Armani Hotel Visited

You would think that it would be so easy to find the entrance of the World Tallest Building, right? After all, you can even see it from 100km away. Well, I have to tell you this, when you are just too close to it, it’s extremely hard to find how to enter in it!

I went to visit Burj Khalifa the other day to check-out the Armani Hotel, which finally open it’s doors in Dubai after several changes in the opening date. It’s now available for all luxury visits The World Tallest Building, Burj Khalifa. After spending about 30 mins driving around the building, - this is too long for Dubai condititions-, managed to find the entrance of Burj Khalifa. And it was worth of all trouble. Burj Khalifa and Armani Hotel entrance is really nice with the fountains.

It’s not necessary to book a table at Armani Hotel if you’re planning to go there just for drinks however you need to have a reservation number to be able to access the building. I must say that the personel at the hotel were really nice from check-in till check out. Beautiful, model like, selective personnel however I can not tell the same for the ones who were answering the phone. When you live in Dubai too long, you get really spoiled with the quality of service. So Armani reception failed the first test.

Hotel’s decoration was fabulous. Very masculine, simple and bald lines as usual Armani Casa style. Armani Prive, the nightclub is worth to check out for it’s very impressive big Cat-Walk wall. Very stylish. Armani Delicatessen and Armani Florist are now the new fashion to make the girls happy.

I was there on a Tuesday night, to be honest there were more personnel than the guests. Although I like the hotel, it didn’t really feel like being inside the tallest building at all. I guess it’s more impressive to look at the building from a distance rather being inside of it. Still a must see masterpiece for fashion addicts.

This weekend in Dubai

Tomorrow will be an emotional day due to being Children’s Day. But other than that, this weekend will be very busy starting already tonight.

This evening sundowner planned at 360 at Madinat Jumeirah. I have been to this fabulous place several times for a drink late in the evening but this time I want to be there for sunset. This place has 360 degree view just at the side of Burj Al Arab. Nice view of Dubai’s signature buildings Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah and Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Tomorrow, dinner booked at Zuma. Yes that will be a true indulgence.

Saturday, I booked a massage at SPA at The Address Downtown. I selected this place since it’s very close to Dubai Mall and has the best view of (New) Old Town view from the relaxation rooms. I have so high expectations form the service as well.

After the SPA some time will be spent at Bloomingdales.

Unwind in Style

Dubai is a heaven for us! It’s a heaven of SPA’s. It can be very hard to find the best one tough.

The best SPA I have been was Talise SPA at Madinat Jumeirah. I had the Detox Package which was fantastic. First they massage your whole body with an oil and then gently massage you with natural sea salts which helps to remove the dead skin. After that they wrap you with some nice body masks and while waiting wrapped in towels you get the head massage. This mask leaves the skin so nice and smooth. Between all these sessions you have shower and aromatherapy baths. After all these you get the chance to relax at the outdoor terrace overlooking to the water canals of Madinat Jumeirah. That was one of time well spent day at Dubai. Talise has also couple therapy rooms so you can have a chance to relax with your partner or with your SPA-coholic friend. I like Talise SPA but to be honest it’s a bit pricey to go every week. So it’s best for some special occasions.

So my favorite SPA for more often use has been so far Angsana SPA at Dubai Marina. I found my favorite massage which they call ‘Fusion’. This massage includes nice Balinese style deep tissue massage with nice stretches and aromatic oils. They are also a bit pricey but they have really good packages if you purchase a pack of 10 massages or even better alternative if you select a package only for week days.

I am not including The One and Only Hamam experience into the SPA category as Hammam has it’s own category and I simply enjoyed the experience I had at One & Only.

I also love the reflexology. Just stop by at any FeetFirst for a half an hour foot massage and there you're a complete new person.

A friend of mine will be visiting me next weekend and she is a SPA-coholic like me. I am listing down some new SPA’s where I haven’t been yet. One of them is The Address Downtown. I heard that they have really good treatments as well as the best Burj Khalifa and Old Dubai view from the relaxation room.

Some humble ways unwind in Dubai.

Sandy Weekend

Today is the first day that the guests had left and our beautiful sunny days are back. Yes, they were very lucky to see the rainy and sandy Dubai and only one sunny day during the five days trip. It has been extremely windy and sandy last couple of days that we have a handful of sand even at our balcony on 17th floor. Funnily enough clothes dry much quickly outside; I call ‘the hair-drier effect’ of the warm wind.

Still you can find lots of things to do in Dubai when the weather is really bad. Shopping is the option one. Not a bad one especially the Shopping Festival is in town! At the end our guests had to spend lots of time –and money- at Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and Gold Diamond Park. We have been to Frankie’s one night. This is our ‘round the corner’ Italian with very good risottos, especially asparagus risotto with sautéed goose liver, wood-oven pizzas and alcohol. Well if you know Dubai, you know that we do not get alcohol served everywhere so one more reason to love Frankie’s and despite the bad weather Jazz Festival continued at JBR.

On Friday, I have prepared a Turkish Breakfast. This is a separate article, ‘How to Prepare a Turkish Breakfast in Dubai’. We spent Friday afternoon this time as Dubai Desert Classics at Emirates Golf Club. That was very nice and relaxing afternoon, following Mikko Ilonen as usual. We could not make it to Atlantis Aqua Park but we have been to Nobu at Atlantis - Again! Well, Nobu is a a must-do in Dubai for me anyway. Black cod was fantastic as usual.

I wanted to book a day at Burj Khalifa to visit the Observation Deck together with the guys. Apparently it’s so busy that I had to book an appointment. First I called their hot-line on Wednesday and they had time slot available for Friday at 8pm but it turned out that they do not make any reservations and I had to go to Dubai Mall and get the tickets. Tickets are 100 dirhem but if you just go and want to visit you have to pay 400 dirhem. So guys went to pick up the tickets on Thursday and Friday was no longer available! So, they are busy! In fact only available time was Sunday late evening, which was already too late. So they didn’t have a chance to visit the tower. I think it was good that they didn’t have a chance to visit the Burj Khalifa because it’s now temporarily closed for visitors due to maintenance for a month! It’s been open less then a month and unfortunately due to the heavy traffic, some maintenance required. I am afraid I’ll not visit the place any time soon!

Burj Khalifa, World’s Tallest Skyscraper

Burj Khalifa, World’s Tallest Skyscraper has become the new symbol of the Emirate. Yes, another once in a life time experience while I live in Dubai. After seeing the opening ceremony of Atlantis The Palm in 2008, I had an impression that nothing can beat this show. Well, I was wrong! Dubai surprised me again in a fantastic way.

Burj Khalifa opened it’s doors and we all witnessed the fabulous light, fountain and fireworks show on the other night. I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic, I was told that thousands of people were expected to be there, so we decided to be at friend’s house and enjoy the show from a distance but with “quality”. Yep, we had some bubbly too :) Fireworks were amazing and so magical that I’ll never forget the view. Next plan is to see the famous observation deck on 124th floor!

When I first arrived to Dubai two years ago, I thought that the Burj Dubai (it was renamed as Burj Khalifa on the inauguration day) was so unaesthetic. At that time it was only half way done and without the glass frame it looked so strange. But by the time The Dubai Mall was open, it started to look really fantastic. Not only the building itself but whole area was changing day by day. Now there is a fabulous The Old Town, new residential area full of restaurants and café’s and beautiful The Address Hotel and The Palace Hotel. So now we have a New ‘Old Town’ on top of our Must See List of Dubai.