Here’s a short write up on the Dar Al Masyaf at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. It was our second stay at this luxury resort.
Madinat Jumeirah consists of three hotels, namely the Mina A’Salam, the Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf. Steve took this picture which captures a typical scene within the resort:
If you’re standing on the beach looking back at the Madinat then you’ve got the Burj Al Arab on your left. Beyond the Burj is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. These two hotels are easily accessible on foot or buggy from the Madinat.
We were at the Dar Al Masyaf which consists of “Summerhouses” dotted around the waterways and beach. There are Arabian Summerhouses which are located closer to the waterways and Gulf Summerhouses which overlook the beach. We paid a bit more for one of the Gulf Summerhouses.
Each Summerhouse has nine villas, each of which is extremely luxurious. Here are a few pics:
Each villa is set around a central Arabic style courtyard. This view is looking down on the courtyard from our first floor villa:
This was the view from our balcony:
Each Summerhouse is served by a team of six “butlers”. In essence they are your personal concierge and will do anything and everything for you, including unpacking your cases if you so desire! They’ll handle all your restaurant bookings and all the checking in and out is done in your villa by your butler – we never went near the Reception area in the Al Qasr!
Every evening between from 6pm for two hours the butlers set up drinks in the air conditioned lobby of each Summerhouse. This is a great opportunity to mingle with other summerhouse guests as well as the butlers themselves. The drink, including Moet is all free. Given that a bottle of Moet in Madinat’s bars & restaurants is near on £90 this is pretty good! One evening Steve & I were the only people partaking in the 6pm drinkies and we demolished a bottle of Moet between us, only for Alex our butler to get another one out:
We were given numerous restaurant and bar recommendations beyond Madinat Jumeirah but, in all honesty, the sheer choice on offer at MJ is amazing. In Souk Madinat alone there are 30+ bar and restaurant establishments – then you’ve got more choice at Al Qasr, Mina A’Salam, Burj & Jumeirah Beach. All these places (except for a few non Jumeirah run places such as Trader Vics in the Souk) allow you (indeed encourage you) to charge the bills to your room. Our best meal was at Pisces in Souk Madinat and next best was Pierchic, a seafood restaurant down the end of the pier on the Al Qasr beach, right by the Burj!
The beach is pristine with no visible building work. Every so often beach butlers come round with cool face towels and chilled fruit on sticks. The evening “Sundowner” is heavily promoted, ie. sit in a beach cabana sipping Veuve Clicquot:
From what we made out the main nationality in residence at MJ at the same time as us was Russian, indeed many of them with money to burn! One night we watched a family of Russians order bottle after bottle of Taittinger with their meal only to end up paying the bill and leaving an opened, near on full, bottle behind!
A visit to Mall of the Emirates is a must – better than Bluewater any day! Joined on to the Mall is Ski Dubai, with full blown mountain set up, chair lifts and real snow! You hire your ski gear but need to buy hats and gloves.
We love Dubai and will indeed return. However Dar Al Masyaf is not something we can do every year – it’s not cheap! For sheer opulence though, Dar Al Masyaf, along with the Four Seasons at Sharm El Sheikh and Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort in Borneo are, for us, the top three places we had the privilege of staying at.
Hope this has given a reasonable insight to you all!
Cheers
James & Steve
Madinat Jumeirah consists of three hotels, namely the Mina A’Salam, the Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf. Steve took this picture which captures a typical scene within the resort:
If you’re standing on the beach looking back at the Madinat then you’ve got the Burj Al Arab on your left. Beyond the Burj is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. These two hotels are easily accessible on foot or buggy from the Madinat.
We were at the Dar Al Masyaf which consists of “Summerhouses” dotted around the waterways and beach. There are Arabian Summerhouses which are located closer to the waterways and Gulf Summerhouses which overlook the beach. We paid a bit more for one of the Gulf Summerhouses.
Each Summerhouse has nine villas, each of which is extremely luxurious. Here are a few pics:
Each villa is set around a central Arabic style courtyard. This view is looking down on the courtyard from our first floor villa:
This was the view from our balcony:
Each Summerhouse is served by a team of six “butlers”. In essence they are your personal concierge and will do anything and everything for you, including unpacking your cases if you so desire! They’ll handle all your restaurant bookings and all the checking in and out is done in your villa by your butler – we never went near the Reception area in the Al Qasr!
Every evening between from 6pm for two hours the butlers set up drinks in the air conditioned lobby of each Summerhouse. This is a great opportunity to mingle with other summerhouse guests as well as the butlers themselves. The drink, including Moet is all free. Given that a bottle of Moet in Madinat’s bars & restaurants is near on £90 this is pretty good! One evening Steve & I were the only people partaking in the 6pm drinkies and we demolished a bottle of Moet between us, only for Alex our butler to get another one out:
We were given numerous restaurant and bar recommendations beyond Madinat Jumeirah but, in all honesty, the sheer choice on offer at MJ is amazing. In Souk Madinat alone there are 30+ bar and restaurant establishments – then you’ve got more choice at Al Qasr, Mina A’Salam, Burj & Jumeirah Beach. All these places (except for a few non Jumeirah run places such as Trader Vics in the Souk) allow you (indeed encourage you) to charge the bills to your room. Our best meal was at Pisces in Souk Madinat and next best was Pierchic, a seafood restaurant down the end of the pier on the Al Qasr beach, right by the Burj!
The beach is pristine with no visible building work. Every so often beach butlers come round with cool face towels and chilled fruit on sticks. The evening “Sundowner” is heavily promoted, ie. sit in a beach cabana sipping Veuve Clicquot:
From what we made out the main nationality in residence at MJ at the same time as us was Russian, indeed many of them with money to burn! One night we watched a family of Russians order bottle after bottle of Taittinger with their meal only to end up paying the bill and leaving an opened, near on full, bottle behind!
A visit to Mall of the Emirates is a must – better than Bluewater any day! Joined on to the Mall is Ski Dubai, with full blown mountain set up, chair lifts and real snow! You hire your ski gear but need to buy hats and gloves.
We love Dubai and will indeed return. However Dar Al Masyaf is not something we can do every year – it’s not cheap! For sheer opulence though, Dar Al Masyaf, along with the Four Seasons at Sharm El Sheikh and Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort in Borneo are, for us, the top three places we had the privilege of staying at.
Hope this has given a reasonable insight to you all!
Cheers
James & Steve
