Weekend hangout: Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa

As far as weekend escapes go, Dubai and the surrounding emirates are bursting with lovely bolt holes. But if you really, really want to get away from everything (and, pretty much, everyone) then you'll be hard pushed to find a more peaceful hideaway than Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa. A 45-minute drive from Dubai on the Al Ain Road, the exquisite, eco-friendly resort is nestled deep in the heart of a 225-square-kilometre nature reserve, and is credited with being one of the most flourishing conservation projects in the region. Based on a blend of South Africa's super-luxury lodges and the exclusive island hideaways of Malaysia and Thailand, topped off with the finest in Arabian hospitality, this is the ultimate in get-away-from-it-all-but-still-get-pampered-like-a-celebrity-if-you-want-to decadence.

Ultra-exclusive but totally relaxed, the Condé Nast Travel Award-winning resort boasts 42 ultra-private, single-storey villas, complete with their own temperature-controlled pools and gigantic terraces. To say it's a truly remote and utterly romantic paradise is an understatement. Indeed, should you wish to, the only disturbance you may encounter during your stay is the occasional visiting oryx or gazelle, which roam freely and happily around the resort and regularly nose around the villas, usually to have a drink from your freshwater pool.

Our personal nirvana for the weekend was one of the resort's Bedouin Suites, a sprawling, 75-square-metre sanctuary of relaxation, packed with handcrafted furnishings, antiques and artifacts, and dominated by a giant, softer-than-a-cloud, hand-carved bed and a view over the desert landscape that steals both your heart and the air from your lungs in one fleeting glimpse. Leaving this place was going to be an issue, I predicted, with Mystic Meg-style brilliance.

If you can bear to tear yourself away from your villa (I forgot to mention the bathroom - it's huge, and amazing on every level), visitors can experience a variety of desert activities during their stay, including guided nature walks, horse riding and four-wheel-drive safaris. We signed up for 6am falconry (which was incredible) and a sunset camel trek (the views are magnificent, and you get a glass of bubbly on top of one of the dunes to make the experience all the more magical). Admittedly, that was the most energetic we were all weekend, bar the intermittent dipping, like two excitable hippos, in and out of our private pool, and the leisurely saunters from our suite up to the resort's one and only restaurant, Al Diwaan. Boasting a huge terrace as well as a vast dining area, we enjoyed a top-notch breakfast here after our falconry and a fabulous first night dinner (get dressed up or don't - it's up to you, but I'm an eternal dress up girl). Which brings me onto the food. Whether you decide to dine in the main building or squirreled away in your villa, you'll be treated to the same level of exceptional food and impeccable service. Indeed, nothing is too much trouble for the Al Maha team. A waiter that pre-empts your dinnertime shivers with a pashmina? Check. The maintenance man who will happily make your private pool hotter in the blink of an eye? Check. A sumptuous, five-course meal served on your private terrace, complete with crisp white tablecloth, crystal glasses and temperature-perfect bubbles, which is cleared away as silently and speedily as it arrives? Check. Needless to say, if you're only staying for two nights, as we were, you'd hope that there was a button somewhere in the villa that would make time stand still so you could enjoy this blissed-out luxury for even longer. I couldn't find one, unforch. So I'll be making it my personal mission to locate it the next time we visit. Because revisit, we will.
Location: Route 66, Dubai to Al Ain Road, after Junction 50
Tel: 04 303 4222
www.al-maha.com

FOOTNOTES:

• One of the Bedouin suites - considered ‘standard' at the resort. After living there for two days, we beg to differ - this little beauty is far from it.
• Al Maha is Arabic for Oryx, the desert antelope that roams freely around the resort. We were warned to look, but not touch - and when you see how big they are, and how huge their horns are, you'll understand why. We'd like to adopt a gazelle - v cute, but we won't, obvs. The cat wouldn't like it.
• The custom-made, super king sized beds are out of this world comfortable. I'm sure our bed was bigger than most New York apartments.
• I've never met a bird worth $50,000 dollars with such a celebrity status that he's affectionately known as Brad Pitt, nor do I expect to again. The supermodel-standard owl makes the perfect glamorous sidekick.
• Try the lobster ravioli with brambly apple veloute in Al Diwaan - it will change your life.

The HOTel list

The table to treat yourself to:
Special occasion? You cannot beat a candlelight dinner a deux in the dunes. A romantic setting of goose bump inducing proportions, prepare yourself for incredible food, your own personal waiters and a memory that will last you a lifetime.

The villa to book:
They're all amazing, but according to resort insiders, villa 23 is the most wanted suite. Lying on the opposite side of the resort, as well as being ultra, ultra private, the villa boats three different views of the desert landscape.

The star who would love it:
Privacy is paramount at this stunning desert conservation resort, and while it's unlikely you'd know if you had a celeb neighbour or not, we're guessing there's many an A-lister who've blissed out, undisturbed, at this amazing retreat. We think the notoriously private but nature loving Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millipied, would love this place.