Review: Atlantis The Palm Hotel in Dubai – is it worth the money?
Staying at Atlantis The Palm Hotel in Dubai was a huge treat for us in our last month living in the Middle East. It’s one of the most recognisable hotels in the world and, with family rooms starting at £380 a night (when we stayed), its also one of the most expensive we’ve booked.
But was it worth it? Let’s get real, this is not a budget hotel. But I’m totally unbiased when I say this is the best hotel we have ever stayed at.
In this post I’m sharing our experience and where we felt our money was well spent.
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Our two nights at Atlantis The Palm
This was the second half of a long weekend in Dubai where we had already revisited Motiongate – our favourite theme park at Dubai Parks and Resorts – and had a great stay at Lapita Hotel Dubai.
Atlantis had a lot to live up to.
The first impressions were excellent. We were immediately wowed by the red carpet and lobby that took me back to the Ballagio in Vegas where we spent part of our honeymoon. The 10 metre fountain under a glittering dome was captivating.
The hotel has two wings either side of the iconic arch. During our two night stay we spent most of our time in the East wing, which is home to the Imperial Club Lounge, The Lost World Aquarium and the Aquaventure World water park.
What is so special about Atlantis The Palm?
Like many great family resorts, there is very little reason to leave Atlantis to find things to do. And, if like us, you’ve only got two nights, there really is no point in making any other plans.
What makes Atlantis special is that it is a luxury hotel with the service, catering and world-leading facilities to match. Some resorts aimed at families feel cliché – like the whole place is working overtime to make sure the kids live their best lives, while the adults tag along.
Parents, fear not! Atlantis is as much for you as your offspring with fine dining, kids clubs that they’ll not want to leave and inclusive activities that really are a hit with the whole family.
So, what do you get for your money?
If you’re thinking about staying at the Atlantis I’m assuming you have a reasonable holiday budget.
Prices vary depending on the season, but in June when we stayed there were packages ranging from £380 a night for a family room with no inclusive meals to £7,500k+ a night for an ‘Extraordinary Full Board’ stay in a Grand Atlantis Suite.
Whichever end of the scale you go, this isn’t a cheap place to stay. What’s important is: is it value for money?
Everyone, regardless of room grade, gets access to the world’s largest waterpark, Aquaventure World, and unlimited access to the Lost World Aquarium. So, if these are your priority, you don’t need to splash out more than the basic rate.
However, pay as you go dining and drinks will add up. This is why I think it is worth looking at room rates that include these.
Depending on the package you go for there’s inclusive meals at the resort’s buffets and al a carte restaurants (some require a supplement), free non-motorised water sports and discounts on experiences in the waterpark.
We booked an Ocean View Queen Room with two double beds and a package including half board, Imperial Club Lounge access (more on what great value this is below) and one session in the Explorers kids club. This cost us the equivalent of £660 a night over the busy Eid al Adha holiday.
When we arrived we were offered an upgrade to a Terrace Suite facing The Palm. It was too good a deal to turn down. The list price for this room was £810 a night on the same dates and came with a few more benefits.
Terrace Suite at Atlantis The Palm
I had (not so) secretly been longing for a room with a view of The Palm when we booked the Atlantis.
Thankfully the glee of the girls when we walked into the lobby put Mr Tin Box in a good mood and he decided to bank some Daddy and husband points by paying a bit extra to upgrade us.
We stuck with our half board package but got some extra benefits:
- Complimentary AquaXpress pass once per stay (to jump the water slide queues)
- Access to the private Imperial Club Beach
- Two Explorers Club sessions per day vs the one session per child for our entire stay.
Had we booked this suite up front we could have also had complimentary airport transfers to and from Dubai Airport. It was a mute point as we had driven ourselves from Muscat, but the upgrade package added up nicely.
Plus, our Terrace Suite had plenty of understated wow added to that all important view.
A one-bedroom suite with room for families
Considering the Atlantis was built in 2008, our room felt fresh and luxurious – just like the hotel’s public areas.
We had living room with a large sofa that folded out into a bed at night, a dining table for four, a bathroom and wardrobe. We requested an additional single bed for the 10-year-old to save squabbling over mattress inches.
The living area was the perfect space to turn over to the girls. Although they got a firm briefing on not touching the extremely well stocked mini bar featuring tempting sweets, chocolates and biscuits – our already smashed budget was not going to cover midnight munchies.
