Beautiful Destinations

This 1,539-room, $1.5 billion mega-resort may have adopted the scale and title of its Bahamas counterpart, but its lavishness far exceeds anything you’d find in the Caribbean. We’re talking next-level amenities—a 42-acre water park, a giant aquarium filled with some 65,000 sea creatures, a shopping mall exclusively stocking designer brands—and drama, drama everywhere, from the sky-high lobby with its fish-scale-chiseled columns and wraparound mural to the sheer range of guest rooms, including Underwater Suites whose windows look directly into the aquarium. But beware: all that fun comes with a price—and a crowd.

Of the many rooms at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah Resort, those at Dar Al Masyaf are by far the cream of the crop. The only way to reach them is by wooden boat through the resort’s waterways, but the effort is worth the reward: 283 rooms are pvied up among 29 two-story summer houses arranged around a private pool, each with their own butlers and direct access to either the beach or the fountain-filled gardens.

The debut hotel of a fashion powerhouse like Giorgio Armani was bound to break a few design barriers. In this case, a 160-room sleep of extraordinary sophistication in the world’s largest building. Floors 1-16, 38, and 39 of the Burj Khalifa are home to the Armani Hotel Dubai, which pairs Armani’s signature subdued palette with high doses of drama. Just look to the C-shaped leather couch and Arabic archways in the entrance, curved fabric walls and hidden closets in the guest rooms, and 12,000-square-foot spa. Elsewhere, a nightclub, a gift shop stocking Armani’s Privé collection, and an arsenal of restaurants including Armani/Amal, which serves Indian cuisine alongside views of the Dubai Fountain.