interiors have been transformed by a deft hand, the gilded ornate character of the country’s Arabesque-inspired resorts abandoned for a lighter touch. The lobby, once a relic of dimly lit, compartmentalized spaces, has been opened up and brightened. In my terrace garden room, instead of dark woods and heavy wallpapers, nods to tradition come in fine details from mother-of-pearl on arched mirrors, brass studs on cupboard doors and majlis-style seating in a corner nook. Teal accents cascade from headboards and furniture piping to diamond-shaped mosaic tiles in the rain shower.
The hotel is unpretentious, but not lacking in spectacle. At Al Hadheerah, a colossal open-air restaurant, nightly performances accompany Arabic classics: a belly dancer, a whirling dervish, musicians, singers, and even a re-enactment of a Bedouin caravan of camels and horses crossing a desert plateau. Cooking stations serve up lamb and chicken biryani, while the kitchen’s enthusiastic Egyptian chef takes great delight in showing guests the underground concoction used to prepare his seven-hour slow-roasted lamb ouzo. More soothing meals are served at the Mediterranean-inspired Zala or the pan-Asian Anwā, a great sunset spot.
Bab Al Shams remains faithful to the desert environment. At the recently opened stand-alone spa, which houses men’s and women’s hammams carefully crafted from green-veined Cipollino Nuvolato marble, some treatments use De L’Arta, a local skin care line with Tetraena qatarensis, a shrub found in abundance around the hotel. On a recent visit, a morning safari took us to the Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve, over soft pale yellow sand dunes, past camels feasting on desert grasses, royal horned orangutans, gazelles and the season’s first migrating flamingos. Indian rollers flew among gaff trees and lizards scattered in hidden burrows. It was a reminder, as Bab Al Shams always was, that there is immense natural beauty in the UAE if you just stop to look. Selina Denman