One&Only The Palm

The boat leaves the jetty at One&Only Royal Mirage, crosses the water below the Palm Jumeirah bridge and ties up a quarter of an hour later at a small marina on the outer crescent. This is how many guests first see One&Only The Palm, Dubai, and the arrival sets the tone: low white buildings, Moorish arches and gardens where most of the Palm's hotels are towers.

History

Kerzner International opened One&Only The Palm in 2010, a decade after One&Only Royal Mirage on Jumeirah Beach had become the group's flagship in the emirate. Where the Royal Mirage sprawled along the mainland shore, the new house was built small on purpose, on a plot at the western end of the crescent that curls around the Palm. It was the first resort on the crescent to open after Atlantis The Palm, its neighbour at the apex, and it took the opposite approach: a private, residential-scale property rather than a destination for crowds.

Architecture and design

The buildings are low and spread through gardens, with a palette of white render, carved timber screens, courtyards and fountains that borrows from Andalusian and Moorish houses. The Manor House holds the main rooms and suites and faces a long lawn running down to the beach. Palm Beach villas stand along the sand with their own pools. The restaurant pavilions and the spa sit apart in the grounds, so a guest walks between them under palms rather than along hotel corridors. Across the water, the skyline of Dubai Marina provides the backdrop to the beach.

Rooms and suites

The resort has fewer than 100 keys, split between rooms and suites in the Manor House, junior suites in the garden wings and beach villas with private pools. Interiors use dark timber, white stone and brass, with terraces or balconies on every category. The Palm Beach villas are the top of the range, each with direct access to the sand.

Dining

STAY by Yannick Alléno is the restaurant that put the hotel on the map for food. The Paris chef, who holds three stars at Pavillon Ledoyen, opened it as his first Middle East address, with a pastry library as its centrepiece. When the Michelin Guide published its first Dubai selection in 2022, STAY was among the restaurants awarded a star. ZEST serves breakfast and an all-day menu of Mediterranean and Asian dishes by the pool. 101 Dining Lounge and Bar sits at the end of the marina, built over the water, and is the place for sunset drinks and seafood with the city skyline across the bay.

Wellness

The Guerlain Spa occupies its own building in the gardens, with treatment rooms, a hammam, a fitness centre and the French house's signature facials. The main pool runs the length of the lawn in front of the Manor House and a second, quieter pool serves the villas.

Weddings and events

The lawn between the Manor House and the beach is the setting for weddings, with ceremonies on the grass or on the sand and dinners under the stars. The size of the resort suits private celebrations and small corporate groups rather than large conferences, and whole-house buyouts are possible. Meetings use the resort's function spaces and the private dining rooms at STAY.

Location

One&Only The Palm stands on the western crescent of Palm Jumeirah, reached by road across the island or by the hotel's boat from One&Only Royal Mirage, whose restaurants and beach club are open to guests. Atlantis The Palm is a short drive along the crescent. Dubai International Airport is about 40 minutes by car, and Al Maktoum International about 35 minutes. As a luxury hotel in Dubai it is unusual in its scale: a beach resort that feels like a private estate on one of the busiest islands in the Gulf.