Staycation: Rosewood Hotel, Abu Dhabi

I love a little staycation, and there's never a bad reason to take one... So with that said, to get a change of scenery and some much needed rest and relaxation we recently spent a weekend at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi...

Given the abundant choice of hotels in the city, the Rosewood Hotel might seem like an unusual choice since its location is nestled right in the heart of the new business district, but not so. The hotel is the epitome of luxury and great service and is a multi award winning brand for good reason.

The hotel is synonymous with business travellers, but talk to anyone in the know and you might be surprised to find out how family friendly the place is.

The building has a lovely calm feeling about it when you walk in - it's one of those places that even when it's busy it still feels quite serene. And at check in, everyone was so friendly and evidently great lovers of kids as Baby Arabian Notes seemed to cause quite a stir receiving more than his fair share of attention (which of course he was pleased to reward with gummy smiles and coos).

We stayed in THE most fabulous room, a junior suite which had its own entrance hall, a lounge separate to the bedroom and a huge bathroom with the most gorgeous and enormous bath I've seen in ages!

Ah, what a bathroom eh? One day, one fine day maybe I'll finally get to have one of my own that's just as fabulous?!

So we pretty much spent the weekend lounging around in the hotel room and making the most of the comfort there! We did pop out for a cheeky brunch at Aqua which I have to say is fantastic. It is one of my favourite brunches in the city and is grossly underrated. If you've got kids in tow, it's also without doubt one of the best family brunches around. Yep really, it's that good, it honestly is, but I'll tell you more about that next time since it really deserves a post of its own.

Later on, when we thought we couldn't possibly eat any more we got peckish again and we positively spoiled ourselves with an amazing dinner - the tasting menu at Spice Mela. I'm not normally the biggest fan of Indian food it has to be said, but this was outstanding. Given the popularity of the restaurant I'd hazard that we're not the only people who thought so. Again, I can't possibly fit all my excitement (and pictures!) into this one post so I'll tell you more about it separately very soon!

As if we'd not gorged ourselves enough over the weekend on fabulous food and lounging around doing very little, we arrived back to the room one afternoon to find a fruit plate waiting for us, housed in none other than an edible chocolate box! Amazing! It's the little touches that are often the most impressive don't you think?

Breakfast is held in Aqua and is another buffet to feast on with all the usual goodies you'd expect. I LOVE a bit of Eggs Benedict / Eggs Florentine and was pleased to see those already set out on the buffet for me to grab and scoff. Again, the staff were super friendly and helpful but not so perky as to be irritating before you've had your first coffee of the day...! ;)

There's also a rather lovely pool and deck at the hotel where you can bask in the sun (or shade, if you're anything like me!) and swim off some of the previous days overindulgence. With views across the water to the city, despite being in the heart of downtown Abu Dhabi, it's the sort of place that feels like you're miles away from the rush, whilst only being minutes away from the action.

We spent most of our second day lounging around the gorgeous room, making the most of the fabulosity around us and watching films! We even ordered room service for our lunch as we are fond of doing - Mr. Arabian Notes went with a steak and I had the Veal Tagliatelle Bolognese, yum!

One of the things that I really liked about the room service menu was that it not only had a selection of general choices, but also featured sections with selections straight from several of the in-house restaurants themselves - a touch that is surprisingly rare in hotels, I've found.

All in all we had a fabulous weekend... The Rosewood Abu Dhabi is a luxury hotel but with a classy, calm and understated feel about it. Everything just seems to work together perfectly and it's all very comfortable and welcoming at the same time. We really didn't want to leave!

Yes, we laid around like sloths and ate faaaar too much food all weekend, but we've got a newborn baby so on that basis alone, I think we've earned it. :)