Overview
Bab Al Bahr is three low-rise apartment buildings on Breeze Island, the northernmost of the four islands that make up Al Marjan Island. Al Hamra built them and still manages the community. They are called Fayrouz, Yakout and Kahraman, they step back in a ziggurat form so that upper floors get larger terraces, and they sit about 100 metres from a private beach.
This is the oldest residential stock on the island, handed over around 2011, and it is also the cheapest. While the rest of Al Marjan Island is a construction site full of branded off-plan towers, Bab Al Bahr is finished, occupied and letting.
One point of confusion worth clearing up. “Bab Al Bahr Residences” and “Bab Al Bahr Apartments” are the same community under two portal spellings. Separately, Rixos Bab Al Bahr is a five-star hotel next door, and “Bab Al Bahr” is also a postal district, which is why a couple of unrelated hotels carry the name in their address. And some listing sites place Bab Al Bahr in Al Hamra Village. They are wrong; it is on Al Marjan Island.
Who it suits
Buyers who want a beachfront apartment on Al Marjan Island at the lowest entry price on the island, and who do not need it to be new.
Holiday-let owners. The community is already full of licensed short-term rentals, the beach and pools are on site, and the Rixos next door gives guests somewhere to eat.
First-time landlords. Studios here are the highest-yielding units on Al Marjan Island on our arithmetic, at roughly 5.2 per cent gross against the asking prices and rents quoted below.
It suits families less well. There is no school on the island, the buildings are apartments rather than houses, and the nearest supermarket beyond the small one on site is a drive.
Homes and prices
The mix runs from studios to four-bedroom duplexes, with a small number of penthouses and townhouses. Sizes vary widely within the same bedroom count because the stepped form of the buildings produces very different floor plates.
| Type | Beds | Baths | Size (sqft) | Price from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 0 | 1 | 448 to 600 | AED 650,000 |
| 1-bed apartment | 1 | 1 | 547 to 1,677 | AED 960,000 |
| 2-bed apartment | 2 | 2 | 1,014 to 2,715 | AED 1,600,000 |
| 3-bed apartment | 3 | 3 | 2,715 to 3,564 | AED 3,450,000 |
| Penthouse | 3 | 4 | 3,444 to 3,564 |
Prices are asking prices from live listings in September 2026. Median asking prices were higher than the entry figures above: about AED 749,000 for a studio, AED 1,199,000 for a one-bedroom, AED 2,082,500 for a two-bedroom and AED 3,450,000 for a three-bedroom. On a per sqft basis the community runs roughly AED 950 to AED 1,550, with most sales between AED 1,200 and AED 1,400.
Annual rents in September 2026 sat at median asking levels of about AED 39,000 for a studio, AED 55,000 for a one-bedroom, AED 85,000 for a two-bedroom and AED 110,000 for a three-bedroom. The advertised range is much wider than that, because furnished holiday-let stock is listed alongside long lets.
Browse apartments for sale in Bab Al Bahr, properties for sale in Bab Al Bahr and properties for rent in Bab Al Bahr. For the wider island, see apartments for sale in Al Marjan Island.
Amenities
A private resident beach with barbecue stations, open 11am to 11pm. An adults’ pool and a separate paddling pool, open 8am to 10pm. A gym open 6am to 10pm. Children’s play areas and landscaped gardens.
A supermarket on site opens 7am to 11pm, with a pharmacy and a spa alongside it. Parking is covered. The community is gated, monitored around the clock and pet friendly, which is not universal in Ras Al Khaimah.
Everything larger is a drive: Al Hamra Mall in about ten minutes for the supermarket, the cinema and the medical centre.
Getting around
Bab Al Bahr is on the Al Marjan Island causeway, about five minutes from Sheikh Mohammed bin Salem Road. Ras Al Khaimah International Airport is 30 to 35 km, around 25 to 30 minutes. Dubai International Airport is 85 to 95 km, 60 to 75 minutes off-peak. Ras Al Khaimah city is 15 to 25 minutes north.
There is no useful public transport. A car is needed.
Schools and healthcare
There are no schools or hospitals on Al Marjan Island. RAK Academy Al Hamra, which added a secondary campus in August 2026, and the New British International School are about ten minutes away in Al Hamra Village. Nurseries in the same direction include Red Bus and Little Treasures.
Clinics are about seven minutes away, including the RAK Medical Centre inside Al Hamra Mall. Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital is about fifteen minutes.
Investment view
Bab Al Bahr is the value end of Al Marjan Island. At roughly AED 1,200 to AED 1,400 per sqft it trades at less than half the branded off-plan on the same island, and it produces rent today rather than in 2028.
On the asking prices and rents above, gross yields work out at about 5.2 per cent on a studio, 4.6 per cent on a one-bedroom, 4.1 per cent on a two-bedroom and 3.2 per cent on a three-bedroom. Those are our calculations from portal medians, not published figures, and they show the usual pattern: the smaller the unit, the better the return. Service charge at AED 12 per sqft then takes roughly a tenth of the gross on a studio.
The risk is the building’s age and the island’s supply. This is 2011 stock competing with several thousand new apartments arriving on the same island between 2027 and 2029. Lifts, air conditioning and common areas in a fifteen-year-old beachfront building need real spending, and that arrives as service charge increases or special levies. Ask for the reserve fund balance.
The opportunity is the same one. A refurbished Bab Al Bahr apartment lets and sells against new stock far better than an original one, and the cost of the work is usually less than the price gap. We quote that kind of job against a written scope, and an apartment that only needs furnishing is priced from our furniture packages. Owners planning to let by the night should read holiday home management first.
