Jumeirah Mina A'Salam Waterside Esplanade

Why is it significant?

Step onto the wide seaside promenade in front of Jumeirah Mina A'Salam, a name that translates poetically from Arabic as 'The Harbour of Peace'.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step onto the wide seaside promenade in front of Jumeirah Mina A'Salam, a name that translates poetically from Arabic as 'The Harbour of Peace'. Completed in 2003 as the first phase of the Madinat Jumeirah development, this magnificent hotel marks the gateway where the canal network opens out to the sea. Its exterior architecture features grand arched porticos, hanging timber balconies, and soaring wind towers rendered in warm ochre plaster. White sailing dhows and luxury motor cruisers anchor offshore in the azure shallows, their masts swaying gently with the rhythmic coastal swell. Before you, the wide open horizon of the Persian Gulf sparkles under the afternoon sun, while luxury yachts cruise along the coastline.

Look northward along the beach: the world-famous sail-shaped silhouette of Burj Al Arab rises just hundreds of meters away, standing on its private artificial island. From this waterside terrace, the full three-hundred-and-twenty-one-meter height of the iconic hotel becomes breathtakingly clear against the sea. The white Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric of the hotel's curved atrium facade catches the sunlight, gleaming like a billowed spinnaker sail catching the coastal wind. The wide stone balustrade provides an ideal spot to lean against the warm stone and watch pelicans dive into the surf.

Mina A'Salam was designed to evoke a bustling maritime trading port where weary sea captains and merchants would dock to find shelter, food, and hospitality. Its grand lobby features a vast circular ceiling dome hand-painted with an antique maritime map of the Middle East, illuminated by a towering multi-tiered crystal chandelier. Waterfront restaurants along the boardwalk serve fresh Mediterranean catch and traditional Emirati seafood, with tables positioned right beside the lapping waves.

At the resort's turtle rehabilitation lagoon near the terrace, sick and injured sea turtles are nursed back to health before being released into the Gulf.

Follow the seaside walkway north along the beach perimeter toward the Burj Al Arab coastal causeway.