Tips for a non-shopper in Dubai

QUESTION: I have agreed to join my husband for a five-day holiday after a meeting he is attending in Dubai. As I don't fancy endless shopping and staying in a business hotel, can you recommend a resort-style luxury hotel not Iinked to a mall and suggestions of good restaurants, activities and excursions. - Diana Summers

ANSWER: If you really want to 'get away from it all', your best bet is the Al Maha Desert Resort, set in a desert reserve. A Bedouin-style oasis in the dunes in a genuine wilderness setting, you get to stay in tent-style villas with private pools and can spend your days going on four-wheel drives, camel rides and sand skiing. If that's not your idea of fun, then you can opt for Sol Kerzner's version of Arabian luxury, the superb One&Only Royal Mirage. Consisting of three hotels, it comes closest of Dubai's hotels to being a true holiday resort, with lavish interiors, gleaming pools and splendid views.

Best spots to dine in Dubai include Gordon Ramsay's French restaurant Verre (at the Hilton Dubai Creek Hotel in Deira), Gary Rhodes' celebration of British cuisine, Mezzanine,(at Grosvenor House) and the Pisces (at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel) for seafood. If you want to splash out, try Al Mahara (at the Burj Al Arab Hotel), where you ride a submarine down to the 'underwater' restaurant.

Of the things to do, you have to go on the obligatory desert safari, which includes a camel ride and a Bedouin-style dinner under the stars. It can be touristy, but it's still great fun and definitely worthwhile. After that, it depends on what appeals to you. Great golfing, snow skiing and watersports at Jumeirah can keep you busy, but you can also visit the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife (where you get to see exotic animals rescued from smugglers) or the Dubai Museum for insight into this extraordinary city's history.