Tour 12
One Hotel Throughout
6 nights, 7 days
- Length
- 6 nights, 7 days including 1 night in the air
- Shape
- One Dubai hotel throughout, with the desert, an Abu Dhabi day, a desert safari evening and three signature meals.
- Overnights
- Al Maha 1, Paramount Hotel Dubai 4
Every itinerary runs at two paces. Full: three or four stops a day, most meals booked, early starts. Relaxed keeps the same length, the same hotels and the same arrival and departure, and books less into each day: one anchor per half day, later starts, lunch mostly at leisure, and a free afternoon or evening every second day. Either pace can run from the same booking, because the rooms do not change. What changes is tickets, meals and guide hours.
The program at a glance
- Day 1Dubai
- Day 2Dubai Frame - abra water taxi, Gold Souk, Spice Souk - Al Maha Desert Resort and SpaAl Maha
- Day 3Al Maha Desert Resort - Dubai - Souk Madinat Jumeirah - photo stop at the Burj Al Arab - a fine dinner at Atlantis The RoyalParamount Dubai
- Day 4Dubai - Abu Dhabi - Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - a fine lunch at the Emirates Palace - Qasr Al Watan Presidential Palace - DubaiParamount Dubai
- Day 5The View at The Palm - Palm Jumeirah Mall - a fine lunch at Atlantis The Palm - desert experience (dune bashing by 4x4 and a campfire BBQ evening)Paramount Dubai
- Day 6photo stop at the Museum of the Future - The Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa At The Top Sky on level 148, the Dubai FountainParamount Dubai
- Day 7hotel - airport
One Hotel Throughout
- Day 1Dubai
Dubai
Today you fly to Dubai, the brightest star of the United Arab Emirates. It is the second largest city in the UAE and a modern metropolis with a culture all its own. East meets West here, old customs live alongside new, and ancient tradition stands in sharp contrast to modern life. Gentle sunshine, romantic beaches, desert without end and the quiet mystery of Arabia together make one beautiful scene after another.
Night of day 2
Al Maha desert- Day 2Dubai – Al Maha desert
Dubai Frame - abra water taxi, Gold Souk, Spice Souk - Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa
The Dubai Frame. After the Burj Khalifa, this is another work built at great expense, a surrealist piece of architecture whose outer surface is covered in gold patterning. The frame stands about 50 stories high inside Zabeel Park and became Dubai's most eye-catching new landmark in 2018. It took four years to complete.
The full day
The Gold Souk, where shop windows hang full of dazzling gold work: necklaces, rings, bangles, earrings and brooches, all of it astonishing to look at. And nearby,
the Spice Souk, where you find imported spices of every kind. It is the best place to feel the character of the place. Then ride
The abra water taxi, the oldest and simplest form of transport local people use on Dubai Creek.
On to Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa, the only hotel in the world built inside a desert wildlife reserve. It covers 27 square kilometers, every unit is a free-standing tented suite, and every suite has its own private pool and outdoor garden. Guests receive one complimentary afternoon desert activity from the resort. The choices include a camel ride, sunset drinks and a nature drive.
Nights of days 3–6
Business Bay- Day 3Jumeirah – Al Maha desert – Jumeirah – Business Bay
Al Maha Desert Resort - Dubai - Souk Madinat Jumeirah - photo stop at the Burj Al Arab - a fine dinner at Atlantis The Royal
Guests receive one complimentary morning desert activity from the resort: a falconry display, a nature walk or archery. Dune driving and horse riding can be added as optional extras.
The full day
Souk Madinat Jumeirah is designed in imitation of a traditional open-air market and sits inside a large resort. Among all the high-end retail in the city it has the most atmosphere, and it became a popular destination the moment it opened. Wind towers stand out above the lower buildings of the souk, and when they light up at night the whole area is bathed in a romantic glow. Winding waterways and excellent outdoor dining sit nearby. It is no surprise at all that the souk draws visitors like a magnet.
A photo stop at the Burj Al Arab, the sail-shaped hotel on its own island off Jumeirah Beach, for the photograph everyone wants.
We have arranged a fine dinner at Atlantis The Royal, which opened officially on 7 January 2023 next door to Atlantis The Palm. This 795-room resort rises 43 floors and is a brand new Dubai landmark, crafted by leading designers, architects and artists. Its bold architecture is crowned by a sky pool 90 meters up, and its spectacular lobby holds more than 4,000 jellyfish in what is billed as the world's largest jellyfish tank.
- Day 4Abu Dhabi – Business Bay
Dubai - Abu Dhabi - Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - a fine lunch at the Emirates Palace - Qasr Al Watan Presidential Palace - Dubai
We travel to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Along the Corniche you can look across to the sea views and beautiful beaches on the far shore. The scenery of Abu Dhabi is unforgettable.
The full day
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is the largest mosque in the Arab world and one of the most beautiful anywhere. Its clean white exterior is built from marble imported from Italy, and in the main prayer hall you can see the world's largest carpet, designed by Iranian artists, along with chandeliers imported from Germany. It is a remarkable sight.