Beyond the girls’ domain was the spacious master bedroom with a huge bathroom complete with luxury toiletries and a walk in wardrobe. There were fluffy slippers, his and her flip flops, and robes.
Each evening our valet, Dilshan, magically transformed the suite for bedtime. Flipping out the sofa bed, creating towel animals to buddy up with the girls’ stuffed toys, and arranging water and slippers beside our beds. We also got a pretty box of Eid dates and maamouls (date biscuits), while all our charging cables were tidied with Atlantis charms and cable ties.
It was a challenge to tear ourselves away, but the attractions of Atlantis beckoned.
Compare room rates and check reviews.
Lost World Aquarium
You can’t help but be drawn to the enormous windows into the Ambassador tank in the East wing of the Atlantis Palm hotel. As we arrived there was a scuba diver on the other side of the 70cm thick viewing panes, cleaning the tank from within. But this isn’t the main aquarium.
The Lost World (formerly The Lost Chamber) is on the way to the hotel’s water park entrance. Inside there are 14 themed zones containing more than 65,000 marine creatures. None of the tanks inside quite measure up to the wow-factor of the hotel’s Ambassador tank, but it is still an impressive aquarium.
Since we visited, multi-media displays and mermaid shows have been added to the aquarium’s attractions making it even more of a benefit for hotel guests.
Rather than pay an admission charge (100 AED/£20 per person) we could flash our hotel wrist bands and visit as many times as we wanted. If you’re not staying at the Atlantis you can buy tickets for the aquarium or a combo ticket that includes the water park.
Aquaventure World – the world’s largest water park
It was HOT when we stayed at Atlantis in June, so we made visiting Aqauventure our priority on the first morning.
The slides and rides were fantastic. Our kids – aged 10 and 12 – were just the right age to enjoy a lot of the thrill rides, especially the dual and group rides which we could experience together. The six seater Odyessy of Terror – the world’s tallest water slide – Shockwave and Aquaconda were all hits.
We also had a go at the famous but remarkably tame Shark Attack duel tube ride through a shark tank and the remarkably long and lazy River Rapids, which took us on a tour of the park.
I stepped way outside my comfort zone for the vertical drop slide Blackout during which I had enough time to plead for it to stop twice while hurtling down the free fall section.
We spent four and a half hours in Aquaventure, which felt like plenty as there was a lot of walking to do between the rides. We were glad we had loaded up on breakfast beforehand as the food and drink was expensive. In the park we grabbed a few drinks and headed back to the hotel for afternoon tea which was included in our Imperial Club Room package.
Did we enjoy Aquaventure World more than Yas Water World in Abu Dhabi? This may be controversial, but no. Yas is more compact and may not have as many world-beating rides, but that suited us better. We would also go back to Yas to see its extension since our last visit.
Not staying at the Atlantis? Check park prices and deals on Platinum List and direct with the water park.
Before you visit Aquaventure World
Here’s some more handy things to know about Aquaventure:
- The are changing rooms in the park and lockers. You have to pay to use the lockers
- Towels are included for hotel guests
- There are free water points, so bring a reusable bottle
- You need decent water shoes rather to protect your feet on the hot ground. However you will be asked to take rubber-soled shoes off when doing a lot of the rides. There are shoe racks all around the park.
- If you want to bring a GoPro to record your experience it will need to be attached to your wrist. GoPro sticks and floats are not allowed on most slides.
Imperial Club Lounge – what makes this great value for families
We had spoken to a few friends before booking our stay at the Atlantis and they all recommended getting Imperial Club Lounge access. Why? Because it’s great value, especially for families.
Included when we stayed were:
- breakfast in a less overwhelming space than the large buffets, which can be an advantage with younger kids
- afternoon tea from 2pm to 4pm
- happy hour from 5pm to 7pm with soft drinks, premium alcoholic drinks and substantial canapés.
Get Imperial Club Lounge access and, even with a bed and breakfast package, it would be hard to go hungry.
Our approach was to have a large breakfast in the buffet and dip into a bag of snacks we had brought with us if tummies rumbled around lunchtime. After that we could visit the Club Lounge for afternoon tea, give our tummies a quick break and go back for happy hour and more food.
We found that the ‘canapés’ (more like a small buffet) were substantial enough for supper with hot and cold options. On our second night the girls ate during happy hour and went straight off to kids club leaving us to have a date night.
