WE HAVE JUST BEEN TO THAILAND, part 10, Paradee

KOH SAMET LOVERS PARADISE.
Paradee is a small, intimate and charming villa resort. Perfect for those who just want to relax and enjoy days at the beautiful pool and beach or at the spa.

From Bangkok airport we had a nice 2 hour drive down to Jadet Pier. There we checked in at the Paradee Lounge while waiting for our private speedboat, and were given the opportunity to choose what soap and incense aroma we would like in our bathroom, and whether to get a bottle of white, red or sparkling wine in the villa.

We stayed in a Garden Pool Villa. Like other villas it has dark wooden floors.
There is a small sitting area with a minibar, flat TV & DVD player, safety box & wifi. In the bathrooms you will find bathrobes, toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, mosquito spray etc.) and an outdoor shower with open roof.
On the terrace is an outdoor pool, table, and bathtub. A welcome feature - every day you are given at least 2 bottles of water.

Altogether there are 40 luxuriously appointed villas with thatched roofs and views of the tropical gardens or the white sandy beaches. Each has 100 sqm of living space.

FACILITIES & ACTIVITIES
There is only one restaurant but it has a big menu with lots of Thai or International dishes to choose from. They also organize dinneers on the beach.




Paradee has a beautiful sunrise beach on one side, and on the other side of the resort a beautiful rocky cove perfect for enjoying the sunset. Here you find the sunset bar, which was a pleasant place to gather before dinner and watch the beautiful sunset.

The resort has a small gym if you like to work out during your stay. They also have a small Spa with a nice duo room and good therapists. We had tea afterwards in the Spa reception.

In front of the main pool area on a small and beautiful beach there are watersports on offer: scuba diving (PADI), windsurfing, complimentary kayaking and sailing. During the day they serve water and fruit or delicious ice cream. In the afternoon you can also choose if you would like to have the complimentary afternoon tea at the pool area or in your villa.

WHO SHOULD STAY
Paradee has been designed as a resort for couples who want privacy and peace. Truly a lover’s paradise.

AIRPORT
2 hours 30 minutes by car from Bangkok Internatinal Airport to the pier, Rayong; 15 minutes by speed boat to the island.

Don’t miss…
A pool villa - and don’t miss arranging a special romantic dinner by your pool.

HOTEL CHECK UAE/DUBAI, part 6, Banyan Tree Al Wadi

MAGICAL DESERT EXPERIENCE WITH OWN POOL.

Absolutely amazing and unique – tented pool villas among desert sands. We stayed 3 nights in an Al Khaimah Tented Pool Villa. A place to luxuriate in total privacy and peace.

We ordered room service every day to lunch by the pool and enjoy it in utmost privacy. This privilege was not too expensive – prices much like Stockholm. Espresso, water and tea are free every day, and they had a nice selection in the mini bar to enjoy. The terrace was a great place to be, open and sunny.

The rooms are very spacious with wooden floors. There is a huge bathroom with separate shower and a roomy bath tub. It also has two wardrobes and two washbasins and you get a bathrobe and slippers.

Altogether there are 101 pool-villas among the desert dunes: the 158 sqm Al Rimal Deluxe Pool Villas with traditional mud brick architecture, and the 253 sqm tented pool villas (Al Khaimah & Al Sahari), in the style of Bedouin tents. Our favourite was our own Bedouin-style Al Khaimah Tented Pool Villa. Just 20 mins away from the desert resort, the beach club offers 32 Beachfront pool villas also emulating the nomadic tents of Bedouin tribes.

DINING
The desert resort has two restaurants. The Asian restaurant Saffron was our favorite. The Arabic restaurant Al Waha offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also organize a lovely barbeque at your villa or out in the desert.

BEACH
The beach is not too far away. The Banyan Tree Beach Club is about 20 minutes by car, and the shuttle is free for the guests. The pool villas at the beach are smaller but have the same design from outside and a small plunge pool.

FACILITIES
At the main building the resort offers a lovely and very spacious Banyan Tree Spa. We had a 3 hour spa treatment (called Egyptian Beauty), a truly luxurious experience. The Rainforest experience gives you a sensational walk through a series of showers and different saunas.
Other facilities include equipped gym, aerobics & yoga rooms. Activities include horse riding, camel safaris, bike trails, archery, and learning adventures at the Kids Club.

LOCATION
Wadi Khadeja in a 60 ha nature reserve.

WHO SHOULD STAY
Great for couples and smaller families who want to relax in serene ambience. The Al Sahari Tented Pool Villa can take 2 adults + 3 smaller children. Al Rimal Deluxe Pool Villas are smaller but you can get interconnecting rooms.

