A palace of shaded arcades and carved balconies, built around its own turquoise lagoon.
Every room faces the water, and every morning begins with an abra across to breakfast.
Every one faces the water, from lagoon rooms to villas with their own pool and jetty.
Our boats cross the lagoon every twenty minutes, from the gatehouse to breakfast and back.
A ninety-minute ritual of steam, black soap and rhassoul clay beneath a pierced dome.
A private beach on the Jumeirah coast, twenty-two minutes from DXB in the hotel’s car.
Seventy-four rooms and suites over five storeys, eleven villas along the quay. Breakfast on the lagoon comes with every stay.
52 m² · Balcony over the lagoon · Sleeps 2
48 in the palace · from AED 2,400 a night
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95 m² · Separate majlis · Sleeps 3
20 in the palace · from AED 4,900 a night
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160 m² · Private roof terrace · Sleeps 4
6 in the palace · from AED 8,800 a night
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310 m² · Plunge pool and jetty · Sleeps 6
11 in the palace · from AED 14,500 a night
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Abras leave the palace jetty every twenty minutes, from six in the morning until midnight.
Levantine and Emirati cooking under the olive trees, from the first coffee to a late dinner.
See the tableHammour, kingfish and Gulf prawns over charcoal, served at the water’s edge.
See the tableDate-syrup cocktails and mezze under the timber lantern, five floors above the lagoon.
See the tableForty-eight star-shaped openings in the dome let the afternoon sun fall through the steam. Treatments from nine in the morning until nine at night.
Steam rises off the marble while the body slowly warms.
A full scrub with olive black soap and a raw-silk mitt.
Mineral clay from the Atlas, rinsed away with Taif rose water.
Mint tea and dates in the cool room above the pool.
The Dar Zilal ritual
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A stepped cascade feeds the pool in the inner court, shaded by a timber pergola and young olive trees.
The double-height lounge off the gatehouse, where coffee and dates are poured from morning until late.
Four hundred metres of pointed arches along the quay, lined with fan palms and bougainvillea.
The octagonal tower holds six suites and, at the very top, the bar we call Qamar.
A walled garden of clipped orange trees and a single stone rill, kept quiet for reading.
Our guest team arranges each of these privately, with a driver or a boat from the palace jetty.
Under sail along the Jumeirah coast, with lunch served on deck.
Plan this with usA restored Land Rover, the red dunes and cardamom coffee on the ridge.
Plan this with usAn afternoon with a falconer and his peregrines, out past the last road.
Plan this with usAl Fahidi, the spice souk and the creek crossing, with one of our guides.
Plan this with us
Dar Zilal means house of shade. Six years of work by masons and joiners from Fez and Sharjah: carved cedar, hand-laid plaster and a lagoon dug along the Jumeirah shore. We still close the arcades to cars at noon.
Read our storyWe arrived by boat with the sun low over the water, and after that we never wanted to leave the lagoon.
On the Jumeirah coast between the Burj Al Arab and Al Sufouh. The hotel’s car meets every flight at DXB.
Al Sufouh Road, Jumeirah 3, DubaiPrivate beach, by buggy
Burj Al Arab, by car
DXB airport, by car
Come in from the heat.
