Al Ain Rotana + Zen Spa | Spacation

While we love staycations in all shapes and sizes, when life presents an opportunity to convert it into a spa-cation, our joy knows no bounds. We had been looking out for a good spa in Dubai for quite sometime (months really), and then come January we decided to skip Dubai and instead visit the beautiful and quite highly rated Zen Spa at Al Ain. Traveling all the way to Al Ain just for a spa seems so unlikely of us, so we decided to make it a spa-cation with a one night stay at Al Ain Rotana and a relaxing spa treatment at the Zen Spa.

The expansive lobby with see-through lifts are the highlight as soon as you enter Al Ain Rotana. The hotel looked quite old in terms of interiors, but it was maintained quite well. We had some hiccups when it came to checking in – the room we had selected wasn’t available and we were being asked to settle for a smoking room – but we preferred waiting until our room was ready.

The Room

The room was gorgeous. Very spacious and with a balcony, it offered peaceful views of the garden city. The room offers everything you would need for a relaxing stay. The bathroom features a tub to soak in if you like, and there’s a bidet too, but the only thing missing is a shattaf, and I prefer shattafs over bidets. Right from a decent TV to tea and coffee facilities and a spacious wardrobe, the room is good enough even if you plan on staying more than one night.

With all the amenities in place and a comfortable bed, we would have almost preferred going off to sleep, had it not been for our spa appointment. We quickly parked our bags and walked towards the Zen spa.

The Zen Spa

We had booked an appointment at the spa way in advance even before booking the room, so obviously our entire stay was centered aroung this spa session. We arrived at the spa almost on time adn were offered a choice of different packages. We chose to go with the jacuzzi + massage + bath package which was priced at AED for two people.

Our first leg was the jacuzzi. Dressed in swimsuits, we set aside 30 minutes to enjoy the warm massaging waters in an otherwise quite chilly weather.

Next up was the actual massage. This 90 minute treatment was to take place in a remarkable room that housed two massage beds and a bath tub in addition to a toilet and shower room. The treatment room was probably bigger than our room at the hotel! With soothing strokes and lavender oil that almost instantly put me off to sleep, I enjoyed my blissful 60 minutes with a full body massage. The masseuse was really good at her job and managed to melt down most of my annoying shoulder knots.

Finally, after a good 45 minutes of sound sleeping during the massage, it was time to soak up in the bath. Fragranced with essential oils and all foamed up, we enjoyed the warm bath for around 30 minutes until it was time to shower, change and bid goodbye to the spa.

We were almost sure we would stop by at the pool for a little while, but after the massage all we wanted to do was bury ourselves into the comfy bed and grab some shut eye.

Dinner

While Al Ain Rotana has an all day dining restaurant that serves buffet, it also houses a few other outlets including Trader Vic’s, which is where we decided to dine. The food was not too bad, but not too great either. And all we could think about was going back to the hotel and sinking into the bed!

Breakfast

As I always prefer, we had this staycation booked inclusive of breakfast. The breakfast options at the restaurant were perfect. It had all my favorites including omelet, cereal (with coconut shavings!), potatoes, foul medammes, and hot beverages. After a satisfying Saturday breakfast, we skipped the pool yet again, and instead chose to rest for a bit before we packed up for a 2 hour drive back home.

My Ratings: