This new hotel feels like the Maldives (minus the long flight)

To date Ras al-Khaimah’s rulers have developed vast city hotels, such as the unwieldy Waldorf Astoria, and desert outposts, notably the Ritz-Carlton Al Wadi Desert (formerly a Banyan Tree). Now the first snazzy beach resort has opened: Anantara Mina Al Arab (Anantara Port of Arabia). I was the first journalist to check in.

Poolside sunloungers at the Anantara Mina Al Arab

Anantara is a Bangkok-based hotel brand whose boss, Dillip Rajakarier, is a fantasist. On Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi he has created African resorts, even importing game animals so you can go on safari. He has built a Greek resort in Abu Dhabi called Santorini. His latest ruse is to recreate the Maldives in the Middle East. He started with a resort with overwater villas on the Palm Jumeirah development in Dubai and has taken it up a notch in Ras al-Khaimah.

My 82 sq m villa sits with its vast sundeck on stilts above the mangroves. The rooms — all five — are a pared-down yet elegant mix of light and dark woods, with shades of blue for rugs and furniture. There’s a small kitchenette, which comes with a wine fridge to stash duty free buys (every hotel should have one). In the bathroom there is a soap menu (not so convinced by this). The terminally cosseted can use the air conditioning, but I preferred to open the French doors and listen to the call to prayer in the nearby town rising above the yak-yak of the herons and egrets.

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The best thing to do at a place like this, I found, was to keep busy relaxing. It’s as easy as falling into the private plunge pool on the deck of my villa. The overwater properties also have their own 140-metre long private beach — I was the only one on it. In the spa I had my pick of strong-elbowed Thai therapists.

A bedroom at the resort

I could have gone to the vast gym with views across the mangroves to earn my daily lunch of shish taouk with za’atar toast, but it was far more fun to head out into the mangroves in a kayak. Thisara, my guide, steered me through flocks of flamingos (health warning: they may look fantastic but they stink). Tilapia leapt out of the water like flying shards of silver as we raced around the islands conversing in the international language of cricket. Thisara, it turned out, is a tidy Sri Lankan spin bowler.

I could have comfortably stayed at the resort for the whole of my stay, but the hills were calling. Shortly after dawn one morning, I took a 4×4 to Jebel Jais. A few turns along the exhausted tangle of tarmac that carves its way up to the peak, I hung a right at Wadi Shiha, and went along a boulder-strewn track to reach the Bear Grylls Explorers Camp (beargryllscamp.ae).

The camp manager Ray Betts served in the British Army Royal Engineers in Bosnia where, despite being part of a peacekeeping force, he came under fire. Now he teaches survival skills from October to May (it’s too hot in summer when temperatures nudge 45C). His 24-hour survival course covers fire-lighting, water sourcing, water purification and how to eat in the wild. “You can gut your own pigeon and barbecue it if you like,” Betts told me. He also organises abseiling, rock climbing and hiking through the mountain landscape. I opted for a hike.

My guide, Nitesh, from Himalayan India, almost leapt up Dry Waterfall Gorge, a narrow gully that rises 300 metres above the camp, but we soon settled into a slower rhythm — partly because he needed to point out the dangers. There are 30-degree downslopes covered with tumbling scree and narrow ledges with an 18m drop on one side. “Use the three-point climbing method,” he said. “Always have three points of contact on the rock.”

Flocks of flamingos can be spotted in Ras al-Khaimah

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As we climbed, avoiding fearless mountain goats, a few drops of warm rain fell off the zigzag rock faces. It’s enough sustenance to keep the odd determined cedar tree clinging on. “It’s illegal to cut the cedars,” Nitesh said. Not just because any vegetation is a blessing in these desiccated lands but because, he explained, local people burn the leaves to make a paste that acts as an antiseptic.

When we reached the top he interrupted the silence to advise me to be careful where I sat “because there are scorpions and vipers”.

There’s another — more, shall we say, Dubai — way to tackle the hills. The road to the peak, Jebel Jais, is as smooth as a cashmere dishdasha and hire car companies offer the chance to drive up and down it in a supercar from £500 for a half day. Which is how I found myself at the wheel of a yellow and black McLaren 650S. Going up, I hugged the curves and hoped the tail stayed straight(ish), so I didn’t tumble into the jagged clefts in the rock and join the crumpled carcasses of those who were not so lucky. Roof down, I could feel the temperature cooling by a degree every few hundred feet or so.

