Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara

Lovely location it’s huge the staff is amazing two swimming pools in the open yummy food games for kids spa for us hiking in the dunes movie under the stars games and pure love I am certainly going again camel rides dune bashing etc

We stayed for 3 nights in a two bedroom pool villa over the Winter Break with our two children ages 3 and 8. Our check-in experience was seamless although I note from other reviews this isn’t a universal experience. We arrived after driving from the city in the courtyard and were immediately transferred to a buggy and taken to our villa to complete the check-in which was hugely appreciated after a long journey with young children. Our suitcases arrived only minutes later. The villa suite was gorgeous with a beautiful vista over the dunes. Only minor point is that electrical sockets were few and far between for such a large space and no USB chargers. Lahiru was our villa host for the duration of our stay. He was very helpful, friendly, responsive and managed our excursions/ spa treatments (including last minute changes) with ease. We were slightly limited in the activities we could do as a family owing to the age of our youngest but we thoroughly enjoyed the Family Dune Drive and Ezba Tour. Both of our guides for these experiences were wonderful and engaging. The main pool area was beautiful but during the winter period would have really benefitted from more heating. As such we were unable to enjoy these facilities to the max as it was just too cold to be in the water for any length of time. The only real issues that we encountered were with the dining services at Ghadeer and the main breakfast restaurant. I will caveat this with the fact we didn’t try the higher end/more adult orientated dining venues as we wanted to eat with our fussy children, but in a resort of this standard this shouldn’t equate with sub-standard service. We waited for 15 minutes to be seated and despite doing multiple laps of the restaurant were unable to find anyone to seat us, errors were also made with our order (drinks and food) and there was such a foul smell in the outdoor dining area that we chose to leave after our main course. After this, we chose to enjoy in room dining options from the comfort of our outdoor terrace. We will definitely return to the hotel but I feel there is some improvement needed in the service to truly align with the (high) price point.

We’ve been there from the start of the war and we felt so safe and fortunate to be stuck in such a paradise. Everything was absolutely perfect, from the food to all the staff which have been amazing with our son. A special thank you goes to Amira, Rajneesh, Ritik, Sidhant, Ikhtiyor, Raghav, Kiki and Shane. They will always have a special place in our hearts.

We had a really great time, also we were there during ongoing war. We appreciate hotel’s support on extending stay funded by government.

Guide Mr. Ali made a wonderful tour “Sunrise with the camels”.