Though Dubai has two underwater hotel restaurants, only one hotel has underwater rooms, and that is the city’s second-largest, the very busy, very lively Atlantis The Palm Dubai.
It has over 1500 rooms and a great number of entertainment facilities for both adults and children, including a huge water park, an aquarium & ‘underwater zoo’, and one of the city’s two aforementioned underwater restaurants.
The equally prestigious Burj Al Arab Hotel is home to the other underwater restaurant (well, it’s not quite underwater, but close enough), the Al Mahara.
Continue reading for details of both of these extraordinary hotels…
Atlantis The Palm:
This magnificent 5-star, perhaps the UAE’s most impressive, dominates the famous Palm Jumeirah.
It is an enormous complex with a huge aquarium and ‘underwater zoo’, a multiple Michelin-starred underwater restaurant, a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, tennis courts, bowling alleys, and the Middle East’s largest water park to name just a few of its myriad facilities.
It also has an enormous choice of high-end accommodation, but it really pulls out all the stops with its extremely opulent suites, including of course, its two underwater suites.
Atlantis The Palm’s Underwater Hotel Suites:
These two identical suites – The Poseidon and The Neptune – are 165 square meters, three-floor residences entered via a private elevator on the third floor.
From where you descend the spiral staircase to the main lounge & dining area (a fully equipped kitchen is also present) overlooking the waters of the lagoon, then descend further to the bedroom quarters deep beneath the water.
Glass walls dominate the bedroom, and the gold-plated, en suite bathroom, and whether from the bed or the marble bathtub, an incredible array of sea life – sharks, sting rays, and all manner of exotic fish – float gracefully past.
The lagoon is home to a staggering, roughly 65,000 creatures, and the visual effect is really quite stunning, hypnotic, otherworldly.
The suites come with a 24-hour private butler service, in-room check-in, and perks such as complimentary massages & personal training services, free use of the ShuiQi Spa facilities, free access to the Imperial Club, the Lost Chambers Aquarium and the Aquaventure Waterpark, a private cabana at the beach, pool and waterpark, complimentary airport transfers and more.
Atlantis The Palm Underwater Hotel Room Prices:
Prices can vary by the season but be prepared to pay at least $4,000 per night for a stay in Atlantis’ underwater suites.
Enter some dates and take a look for yourself here at Expedia.
But to put things into perspective, if you were to forgo the underwater, stay in another room, and maybe just check out the underwater restaurant instead, the cheapest standard room at The Atlantis will still set you back nearly $500!
Atlantis The Palm Dubai – The Hotel in General:
As you may have guessed from the name, the theme of the hotel is the sea. It has a very impressive aquarium and underwater zoo, a large and fun water park – the largest in the Middle East in fact, and a long, private sand beach.
It is one of Dubai’s most prestigious 5-star hotels with a wealth of upscale boutiques, Michelin-starred restaurants, and bars, including Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen and Ossiano underwater restaurant, and a busy nightclub.
It has a huge range of accommodation too with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars per night to over ten thousand.
Many of its rooms are enormously impressive – check out the 924 square meter ‘Royal Bridge Suite’ for example, just to give yourself an idea.
As mentioned above the underwater suites can get booked up pretty quickly but if so there is still plenty of opportunity to experience similar even if for a shorter time – the aquarium has walkways under the water where you can gaze up and around at the sea life, and the waterpark has a huge water slide, called the ‘Leap of Faith’, which goes through an underwater tunnel section where sharks swim above you.
It’s a very lively hotel that manages to strike a balance between being a resort for families and one for the childless. The atmosphere during the day is more family orientated with the main attractions being the waterpark and the aquarium of course but also the highly praised Kids’ Club.
At night, the adults take over the bars and clubs, including the very popular, by day and night, beach club, Nasimi, where you’ll find a mixture of hotel guests and well-heeled Dubai residents and restaurants, including the glass-walled underwater restaurant & bar Ossiano.
To escape the kids during the day, adults can also enjoy the serenity of the resort’s spa and there are adults-only dining options too.
How Do I Get To Atlantis The Palm Dubai?
Atlantis The Palm Dubai covers a substantial area of the sea facing, outer crescent of Palm Jumeirah, the city’s unique man-made islands. The resort is just over half an hour by car/taxi from Dubai International Airport.
Arriving by public transport involves taking the red metro line to Dubai Marina, around a 45-minute journey, then changing onto one of the numerous trams from the marina to Palm Jumeirah. From there you’ll take the short walk to the scenic Palm Monorail, which will bring you to the resort in a few minutes.
Reviews of Atlantis The Palm:
“You HAVE to stay here at least 3 nights – This has to be one of the most exciting hotels in Dubai! So many activities, restaurants and bars inside. Loved the waterpark, aquarium and beaches. The included breakfast and dinner restaurant was TOP!….”
“Everything was amazing, from the moment you enter the lobby you feel like you are in a world apart. The water park is really fun; you can spend a whole day there. Beaches are pristine. Breakfast at Saffron is almost overwhelming (in a positive way) with all the different choices, all of the highest quality, from healthy to chocolate-fountain indulgent. Even the room service was top notch, with pizza brought in an oven and beer in a bucket of ice. Amazing resort!…..”
>Read more reviews & check availability & prices here at Booking.com
Dubai Underwater Hotel Restaurants:
So Dubai has only one hotel with underwater rooms, but if they are booked, as they tend to be, you can still get something of a similar experience dining at an underwater hotel restaurant.
Dubai has two – the first is the above-mentioned Ossiano at Atlantis The Palm and the second is Al Mahara at the equally over-the-top luxury Burj Al Arab Hotel.
The latter, it should be explained, is not technically underwater – it sits around an enormous aquarium with which it shares floor-to-ceiling glass walls.
The effect though, is very similar, and if you can arrange a table by the glass, you can indeed almost feel you are under the sea.
Ossiano, on the other hand, is completely underwater and is a much smaller and more intimate venue. Many will prefer it for those reasons, but the big and bold Al Mahara is also as impressive a restaurant venue as you will find anywhere.
Their unique interiors give both a head start in lists of Dubai’s best dining spots, but they are also very highly rated restaurants in their own right, and both have the Michelin stars to prove it.
>Read more reviews & check availability & prices here at Booking.com