Atlantis Dubai has unveiled a broad program of upgrades across Atlantis, The Palm, Atlantis The Royal, and Aquaventure World, with new and refurbished dining, leisure, pool, and retail spaces rolling out during 2026.
Announced on 17 September, the investment program covers some of the destination’s best-known venues, including Plato’s Lounge and the one-MICHELIN-starred Ossiano at Atlantis, The Palm, alongside new leisure and hospitality facilities at Atlantis The Royal and extensive improvements at Aquaventure World.
The scale of the works underlines Atlantis Dubai’s continuing push to refresh its resorts in Dubai’s fiercely competitive luxury hospitality market. For travel advisers and guests, the program combines completed projects with those still being delivered.
Plato’s Lounge expands its horizons
At Atlantis, The Palm, Plato’s Lounge is being expanded into the heart of the main lobby, with more than double its original seating capacity.
The redesigned venue will add a terrace balcony with views towards the Dubai skyline, while guests will continue to overlook the resort’s signature water features. An accessible ramped pathway will replace the existing stairs, guest circulation will be reconfigured, and a new cascading water feature will be added.
Atlantis says the new Plato’s Lounge is scheduled to open in October 2026, providing a larger setting for coffee, afternoon tea and casual dining.
Ossiano dives into a new chapter
Ossiano, Atlantis, The Palm’s underwater fine-dining restaurant, is also undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment.
The restaurant currently holds one MICHELIN Star and is distinguished by dramatic views into the resort’s aquarium, where sharks, stingrays and other marine life pass the dining room.
The redevelopment is designed to refresh the dining environment while retaining the extraordinary underwater setting that has made Ossiano one of Atlantis Dubai’s signature restaurants.
The Royal adds more room to relax
Across the crescent at Atlantis The Royal, the resort is expanding both its food and beverage and leisure offerings.
The new Garden Bar will provide an open-air lounge surrounded by landscaped gardens, adding outdoor seating and creating a social venue for daytime and evening use.
The Royal Pool is also being expanded with a new family pool, approximately 60 additional sunbeds, three in-pool loungers and three air-conditioned cabanas.
Meanwhile, Cloud 22 is receiving its own pool-deck rethink. The Lotus Bar will move to the opposite side of the venue, freeing its former position for an expanded sunbed deck with approximately 40 additional sunbeds.
The reconfiguration is also designed to create more vantage points over Palm Jumeirah and the Arabian Gulf — because in Dubai, apparently, even the sunbed can have a property-view upgrade.
Aquaventure makes room for a bigger bite
Aquaventure World is also receiving substantial attention.
Poseidon’s Village will replace the space previously known as Barracudas and will become the waterpark’s largest indoor dining destination. Plans call for almost 400 indoor seats and almost 300 outdoors.
The venue will include four self-service ordering kiosks and sunbed ordering, while its food offering is expected to range from salads and wraps to burgers, pizzas, pies and Asian dishes.
Elsewhere in the park, River Rapids has undergone a full refurbishment and resurfacing, complemented by restoration, painting and landscaping works across Aquaventure World.
Aquaventure World
Retail joins the reinvention
The investment is not confined to restaurants and pools.
Atlantis The Royal has added luxury fashion houses Chloé and Brunello Cucinelli to its retail line-up, with Zimmermann expected to follow. LEGO has also joined the retail offering at Atlantis, The Palm.
Kym Barter, Managing Director of Atlantis Dubai, said the improvements reflected the company’s continuing investment in the destination and guest experience, adding that “every element has been considered with our guests at the heart of our decision-making”.
For Atlantis Dubai, the strategy is clear: keep polishing the product before guests have time to think it needs polishing. In a city where luxury hospitality rarely stands still for long, resting on yesterday’s reputation is hardly much of a business plan.
By: John Alwyn-Jones – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
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John Alwyn-Jones is one of those rare figures who can make the business of travel sound positively adventurous.
A lifelong communicator with the polish of a broadcaster and the curiosity of a journalist, he’s spent decades shaping stories and strategies across tourism, aviation, and the cruise world. He’s led from the front as CEO, director, mentor, and advisor, and still brings warmth and wit to every boardroom and microphone.
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