The Best Luxurious Villas in Dubai, UAE

Set beside a sizeable private pool with its own veiled seating area, this swish villa has all of the comforts of home – think plump ecru sofas, pastel accent chairs, a breakfast bar, earthy ceramics and even a playtime tipi for kids. Sleeping up to nine – and including a room with bunk beds – it’s located in Sidra, among homes belonging to the wealthy families of Dubai. It’s also handily close to Dubai’s Marina, Palm development (for beach clubs and spas) and the enormous Mall of the Emirates, with its indoor ski slope.

Set along one of the fronds of the sought-after Palm development, which juts into the Arabian Gulf, this villa has a kitschy, tropical Floridian feel courtesy of shell-pink sofas, flamingo paintings, palm-print wallpaper and a flapper-esque fringed chandelier. Five bedrooms, a full-sized lagoon-view pool and a chic, spacious dining room make it a top choice for groups of friends.

With high ceilings, wide windows and soft, pale decor, this five-bedroom, beachfront villa is flooded with natural light to ensure a bright start to every morning. A long, slim pool skirts one side of the house, while bedrooms come in cream, pale gold and taupe to extend that luxury feel. A giant, up-to-the-minute kitchen means you can cook up a storm (or organise a private chef) for long, luxuriant dinners and lunches. Best of all is the doorstep access to the beach.

Also on the sought-after Palm, this modern five-bedroom rental spices things up with angular lime-green sofas, geometric scatter cushions and retro gold-velvet bed frames. Walk-in closets give you space to spread out, and a concierge service will even store your luggage around check-in and check-out times. The best bit? The colonnaded terrace, which looks out to a sliver of beach and pale jade waters – all within a few minutes’ walk.

Undeniably one of the most glamorous resorts in Dubai, the relatively new Bulgari Resort has killer villas that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives. They come with their own wooden decks, plunge pools and huge open-plan living rooms, each with a full-sized bar. This two-bedroom unit has dazzling views of the city’s glinting glass-and-steel jungle, plus ample garden space and a private butler on hand for your every whim. For dining, reserve a table at the hotel’s five-star restaurant and bar, or hide away in your own abode for a special home-cooked meal.

The Anantara Resort sits along one of the outer, curved islands of Palm Jumeirah – its tiered, Thai-style villas topped with distinctive mini-stupas. A stay here gives you a spacious living area that opens up to a private terrace with its own mosaic-tiled infinity pool. If you ever grow tired of that, you need only take five or six steps to find yourself on the beach. The resort’s spa is one of the city’s finest, too – a scrub and lather in its traditional hammam is a must.

Despite the name, there are actually two One and Only resorts in Dubai – the Palm’s outpost is the preferred choice for ultra-luxury travellers. Located right next to the soft sandy beach, its two-bed villas are famed for their generous patios, with shaded loungers and daybeds alongside a cooling azure plunge pool. Interiors are expensively furnished in pearl and oyster, with plenty of texture and traditional carved-wood motifs. And when you’re not splashing around in the sea, there’s a vast, palm-trimmed swimming pool at your disposal, too.

Slightly uptown, close to the airport and downtown business area, beach club Nikki Beach has brought an ice-white, rosé-clinking brand of Ibiza party glamour to Dubai. This two-storey villa is an architect’s dream: all blinding whites and ceiling-high glass, with a full-sized pool out front. Sleeping six, its curvaceous sofas and pebble-smooth bathtubs channel a spa-like serenity – plus there’s a broad first-floor, sea-view terrace large enough to host a party, if that’s on your agenda.

Towering ceilings, palatial white-and-gold living rooms and a pool big enough to host half the neighbourhood – renting a Lodge Villa at the Palm’s Sofitel resort is the closest you’ll get to taking over your own private hotel. As well as a cushy living space and tropical gardens, there’s a rooftop terrace, a gym and a barbecue area for al fresco meals. A private butler will even sort out anything from sourcing your preferred brand of gin to booking restaurants and excursions.

Just behind buzzy Jumeirah Beach, Dar Al Masyaf resort is notable for its hushed, exotic gardens and traditional Arabian summerhouses, each built around a super-private courtyard and laced with a private pool. With 10 king-size bedrooms, you could host a wedding here – or one heck of a party – and the terracotta-and-wood exterior, with its Emirati wind towers, adds that layer of authenticity. The Jumeirah complex it sits on has one of the city’s best pampering spots, too: the ultra-luxe Talise Spa.

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