Our DIY Umrah P20 | My Wife Was Quite Pleased With Dar Al Iman Madinah Hotel Let's Take Another Look

This is Part (Episode) 20 our DIY Umrah Experience. Just another quick glance of our Hotel, the Intercontinental Dar Al Iman in Madinah. We have posted videos about our hotel before but those were on the first day. This video is on the second day, right after we came back from lunch at Restoran Malaysia Tuuu... Dia Pak Tam restaurant. Check out Part 17 of our umroh travel vlog if you are interested.

The Uber driver dropped us off at a bustling street not too far from the entrance to the main gate of Masjid Nabawi, where there were a lot of small food stalls. This location is called "I Love Madinah Square" near Intercontinental Dar Al Hijrah hotel and on the same street as Madinah Hilton. Even though we've never been there, my wife quickly recognize the street from the youtube videos she has been watching. She said there should be a Malaysian stall, so we went there. We're still not hungry so my wife took the picture of the menu. The sign on the stall says, "Malaysian Food" but the dishes displayed looks like Indonesian food. We actually returned to this stall later on and bought a dish. It didn't taste like Malaysian food, in fact it tasted 100% Indonesians'.

We saw a lot of Malaysian pilgrims here, more than what we have encountered thus far. Anyways, because we were rushing to get back to our hotel so that we can freshen up and change in order to go for maghrib prayer, we didn't spend too much time there. We will upload another video in the future about the Food stalls at I Love Madina Square. If you walked closer to Madinah Hilton, you will see a structure that looks like a huge picture frame that you can take a picture with Masjid Nabawi in the background.

After spending a few minutes browsing through the food stalls at the "I Love Madinah Square", we headed back to our hotel, the Intercontinental IHG Dar Al Iman to freshen up and getting ready to go to the masjid for maghrib prayer.

IHG Dar Al Iman is one of, if not the best, most luxurious, highly rated five-star hotels in Madinah. Ideally located adjacent to the Holy Prophet's Mosque plaza, it offers rooms with air conditioning and satellite TV. All rooms are equipped with mini-bars, safes and private bathrooms. Some rooms have stunning views of the Holy Mosque of the Prophet Muhammad. 24-hour reception and a laundry service. The Rotana restaurant serves a variety of Arabian and international cuisine. Asian delights - rice porridge, noodle soup, Mediterranean spreads - olive oil, feta, and fresh produce. Middle Eastern - hummus, falafel, and warm flatbreads, even Pakistani, Indian, American, English or other countries styles as well.

The Taiba Mall and the Bin Dawood Supermarket are nearby. Offering premium suites for business, diplomatic, presidential and royalties. Experience the pinnacle of luxury without breaking the bank, with an average price of just USD$350 per night for twin or king room for couples. The 1, 2 or 3 bedroom suites with families are slightly more expensive.

It's 8.5 out of 10 positive review ratings the highest, second only to Oberoi Medina. The reviewers used the words and phrases like -- great stay, so close to masjid, excellent services, quality breakfast, immaculate clean property, convenient for women, spacious room, wonderful staff, courteous and hospitable - - and more.

This hotel is a popular choice for wealthy pilgrimage from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and also Westerners from United States, England, Australia and Europe.

My wife loves the hotel. It is beautiful, elegant, quiet and the best thing about it is that it is so close to the gates.

Contextual Background: Documenting our spiritual retreat journey from USA to Madinah & Makkah. This is our first-time trip to the holy cities and we're braving ourselves to do it via a DIY (do-it-yourself) method. Just the two of us, without travel agent or tour group packages, as a married couple - a husband & wife team. So we're novice and amateurs.

Our videos were meant as vlogs for friends and family, but hopefully my umrah experience can also be useful to larger audiences on how to best prepare their journey. Although not "The Ultimate Guide" or tutorial on how to perform DIY Umrah blogs, our contents should have some tips and useful guides on planning, must-have items to bring, essentials or packing list and tips, places to visit, best hotels in near both great mosques etc.

Watch the playlist here: https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/P...

Recording Date: February 8, 2024
Published By: Malay-USA Youtube Channel
Video URL:    • Our DIY Umrah P20 | My Wife Was Quite Plea...