Two Hundred and Seven Keys at the Edge of the Empty Quarter: Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara
Two hundred and seven keys stand at the northern edge of the Rub al Khali: one hundred and forty rooms, fourteen suites and fifty three pool villas, arranged behind ochre walls that rise out of the Liwa dunes in stages. The resort opened in 2009 and sits two and a half hours by road from the city of Abu Dhabi and three and a half from Dubai.
Those numbers are the property. Qasr Al Sarab is large enough to run five restaurants and two lounges, and remote enough that the Empty Quarter beyond the walls is genuinely the Empty Quarter. This is the Emirate of Abu Dhabi rather than the city, a distinction worth holding, and it is the strongest argument that the emirate is more than its coastline.
A fort built in stages
The architecture takes the form of a traditional Arabian fort, walls climbing out of the sand with courtyards and towers arranged behind them. From a distance the building reads as though it predates the road.
Interiors follow the same logic. Earth tones, embroidered fabrics, Bedouin detailing and jewelled chandeliers, handled with enough restraint that the reference stays a reference. Every room faces the sunset and the dunes beyond it.
Rooms, suites and fifty three villas
Rooms run from forty five to fifty square metres of combined indoor and outdoor space, with sliding glass doors, deep soaking baths, rain showers and a pillow menu, and each sleeps two adults and a child. The Deluxe Garden Room is the entry category at forty five square metres with a garden terrace. The Deluxe Balcony Room takes forty eight square metres and a private balcony over the desert valley. The Deluxe Terrace Room is the largest of the three at fifty square metres, with a terrace turned to the desert panorama.
Above them the Anantara Suite runs to 106 square metres and adds living and dining space for three adults and a child, and the Two Bedroom Family Suite reaches 178 square metres and sleeps five adults and a child, which is a rare provision this far inland.
The pool villas are another category altogether, running from 130 square metres to 467, each with a private pool, a sundeck and a butler, and available with one, two or three bedrooms. Set slightly apart and a short drive from the main building, the adults only Royal Pavilion Villas run to 130 square metres and offer the most complete seclusion on the property.
Seven places to eat
Al Waha opens at seven in the morning for breakfast across Middle Eastern and international menus. Amanie handles Mediterranean cooking indoors, through lunch and dinner. Ghadeer works from noon until ten with global menus and a poolside bar. Suhail occupies the rooftop as a grill and lounge, opening the bar at three and serving dinner from six, positioned squarely for the sunset everyone comes for.
Al Liwan runs as an all day lobby lounge from eight in the morning until eleven at night, and Naseem Pool Bar pours from nine.
The one to book is Al Falaj, a Bedouin style setting among the dunes away from the main building, serving Middle Eastern dishes in the open air from half past six. It closes through the summer and reopens in October. Beyond the venues the resort arranges Designer Dining out on the sand and Spice Spoons cooking classes with the chefs.
There is no light pollution here for a hundred kilometres in any direction. Dinner outdoors at Al Falaj is worth ordering for the sky alone.
The Desert Excursion Centre
This is what separates Qasr Al Sarab from every beach resort in the emirate. The centre runs desert drives, camel trekking, Polaris rides, desert walking, fat biking and archery, along with horse riding, mountain biking, dune driving and guided stargazing.
Sunrise and sunset are the hours that matter. A camel trek out into the dunes as the light goes has a stillness no amount of hotel design can manufacture, and guests who spend the whole stay by the pool have paid for a two and a half hour drive they did not need to make.
Anantara Spa and the Wellness and Meditation Centre
The spa holds five treatment rooms alongside a Moroccan hammam, jacuzzis, steam rooms and a relaxation area. A dedicated Wellness and Meditation Centre sits separately, and yoga and meditation sessions are run out on the open sand.
Two pools serve the resort, one of them a splash pool for children, fringed with palms in a lagoon arrangement that reads as an oasis without labouring the point.
The distinction between the spa and the meditation centre is worth drawing. The first is a treatment facility with a hammam at its centre. The second exists so that guests can be taken out onto the sand at first light and left there, which is a different proposition and one that only a resort with this much empty ground can offer.
Families and couples, held apart
The resort manages a balance that is difficult at this scale. A kids club, a teens club, the splash pool and cooking classes make it genuinely workable for families, while the Royal Pavilion Villas stay adults only, so couples looking for quiet are not obliged to share it.
Pets are accepted in designated ground floor rooms and villas with notice, which is rare at this level anywhere in the emirate.
Who should make the drive
There are desert resorts closer to both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and most sit in managed reserves rather than in open desert. Here the distance is the product. Qasr Al Sarab is far enough out that the Empty Quarter starts at the wall, and the two and a half hours is the price of a silence that is not available nearer the coast.
Stay two nights at least. One does not justify the road.
Contact
HOTEL: Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara
ADDRESS: Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, Bateen Liwa, Mahdar Sahab, Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi. P.O. Box 131277
TELEPHONE: +971 2 886 2088
EMAIL: res.auh@anantara.com
WEBSITE: https://www.anantara.com/en/qasr-al-sarab-abu-dhabi
AREA: Liwa / Al Dhafra