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.
Al Quoz is an industrial district of warehouses between the two main highways, and it is where the city's contemporary galleries, studios and independent spaces have settled — because the ceilings are high and the rent was not. It looks like nothing from the road, which is the point.
A taxi district rather than a metro one — the warehouses are too spread out to walk between in summer.
25.1470, 55.2300
Dubai
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.
A wooden boat, a bench, a coin, and the oldest working commute in the city. Spice souk on one bank, gold on the other.
Turquoise water held between bare Hajar rock, ninety minutes from the skyline. Go early: the wind picks up after eleven.
What's on
December to January
The retail festival that reshaped the region's winter season: city-wide sales, nightly fireworks and open-air concerts.
Entry to the festival and the city-wide sales is free. The concerts and the ticketed attractions inside it are sold separately.
Late March
The richest day in world racing, at Meydan, and the closing night of a carnival that runs from January.
Enclosures and hospitality are sold by the racecourse, and the raceday fills long before the date.
Neighbourhoods