We have lived in Dubai for over 4 years now and this was our first trip to Al Maha....all I can say is it most certainly will not be our last!!
The drive from Dubai (Mirdif, where we live) is about 30-45 mins. We arrived at the front gate to find our personal Field guide waiting for us. We parked our car and he unloaded our luggage into his Land Cruiser and took us the 15 mins from the front gate through the reserve to the resort. On the way he told us about the history of the resort and a little about the activities available. The cost of room stay includes lunch, dinner, breakfast, all soft drinks and 2 activities. As we pulled up to the front of the main building our own guest services rep was waiting along with some other staff and another field guide. We were taken to a side room, given refreshments and given a brief intro on our stay. Nobody asked for credit cards or spoke about money the entire time! We were shown the dining room and sat down for lunch while we waited on our suite being ready. Lunch was an international buffet and the food was superb! The tables outside (although too hot at this time of the year) are perfect for evenings looking out to the reserve and the watering hole for the oryx and gazelles. We were then taken to our suite in a golf cart by our guest services lady (the resort is quite spread out, but anytime you need to go anywhere in the really hot weather you just call and a cart will arrive at your front door in minutes!!) and were blown away by the accommodation. Our expectations were high but this exceeded it all! The suite was immaculate and private, the giant beds looked over the private temperature controlled pool and out onto the reserve. The bathroom was huge and everything you could possibly want was provided for you. You could actually turn up at this resort with nothing but the clothes on your back and your bathers!!
We booked a sunset camel trek as our evening activity. We set off at 6pm on camels for a 20 minute trek to the dunes. We then arrived a lovely spot where hotel staff were waiting with strawberry's and champagne to enjoy while sitting on the dune watching the sun set. It was lovely and we were back at the resort for about 7.20pm.
You can opt to have your evening meal on your deck or in your suite at no extra cost - unless you want each course delivered separately which was only 200/-. This has to be booked by 3pm and we didn't realise so all our courses came at once. It was no big deal but I would book the individual courses next time. It was lovely having a romantic meal on the deck and we didnt have to dress up so dipped in and out of the pool all evening in between courses. We were visited every now and again by Oryx and Gazelles who walk freely through the resort and past your deck. It was fantastic to see them so close. Some came to drink out of the pool, it was an incredible experience!
The beds were so comfortable and we had a fantastic sleep listening to the silence outside. We booked over a busy period so there were no rooms with superkingsize beds left. We were told that they join 2 beds together in that case and I was a little apprehensive but you really could not tell at all!
We had booked to do the falconry in the morning....at 6am!! Don't be put off by that, it was well worth it. You are driven into the desert by your personal field guide and taken to a spot with chairs and refreshments - even the champers was out again! We were shown displays by 2 falcons and a gorgeous owl. It was a lot of fun and beautiful to sit out on the dunes watching the sun rise. On the way back you get a tour of the bird's hotel.
Check out was incredibly painless and I was so pleasantly surprised to see that the price I was quoted was the price I paid. There was no additional tax added to the quoted price which is very unusual!
This is without doubt the nicest place I have ever stayed. If there is one place on this earth that you must visit, make it Al Maha, it will blow you away at every turn. If you can manage to request suite 32, that has a fantastic view from the infinity pool of the watering hole....and make sure you stay more than one night!! Best of all - no kids allowed!!

We had spent 5 night in the Atlantis prior to our stay in Al Maha and we thought that was excellent but Al Maha really blew us away.
We were greeted with a much needed cold drink and talked through our stay and introduced to our guide. We were a little early so we had a lovely lunch before being taken to our suite.
We had been upgraded to one of the royal suite's which was just perfect. We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms and the private pool was a big bonus.
The food was truly amazing and we enjoyed every course, even the sandwiches in our room were stunning.
I choose to go horse riding in the desert and it was so great I went again the next day, the horses were lovely and the guide was great. You do need to be an expericenced rider to do this, but if you are it is well worth it.
We also did the Camel ride at sunset which was a lovely experience for our honeymoon.
There is wildlife everywhere and most of it comes to visit your pool for a drink, so you don't even have to hike around to find it.
The spa is truly out of this world, the service is second to none.
We couldn't have wished for a better honeymoon and I could go on about this place forever, Al Maha is pure relaxation.

We stayed for 4 nights at Al Maha desert resort and enjoyed every minute of it. The rooms were lovely and the food was amazing. We enjoyed all of the activities and the field guides are very knowledgeable. The added bonus was having your own swimming pool.

A friend arranged a one-night-only stay for us. Considering the value-for-money ratio we found this short stay to be enough. Yes, the tented villas are very luxurious. The view into the desert is magic. The experience with camels and oryx antelopes is very nice (but nothing against wildlife lodges in India or Africa). The service level is high. But somehow, on the atmospheric side, something was missing for us. Maybe Al Maha is just too close to bustling Dubai. Or the design is too clean and modern. It just doesn't connect with a deep desert experience.