Opened last year in a star-studded three-day celebration, Atlantis, The Royal in Dubai is the only resort in the Middle East to snag a spot on the inaugural World's 50 Best Hotels list. Take a look through the gallery and see what makes the 795-room resort the region's number one.
Atlantis, The Royal
The resort has 90 swimming pools, including Cloud 22, its iconic sky pool that stretches nearly 300 feet along a bridge on the 22nd floor.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
The pool's "floating" sunbeds have some of the best views in the city.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
All room levels provide stunning views, either over The Palm, or The Gulf, pictured here in the King Seascape room.
Atlantis, The Royal
Guests in these suites, such as the Sky Pool Villas (pictured), experience resort living in the sky with uninterrupted views across The Palm from their glass-edged private pools.
Atlantis, The Royal
Guests enjoy luxury amenities from diamond jeweler Graff and in-room extras like gold toothbrushes.
Atlantis, The Royal
Water is a central theme of the resort. "Droplets" is an 11.5-meter-tall, 5.5 metric-ton stainless-steel sculpture symbolizing the first drop of rain in the desert.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
The "deluge" glass elevators (left) are surrounded by 3,500 gallons of cascading water.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
The 32,300 square-foot (3,000-square-meter) Awaken Spa offers a range of therapies, including scrubs and messages using local ingredients like desert sand and date sugar.
Atlantis, The Royal
Like the resort's minimalist exteriors, the spa's modern hammam takes a pared-back approach to traditional Arabic design with abstract arches and gold accents.
Atlantis, The Royal
The resort has over one mile of private beachfront -- one of the longest in the city.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
The resort has 17 dining outlets, including eight helmed by celebrity chefs, such as Ariana's Persian Kitchen (pictured) by Iranian-American chef Ariana Bundy.
Atlantis, The Royal
At Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the resort's Michelin-star restaurant, guests can select wine from the extensive cellar.
Atlantis, The Royal
Nobu Beach Club is the brand's first beach club venue, and popular with hotel guests and Dubai residents alike.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
Milos Greek Restaurant overlooks the resort's "Sky Blaze" fountain, the only one of its kind in the region.
Rebecca Cairns / CNN
The Sky Blaze fountain combines 1,200 colored, choreographed lights with pyrotechnics and dancing water jets for a stunning hourly show.
