Anantara Sir Bani Yas Island Al Yamm Villa Resort — Hotel in Sir Bani Yas

TL;DR: Try the nature walk or safari: go early for more animals & bring sturdy shoes and sunscreen

Go to the theme nights if you get the chance; especially Mediterranean night at Olio Book activities and spa in advance for the best schedule

My wife and I stayed in a one bedroom villa in the middle of February, and we could not be happier with our stay. The resort and island are amazing by themselves, but the staff and food put everything over the top. We will 100% be staying here again.

We drove from Abu Dhabi. Google said the drive would be around 2.5 hours, but we made it in less than 2. Our ferry seats were arranged by the hotel in advance and there was no extra charge. The ride took about 20 minutes and we were taken by shuttle to our resort; the whole process was very smooth. Leaving was just as smooth; when we checked out at noon, we gave our luggage to the staff and headed to the spa before our 4pm ferry. We boarded the shuttle from the main resort and our bags met us back on the mainland without a hitch.

At our resort we were greeted by Ms. Retno who was our main contact at reception throughout our stay. She took excellent care of us and was a huge part of making our stay great. We arrived at the resort before check-in, but our villa was ready before we could finish lunch. We ate lunch at Olio, the restaurant located in the Al Yamm resort in which we were staying. The food at Olio was great and I loved their staff as well; we also enjoyed their daily breakfast. My wife and I chose some excursions we wanted and discussed spa plans which Retno worked into a smooth itinerary for us. I recommend booking extras well in advance, by phone or email before arrival if possible. Retno was able to get us into the spa that afternoon, but the spa didn't have availability for the 90 minute massage that we wanted.

Our first night we enjoyed African food at Savannah's boma theme night(outdoor bbq). There was African music on the house speakers ranging from pop to traditional drums. The buffet style food was arranged in cast iron kettles over coals and there was an awesome grill. Despite the large bonfire it did get pretty chilly, but there were blankets available on request. On our last night we enjoyed the first Mediterranean themed night at our favorite restaurant Olio. My favorite was the build-your-own Italian style pizza, but everything was top-notch. The chef Yogi made some fantastic gluten-free pasta especially for my wife, who has celiac disease.

As for activities, we started the first morning with a 9am Nature & Wildlife Drive (aka safari). This was our favorite activity, our guide Delano was very personable and was happy to answer all of our questions. We also got very up close and personal with a few of the resident giraffes. In the evening we did the Culture & History Tour with our guide Navas. This tour wasn't as good as the others and all the same info was on the website. The second full day started with a 7am Nature walk with Ali. The walk was about 4km through a 9 square km fenced area; you'll want to bring some sturdy shoes. There were many animals including deer, gazelles, oryx, sheep, emu, birds, and about 25 giraffes. We were able to get within 20 meters of the animals which resulted in great pictures. Our last activity was the Discovery Conservation tour with guide Khalid. This was neat, but it focused on penned animals.

We went to the spa twice during our stay and our therapists Thao and Mon took excellent care of us both times. If you're like me and tend to get a little dehydrated on vacations, you might want to ask for a bottle of water near the table so that you can take a quick drink when you roll over... I was parched! After the massage we enjoyed refreshments in the indoor/outdoor relaxation area.

Overall we had an awesome time. We do recommend ear plugs if you're a light sleeper. Also, the beaches are reclaimed from the sea so it is shell sand instead of being soft. These are very minor things and we loved our villa, the staff,...

Stayed there from 06/04/2021 until 08/04/2021:

Not many negatives but just a few suggestions: -Indian restaurant, sadly the Island doesn't have much variety of restaurants but you can trot to the other resorts and eat there but be sure to book cause they can fill up. Olio was the top restaurant in our opinion -Club Sandwich for the in-room dining. This is more of a me thing but I felt like the in-room dining had limited choices on Al Yamm -Boat from Abu Dhabi Island to Sir Bani Yas. I don't know if this will save time, but driving to the Jetty is quite and drive and stressful because you end up worrying if you'll make it on time, and if you miss the boat, it's another 3 hour wait approximately. -Bicycles for guests to explore the island. There doesn't seem to be any and I believe it's because it might be dangerous to cycle at night since it's pitch dark?

