Al Ahmadi Plaza Resort

A lovely, quiet stay, well away from the city.

We stayed one night in room 138, four adults and a toddler. It was spacious for all five of us, with a great location and a lovely morning view. There’s a playground at the front gate, and the rooms have air conditioning, a sejadah, and satellite TV. We also had a pantry with a kettle, tea, and instant coffee, plus cats around the place. There’s no food service on site, but they shared menus from two restaurants that deliver. They only provided two towels, and there’s no designated parking. Rain got onto the balcony and seeped through the door and windows into the room, possibly because of poor construction. Also, service was only in Arabic, with no English.

The beach is clear and really nice, about a three minute walk from the resort, and you can swim beside the property. There are plenty of activities too, including boats, jet skis, and banana rides. The view is amazing. There are no meals available, though delivery from two restaurants is offered and both were fine. I strongly recommend it.

The view and location were lovely, but the stay itself was horrible. We rented three rooms, and the kitchens in both units we checked had no AC. There was no microwave or oven, and the fridge either froze things or failed to cool them. Water we put in took until nearly the last day to get cold. We found insects in the rooms, and there were lots of flies inside. One room’s AC barely worked, the bathroom smelled as if it hadn’t been cleaned, and the pool had no heater. The rooms had no phone for calling anyone. The connection was awful, with WhatsApp and YouTube barely working, and even WhatsApp lagged. One room had no internet password. The rusty door made the keys hard to use. We called at noon to ask for the stairs to be cleaned after a cat bled there. We asked three times, but no one came until around 5 pm. The person only swept and left the blood. The kids’ playground was broken, and there was no outdoor garbage bin. On National Day we politely asked to use the speakers, but were told they were for people outside, even though nobody was out there.