Dubai holds roughly 3.7 million people, of whom close to 90 percent were born somewhere else. It is not the capital of the United Arab Emirates — Abu Dhabi is — but it is the emirate that most visitors mean when they say they are going to the UAE.
Burj Khalifa
At 828 metres and 163 floors, the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest building in the world since it opened on 4 January 2010. Adrian Smith designed it for the practice SOM, using a Y-shaped plan that braces the tower against desert winds. The lifts climb at ten metres per second.
There are two observation levels. At the Top occupies floors 124 and 125; At the Top SKY sits on floor 148 at 555 metres and costs considerably more. Book online several days ahead — the sunset slots sell out first and cost roughly double the midday ones.
The fountain and the mall
The Dubai Fountain stretches 275 metres along the lake below the tower and shoots water up to 152 metres. It was built by WET, the company behind the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, and runs every half hour in the evening. Watching from the lakeside promenade costs nothing.
Dubai Mall holds about 1,200 shops across roughly 502,000 square metres of retail space and records over 100 million visits a year, making it among the most visited buildings on the planet. Inside are an aquarium holding ten million litres of water and an Olympic-size ice rink.
Newer landmarks
- Museum of the Future — opened 22 February 2022, a 77-metre torus with no internal columns, its steel façade covered in Arabic calligraphy quoting Sheikh Mohammed. Tickets sell out days in advance.
- Dubai Frame — a 150-metre rectangle that deliberately places old Dubai on one side and the new skyline on the other.
- Dubai Marina — a three-kilometre artificial canal ringed by towers, with the JBR beach and promenade at its seaward end.
- Palm Jumeirah — the palm-shaped artificial island, best seen from the monorail or from the observation deck at its tip.
Getting around
- The metro opened on 9 September 2009 and runs entirely without drivers. Two lines cover most of what visitors need, and a Nol card works on metro, tram and buses.
- Taxis are metered, plentiful and cheap by European standards.
- Distances are deceptive. Dubai is built for cars; what looks walkable on a map is often a forty-minute trudge beside an eight-lane road.
- From June to September daytime temperatures pass 45 °C with high humidity. Everything indoors is air-conditioned; plan outdoor sightseeing for early morning or after dark.