01
Burj Khalifa
At 828 metres, the tallest structure ever built. Observation decks on levels 124, 125 and 148; sunset slots sell out first.
02 · Emirate
Dubai
Where the record is the baseline
The city that turned a creek into a trade route and a trade route into a skyline. The tallest building on earth stands twenty minutes from wooden abras still crossing the water for a coin, and an hour from a mountain enclave with its own dam and wadis.
Getting there
Dubai International and Al Maktoum airports; the Metro links the airport and the main sights on two driverless lines.
When to go
October to April for the outdoors. The shopping festival runs across the turn of the year; the racing carnival ends in March.
Good to know
A Nol card covers metro, tram, bus and the public abra. Weekend brunch is a city institution and worth booking ahead.
Cities & areas
Where inside the emirate
City
Dubai city
Two cities on one creek: the old banks, and the towers built behind them.
Neighbourhood
Al Fahidi
Dubai's wind-tower quarter, on the Bur Dubai bank of the creek.
Neighbourhood
Deira
The trading bank of the creek: gold, spice and the fish market at dawn.
Neighbourhood
Downtown Dubai
The tower, the fountain and the boulevard around them.
Neighbourhood
Al Quoz
Dubai's warehouse district, and where its galleries actually are.
Island
Palm Jumeirah
A built island in the shape of a palm, with a beach on every frond.
Region
Hatta
Dubai's mountain exclave, in the Hajar foothills.
Signature places
What makes Dubai itself
02
Museum of the Future
A steel torus wrapped in Arabic calligraphy with no internal columns — the poetry on the façade is the structure.
03
Al Fahidi & the Creek
Coral-and-gypsum lanes, wind towers, the spice and gold souks on the far bank, and abras that have never stopped running.
04
Hatta
A mountain exclave 90 minutes inland: a turquoise dam for kayaking, mountain-bike trails and a heritage village.
05
Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve
The country's first national park, protecting Arabian oryx and gazelle across roughly a tenth of the emirate.
See the place
Dubai before you arrive
Dubai Creek
Where the city started
0s / 24s
Wide view
Experiences here
What to do here
Dubai · Arts & museums
Burj Khalifa at the hour it turns gold
828 metres, and from level 148 the desert and the sea are both in the same frame. Sunset slots go first, so book the day you decide.
90 minutesAED 179 from
Dubai · Heritage & forts
Cross the Creek by abra
A wooden boat, a bench, a coin, and the oldest working commute in the city. Spice souk on one bank, gold on the other.
20 minutesAED 1 from
Dubai · Mountains & adventure
Kayak the Hatta dam
Turquoise water held between bare Hajar rock, ninety minutes from the skyline. Go early: the wind picks up after eleven.
Half dayAED 120 from
Dubai · Desert & dunes
A night in the conservation reserve
Inside the country's first national park, where oryx are the reason the fence exists. Low-impact camps, and a sky with no city in it.
OvernightAED 950 from
Dubai · Wellness & slow days
A hammam afternoon
Steam, black soap, a scrub that removes a week, then mint tea and nowhere to be. The oldest wellness technology in the region.
2 hoursAED 350 from
Tickets
Book entry now
Dubai
Burj Khalifa, levels 124 & 125
Skip the queueInstant
Timed entry — sunset slots are limited
AED 179 from
Dubai
Museum of the Future
Skip the queueInstant
Sells out most weekends
AED 149 from
Where to stay
Rooms in Dubai
★★★★ · Al Fahidi, Bur Dubai
Creekside Heritage House
A restored courtyard house in the coral-and-gypsum lanes, ninety seconds from the abra station.
Wind-tower buildingAbra at the door
Free cancellation · 3 rooms left · 1,288 reviews
AED 640per night
★★★★★ · Downtown Dubai
Downtown Skyline Suites
Rooms facing the fountain, and a lift that reaches the mall without going outside in August.
Burj Khalifa viewMetro 4 min
Free cancellation · 6 rooms left · 4,102 reviews
AED 1,420per night
★★★★ · Hatta
Hatta Mountain Lodge
Cabins above the wadi, ninety minutes from the skyline and about six degrees cooler in summer.
Dam kayakingTrail access
Free cancellation · 5 rooms left · 508 reviews
AED 760per night
Eat & drink
Tables worth booking
Seafood · ••
Creek Fish Market Grill
Choose from the ice, tell them how you want it, eat it fifteen minutes later beside the water.
Levantine · •
Spice Lane Café
Breakfast in the old town: balaleet, chebab with date syrup, and karak that keeps arriving.
Tours that include it
Let somebody else drive
8 days · 7 emirates
The Seven Emirates Grand Tour
One country, all seven emirates, anticlockwise from the capital so the mountains and the east coast come last.
- 7 nights, 4★ and 5★
- Private guide & vehicle
- All entries
- Airport transfers
AED 7,450per person
5 days · 3 emirates
Desert & Mountains
Sand, then rock, then reef — the three landscapes of the country in the order that makes sense.
- Dune camp night
- Jebel Jais summit
- Zipline included
- East coast snorkel
AED 4,650per person
7 days · 3 emirates
Family Week: parks, beaches, camels
Paced for children: one big day, one slow day, and never more than forty minutes in the car.
- Theme-park days
- Family rooms
- Aquarium & zoo
- Beach days
AED 6,120per person
What's on
In the calendar
Shopping & city
Dubai Shopping Festival
December to January
The retail festival that reshaped the region's winter season: city-wide sales, nightly fireworks and open-air concerts.
Free entry · elements ticketed
Entry to the festival and the city-wide sales is free. The concerts and the ticketed attractions inside it are sold separately.
Dubai
Sport
Dubai World Cup
Late March
The richest day in world racing, at Meydan, and the closing night of a carnival that runs from January.
Ticketed
Enclosures and hospitality are sold by the racecourse, and the raceday fills long before the date.
Dubai
People who were there
Dubai, as visitors see it
@slowgulf
The abra still costs less than a coffee and it is the best ride in the city.
Dubai Creek · #DubaiCreek
@hattaearly
Ninety minutes from Downtown and the water is this colour.
Hatta Dam · #Hatta
Continue the journey
And next door
01 · Emirate
Abu Dhabi
The capital, at its own pace
Heritage & fortsArts & museums
03 · Emirate
Sharjah
The country's reading room
Arts & museumsHeritage & forts
04 · Emirate
Ajman
Small emirate, long shoreline
Coast & islandsHeritage & forts
05 · Emirate
Umm Al Quwain
The quiet one
Coast & islandsHeritage & forts
Every emirate is within a day's drive of every other.