Rising like a mirage out of the desert this resort is more sultans' palace than nomad camp. One of the only all-villa private pool resorts in the Arabian Gulf it rules over a landscape of desert forts, mosques and minarets

The Luxury Travel Bible loves the Royal Villas with their exotic Arabian architecture, high ceilings and arched entrances. The villa's vast master bedrooms have king-sized beds and large baths in which you feel compelled to lazing in steamy splendor rose petals strewn around you. Outside, a private garden and swimming pool look like something out of the Alhambra. This place is indulgence incarnate. The harem-like spa is the largest in the Middle East, modeled on an ancient Arabian royal garden it has a vast hammam and a sprawling hydrothermal garden with pools, rainforest corridors, and an Aladdin's cave of other enticing water treatments. At the end of it, all you will feel polished, pampered, and ready to be a royal consort.

The Luxury Travel Bible also likes The Banyan Tree Al Wadi, which opened in the UAE in December 2009. It looks like an ancient desert fort, just 45 minutes outside Dubai and it too offers an all-pool villa desert experience.