If you purchase something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Consider Gold List the answer to the question our editors get asked more than any other: What are your favorite places to stay? But more than that, it reflects our ongoing love affair with the places where we stay, which often become our gateways to entire destinations.
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See the full Gold List here. Bab Al Shams reveals herself slowly, her sandstone exteriorβan ode to traditional Emirati fortsβhalf-hidden by spindly date palms and sand dunes. For almost two decades, UAE residents have made the minute pilgrimage from the city up Al Qudra Roadβpast outlandishly shaped man-made lakes, swirling cycle paths and endurance horse-racing tracksβto celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and indulgent weekends at Bab Al Shams.
The city may be creeping closer, but this is still the place we come to get away from it all. The resort comes into its own as the sun sets, the silhouettes of sand dunes framed in pinks and mauves; bamboo torches flickering along the perimeter and lanterns creating a play of light and shadow in outdoor passageways. The lobby, once a warren of dimly lit, compartmentalized spaces, has been opened out and brightened up.
In my terrace garden room, instead of dark woods and heavy upholstery, nods to tradition come in delicate mother-of-pearl detailing on arched mirrors, brass studs on cupboard doors and majlis-style seating in a corner nook. Teal accents flit from headboards and furniture piping to diamond-shaped mosaic tiles in the rain shower. The hotel is unassuming, but not devoid of spectacle.
