Travel Diary | The Cove Rotana Resort Ras al-Khaimah

Disclaimer: I visited the resort prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, I paid for the trip myself and have no affiliation with the resort.

For years the only travels I did were city trips. Though I love to go to places I have not been before and explore a new city and its people, I realized after a while that even though I got new impressions and my mind took a vacation, I always felt somewhat restless and exhausted. While talking to a good friend about this he told me that this was no wonder since I never took time off to travel somewhere just to relax. Thinking about this it had been years since I took just a beach/relax vacation.

I never thought I’d be the type who would just go to a resort, lay by the pool, eat great food and decompress all day. However, after my friend took me on a trip to Italy one late summer I got kind of hooked. I had not been this happy and relaxed in years – and it had been so simple. Just fly away for a week to some place warm and get yourself pampered. Now I try to take such a vacation at least once a year!

When I got the chance to spend a week of beach time, great food and just simple relaxation at The Cove Rotana in Ras al-Khaimah, about an hour north of Dubai, I could just not resist. Now I know what some you might be thinking – has he not been to Dubai before? (I actually received that question from numerous friends and colleagues). Well, yes, I have – I had planned to go to Spain but this turned out to be too expensive. So I looked into other possibilities. A friend of mine had stayed at the same resort just after my visit to Dubai and raved about it. So when I found a special offer, I got out my credit card and booked myself an all happy package.

The flight to Dubai

Luckily the offer I found included a direct flight from Frankfurt to Dubai with Lufthansa. I just don’t like to fly via a connecting flight unless there is no other chance. Luckily, Dubai is served both by Lufthansa and Emirates so there are enough options to fly direct. Since I’m a silver member and so received miles and flight segments, I was happy to go by Lufthansa again.

Trying their Economy product this time and I was lucky to have a window seat with no travel partner next to me. Lots of room for all my things!

The flight time is about 6 to 6.30 hours with a full meal and a snack service. Overall a quick flight that just gives you enough time to watch about two movies.

The Resort

The Cove Rotana Resort is situated about an hour north of Dubai outside the city of Ras al-Khaimah (which is another emirate in the UAE). As the name promises it is situated in a lovely cove just by the Persian golf. The resort is built in an arabic style with a bungalow/village kind of structure. Up near the entrance/reception you will find the all-inclusive buffet restaurant Cinnamon and their a la carte restaurant. Since I booked all-inclusive all my meals where served at Cinnamon. During the day you can also get an assortment of drinks and snack at the two pools and the beach bar. Both pools are infinity pools and the beach is a private area, stretched over 600 meters which gives enough room to spend your day lounging in the sun.

The Rooms

My room was situated at the top of the resort in the far corner. A quiet and lovely little sanctuary with enough space for two people, a lounge sofa, and a balcony to sit outside. Clean and fresh – only the bed was short but since I was alone I could sleep diagonally. The Bathroom included a big walk-in shower – very nice and refreshing after a day at the beach.

The food

All-inclusive always evokes an image in my head of masses of fried and unhealthy food on gigantic platters, tons of people with plates loaded to the max.

Here I was positively surprised about the quality and variety of foods they offered. Every morning and evening I took my meals at Cinnamon and there was always something new to discover. I tried many different dishes that week, all very tasty and healthy. I especially loved the different egg stations in the morning (poached here I come) and the offers in salads, vegetables and fruits. And even though I had dessert each day I managed to put a lot of healthy foods on my plate that left me feeling full and well-nourished.

What you can do

For the most part the resort offers the perfect place to relax, take a swim and let life be. But if you want to be active there is a gym where you can work out every day until 10 pm (which I actually managed to go to twice while I was there), take yoga classes or personal training sessions, as well as watersports or an in-house spa which also offers massages right by the beach.

Twice per week they also offer a bus service to the Dubai Mall which takes about 1.5 to 2 hours depending on the traffic. Even though I had been to the mall before I took the chance to go and buy some things that I can’t get back home in Europe.

If you are there for more than a week I can only recommend to book one of the tours they offer with one of the local tourist agencies. Whether you would like to go on a desert safari or take a tour through Dubai, they offer something for everybody that will surely be the highlight of your trip.

Since I had been to Dubai before (check out my tips for visiting Dubai here) and my time was limited, I decided to just go to the mall and wait to go to the desert the next time I’ll be down there.

Overall I had a great vacation and experience at The Cove Rotana Resort. The staff was always friendly and helpful and I had the feeling that I was well taken care of. Here all-inclusive is served with a genuine smile that welcomes you and makes you want to come back for a second time!

Florian