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The emirate that built the world’s tallest building is big on design, and its ground-breaking architecture extends far beyond the 830-metre-high Burj Khalifa. Many of Dubai’s hotels are globally renowned landmarks in their own right, with interiors fashioned by industry leaders in architecture or haute couture. Whether you favour history or modernity, art or fashion, penthouse suites or traditional houses, there’s a design hotel in Dubai that’s sure to provoke wide-eyed admiration. Here’s our pick of the most intriguing, avant-guarde and mesmerising.
ME Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Me Dubai takes residence in The Opus, a futuristic Business Bay landmark designed inside and out by the late Zaha Hadid. Hadid’s magic touch has not only created a skyline icon, but with two conjoined towers framing an intriguing void at the centre, the building recalls the architect’s mastery of curves, which continues inside. Stepping into the lobby feels like walking onto a Sixties film set space station with four storeys framed by sweeping asymmetric white balconies, a blank canvas for psychedelic pattern projections. Rooms are just as attention-stealing: oak floors, layers of brushed metallics, and bespoke Hadid-designed fittings including headboards with dune-shaped arcs of gold.
From
£
168
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
• The best hotels in Dubai
Burj Al Arab Jumeirah
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Seven-star quality permeates every feature of this sail-shaped superstructure, from the Teflon-coated woven glass fibre screen across its ribbed belly to the caviar facials at the star-studded spa and the gold-plated bathroom taps in richly decorated rooms. The hotel occupies a private island which is connected to the mainland by a fiercely guarded causeway; inside, a rainbow-painted atrium climbs as high as the Eiffel Tower. A hair salon, saunas, steam rooms, plunge pools and an impressive pair of 18th-floor infinity pools round out the facilities indoors. More pools, one with a swim-up bar, and a manmade beach can be found on the Monte Carlo-worthy terrace outside, where cabanas could double as deluxe accommodation.
From
£
712
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Palazzo Versace Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
From the opulent Italian furnishings, framed fashion sketches and Versace motifs to the scarves hanging on boiserie-clad walls and the brand’s omnipresent Medusa insignia, every piece in this waterfront palace has been exclusively designed by Versace. The designer’s snake-caked head is even carved into the base of tumblers, stitched into fabrics, printed on stationary and embossed on table legs. Tall ceilings, Greek fret borders, tonnes of gleaming marble and Roman mosaics push its Neoclassical agenda, while the nine restaurants and bars (note the famous palm print, as seen on Jennifer Lopez’s 2000 Grammy Awards gown, in Giardino) evoke palazzo-style settings.
From
£
112
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
XVA Art Hotel
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
This historic hotel and gallery, hidden in a sikka (maze of alleyways), is a resounding national treasure, being more than a 100 years old in a country that’s less than 50. Contemporary art permeates every part of it, not just the on-site gallery. The gnarled old trees in the internal courtyards are decorated with dried roses and baubles, armchairs are upholstered in movie scene prints and ceilings are obscured by curious fabric installations. These jarring, avant-garde displays pop against the historical setting. Hotel founder Mona Hauser and a handful of guest designers, including local fashion star Zayan Ghandour, have conjured up 15 individually themed rooms centred on the moon, henna tattoos, items of Arabian clothing, and more.
From
£
48
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Al Seef Heritage Hotel Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Staying in this hotel is like sleeping on the set of a period drama, one set in 1950s Dubai. Part of Curio Collection by Hilton, its style is unusual for the brand. From the palm beams and simple stone floors to the rough-plastered walls displaying photography of how Emiratis lived in the 1900s, rooms are like living museums, with other features including Bakelite-style rotary dial telephones, dolly light switches, ‘par avion’ etiquettes on faded blue envelopes and concealed mod cons. A puzzle of 10 connected bayt (houses) containing 200 rooms, runs across Al Seef souq. Traditional communal courtyards house wooden swings, weathered baskets and majlis-style seating comprising floor cushions with armrests upholstered in sadu weave.
From
£
43
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Armani Hotel Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The first hotel designed by Giorgio Armani is so cohesively on-brand, it’s easy to picture yourself at one of Giorgio’s stylish house parties – and that’s the intention. The lobby features towering bronze arches curved like the hotel’s logo (look closely and you’ll see the design repeated in table legs and door handles), the palette is uniformly sable and taupe with muted lighting, and the Armani/Spa offers elegant treatment suites and thermal therapies. Out on the terrace, there’s a pool, bar and sun loungers. Restaurants, each prefixed with ‘Armani/’, continue Giorgio’s trademark look. Occupying the first eight floors of Burj Khalifa, with suites on levels 38 and 39, the hotel’s highest lake-facing windows provide views of the dancing Dubai Fountain.
From
£
286
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
This article was originally published by Telegraph.co.uk. Read the original article here.