My daughter turned 9 years old recently and to celebrate her birthday, I booked 2 luxury villas for 2 days and 1 night for my family at Al Yamm Villas by Anantara in Sir Bani Yas Island. We had a wonderful and memorable stay at this property.
Why did we choose this resort for our stay?
Having lived in UAE for nearly 15 years and visited most of the places and resorts, we wanted to stay in a unique place that we had not visited before. And the pictures I saw of Anantara resorts in Sir Bani Yas Island on social media looked exotic and very appealing. Hence we decided to stay in this resort and booked 2 luxury villas for 5 of us on Booking.com.
How do you get to Sir Bani Yas Island?
We drove from Dubai and it took us 4 hours to reach the jetty in Jebel Dana. We parked our car in Anantara jetty area in Jebel Dana and took the boat to the resort. The boat journey was close to 30 minutes. Sir Bani Yas Island also has an airstrip and you can take a flight either from Abu Dhabi or Dubai.
About Sir Bani Yas Island
Sir Bani Yas Island is one of the largest natural islands in Abu Dhabi and one of the eight islands collectively known as Desert Islands. Its a nature based destination with wildlife, archeological sites and adventure activities.
About Anantara Sir Bani Yas Island Resorts
Anantara Resort in Sir Bani Yas Island is one destination and offers three unique experiences. Anantara houses 3 different resorts in Sir Bani Yas Island- Desert Islands Resort & Spa, which is designed to resemble a coastal fortress with Arabian Gulf views. Al Sahel Villa Resort is their wildlife centric, rustic luxurious lodge located in the center of the island’s Arabian nature park. Al Yamm Villa Resort is their mangrove lagoon with sea view that has Barasti-style villas. We chose Al Yamm for our stay.
How do you commute from one resort to another?
Whichever setting you choose to experience, you’ll get complimentary transfers between all the three retreats, so we got to enjoy all the facilities and activities. You can also book restaurants, spas etc in any of the resorts while you are in staying there.
Our Stay
From check-in to check-out, everything went off smoothly. We were offered welcome drink on arrival. They had misplaced one of our bag from the boat when we arrived, but they found it in half an hour. The staff offered their apology for this blunder.
We loved our Barasti style villa that is inspired by the region’s rich heritage and culture. The view of the mangrove and shoreline was stunning. What a joy it was to watch gazelles grazing near our villa.
As our welcome platter there was a bowl of fruits and they also offered a platter of cookies which my kids loved.
Our spacious and cosy villa is perfect for a family of 2 adults and a child. It had facilities like:
- King size bed with 2 side tables and lamps
- Work desk with chair
- Side chair
- Traditional style sofa with coffee table
- Dressing mirror
- Outdoor furniture
- Plasma TV with stand
- Free WiFi
- In-room safe and IDD telephone
- Mini fridge
- Kettle to make coffee/tea
- Cupboards
- Laundry and dry clean service
- 24 hour room service
Our bathroom had a large bathtub, separate shower and a toilet area. It had all the premium bathroom essentials and toiletries.
For us the favorite part of our villa was the patio outside. I would sit for hours together reading my book and enjoying the beautiful view.
We loved the swimming pool at Al Yamm, it’s not very large. The spa looked good, but I didn’t get the time to visit it. Olio is Al Yamm’s Italian inspired restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had all our meals there. Our buffet breakfast was included in our stay. It had limited options for breakfast and we were not impressed by our dinner either.
We also booked ourselves for Wildlife Drive which costs AED 250 per person. Definitely recommend the amazing wildlife drive where we got to visit the wildlife sanctuary and watch animals like gazelles, black buck, deer, Arabian oryx, ostrich, giraffes and more. Sir Bani Yas is home to more than 13,000 animals.
You can also take part in activities like kayaking, snorkeling, mountain biking and nature walks.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay. We loved our villa and all the amenities. The service was good. But I definitely feel the villa priced at AED 2,500 per night is overpriced and the food in Olio restaurant needs an improvement. And more boats should be added from the jetty to the resort.
If you are looking for a unique, wildlife and nature based getaway, then Al Yamm Villas by Anantara is the perfect destination for you.
Phone: +971 2 801 5400
Fax: +971 2 801 5408
Email: dirs@anantara.com
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