Park Hyatt Dubai

We’d love to tell you about little independently-owned well-kept secret of a place in Dubai. But it’s not that sort of place. So instead we’ll tell you about the sort of thing they do do well there. Now Park Hyatt is no mom-and-pop operation, but for a top-flight luxury chain they do tend to be extremely tasteful, which, for reasons it would be impolite to enumerate, is very much an asset in this town.

With just five floors it’s a remarkably humble structure, and with plenty of healthy references to classic Arabic architecture, along with the Park Hyatt–standard emphasis on quiet and privacy, it’s a welcome escape from the rather less restrained atmosphere offered by some of the competition. There’s no comfort spared, however — the entertainment centers, the bathrooms, even the beds with their goose down duvets make a mockery of whatever you’ve got at home, to say nothing of the round-the-clock room service.

Add a full complement of business facilities, a generous selection of restaurants, and a slightly over-the-top (in a good way) spa complex, complete with palm-bedecked poolside oasis, and you’ve got very little to complain about. Where most luxury hotels are content with a mere infinity pool, the Park Hyatt Dubai is living in the future with its “infinity lagoon” — a manmade private beach, complete with soft quartz sand, palm trees, and rows of loungers, opens onto a lagoon with an infinity edge overlooking Dubai Creek and the city skyline.

How to get there: The Park Hyatt Dubai is approximately a 10-minute drive from Dubai International Airport.