Jumeirah Al Qasr

A boat built on the lines of the Dubai Creek abra is the slowest way to reach Jumeirah Al Qasr, and the one most guests take at least once. The boats run along the canals of Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, past wind towers and the covered lanes of the souk, to the hotel at the seaward end of the resort. Al Qasr is Arabic for 'the palace', and the building was designed to suggest the summer residence of a Gulf ruler, on its own island in the waterways, with the sail of the Burj Al Arab rising off the beach next door.

History

Madinat Jumeirah, 'the city of Jumeirah', was built by the Jumeirah group, the hotel company of Dubai Holding, on the coast at Umm Suqeim, beside the Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel it already ran there. The first of its hotels, Mina A'Salam, opened in 2003. Al Qasr followed in 2004, together with Dar Al Masyaf, a scatter of low courtyard houses in the gardens. A fourth hotel, Jumeirah Al Naseem, opened on the Burj Al Arab side of the resort in 2016. Al Qasr has stayed the formal centrepiece of the resort, with the grandest lobby and the longest approach.

Architecture and design

The design borrows from the coral-stone houses, wind towers and forts of the old Gulf coast and enlarges them to palace scale. A long palm-lined drive leads to the entrance, where sculpted Arabian horses stand at the forecourt. The lobby is tall and lit by large chandeliers, with Arabian ornament throughout, and the public rooms open onto terraces over the pool and the sea. Water is the organising idea: the canals wrap around the building, and boat landings sit at its foot.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites face either the sea and the Burj Al Arab or the waterways and the wind towers of the souk, and most have a balcony or terrace. The suites on the upper floors add sitting and dining rooms. Guests of Al Qasr use the facilities of the whole of Madinat Jumeirah, which turns a large hotel into part of a much larger estate.

Dining

Pierchic, the seafood restaurant at the end of a timber pier that runs out into the Gulf from Al Qasr's beach, is the hotel's best-known table, with the Burj Al Arab lit across the water at night. The hotel's other restaurants and its breakfast room look over the pool. The souk next door adds dozens of restaurants and bars along the canals, all within reach on foot or by boat.

Wellness

Talise Spa sits on its own island in the waterways, with treatment rooms in separate pavilions reached through gardens, and serves all the Madinat hotels. Al Qasr's pool is among the largest hotel pools in Dubai, a long free-form basin between the building and the sand, and the resort's private beach runs for about two kilometres.

Weddings and events

Madinat Jumeirah runs one of the largest hotel event operations in the city. Its conference and events centre, with ballrooms and the Madinat Arena, handles conferences, exhibitions and gala dinners, and the Madinat Theatre stages touring productions. Weddings at Al Qasr use the hotel's ballroom, its lawns and the beach, with the Burj Al Arab behind outdoor ceremonies.

Location

The resort lies on the coast road at Umm Suqeim, south-west of the old centre around the Creek. The Mall of the Emirates is about ten minutes by car, and its metro station is the nearest. The Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina are each around 15 minutes away, Downtown Dubai and the Burj Khalifa about 20. As a luxury hotel in Dubai it is placed for the beach and the water rather than the skyline. Dubai International Airport is roughly 25 minutes by road outside rush hour, and Al Maktoum International about 40.