If you’re not big eaters and opt for lounge access, you’ll struggle to get value from half or full board packages.
The club lounge is very family-friendly. It’s spread out across two levels with a quieter area upstairs (adults, head here) and TV area showing kids films downstairs. You can also use the dedicated guest services to book restaurant tables and check out.
There’s also a private beach area for lounge guests. This overlooks Palm Jumeirah. We decided not to use it in the short amount of down time we had as there was noisy demolition work happening just across the water.
Dining at Atlantis
Our half board package included breakfast and dinner in the Saffron or Kaleidoscope buffets. We could also chose to book one of the al a carte restaurants. There were supplements for two of the speciality restaurants but that left a handful that were included in our package.
We found the food in Kaleidoscope was excellent. The first evening was Italian themed which was a hit with the kids.
On the second evening we ate at the En Fuego Mexican restaurant, which has a menu as vibrant as its fiesta-themed interiors.
Make space in your itinerary for one of the premium restaurants if you can.
Explorer Club for kids
This was the girls’ favourite thing about staying at Atlantis, which was a bit of a surprise to me. At 10 and 12-years-old I thought they might be a bit beyond stay and play. But after we encouraged them to try a half hour taster, they were hooked.
This is no normal kids club through. There’s nine areas where children can role play, take part in sports, read quietly, craft and use game consoles. That’s not to mention a tube slide, interactive games and covered outdoor play area.
After their first session they were keen to return for the evening, giving us a date night, and also wanted one last play the morning before we left.
We had two complimentary sessions per day with our Terrace Suite and got our money’s worth!
Lounging by the Atlantis pool
With the kids off at the club, we finally had the chance to relax beside the pool on our final morning. It is on the Palm side of the hotel and is a proper sun trap until mid-afternoon. Water shoes are a must to protect you feet between your lounger and the pool.
The family pool to the West end of the hotel is the place to catch the sun at the end of the day. With more time it would have been easy to spend a day relaxing here with a book, cooling off with a drink from the bar and the free ice lollies being handed out by the pool team.
Late check out without the charges
We really did not want to leave and with no flight schedule to meet – just a five hour drive back to Muscat – we decided to stay as long as we could on our final day.
Having Imperial Club Lounge access made this a breeze and there was no extra charge.
We checked out with guest services, they arranged for our bags to go into storage and gave us guest passes for the rest of the day. We were able to use the kids club, pool and lounge (including the food, drinks and shower facilities) until we decided to leave.
Final thoughts on Atlantis The Palm in Dubai and value for money
We loved our stay and, despite the hefty price tag, could see where we got value back in terms of the inclusive activities, excellent food and premium drinks in the lounge.
Imperial Club Lounge access was a real no brainer and I’m really glad we got more kids club sessions with our suite upgrade. The girls would have been been sad to not to go again AND we would have missed out on a rare date night.
Then there were those Palm views. If you’ve seen any of my posts about Dubai on Instagram you’ll know I have a love/hate relationship with this place – I’m more of a culture and nature girl. But this city of glitz and wild traffic jams was looking pretty stunning from our 8th floor balcony.
The water park and aquarium are good fun and you can easily fill a day with these activities (worth a 1,200 AED or £240 for a family for four if you’re not staying at the hotel). And you can visit as often as you want during your stay.
We all agreed that two nights at the Atlantis was nowhere near enough, even if we couldn’t stretch the budget further this time. I could have happily got value out of a few days relaxing by the pool and those free-flowing happy hours.
FAQs about Atlantis
Atlantis is located right at the top of Palm Jumeirah, 38km from Dubai International Airport, which is about a 30 minute taxi ride in good traffic.
There are two Atlantis hotels on Palm Jumeirah: The Palm and The Royal. Atlantis The Palm is the older of the two properties and the price difference reflects this. Expect to pay double for rooms at The Royal which is self-billed as an ultra-luxury hotel. Aside from the newer, blockier outline and a wider choice of eateries, The Royal shares the water park and guests have access to the aquarium. It also has its own Explorers Club. The Royal clearly offers more, but with a price tag to match. The verdict on which is better for your family may come down to budget.
More tried and tested places to stay in Dubai
We drove up to Dubai a few times while living in Oman, so tried out a few places to stay. Read more of my reviews of hotels in Dubai:
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