As spring draws near, I find myself dreaming of the Maldives. Not just for the incessantly azure ocean and smooth expanses of white sand, but to get away from it all. Work, people, the banalities of life. To be somewhere, where you are nowhere. In fact, you don’t need to go that far. I recently stumbled on a personal paradise on a natural island just 500 metres off the coast of Abu Dhabi.
I spent my first few hours at the Park Hyatt Hotel and Villas getting lost. Not that the layout is labyrinthine, but the recently opened property occupies such an expansive stretch of land on Saadiyat Island - Arabic for Happiness – that it’s easy to go astray.
The sweet dislocation begins the moment your car rolls up to the sprawling hotel. Arriving in the lobby, you’re actually on the second floor. Below you, ground level leads to the shimmering Arabian Sea. With 9 kilometres of unspoiled coast, there’s little in sight but endless sky, pristine, glittering sea and gleaming white sand, with a remote cluster of low-lying buildings to one side. Perfect.
Service is so personalised, that you are constantly greeted by name. And that’s a good thing, given how easy it is to forget everything, in this serene place that could be anywhere. It’s also extremely efficient. After my phone slips soundlessly into the sand my first day, the ever-attentive staff continue to assure me they’re looking for it. I appreciate their concern but don’t really believe they’ll succeed, that is until they graciously hand it back to me later that evening.
Though it could be anywhere, the hotel does acknowledge its surroundings. The sensual earthy tones and ambient lighting, for instance, does not simply provide respite from the sun’s glare, it’s also meant to deter nesting Hawksbill turtles, which are attracted to light, from entering the hotel.
From the majestic ceiling installation - 2,800 aluminium rods that form billowing ridges reminiscent of the movement of sand dunes - to the black ‘desert rose’ atop a capsule filled to the brim with water, Singapore-based interior architects Wilson Associates, have incorporated the island’s natural elements into their design. Together with dramatically showcased objects, such as the sculpture of the largest Bedouin-style teapots I have ever seen stacked on top of one other, they have cleverly captured the regional character all Park Hyatts strive to project, subtly reminding us we are in the Gulf without resorting to acres of glitz. Marketing communications executive, Nabila Tilioui explained how the architects broke the mould each time they finished an installation, to ensure it could not be replicated.
Once inside, it’s the small, private pleasures that stand out. Forget the comfortably upholstered daybeds on each of the 306 balconies. Forget the four private villas, the 39 beach-view and garden-view suites arranged in riad-like clusters, which come with private plunge pools and sun beds and backdoor butler entrances. The Park’s real glory is the bathrooms, an oasis of sensual products and self-indulgence, which come with spectacular views.
The bathroom’s sliding glass doors set it apart from the room without sealing it off, the different spaces opening onto one another in theatre-like fashion. If you’re in a hurry, then the powerful walk-in rainshower with its Chinese lava marble will do the trick. For a slower ritual, the stand-alone Toto tub is a divine bathing experience and comes complete with complimentary bath salts and aromatic candles in tangy bergamot. If that’s not relaxing enough, the spa offers delights like the 90-minute Quiro golf massage with complimentary hot stone therapy, guaranteed to unkink anything your bath could not.
My perfect Park experience was sunset cocktails at the Beach House. Just you and the uninterrupted view, you can sit and sip, watching as the orange streaks fade, giving way to a deep midnight blue sky, sprinkled with first a couple, then dozens and suddenly hundreds, perhaps thousands, of brilliantly twinkling stars.
It may be that there isn’t (yet) much to do on Saadiyat Island. But perhaps that’s exactly the point. There were those I met during my stay who did not leave the hotel for days, the outside world slipping further and further away. In a world of hotels that all offer more of the same, Abu Dhabi’s unfussy but luxurious Park Hyatt is a beguiling mix of both exclusivity and familiarity. Alone with oneself, in nature but in the comfort of five-star hospitality, you can wander Saadiyat’s wide open spaces to find yourself respite, a sanctuary, your very own piece of Happiness.
