Six Senses Zighy Bay

Zighy Bay is perfect for couples or families seeking a retreat from the hustle and bustle of every day life, but still with plenty of activities on offer. With each villa having it's own private pool, even at full occupancy, the hotel feels quiet as many guests choose to relax at their villa. Head out into the resort though and you will find the choice of salt water or fresh water pools, as well as the stunning beach - be careful - the sand is very hot in the summer months! I loved the rustic style of the villas, with their stone walls and rustic wooden furnishings.

I have been sending guests to Zighy Bay for such a number of years now that I really felt like I knew the resort before I arrived here. Nothing however can prepare you for the real thing. As you ascend 300 meters over a rocky peak the resort and bay gently spread out below you like nothing else I have seen. The resort is made up of individual free standing villas all with private pools and large terraces to relax on. Mine was one row back from the beach (note it is worth paying the extra for front row here) but still had wonderful sea views from its upper terrace and was close enough to hear the waves crashing against the shore whilst sipping evening G&Ts. The style is rustic with natural materials used throughout so lots of stripped back wood and local stone mixed in with colorful linens and soft lighting. It was much more compact than I thought it would be with the main hub of the resort having the pool, beach and two restaurants all within a short walk perfect for families to relax whilst kids explore. They have reached the perfect balance between couple and family resort and whilst not offering a never ending list of facilities of 20 different dining options it is definitely a unique and special place perfect for romancing couples of chilled out families wanting the ultimate escape.

We are heading by taxi at midnight from the bright lights and security of Dubai International Airport to our vacation seaside hotel across the United Arab Emirates frontier in the Sultanate of Oman.

Suddenly, the driver turns off the main road and starts up a dusty mountain track.

The velvet blackness of an Arabian night is overwhelming. The car slows at the entrance to some kind of compound gateway. A white-robed guard speaks to the driver before waving us through. 'All is OK,' the man behind the wheel attempts to assure us. 'Please check your seat belts are fastened.

The reason for this is immediately apparent. The unmade track veers upwards at an alarming angle to become alpine steep. The 4x4 transmission screams as he throws the vehicle around a seemingly endless sequence of zig-zag bends.

Then, suddenly, we are at the top of the pass and bouncing expertly down the far side in first gear.

The moon has risen, and we can make out the two-mile shoreline of private sandy beach below and the muted lights of our destination, the Six Senses Zighy Bay resort on Omans Musandam peninsula.

What an introduction. And If you arrive in daylight, you can even complete your journey to the bay by taxi paraglider, landing on the beach just in front of the hotel.

This isolated and utterly tranquil corner of Oman seems a million miles from its neighbor, Dubai. The resort is laid out in a series of hedonistic villas along the lines of an Omani village, with narrow lanes. Transport to reach the spa, with its nine treatment rooms, is by bike or golf buggy.

The 82 villas vary in size from one to four bedrooms, but each has its own private infinity pool and traditional Arab summerhouse in the grounds. The largest and most exotic Private Reserve is mainly the domain of Arab royalty. It sleeps eight adults and two children.

The Musandam peninsula is a wild and wonderful strip of land that stretches up into the Straits of Hormuz opposite Iran, with the Gulf of Oman on one side, the Persian Gulf on the other.

Closer to the tip, the mountains rise 2000m along its spine, sweeping dramatically down to sea with a series of fiords that have earned the peninsular the title of 'Norway of the Middle East'.

However, topography and security makes travel tricky. The fiords are a four-hour boat ride from Zighy Bay, There is a winding single mountain road north - but apart from a smattering of tiny fishing villages, and the local capital of Khasab, much of the peninsula is almost devoid of population.

The hotel has its own marina, and the diving possibilities are enormous. We settle for a 45-minute trip up the coast to picnic and snorkel in the clear turquoise water, in a remote bay beneath imposing limestone cliffs.

Absolute Adventure (www.adventure.ae), based in the little town of Dibba, provide a range of outdoor activities, from trekking and climbing to mountain biking and kayaking.

In a three-hour, 4x4 safari into the mountains, we encounter just one other vehicle and a handful of black goats. They have climbed a tree while searching for fodder in the barren landscape of giant boulders. Our guide comes from Nepal, and the terrain attracts committed climbers from all over the world.

We explore a half-abandoned village of 15 houses tucked way in a cleft in the rocks. No-one is at home. In a country that hosts part of the Empty Quarter one of the least populated places on earth the Musandam is the hors doeuvre.

Back at the resort, the Omanis have a relaxed attitude towards alcohol consumption on private premises, and the emphasis on local cuisine is well rewarded. Our breakfast favorite is manakish, a delicious cheese and honey pancake - while in the evening we dine on succulent lamb cooked in a traditional underground shua oven.

Zighy Bay has a de-salination plant, and has created its own oasis - with 11,000 palms, fig trees, coffee plants, henna, and pomegranate, as well as all its own vegetables.

One of the three main restaurants is located at the top of the pass. A 4x4 takes you up to Sense of the Edge, which specializes in fusion cuisine. The approach is lit by flaming torches, and dining outside on the triple-tiered terrace - with moonlit views of the bay far below - is as romantic as it gets.

Six Senses Zighy Bay opened in 2008, It has wasted no time in becoming a genuine alternative to the Carribean in offering succour from exhaustive, morale-sapping British winters.

Absolutely charming! Zighy Bay is perfect for a relaxing get away. The quiet bay in the Musandam Peninsula is bordered with majestic mountains and the resort feels like an oasis, peppered with fragrant fig trees and date palms, between the stonewall villas. The Six Senses Spa offer a range of treatments and Spa Suites entitles you to a treatment per day in the comfort of your in villa treatment room.