HOW TO GET TO BANYAN TREE AL WADI
45 minutes by car from Dubai International Airport; 2 hours from Abu Dhabi International Airport.

SUMMARY
After a few days in the city of Dubai this is a great place to go to just relax, enjoy the spa and some of the activities. It´s a magical place out in the desert.

HOTEL CHECKS DUBAI, part 5, Atlantis The Palm

FOR KIDS AND GROWNUP KIDS.
Atlantis the Palm is a place for kids and adults who still feel like kids. The hotel had 3000 adults and over 1000 kids in house when we were there. The lobby overflowed with energy, people everywhere and kids running around exuberantly.



Who to stay
This is a great property for families who are looking for a “Disney” like experience. Or for couples who are really playful and like fantasy style resorts.

Facilities
The facilities are good. There are many great restaurants including Nobu and the steak restaurant Seafire. We had dinner in Seafire and were surprised that the quality was so high with the dishes so nicely presented, despite the popularity of the complex. The meal was expensive, however. More expensive to dine in Atlantis than at One&Only The Palm, for example.

Rooms & Imperial Club
The towers house 1373 rooms & 166 suites. Imperial Club rooms are located on the 11th to 15th floor of the East Tower, offering upgraded hotel room amenities as well as access to a dedicated lounge on the 12th floor. The Imperial Club lounge is pleasant with a nice view. Here you are offered a substantial snack buffet and drinks throughout the day. People who buy the Imperial Club also get many other advantages including:

• Complimentary kids club (other guests get 1 only 1 day free)
• Access to wet areas of the spa (other guests only if they book a treatment)
• Rush – the club for teens. Free access.
(other guests pay 25 dirhams in the evening, but free during the day for all teens)










You should know
The aquarium is stunning with thousands of fish to admire. The water park is exciting but be aware that most attractions in Aquaventure require that you are 1.2 meters high. It is important for families to have the right expectations.


The room to lust after has a glass wall extending your visual space into the underwater world.

NOTE: In blog style the these are informal snapshots taken with mobile phone

HOTEL CHECKS DUBAI, part 4, One&Only The Palm

SUPERB CLASS IN DUBAI.

A haven of luxury and style, One&Only The Palm is an intimate low rise resort with real class at the edge of The Palm island. The clientele is very upmarket, but it is not stiff or snobbish. We loved this quiet and relaxing place. It has beautiful pool areas, and the beach area is nice with plenty of space for the guests.



The food was outstanding. We loved the concept in the main restaurant where each dish is prepared in three different ways. So for example there are three shrimp starters cooked in an Asian, Middle Eastern or Western way etc. Amusing and brilliant. The breakfast buffet is fantastic, not over the top but with great quality products and plenty of choice.




Who should stay
This place is for top luxury clients who want the best in Dubai without any of the overwhelming, over-the-top luxury that Dubai can proffer. This is low key and stylish with finesse and European elegance and Arabian accents. It is also a place for top luxury families who do not want a large resort with kids clubs and water parks. When we stayed there, 34 kids were in house and by no means did they compromise the experience.

Location
On the edge of the palm leaf. 15 minutes by car to Royal Mirage. The surrounding area is not particularly inspiring. But when inside the resort you only see beautiful views. A transfer by boat to One&Only Royal Mirage is available a few times a day according to a fixed schedule.



Facilities
Great gym, hair salon, spa and nail spa. 3 restaurants, big pool area with sun loungers both shaded and in the sun. For guests who want to splurge they can rent an air conditioned cabana for the day by the pool. The cabanas have a living room with minibar, bathroom and indoor and outdoor shower. The approximate cost is EUR 500 for the day.





You should know
Only slow WIFI is included in the rate and only one person per room number can be connected at the same time. For quicker access one has to pay. The sand in the water on the beach can be a bit too fine.

Summary
A stylish and intimate 5 star resort for classy people who want to enjoy the best in life with like minded travellers.






NOTE: In blog style these are our own informal mobile phone snapshots

WE HAVE JUST BEEN TO THE MALDIVES, part 3, Soneva Fushi

PARADISE BAREFOOT CONTINUED
Now we visit the little sister of Soneva Fushi: much loved Soneva Gili.

On Soneva Fushi all the villas are on the beach, hidden away in the jungle, but on Soneva Gili they are all on stilts over their own lagoon, so it is a completely different setting.

Another beautiful flight to get there. This time we followed the pilot’s example and left our shoes in the luggage. After a quick boat ride we arrived barefoot at Soneva Gili and checked into our Villa Suite on one of the jetties.