After a poke bowl lunch at 1484 by Puro, the highest restaurant in the UAE (mains from £13; puro.ae), I had a choice. I could drive back down, or dump the McLaren and go down even faster under my own steam. The world’s longest zip wire runs for almost two miles, some 300 metres over a valley where you reach speeds nudging 100mph, faster than the road allows. I don’t mind speed but I am a control freak (and, OK, a wimp), so I stuck with the car.

The road to the peak of Jebel Jais

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Driving down was twice as fast and a million times more panic-inducing than going up. I had to believe the car would make it round each of the switchbacks. When I finally made it back to the Bear Grylls camp, I could still hear the V8 engine echoing up the valley behind me like thunder.

Does the Anantara’s Maldives-meets-the-Gulf (meets-the-Alps) combination work? The £140-million resort is pleasingly small in a region where most tend to be big and not so beautiful. There are only 174 rooms spread over a 467-acre site. The vibe is low-key luxe. Take the jet skis, which are electric and very quiet. The prices are also low by the overinflated standards of the region: a night for two including breakfast in a “basic” room — which is a generous 47 sq m and has a terrace — costs from £345.

There are a few wrinkles, though. The 50-minute drive from Dubai airport to Ras al-Khaimah is tragic. You go past half-built malls and abandoned residential developments and the sprawling, prison-like camps where the emirates’ construction workers are forced to live.

Because Ras al-Khaimah’s resorts, both on the coast and in the mountains, are new, the place feels manicured and sanitised. They need to bed in. There’s not enough to do, either. The ruling family, which is in charge of the tourism master plan, needs to add some more attractions. Some are on the way, I’m told, notably an eco-resort on a working farm in the mountains that will offer field-to-table food and yoga. Combine that with a 24-hour Bear Grylls survival course and a few days at Anantara and you’ll experience the best of the new emirate on the block.

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John Arlidge was a guest of Anantara, which has B&B doubles from £345 (anantara.com). Fly to Dubai

Have found any spots that feel like the Maldives? Let us know in the comments below

Four more luxury hotels opening in the Middle East in 2024

By Lucy Thackray

One&Only One Za’abeel, Dubai

RUPERT PEACE

Joining O&O’s two popular resorts in the most established holiday emirate, a new “vertical resort” opened in February — the brand’s first — in one of the vast, twin skyscrapers known as One Za’abeel. They’re joined by a suspended, sky bridge “boulevard” called the Link — the world’s longest cantilever. In a city that loves firsts, the hotel also breaks the record for the UAE’s longest infinity pool (120m), with 11 high-end restaurants and 229 rooms and suites, including what is surely one of the flashiest penthouses on the planet.
Details B&B doubles from £410 (oneandonlyresorts.com)

Mandarin Oriental Muscat, Oman

A boxy white structure framed by tall palms, Oman’s Miami-vibes new Mandarin Oriental will open in May 2024. In the upmarket residential district of Shatti Al-Qurum, it’s a big complex of 103 hotel rooms, 47 suites and 156 residences — and a spot on a long, sandy beach. Communal spaces have traditional-feeling Arab interiors and high-ceilinged atriums, while spacious cream-and-brown rooms feature intricate Omani motifs. One highlight will be the generous-sized spa performing full-on spa rituals and “voyages”, many involving a traditional hammam.
Details Room-only doubles from £444 (mandarinoriental.com)

Our Habitas Ras Abrouq, Qatar

Habitas’s earthy camps are all about digging into authentic culture and feeling at home: an interesting prospect in the business-luxe landscape of Qatar. This January 2024 opening has 42 structured, canvas-topped tent-suites with gorgeous furnishings and private plunge pools, ranging in size from one to four-bedroom configurations; the owners have plans to stage public art exhibitions in the desert as well as hosting pop-up supper clubs and alfresco screenings. Ras Abrouq is just over an hour’s drive west of the capital, Doha, and is on the edge of the Al-Reem Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco-protected site on Qatar’s west coast.
Details B&B doubles from £515 (ourhabitas.com)

Anantara Santorini Retreat, Abu Dhabi

GERRY O’LEARY

Just when you think the UAE can’t get any more whimsical in its design tastes, here comes a frosted-white imitation Santorini cave hotel, inspired by the Cyclades island but set on a sandy beach in Ghantoot, between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Just opened, it’s no eyesore, with only 22 rooms done up in tasteful, curvaceous creams; wicker and coral-inspired furnishings lend a soothing seaside feel. Two restaurant options — one swish Arabic, the other glam Greek — keep things simple, with the gleaming white domes overlooking a mellow pool terrace.
Details B&B doubles from £457 (anantara.com)

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