What to do in this Dubai summer heat if you can’t really escape? How about a full weekend to get into the world of Al Habtoor City Hotel Collection and discover what it is all about? We stayed at the W Dubai, but staying at the W was just like staying at the Westin or the St-Regis as you can go to all the pools, gym and facilities. It’s like a 3 in 1 deal! Some facilities are still in construction as well, hence the properties have each others back when one pool or gym is on construction.
Where is W Hotel Dubai Located?
W Hotel is part of the Al Habtoor City complex. This is a combination of 3 hotels on the same block. Like we mentioned, what makes this unique is that you can use the facilities of the other hotels as well as your own. For example, we worked out in the Westin Gym, ate breakfast in the W Hotel and had a luxurious spa and massage in the St Regis Hotel at the Iridium Spa.
Al Habtoor City is located in Downtown Dubai, home to many of the major hotels in Dubai. This location is so good for many reasons, but the best one is that it is a 5 minute taxi ride to the world’s tallest building and Dubai landmark, the Burj Khalifa.
It is only approximately 15 minutes from the airport and a taxi from the airport should cost you no more than 60AED (~17$US)
Things around W Hotel
There is the “new” Dubai Canal just at the feet of Al Habtoor City, where you can jog or have a great evening walk with lights to show you the way and the amazing Dubai skyline to view. As mentioned, the Burj Khalifa is a very short taxi ride away and within the Burj Khalifa complex is the Dubai Mall. This is home to its own Ice-rink and the worlds largest indoor aquarium. You can spend literally days in here and get lost every time! A must see in Dubai! The Gold Souk is located in Deira, no more than 15 minutes from Al Habtoor and is great way to step back in time and see Old Dubai.
How to get around from W Hotel?
The best way to travel around Dubai to and from anywhere really is by taxi. They are relatively cheap and fairly quick. Just make sure you check with the concierge that wherever you are heading, it’s not in peak hour, as sometimes Dubai can be notorious for some awfully bad traffic! If you get the chance, try and use the metro. It is environmentally friendly and super cheap. Just make sure you find out if where you are going has a metro stop or not.
Eat and Drink at W Hotel
Having 3 hotels at our disposal made our F&B experience so much more amazing. Our day always started with a super healthy breakfast at W Hotels Level Seven. Every morning we started with clean juices and omelettes. But don’t fear, if you are not a health freak there were breads, cheeses, meat and plenty of other goodies. Make sure you ask for a caramel latte, very very good! If you feel like some Asian food, you can head over Namu, within the same building. We have eaten there before and food is delicious! Expect a lavish price, but hey, that is Dubai. If you are keen for high view, W Lounge has a spectacular view over the city and also had some sweet cocktails that we really enjoyed.
Our favourite meal however belonged to the St Regis Hotels’ J&G Steakhouse. This place had been voted the number one steak house in Dubai and we were keen to put this to the test. We ordered away and got a few starters, including Squid, Scallops and Tuna Tartare.
Our main meal was the mighty Tomahawk, 1.5kg of steak just ready to be eaten. It was so big that it fed 3 people and we were so full afterwards. (If you are 2 girls 2 guys, we recommend 1 Tomahawk and that will be plenty enough if you get appetizers like we did). We were also treated to a tasty peanut butter popcorn dessert which was a great way to finish up and the bar staff made for us (at our table!!) one of the best Espresso Martinis I have ever had. It went down so well!
The main reason (other than scrumptious food) I would come back here is due to the exceptional service. They knew exactly what meats worked well with sauces and kept us entertained all night. We will definitely be coming back to this place for the whole experience, not just the first class food.
W Hotel Facilities
There is a 24Hr gym, beautiful pool at level 7, free wi-fi, and like we said, best part is that you can wander around the Westin and the St-Regis to use its facilities too.
Our Spa Experience, Iridium Spa was the perfect place to chill out after a days work. After starting off with some refreshing tea, we filled out forms that specify what type of massage we want, smells that relax us and all sorts of interesting information. Our favorite thing about the spa has to be the relaxing room & the locker rooms that looks like a room in a princesses palace! Needless to say, with the level of care they showed prior to the massage, it was every bit as good as I had wanted it to be. However, it was post massage I enjoyed the most. The shower was a musical shower. It played music depending on what you selected. For example, if you pressed Tropical Storm, you would get thunder, lightning and hard warm rain. There were several settings so I was in there for like 20 minutes. The is also a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room all to use. Once we made our way out of this area we were greeted with our own choice of high quality tea and snacks. It was a stress free way to end our night
