Atlantis Dubai: the luxury resort that's home to 65,000 marine animals

An Arabian coffee house, in-house nightclub (complete with suspended catwalk surrounding the dance floor) and facilities to amuse (and separate you from) the kids are also part of the package.

If you can tear yourself away from the opulence of the resort Dubai offers plenty of adventure activities from desert dining to sand-boarding, deep sea fishing and moonlight dhow cruises.

There's also some out of the ordinary activities on the guest program that will add to the uniqueness of your holiday splurge - you can take a mixology class to improve your bartending skills, a drum session with professional percussionists, or learn meditation or self hypnosis (perhaps to quell the rising anxiety brought on by the thought of your next credit card bill).

On that point, no visit to a resort such as this is complete without a spot of retail therapy and Atlantis won’t disappoint. There is a range of luxury boutiques offering everything from designer brands to exclusive local products.

On the horizon

Other ‘big things’ planned for Palm Jumeirah include plans for the US$790 million, 62 storey Trump International Hotel and Tower.

However, Palm Jameirah isn’t the biggest man-made island; that honor will go to Palm Deira, which at 46.35 million square meters will be bigger than Paris.

Now, in case you’ve just been awarded a particularly large pay rise – or want one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences – you’ll find prices and other information on the Atlantis, The Palm website. Prices begin at around the USD$500 mark per night, but if you want to go all-out, a top of the line room in the Regal Suite will set you back in the order of USD$1700.

...continued