Now the good stuff! The people who make up the resort is what really gives this place the WOW factor. Yeah there are animals roaming around and the views are amazing, but everyone has a great story and they're just really friendly and nice, you don't get that with the deer and peacocks.

Greeted by the lovely Odeon and Joseph at the Jetty station. Beautiful sunset trip to Sir Bani Yas Island. Weather was cooler on the island than Abu Dhabi city. Our driver Sayeed in the Island gave us a brief history about the Island which was great, it's larger than Abu Dhabi Island! At reception we got greeted by the amazing Ms. Retno with a lovely rose lemonade drink. Throughout the stay she was all smiles and it was truly appreciated. When we arrived to the room there was a cake waiting for us and the bed was specially made up as we were celebrating a birthday 2 days is not enough but we tried to do as much as we can. Dinner that day was the Lebanese restaurant in the Desert Island and the Falafels were superb, never had anything like them in Abu Dhabi. Breakfast was at Olio which was just handy, we woke up to catch the sunrise and went Kayaking early in the morning at Desert Island with Mouneir the lifeguard who was really nice and was patient with us. When we went for breakfast they had a lovely selection, I did feel bad for the staff there as they insisted on putting things for you on your plate and I understand that it was to due to COVID-19 measures but felt like it was too much. It's a bit tough when you have the breakfast rush and 2 people are trying the help everyone. You can ask for crepes from the chef, sort of a secret menu item. I would suggest going back for lunch, they are the best restaurant on the whole and not just because of the food but the staff there like Hanifah, Priyanka, Shims (Man's got a great sense of humor, keep the jokes coming!), Delilah and everyone else whom I sadly can't remember their name Wildlife drive was excellent, went for 9AM and we had the lovely Ali show us around and give us a lovely history of the Island, and we got to see the giraffes and cheetahs and all types of birds they take care of in the island. We also ended up going with him on the bike tour later that day and he knew a lot of great tracks. BEST PART: We were lucky enough to get a late check out on our last day and I just wanted to thank Hossein, Retno, and the management at Anantara for taking care of us. Will definitely come back and recommend...

Peace, tranquility, beauty, nature, quiet, stunning……… I could go on and on. ||This by no means was the perfect vacation. There’s really not that much to do other than pool, beach, sea, eat and relax. Guess what though? That’s exactly what we wanted and needed. ||The wife and I needed a chill and recharge. She stands up for 9 hours every day and listens to people moaning and I have different yet similar frustrations. It was time to have a few days just for us. ||3 nights booked. Each night was another opportunity to sit and watch the stars. To appreciate the almost total silence. To respect natural habitat. We overlooked the sea and beach. ||Each morning gave us a stunning sunrise (apparently the other hotels on the island don’t see the sun rise but do see it set). ||Our first morning we did a safari tour (ok so it’s a quirky old safari car which takes us to as close as possible to the animals which are being bred here to be returned to the wild or stay roaming on this pretty massive island. ||Now don’t forget this is the UAE so you learn about things which are kinda “wierd” so the island was pretty much home to the royal family during Covid and since then they’ve done an enormous push to ensure that they do as much as possible to encourage close to endangered species to flourish. You’ll see some, not so, natural things like the building of a man made mountain!!!!!! ||The one thing I can say with confidence is that this isn’t your stereotypical UAE extravagant project with no soul. There seems to be nothing less than genuine appreciation and respect for nature. ||Each of the 3 hotels have a restaurant with a different cuisine. In ours we had Italian. Yes it was stupidly expensive but hey you’re on a private island in 5 star comfort. What did I expect? I did however feel a little exploited with regards to the cost of everything. There were no shops or supermarkets. We were specifically informed not to bring our own food or snacks to the island. So yeh that felt like a little exploitation. ||In our hotel the staff were nothing short of lovely. Attentive throughout. Some small communication issues but we didn’t care. We wanted to be left alone and we got that. ||We will be doing our level best to visit again as soon as possible. It is truly an impeccable, astonishing, wonderful, peaceful and unique part of the UAE....