Atlantis The Palm
A mega-resort on the tip of Dubai's Palm, with the world's largest waterpark, an aquarium, 30-plus restaurants and a marine-conservation project at its core.
Atlantis The Palm makes no attempt at understatement, and there is something refreshing in the honesty. Set on the tip of Dubai’s Palm island, it is a mega-resort in the fullest sense: boutique shopping, an aquarium, a nightclub, a spa, a beach and luxury pushed to its outer limit, all under one roof.
The rooms run to an ocean theme, with glittering views across the Arabian Gulf. For the full effect, book an Underwater Suite, where sharks and rays from the resort’s aquarium drift past the window.
This is, above all, a resort for families. Children have the run of the Atlantis Kids Club and complimentary access to Aquaventure, billed as the world’s largest waterpark. Adults, meanwhile, have some 30 restaurants, bars and lounges to work through, Gordon Ramsay’s gastropub among them.
What lifts it beyond pure spectacle is the Atlantis Atlas Project, the resort’s marine conservation and education programme. For every marine-animal experience booked, one dollar goes to conservation initiatives, a structure that ties the resort’s headline attraction to the ecosystem it depends on.
It will not suit the traveller chasing quiet and restraint; it has never pretended to. But for a family holiday built around water, scale and a genuine sense of occasion, Atlantis The Palm delivers exactly what it promises, and points some of that energy somewhere useful.
