Travelling with kids: a capital adventure waiting for suhoor

For my 12-year-old son, our recent weekend at the Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi – booked through a Ramadan package with Triperna, the Middle East travel company – was all about the suhoor that came with it.

“What time’s suhoor?” Calvin eagerly asked at reception as we were handed our room key, sounding as though he had wicked parents who starved him.

“Starting at 1am, sir.” And thus began the countdown.

“A few hours in the pool,” he told me, “will help pass the time.” So we went downstairs and found deckchairs right by the edge of the waters off Al Maryah Island, and spent a pleasant afternoon, cool in the shadow of the hotel.

Next up: a visit to Abu Dhabi Mall next door, where we decided to have iftar. Zataar With Zeit, my son decided, would be perfect. “But we’ve gotta have a small meal,” Calvin warned. “Suhoor is going to be the big one.”

So we ordered manakeesh and labneh, and later got ice cream and then went book-shopping. We were back in our room by 9pm, and Calvin immediately picked up the phone to order suhoor.

Then came four hours of mindless TV, reading the new books we’d purchased, and playing “I Spy” on the balcony.

At 1am on the dot, a waiter wheeled a trolley into the room, laden with kebabs, lamb chops, grilled chicken, fattoush, labneh, orange juice, tea, eggs, mushrooms and two baskets of bread.

We took our breakfast out on the balcony and sat there, eating slowly and enjoying the views over Maryah and Reem, the buildings ablaze with lights, the waters shimmering and traffic snaking up and down the roads connecting the islands.

Around 2.30am, we buzzed housekeeping, the remnants of our meal were cleared away and we fell asleep watching Dexter on the cartoon channel. We left the curtains open, though, unwilling as we were to shut them on such a lovely view.

Our hopes of an early swim the next morning were dashed. This was mostly because we were too tired to stir ourselves after the excesses of the night, but also because the sun was horribly fierce, something we discovered when we woke up.

I was forced to advance on the windows with one arm shielding my eyes, the other groping about for the curtains. A quick squint at the blindingly bright pool confirmed my suspicions: we’d be boiled alive if we tried to swim, so we did the next best thing: we went back to sleep.

We woke up after a couple of hours to discover that it was 10am. Calvin decided that he wanted a splash in the Jacuzzi and went about it with such gusto I was sure a concerned member of staff was going to knock on our door to ask if we were having trouble with the taps. But they didn’t.

And so we checked out an hour later with a feeling of well-being but not before Calvin had made me promise we’d come back for another Ramadan weekend – this time with iftar.

A one-night stay for two in a double room at the Beach ­Rotana Abu Dhabi through Triperna (www.triperna.com; 04 455 4600) costs Dh574, including suhoor and taxes.