Elite Traveler HRS 2023

Ra ffl es The Palm Dubai is a 25-acre beachfront resort

Japanese-Asian fusion restaurant that is dimly lit, has a bustling open kitchen and serves terri fi c black cod. There is also a cigar bar and jazz lounge for louche late-night entertainment. RELAX The hotel has a 1,640-ft private beach, and there are organized activities for children including badminton and mini golf. The extensive spa has 23 treatment rooms, and the Cinq Mondes menu provides facials, body massages, hammams and detox sessions. It has a 72-ft indoor pool and a fi rst-rate gym— so no excuses for not exercising. Aperitivos can be enjoyed at the Ra ffl es Club Lounge, with its magni fi cent sea or Palm Jumeirah views, and afternoon tea at Bluthner Hall lobby lounge, with its custom-made Bluthner Louis XIV grand piano, is not to be missed. The scones are exquisitely baked, as one would expect. This is Ra ffl es, after all. EXPLORE The hotel organizes city tours as well as desert expeditions for more active tourists. The gold souks are an hour’s drive away. Dubai is a city of multi-lane freeways and very few places to walk, but there is a promenade outside Ra ffl es, and you can stroll for miles along it, as we did, while looking out to sea and marveling at the land of plenty. By Ed Winter From $455 per night. Contact Robin Alex, reservations supervisor, dubai@ra ffl es.com, +971 424 888 88, ra ffl es.com

RAFFLES THE PALM DUBAI DUBAI When I fi rst began visiting the UAE in the early 2000s, I ostensibly went to play golf in the winter sunshine. But what really attracted me was the scale of the place, the frenzy of construction and the limitless ambition. Back then, before the fi nancial crisis put a brake on many outlandish desires, Dubai, ruled by the Al Maktoum family, embarked on one of the gaudiest, most extravagant spending sprees in modern history as it raced to become a global megalopolis and communications hub in the desert of the eastern Arabian peninsula. Now, something of the old spirit of adventure has returned (along with the tourists). Before the pandemic, Dubai had begun to lose some of its luster and perhaps some of its attraction for the discerning traveler. Opulence and ostentatious consumerism only go so far, and many visitors want more than sunshine and skyscrapers — hence the recent opening of Ra ffl es The Palm, a hotel experience combining luxury with elegance and restraint. STAY Ra ffl es The Palm Dubai, a 389-room, 25-acre beachfront resort on the Palm Jumeirah’s West Crescent, o ffi cially opened in October 2021. When you fi rst enter the hotel, you feel as if you’re entering some

The grand lobby lounge

kind of neoclassical palace, perhaps in pre revolutionary France, with the marble pillars, glistening Swarovski crystal chandeliers (more than 6,000 of them throughout the hotel), ornately carved ceilings covered with 24k-gold leaf and chamber musicians at play. But the atmosphere is not hushed or haughty; it is attractively open, and children of all ages are welcome. DINE There’s plenty of choice, from Le Jardin dining room, which serves a great breakfast as well as a daily bu ff et lunch and dinner, catering for all tastes. My favorite was the beachside Italian, Piatti, which in a gracious and informal setting serves tasty choices for the whole family, including thin-crust pizzas, seafood specials and delicious pasta dishes. The signature starter of crunchy cold green beans, olives, avocado, cherry tomatoes and warmMazara prawns is excellent. The wine list is good and unpretentious. We also enjoyed Matagi, a

Photos Nicolas Dumont