UAE Staycation: Hidden Gems in Ras Al-Khaima
This year has been like no other. Last year this time, we were sipping Piña colada on Kuta beach in Bali *sigh*. The travel bug in Mr. D makes us take at least 2 to 3 trips in a year. So you can just imagine how much of a struggle it has been for him particularly given that we are nearing a year since our last trip outside the country. So we decided to treat ourselves to a staycation over the National Day holiday on a staycation.
The hotel booking
D, two of our friends and I decided to spend one night at DoubleTree by Hilton, Ras Al Khaimah. We booked 2 rooms (one for the gals, one for the guys) for AED 1300. Our final share was only AED 350 after we applying a Rehlat discount voucher
Staycation begins
We left Dubai around 10.30 am on Tuesday, 1 December after fuelling up for the trip. AED 65 (10% cashback on Citibank credit card). I also bought chewing gum at the petrol station AED 3.75
After reaching RAK around 1 pm, the next item on the agenda was lunch. I did some digging around to find a reasonable outdoor place and settled on The Lounge by Manhattan Enterprises. Our order for 4 people comprised of special mixed grill, chicken shawarma, karak tea, sweet melon juice and lemon mint juice. All that for just AED 125 (our share AED 62.5)
Check in and games night
Lounged a bit, soaking up the sun and the cool breeze and we lazily made our way to the hotel. Checked in at Doubletree by Hilton by 3 pm. Take note, this is the hotel on Al Jazah Road. However, guests staying at Al Jazah get a free pass for pool and beach access at the DoubleTree by Hilton Resort & Spa on Marjan Island. Soon after check-in, we headed off to the Resort – a nice 20 km drive from the city. On our way, we chatted about the (in)famous Al Qassimi Palace. It’s an abandoned palace that is unoccupied and said to be haunted. My friend was quite keen to visit the palace that night but had to give up when the rest of us unanimously shot down the idea.
We spent the next few hours on the beach and pool side. Finally, we returned to the hotel around 7 pm, showered and got ready to pull an all-nighter. We played games and stuffed ourselves with the 1 meter long pizza we ordered from Pizza hut for just AED 69 + delivery charge AED 7 (our share AED 38)
The games night began with an amusing game called tuku-tuku, followed by monopoly and uno. There were squeals of laughter, friendly banter and of course lots of pizza ! (about 30 slices split in 3 flavours and 3 different dips!)
Late to bed and late to rise
We hit the sack around 3 am and had a sound night’s sleep. We slept in a bit late the next morning and negotiated a late check out for one of the rooms. The buffet breakfast was just about okay, nothing fancy.
We left RAK around 1 pm and on our way back stopped at Barracuda Resort, Umm Al Qaiwan to pick up some wine for some of our friends. There was a neat little queue outside the shop and people were happily rolling their trolleys loaded with clinking bottles. There’s even a children’s play area to keep the little ones occupied while the adults get down to business!
Reached Dubai around 5 pm – there’s no place like home 😊