Like Fushi, they are all in local wood and natural materials, enormous villas with lots and lots of space and a large sitting area. Here you have an amazing lazy view of the underwater world. Your private deck has cargo nets where you can lie and look down at the marine life.



Soneva Gili does not have its house reef close to the villas, as experienced at Fushi, and the lagoon floor is mostly covered with sand. However this attracts some new and very beautiful creatures. Plenty of blacktip reef sharks are seen everywhere, from your villa, from the lunch restaurant and whilst snorkeling. Big stingrays and eagle rays are also found in abundance around this area as well as many different kinds of puffer fish. Here you never really need to snorkel, you can just lie in the cargo net and the fish will come to you.



Smaller than Fushi, this place is primarily about relaxation. You are more or less forced to relax and enjoy yourself. The fact that neither you nor the staff wear shoes brings you closer to everything – not just to nature but to the staff. The relationship you have with them becomes very natural and fluid. When you meet the general managers walking around, they too are in their light linen clothes, bare feet, and at least give the illusion of being utterly relaxed as well. It is an amazing feeling to sit casually dressed with your feet in the sand, eating gourmet food and having the choice from an extensive wine list with mostly organic wines.



The resort offers 45 overwater villas including 8 water residences, 7 Crusoe residences and the Private Reserve including two master suites and guest room. The Crusoe accommodations and private reserve are indeed very private as they stand alone in the Indian Ocean reached only by boat. Guests get private rowing boats but can also use the shuttle.



Other facilities include an overwater spa, freshwater pool, gym, tennis, PADI dive centre with a purpose built dive boat – a typical Maldivian Dhoni.

AIRPORT & TRANSPORTATION
Soneva Fushi is a scenic seaplane flight of around 35 minutes from Male’ International Airport. Soneva Gili is 20 minutes by speedboat.

FLASH BACK – QATAR TO MALE’
A perfect start. Qatar airways business class delivered us fresh and ready, with plenty of leg room, Lanson vintage champagne and good choices in food.





At Male’ airport the pampering continued. Whisked off to a private lounge we could order special CDs for our room and book spa treatments, refreshed by hibiscus iced tea. Then we were lead to a light propeller plane for a stunning scenic ride. 45 minutes and a couple of stops later…. The pilot stepped out of the plane barefoot…

See our last blog on Soneva Fushi…

IN A COCONUTSHELL
The Maldives is paradise on earth, and this is how you should spend your time in paradise: relaxed and calm, with your feet in soft, white sand…

The sand was whiter then we dreamed of, the ocean even more beautiful and full of life then we imagined and, what is more, during 10 nights at Fushi and Gili we have been more relaxed than for a very, very long time.




NOTE: In blog style, these are our own informal snapshots. For the hotel's own images see our Select Collection website.

WE HAVE JUST BEEN TO THE MALDIVES, part 2, Soneva Fushi

PARADISE BAREFOOT:FUSHI.
The pilot steps out of the plane and whispers: You will love it here. She is barefoot: how appropriate for a trip in barefoot luxury. At the tiny floating Soneva Fushi International Airport, the first thing our Mr Friday does is collect our shoes: No news no shoes. “No shoes” makes your holiday start on the right foot – totally carefree. Jetlag pours off us in the soft sand amidst absolutely breathtaking beauty.

Our home is a villa suite with private pool, hidden in the jungle with a pathway leading down to the beach.

The villa is massive, almost 600 sqm with large saltwater pool and huge outdoor bathroom area. On the inside you have everything you need, from makeup mirrors, different sitting areas, espresso machine and lots and lots of space.

This is basically what Mr. Crusoe would have built if he had more time and a flair for luxury. All of the water is purified on site, no water flown in from Europe. Everything here is focused on balance and sustainability.

Our high expectations of beauty and space wildly exceeded, it is time for another high expectation, the food. So we took our bikes (all guests get bikes) to the main restaurant. Here, now and every lunch time we were pampered with sushi and sashimi, along with plates of mixed salmon, tuna, snapper and reef fish caught a few hours before.


Our favourite lunch

Beachside sand-in-toes dining


The resort has three restaurants. The rest of the food followed the same theme, as locally produced as possible (even mushrooms) – and absolutely wonderful, enjoyed in beautiful and casual settings.

The delicatessen room

Wicked desserts

There are 65 villas, each just a few steps from your own stretch of white sandy beach. A Six Senses Spa provides beauty and body treatments, steam rooms and sauna. Tennis junkies relax – there are tennis courts too. And for those who come for the underwater magic, a dive centre with latest high-tech diving equipment, offering PADI certification within a week. And naturally, there is snorkeling.

