The St. Regis Abu Dhabi

On the third attempt, the driver finds the right entrance after all. The St. Regis city hotel, which opened in 2013, is located in the Nation Towers, two huge towers with offices, residences, a shopping center below and a helipad above. The rooms are located between the 33rd and 49th floors, and anyone who gets a Grand Deluxe Corner Suite has hit the jackpot: the view of the sea, the kilometer-long Corniche and the high-rise jungle is simply breathtaking. You are very close to the Emirates Palace, many embassies and the striking headquarters of the national oil company. Early in the morning, Abu Dhabi is a bit like New York City - the muffled but audible wailing of sirens as a wake-up call. Fitting anyway, breakfast on the "Terrace at the Corniche" in front of decorative palm trees and a frangipani tree should be savored. It is just as varied as the afternoon tea later on with a view of the sweeping spiral staircase and the lobby's wow chandeliers: Moroccan mint tea, Vietnamese coffee, scones with clotted cream, an etagere filled to the brim with sandwiches.





In the evening, it's time for some award-winning food, whether in the "Villa Toscana" or the "Catch". To get to the latter, you have to cross the busy road, or more precisely, go under the road. An air-conditioned tunnel leads to this and other establishments on the beach club side of the hotel. Back at the Tower, we refrain from having a nightcap at the bar - the intense smell of nicotine. In the Cigar Lounge and also in the Crystal Lounge, the sheikhs like to inhale all kinds of smokes in the evening, the clouds of which unfortunately also waft over into the non-smoking areas. Apart from the puffing, however, it is otherwise an unadulterated pleasure with plenty of old-world glamour and a hint of beach vacation feeling.

Test highlight: The all-round view from the two-storey Abu Dhabi Suite (1,120 m2) from a height of
220 m height.