The Village on the Creek: Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi
The private beach at Qaryat Al Beri runs for a kilometre along the Khor Al Maqta, which makes it one of the longer stretches of hotel sand anywhere on the creek and the reason a good number of guests never leave the estate. Four outdoor pools sit behind it, set far enough apart that families, swimmers and readers are not obliged to share the same water.
Shangri-La did not build a hotel here so much as a quarter. The estate carries the hotel, a separate four star property, residences, a canal system and a covered souq, all arranged along the water, with an abra running between them. That second property is Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, which is worth knowing when comparing rates, since the two share a setting without sharing a tariff.
The creek and what is within reach
Qaryat Al Beri translates roughly as the village by the creek, and the description holds. The estate sits in Rabdan between the Maqta and Mussafah bridges, on the channel that separates the main island from the mainland.
The hotel puts Abu Dhabi International Airport at approximately ten minutes by car, the convention centre at five, and the Corniche and city centre at fifteen. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque stands across the water and is a short drive by road.
The Souq at Qaryat Al Beri belongs to the estate, a covered market of shops and restaurants built in traditional style and connected to the hotel by footpath and by canal. It gives guests somewhere to walk to after dinner, which is not something every resort in the emirate can offer. The boat shuttle runs daily from four in the afternoon until twenty past ten at night.
Rooms, suites and the Horizon Club
The hotel holds 213 rooms and suites. Deluxe rooms and executive garden rooms run from forty five to fifty five square metres, which is generous for an entry category, and premier rooms take that to sixty seven. Deluxe and premier rooms carry private balconies over the canal, while executive garden rooms open onto a private terrace facing the gardens and the pools.
Above these sit the Horizon Club deluxe and premier categories, both looking at the canal and both carrying club benefits. Suites begin at ninety square metres for an executive suite, pass through a garden suite of one hundred and ten with two private terraces and a specialty suite of one hundred and thirty five, and reach four hundred square metres in the presidential suite.
Two villas of six hundred square metres each, the family villa and the Samar celebration villa, look at either the canal or the beach from private terraces. Interconnecting pairs, two deluxe rooms or two executive garden rooms, give a family ninety square metres across two keys.
Interiors follow an Arabian register, warm and detailed rather than austere. Rooms carry premium bedding, minibars, blackout curtains, bathrobes and slippers, and the categories facing the water are the ones to ask for.
Tables, and the abra that reaches them
The hotel counts three restaurants and three bars, a lobby lounge and a pool bar among them, and the kitchens range from classic Cantonese to home style Arabic cooking. Sofra bld is the all day dining room, one of the better known buffets in the capital, and it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The souq carries further restaurants and cafes, a short walk or a two minute abra ride away, which extends the choice well beyond what the hotel alone provides. Between October and April the canal side tables are the ones to book.
> Take the abra to the souq for dinner rather than eating in. It is a five minute journey that turns a meal into an evening.
Chi, The Spa, and the water
Chi, The Spa is the group’s signature wellness brand and here opens from ten in the morning until midnight, with a menu built on natural healing methods drawn from several Asian traditions and treatments tailored to a stated wellness goal. Guests aged twelve and above may be treated with written parental consent, and massage is offered to expectant mothers in the second and third trimesters.
The four pools and the kilometre of sand do the rest of the work. The beach carries umbrellas, loungers, beach massage and volleyball. A health club runs yoga and fitness classes, and a hair and beauty salon operates on the estate.
Families, meetings and weddings
Children’s activities, the pools, the beach and the interconnecting room pairs make this a straightforward family resort, and the guest scores are among the highest recorded in the capital.
On business, the conference facilities are substantial and a business centre operates around the clock. Five minutes from the convention centre and ten from the airport is a rare position for a beach resort, and it explains why the ballrooms fill with conference and wedding trade through the cooler months.
Among the hotels on Khor Al Maqta
Three five star hotels look at the Grand Mosque across this creek and each solves the same site differently. This is the smallest of them by room count and the largest by footprint: 213 rooms against the 366 at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, spread across an estate with canals, a souq, four pools and a kilometre of beach.
For a couple after a short stay near the mosque, the neighbours are simpler. For a family taking a week, or for anyone who values being able to walk somewhere in the evening, the estate is the argument. Ask for a canal facing room on the mosque side, and use the abras rather than the footpaths.
Contact
HOTEL: Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi
ADDRESS: Khor Al Maqta, Qaryat Al Beri, Rabdan RB2, Abu Dhabi
TELEPHONE: +971 2 509 8888
EMAIL: abudhabi@shangri-la.com
WEBSITE: https://www.shangri-la.com/abudhabi/qaryatalberi/
AREA: Qaryat Al Beri / Khor Al Maqta