Soneva Fushi has a beautiful and very rich house reef: turtles, rays, triggerfish are quite common snorkeling sights. While diving, schools of eagle rays, moray eels, clown fish and other beautiful marine life are all around you in a fantastic abundance.

We snapped this image just off our beach.

And so a week went by in barefoot paradise. Our next stop will be Soneva Gili…

Note: In blog style these are our own spontatneous snapshots. For images by Soneva Fushi see our website.

HOTEL CHECKS DUBAI, part 3, Madinat Jumeirah

KID'S PARADISE

MADINAT JUMEIRAH is a large resort with three separate hotels all interconnected by water canals with boat shuttles. The outdoor area is beautifully landscaped and must be a paradise world for children.

The hotel was completely full but we managed to see a Deluxe Room in Al Qasr (The Palace); it is 55 sqm, with balcony, and can take two extra beds. They have lots of connecting rooms but will not confirm that you get one until check in. Al Qasr and The Palace each have 292 rooms.

We also saw one of the 29 summer houses that create the elite area Dar Al Masyaf. The summer houses hold 9 to 11 rooms. Each has a welcome lobby area with a butler. Every evening they have happy hour with complimentary drinks. Three summer houses (27-33 rooms) share one pool area. The Gulf Summer houses are the closest to the beach and these buildings house 11 rooms. The rooms in the summer houses start at a generous 60-65 sqm.



View over to the famous Burj al Arab.


Who should stay?

Families who are looking for a big resort with lots of facilities including the Wadi water park for children, watersports, and 44 restaurants and bars. Forty-four places to choose from, offering different cuisines and exotic drinks!

Facilities

The water park is great. For smaller children this water park is probably more suitable then Aquaventure at Atlantis. On site you find a souk with 75 shops and Talise Spa melding traditional ideas with international techniques; health club with trainers; hair salon. Watersports include windsurfing, sailing, diving and banana boat. Free wifi in the lobby. Free cable internet in the rooms.

Summary

Not a boutique hotel. A huge 5 star resort with two big hotels and summer houses. The guests have a great experience, with plenty to do on site, including a waterpark that also suits smaller children.

Note: In blog style we have used our own informal snapshots by mobile phone.

HOTEL CHECKS DUBAI, part 2, The Ritz-Carlton

CLASSIC INTIMACY ON THE BEACH
Serene in the heart of the Dubai Marina, The Ritz-Carlton is a more intimate resort with only 138 rooms. Amidst its landscaped gardens, the hotel feels quiet and calm in a warm and positive way. The sandy beach and clear water are beautiful - possibly the nicest beach feeling in Dubai.

We arrived into a splendid lobby that is very classic and traditional. A harpist and violinist added to the sense of harmony, even at midday.


The rooms are traditional five star, with nice classic bathrooms.

Floors 5 & 6 are the club floors.



The Deluxe rooms on the club floors are the same as the other deluxe rooms. The only differences are:

• Access to club lounge
• Nespresso machine
• DVD player

The room categories are:

• Deluxe Room
• Deluxe Room Club Floor
• Executive Suite
• Club Suite (Executive suite on the club floor)
• On top of that they have 2 premium suites.


Facilities
Four dining options include Italian and a Bedouin tent by the Gulf serving Arabic cuisine. There is also a Spa with sauna, steam room, hair and beauty salon, gym, four tennis courts, two squash courts, kid's club, and of course the pool area with three swimming pools including a swim-up bar and a children's pool.

Who should stay?
We recommend the Ritz-Carlton to couples and families who want a quieter and smaller resort, really nice beach and good outdoor pool area. The facilities are 5 star - not Dubai-style "six star" yet, but things will change with an ongoing construction project.

Location
On the water just by the JBR Walk which is a fantastic location. When you walk straight out of the hotel, in front of you are many restaurants, cafes, shops and so on. This is a big advantage for most holiday-makers.

You should know
The hotel is constructing another wing so the hotel will go from 138 rooms to 301 rooms. The other wing will be completed June 2012. Once it is completed all the old rooms will be refurbished bringing up the deluxe standard of the hotel.

Though construction is going on, it does not seem like a problem. The heavy work is already done and there is not much noise or disturbance at all. The construction area is walled off.

Summary
We really like the location of this hotel. It is a big advantage to be able to step out of the door and have all the dining and other options. The beach is nice and the hotel is very traditional and classic. A solid product which will be truly great once the new wing is ready in June 2012.

Note: In usual blog style, our images are our own informal mobile phone snapshots taken during our visit.