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Attending to the Anantara Santorini Abu Dhabi Retreat from Dubai entails driving about 40 minutes previous pure fuel fields, grazing gazelles and a navy base. When you’re contained in the safety gates, a cluster of white buildings rises up prefer it was transplanted from the Cyclades to the Arabian Peninsula. Noticeably lacking, in fact, are the blue-domed church buildings.
The seafront resort, which opened on the finish of February, joins a massively aggressive lodge market within the Emirates. There’s the ultraluxury advanced the place Beyoncé broke the web (Atlantis the Royal), the feat of engineering that cantilevers an enormous infinity pool between two towers (One&Solely One Za’abeel), the private-island seaside membership (Al Maya Island Resort), and a lavish desert getaway (Al Wathba). Now, there’s an homage to the favored honeymoon vacation spot of Santorini.
The adults-only property has 22 keys, beginning at round $735 an evening, however Common Supervisor Rachid Bakas says he expects 50% of the lodge’s enterprise to come back from exclusive-use buyouts for weddings, company takeovers and different occasions. Anantara is concentrating on locals for probably the most half—weekends are huge enterprise—providing day passes from 1,000 AED ($272) which will be redeemed for meals or pool-side drinks.
“We have now a marriage booked for October for a neighborhood household,” Bakas says. “They needed to go to Santorini for the pictures, however the prices, together with flights for everybody, meant it made extra sense for them to have the marriage right here.”
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The Anantara model, which acquired its begin in Thailand, is thought for its tranquil resorts in Phuket and Bali. Santorini marks its ongoing growth within the UAE; properties there embrace the famous Anantara the Palm Dubai Resort and the Jap Mangroves Lodge on the fringe of Abu Dhabi.
Chatting with Bloomberg throughout a tour in early March, Bakas says the entire design group flew out to Santorini to get concepts for the property’s interiors, and consequently the rooms wouldn’t look misplaced in a luxe Aegean resort, with their impartial earth tones and barrel ceilings. Native vogue publications have already held photoshoots utilizing the Greek-inspired resort as a backdrop, he says.
A lot of the rooms have terraces or sprawling white-painted patios, ultimate locations to have a drink and stare on the tranquil seafront. And each room has a sea view, “so nobody can come and complain,” Bakas jokes. There’s additionally 24/7 entry to a butler who can organize snorkeling excursions, seaside picnics or different excursions. Because it was an overcast day, nobody was having fun with the dazzling infinity pool, however it appeared tempting. Room classes are named after villages in Santorini—Fira, Oia and Perissa.
The lodge actually goes for it with a round cocktail bar and cigar lounge that’s historic Greece-themed, full with “weathered” wall frescoes and lighting fixtures modeled after warrior helmets. I had a flashback to the 2006 Gerard Butler movie 300. It’s a daring selection, however you’ll be able to’t name it boring.
Lest you neglect you’re within the Center East in 2024, there’s a superbly tiled hammam within the spa; it’s not making an attempt to appear to be the bathhouses of historic Greece. Of the 2 eating places, one has a standard Greek menu and the opposite options Arabic delicacies.
Santorini is legendary for its fiery technicolor sunsets, glimpsed from cliffside mountain cities that hug the perimeters of its caldera. Whereas the lodge can’t match that drama—identical solar, a lot flatter vibes—the group at Anantara provides a tribute with each day sundowners. Company are invited to get pleasure from cups of Greek mountain tea (constituted of the medicinal herb Sideritis scardica, aka ironwort) whereas Helios drives off in his chariot, bringing night time.
In fact this isn’t Greece, and that’s not likely the purpose. (No one at Epcot really thinks they’re touring the world.) Anantara Santorini Abu Dhabi Retreat is positioning itself as a serene escape for locals from Dubai and different close by Emirates. The temper is romantic, and on my tour I noticed a number of {couples} strolling hand in hand on the seaside. Amongst all of the area’s modernist megaprojects, bumping seaside golf equipment and $14,000-an-hour celebration jets, there’s now a $735-a-night tribute to one in all Europe’s most-loved island locations.
“Company will admire that that is one thing somewhat completely different within the area,” Bakas says.