We have arranged a varied and refined buffet inside the Emirates Palace. The luxury rivals European royalty. Everything in sight is made from silver, gold and marble sourced worldwide, together with the largest solid-gold dome in the world and nearly 1,000 crystal lights supplied by Swarovski. The gilded splendor is dreamlike, luxury at its outer limit.
Qasr Al Watan, the Presidential Palace, has become one of the must-see stops in Abu Dhabi. It is where the UAE officially receives foreign dignitaries today and where state visits by heads of state take place. It uses the pointed arches and great domes of sixteenth to eighteenth century Mughal Islamic architecture, blended cleverly with the ornate building traditions of India, for a visual impact and a grandeur you will not have seen before. That includes the main halls and the rooms holding the treasures presented to the UAE president by countries around the world, where the interiors use white, yellow and blue to stand for the landscape of the region. The west wing explains how the country was formed and how it is governed, while the east wing displays a large collection of artifacts and precious manuscripts and explains what the Arab world has contributed to science, art, the humanities and literature. There is also a library holding more than fifty thousand books and resources.
- Day 5Palm Jumeirah – Al Maha desert – Business Bay
The View at The Palm - Palm Jumeirah Mall - a fine lunch at Atlantis The Palm - desert experience (dune bashing by 4x4 and a campfire BBQ evening)
The View at The Palm, new in 2020. Take the elevator to the observation deck on the 52nd floor and look down over the whole of Palm Jumeirah. You can photograph the full frond pattern of the island, with the skyline laid out in front of you.
The full day
Palm Jumeirah Mall is an upscale lifestyle, retail, dining and entertainment destination at the heart of Palm Jumeirah. It opened at the end of 2019 with more than 300 stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. Shopping highlights include the MODO department store, H&M and a Waitrose supermarket, alongside leisure venues such as Trampo Extreme trampoline park, the Fabyland indoor playground and a Vox Cinemas complex with 14 screens.
We have arranged a fine meal inside Atlantis The Palm. It was the first hotel to open on Palm Jumeirah and takes its name from the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Its architecture follows ancient Persian and Babylonian forms, while the interiors express the essence of Atlantis, wonder, the ocean and discovery, combined with local Arabian elements.
Desert experience: a four-wheel drive ride through the desert, a camel ride, a barbecue at a desert camp and an authentic Middle Eastern belly dance performance. We board powerful, high-torque four-wheel drive vehicles for the safari tour. As the scenery changes along the way it strikes you that the prosperous life you have seen these past few days sits in the middle of a desert. Before entering the sand, every vehicle lets some air out of its tires for better grip, so even on the dunes the drive is safe. Once out in the open desert the driver begins to dive, slide and drift across the sand, which is thrilling and great fun. There are stops along the way for photographs, and when your feet touch the sand you feel how real it all is.
Note: please decide whether to take part in the dune drive and the camel ride according to your own physical condition.
- Day 6Dubai – Business Bay
photo stop at the Museum of the Future - The Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa At The Top Sky on level 148, the Dubai Fountain
The Museum of the Future, Dubai's new landmark, with avant-garde architectural design. The museum is designed as an asymmetric ring wrapped in steel and glass, and National Geographic named it one of the fourteen most beautiful museums in the world. The 77-meter-high open ring stands apart in the busy financial district, its flowing lines rising at the center like an eye that sees through time, showing the shape of the future.
The full day
The world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, stands 828 meters, 320 meters higher than Taipei 101, and the scale of it is extraordinary. We have arranged the world's fastest elevator to take you to the observation deck on the 148th floor, reaching the At The Top Sky deck in under a minute. Everywhere you look are ultra-modern skyscrapers. Experiencing this desert wonder rising from the ground to compete with the sky is something you should not miss while you are in Dubai.
The Dubai Mall sits next to the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and is the largest shopping, entertainment and leisure destination in the world. It houses more than 1,200 stores, two large department stores and hundreds of food outlets across more than one million square meters, the size of 200 football fields.
In Downtown Dubai you see the tallest performing fountain in the world. The Dubai Fountain gives you a rare chance to lose yourself in a captivating show of water, music and light.
- Day 7Dubai
hotel - airport
Breakfast in the hotel or a box to go, then the transfer to the airport with your guide.
- All hotel accommodation as listed, with partner-rate benefits.
- All transfers in chauffeured vehicles. Vehicle class scales to pax count.
- Mandarin-, English- and Arabic-capable guide on every operating day.
- All entrance tickets named in the itinerary.
- Meals as listed (B / L / D).
- Bottled water on coach. 24/7 on-call dispatch.
- International flights to and from Dubai.
- UAE visa support (verified third-party processor, per-program).
- Optional desert add-ons — dune-bashing, camel/horse.
- Personal expenses, alcohol outside listed meals.
- Gratuities for driver and guide.
What this itinerary does well
Best for
Groups that prefer one hotel and want the signature meals rather than the signature hotels.
Why it sells
No hotel changes after the desert night, a lower hotel cost than Tours 9 to 11, and the dinners and lunches that guests talk about afterwards.
Send us the brief
Group size, target dates, preferred hotel tier and any non-negotiables are enough for us to start. A costed proposal follows within two working days.