Few hotels in the world have a dramatic an entrance as Zighy Bay. As you rise over the pass from the rugged mountains flanking the bay the resorts private cove opens up before you - a seriously impressive sight! The resort itself is every thing you'd expect from Six Senses; tasteful, eco friendly, food focused and super relaxing. Taking a swim at sunrise with the mountains shrouded in the morning mist is a real experience!

The initial reason for booking a stay at Zighy Bay in Oman for our first family vacation was, I admit, the fact that it offered the chance to arrive in a rather spectacular way - paragliding into the resort from the vast mountain range hundreds of feet above.

As an adrenaline-junkie, this method definitely appealed to me, but as I stood there, the wind pulling me towards the edge, I realised that having a baby had changed me in more ways than one. I could no sooner launch myself off this vertiginous mountain than I could now contemplate a clubbing vacation in Ibiza.

Returning to my husband Mike and four-month-old baby girl Clemency to take the more conventional route to Zighy Bay - in a 4x4 vehicle - I understood that this break would be very different from those I had enjoyed in the past.

When Mike and I met six years ago we shared a strong sense of wanderlust, and our vacations typically took us backpacking through jungles or kayaking along the Croatian coastline.

Having had a baby, I wondered how much we would still be able to do. There are those who say that four months is actually the best time to travel with a baby because they haven't yet become whirling dervishes. So here we were testing the theory.

One of the reasons for choosing Oman at this time of year was that it would be sunny yet not stiflingly hot. It also felt like a relatively adventurous place to visit, while boasting an abundance of modern healthcare facilities should we need them.

Mike and I had been to Oman before - enjoying a trip to the capital Muscat and then an awesome stay in tents among the dunes of the Wahiba sands - and always planned to return.

This time I thought we might stick to one location for convenience but I wanted to find somewhere that still had a sense of the traditional Oman. A new hotel - Six Senses in Zighy Bay, on the northern Musandam peninsula - seemed ideal.

Nestled between a dramatic mountain range and a pristine white sandy beach, the hotel sold itself to us not only because of its location but also because of its childcare facilities.

Rooms are made child-friendly ahead of arrival and most of the villas have private pools. For adults who have retained an adventurous streak, there are also plenty of activities to enjoy, including hiking and diving.

We decided a week would be ample for our first baby-included trip abroad and set about packing.

Five hours and two arguments later, we emerged from the house with a massive suitcase for Clemency and a smaller carry-on bag for me, leaving Mike just about enough room to squeeze in his toothbrush and a pair of trainers.

Although it was something of a luxury, it proved to be money well spent as it took the stress out of finding a parking space and waiting for shuttle buses.

The journey itself was uneventful - I had felt rather confused beforehand by travel advice regarding babies, but things were less awkward than I imagined.

We took Clemency in her pram right up to the departure gate, the pram was then stowed in the hold and she was given a bassinet to sleep in.

The only slight (if understandable) inconvenience was that she had to be woken up to be strapped to me for take-off and landing - otherwise it was relaxing.

We also realised that flying with a baby can have its perks - we were allocated bulkhead seats, endured no queues at the gate and got lots of help and advice from the cabin crew (especially from one woman called Sandra who found me a secluded corner to breast-feed in before we set off).

We flew to Dubai - it's closer than Muscat is to Zighy Bay - and we then had a two-hour journey by road. I liked watching camels with their lazy gait lolling along the dusty plains that stretched out beyond the motorway - and I also loved gazing up at the majestic mountains.

Despite discounting the option of paragliding into the resort, our journey through the mountains was still rather eventful, given the tight turns and steep drops, and I was grateful finally to reach the hotel. Certainly it had made for an arresting sight from a few hundred feet up.

We were handed a date smoothie upon arrival (dates, figs and many herbs are grown in the hotel's gardens) before taking a tour of the resort, which in many ways resembles a traditional Omani village, with stone-clad villas and thatched roofs.

Parked outside each villa are bicycles to navigate Six Senses' palmshaded paths. However, with Clemency confined to her pram, we walked pretty much everywhere.

Everything we could possibly want for Clemency had been thoughtfully left for us in our villa, including a changing mat, nappies, bottle-steriliser and baby bath.

Faced with a five-hour time difference, I thought we would pay for disrupting her routine, but miraculously she grizzled for only one hour before settling into Omani time.

By giving her a bath soon after our arrival, I think it helped convince her it was time to sleep and off she went - even though it was actually 3pm UK time.

Babysitters were on offer during our stay, but we didn't make use of them. We simply took Clemency wherever we wanted to go.

There were plenty of activities (crab-hunting, cookie-baking and Arabic lessons, to name a few) to keep older children entertained. For us, though, it was about spending quality time together in the villa and at our pool.

We did go to the spa, where we had time to unwind in an ice room and sauna.

There was also lots of space to just sit and feed Clemency while sipping a special blend of hot ginger tea. The spa was wonderfully clean and I felt comfortable about putting her down on the stone floor.

Before giving birth, I would have jumped at the other activities on offer such as hiking, kayaking and diving but, given my new-found timidity I opted for the more sedate Arabic cookery class.

Its such a treat to go on vacation to a private villa within a resort and have your own pool but also to be on the beach. A week at Zighy Bay is wonderfully relaxing, there is plenty on offer if you are feeling adventurous and its also important to make the most of relaxing by your own pool. Six Senses train their staff to a perfect mix of helpful and non irritating. Dinner at Six Senses on the Edge is an experience not to be missed.