A creek, a desert, and fifty vertical years
An independent guide to Dubai — 27 landmarks, museums, parks, venues and neighborhoods, walked and written up first-hand.
The ones you came for
Burj Khalifa
The tallest building in the world by a margin nothing has yet threatened, with three observation levels at three quite different prices.
Dubai Creek and the Abras
The saltwater inlet the whole city grew from, still crossed by wooden boats for one dirham.
Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood
Fifty restored courtyard houses with wind towers, in the only part of Dubai where the streets are too narrow for a car.
The Gold Souk
Several hundred shops with an estimated ten tonnes of gold in the windows, sold by weight at a rate posted daily.
Museum of the Future
A torus of Arabic calligraphy with no columns and no windows, holding an exhibition that is closer to immersive theatre than a museum.
Palm Jumeirah
Ninety-four million cubic metres of dredged sand in the shape of a palm tree, now a suburb with a monorail.
Dubai by category
Day-by-day itineraries
Neighborhoods
The essentials
How to get in from all three airports, how the subway and the ferries actually fit together, and the history that explains what you're standing in front of.
From the guide
Alcohol, Modesty and Ramadan
Dubai is more relaxed than its reputation and stricter than its marketing, and the gap between the two is where visitors get caught.
Dubai Airport to the City
The metro runs into two of the three terminals and costs almost nothing, which is the part the taxi rank would rather you did not know.
Eating in Dubai
Two hundred nationalities cook here, and the best food is almost never in the places charging the most.