The Walk Jumeirah Beach Residence is a favorite place for tourists in Dubai. The area attracts 10 million visitors each year. It is the place to see and be seen. Many go there to show off their brand new cars, others meet with friends for great outdoor meals.
The walk is a bustling strip lined with internationally celebrated coffee shops, restaurants, shisha cafes, boutiques and five-star hotels. You will always see this place bustling with locals driving around in their expensive cars, tourists playing with their children and expats strolling along the promenade.
It is one of the best places to enjoy a great meal with a view; here you will find a wide variety of restaurants from international chains like iHop to local restaurants and cafes. Most of those eateries are open from breakfast at 8 a.m. to late dinners at 1 a.m.
Yoshis Gaming Lounge is a great space for your teenage sons and daughters. I personally call this “The teenage club”. It is a first-of-its-kind in the area, offering pool and football tables, an area for online gamers, an Internet browsing area, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. It is the perfect place for teenage children to play and meet other gamers.
If you like to spend your day chilling by the beach, go to Jumeirah beach and enjoy water activities, lie on the beach, tan or take your children swimming. Some parts of the beach are private property with facilities like beach chairs and restaurants that offer light snacks; other parts are public with limited facilities like bathrooms and changing rooms. Going here means you will have to bring your own food, towels and chairs.
Upcoming projects will make the Walk more tantalizing for its visitors, starting with the Bluewaters project, which is to be completed in spring 2014. Its focal point is set to be the Dubai Eye. At 250 meter high, it will be the world’s largest Ferris wheel. Located off the coast of the Walk, it will include retail, residences, hotels and entertainment areas. The Ferris wheel will have a huge LED screen mounted on the wheel, which can be used to screen advertisements and to broadcast.
After the success of “Your City is Your Canvas”, a month-long art exhibition that showcased the work of 20 Emirati artists along the Rimal area of the Walk, more such events will be held here during 2013. Many gathered around the street art to see the beauty of the artists’ work while walking around the area.
To mark its 15th anniversary in the UAE, the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai in April unveiled the expansion of its property alongside the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) beachfront. The new wing is named Shorooq, Arabic for sunrise. It features 148 guestrooms and suites, a club lounge, sophisticated dining venues and a extravagant spa concept, additional swimming pools, lush gardens and indoor and outdoor spaces for hosting events, weddings, business gatherings and conferences.
When you walk in the hotel, you cannot miss the beautiful blend between the legendary hospitality of the Ritz-Carlton and the spirit of Middle Eastern tradition. To prove that, one of the reception staff will offer you traditional Arabic coffee and some dates, which is the traditional hospitality in the GCC area. Taking a seat enables you to look at the beautiful interior, which is a artsy mixture between east and west.
I chose to stay in this hotel because I was looking to have a quiet weekend in a busy area and this was perfect for me. All rooms have a sea view which meant water activities and relaxation. Its location on the Walk also means I don’t need a car to take me there. I could not help but notice the spaciousness of the hotel; even though the hotel was fully booked, it didn’t seem crowded.
Raul Salcido, general manager of the hotel, says many Saudis are just like me. They love to spend their free time strolling the Walk, which makes the hotel’s location more than just perfect. “When you think about Dubai there is a lot of wonderful hotels. You will get to see the city skyline and others have great options too. What makes our hotel special is that when you arrive, it is like arriving to a residence. We make sure to give each guest a personalized experience,” he said. “This is the first Ritz-Carlton in the Middle East so we got to experience a different culture and the people got to experience the Ritz-Carlton hospitality,” he added.
The Ritz-Carlton has an outlet planned, The Palm Grill, that is going to be closer to the beach. It will offer a casual fun menu for people to enjoy food by the beach. This summer, when all the 130-meter expansion of the property front line landscaping will be finished, it will give people access to tropical and sun gardens, said Salcido.
The hotel offers a variety of restaurants indoors and outdoors. Try La Baie Lounge that offers a unique chill-out atmosphere with a menu filled with flavor combinations from selected shores around the world in an elegant venue overseeing the pool. Another great location is the poolside restaurant called Gulf Pavilion that offers an international variety of healthy snacks, sandwiches, grilled seafood and light dishes which will keep you light and energetic for your second dip in the pool.
For something more elegant and romantic, the Blue Jade restaurant is a must-try. It will take you to a journey to the east through authentic dishes from Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
If you’re interested in enjoying the facilities of the hotel or take a romantic stroll with your loved one along the Walk, you can leave your children at the hotel’s Kids Club. While they are kept busy with interesting and fun activities indoors and outdoors you can make the most of your stay in Dubai.
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