Flamingo Beach Resort @Umm Al Quawin UAE

 Set aside any pretensions of snobbishness, and arouse the true beach experience enthusiast within you and you will find that tucked away in Umm Al Quwain is a quaint but delightful experience. Close to the mangroves and literally at the end of this long stree, which towards the end shows you old UAE, you come upon the Flamingo Beach Resort. Arriving here took one back to the late 1980's when the East coast of UAE had a few privately run beach resorts. From Umm al Quwain to the end of the Fujairah coastline they were priceless destinations. This was way before hotel chains or booking.com got onto this scene. 

Flamingo Beach resort reminded us of those days, with a very pure formula: Excellent service, a beach, and shaded pergolas and staff that attend to you all the time. There is a pool too, and a kids pool and showers and toilets all handy. Its not pricey and you pay a fraction of the price you would to put your towel on a sun bed in hotel on the Palm. True this does not have the ring of five star luxury you expect in many hotels, but in fairness it delivers the basic things, shade, sun, a clean comfortable sun bed and service 5 star hotels have lost. 

If one had any doubts of why one has decided to come out for a beach experience an hour and quarter from Dubai the coup de grace of Flamingo is its food. Brought out to the beach the food is absolutely exceptional. There isn't a place in the UAE, so far, which can compete with the Grilled Prawns that you get at the Flamingo. The grilled meat platter, the salads, the drinks all are exceptional. On the second visit met up, by accident, with the chef, who is from Syria and loved his humility and approach and his philosophy of clean fresh food as it would be cooked at your home. 

When you visit a luxury branded hotel you always struggle to pin point where the experience philosophy comes from and you realise it really is a corporate approach designed and put into a policy in a far away headquarters of a management company. Here at Flamingo if you come back a few times you will meet Mr. Ali Salameh, the General Manager, who drives the family run experience onto a slightly bigger platform and does it with passion and unassuming personal involvement. All the staff know and respect him and you discover soon all the staff know you. From Noman at the beach bar, to Suffian who brings the towels and cleans the sun beds, to Santosh also at the beach bar there was not a single staff who did not smile and were happy to serve you. 

One may say the beach is small and there is sea grass under the water (this is normal near a mangrove and actually very good) and its not as private as in some luxury hotels but its what defines this place. The good experiences make you not notice things you may miss from elsewhere. In our estimation, the Flamingo is a gem to be held, and thanks to our friend who introduced us to this place.

Pros

• Excellent service.
• Exceptional food.
• Staff very caring and attentive.
• Clean and well kept, especially the garden leading to the beach and the beach.
• Homeliness which branded hotels cannot create.

Cons.

• The final approach road being built.
• Could do with more parking. 
• Add signage for guiding visitors. 

Overall Experience.

Its on our list for regular visits and have already done a few trips there. Its the sort of gem you want to keep to yourself so not too many people flock there. Exceptional and inviting.