Page 33 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Dubai & Abu Dhabi

Emirates Palace ❮❮ 31

Palace Suites 5
Emirates Palace
has 302 plush rooms
and 92 sumptuously
decorated Khaleej and
Palace Suites. On the
fifth floor is a reception
for kings and heads of
state and on the eighth
are suites designed
especially for the Gulf
Rulers. The Saudi suite
(right) even has its
own barbershop.
Palace
9
Gardens
and Fountains
The exterior of the
palace (left) adopts
traditional Arabian
architectural elements
and is painted to reflect
the variations in colour of
the Arabian sands. It is
beautifully enhanced by
its landscaped gardens
and stunning fountains.
Algerian
0
Sand Beach
The white sand of the
1.3-km- (1-mile-) long
beach was imported
from Algeria. A popular
Petrified
Domes
6 7 beach for swimming and
Palm Trees
cricket before Emirates
There are 114
domes here. The most There are 8,000 trees Palace was built, it was
stunning is the Grand within the hotel. The felt the sand wasn’t soft
Atrium dome, decorated date palm, which is a enough for royal feet.
with silver and gold glass national icon, can be
mosaic tiles and a gold seen everywhere.
finial at its apex. Some of the palm trees, ON A SCALE LIKE
petrified to preserve their NO OTHER
natural beauty, look real The Emirates Palace is
and are very impressive. spread over 1 million sq m
(10 million sq ft), with
Gold-Plated
8 over 300 rooms, around
2,000 staff from 50
Lobby
The opulence of the different countries, 114
lobby’s gold interior domes, 1,002 chandeliers,
(left) is dazzling. Until two helipads and a
ballroom capable of
Emirates Palace was accommodating more
built, Abu Dhabi was a than 2,500 people. It is
modest city. It was here claimed even hotel staff
that the city’s wealth sometimes get lost in
was ostentatiously put on the endless corridors.
display for the first time.
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