Dubai – Remarkable sights in a desert city

One of the remarkable things about Dubai that the whole world wonders at is how this city in the desert offers so many attractions. There was, after all, nothing here but mountains and mountains of sand and a vast shoreline used by fishermen and pearl divers. But today one can find glitzy shopping malls, indoor ski resorts, attractive gardens, a dancing waterfall and shops that overflow with gold.

These man-made attractions have ensured that the city attracts some of the highest numbers of tourists in the world. That is the reason travel agents advise tourists to give themselves plenty of time to enjoy the many wonders of this city — a long weekend is never enough, and most people leave with a list of things they did not get to.

Downtown and the Burj Khalifa

The centre of modern Dubai is Downtown, built around the Burj Khalifa, which at eight hundred and twenty-eight metres is still the tallest structure on earth. The observation decks on the one hundred and twenty-fourth and one hundred and forty-eighth floors give a view that runs from the desert on one side to the Persian Gulf on the other, and on a clear day the horizon looks genuinely curved.

At the foot of the tower sits the Dubai Fountain, a dancing water show on a man-made lake, with jets that throw water as high as a fifteen-storey building while lights and music play. The show runs through the evening and is best watched from the terrace of the restaurants along the boulevard.

Shopping malls

Dubai treats its malls as public squares, and they are worth visiting even if you do not plan to buy anything. The Dubai Mall, next to the Burj Khalifa, contains an indoor ice rink, an aquarium with a walk-through tunnel and more than twelve hundred shops. Mall of the Emirates is famous for Ski Dubai, a real ski slope kept at sub-zero temperatures in the middle of a city where the summer thermometer passes forty-five degrees.

Gold Souk and the Spice Souk in Deira keep the older trading spirit of the city alive. Shop windows here are packed with bracelets, necklaces and coins, and bargaining is still part of the deal.

Desert beyond the skyline

What makes Dubai unusual is that the desert begins where the city ends. Dune safaris leave the highway within half an hour of the centre, and the programme usually includes sandboarding, a camel ride and dinner at a Bedouin-style camp with live music. Sunrise in the dunes is cold, silent and completely unlike the noise of Sheikh Zayed Road.

Beaches, gardens and the creek

Jumeirah Beach gives a clean view of the Burj Al Arab, while Kite Beach is where residents go to swim and eat from food trucks. The Miracle Garden, open through the winter months, lays out more than a hundred and fifty million flowers into tunnels, castles and life-size shapes — an improbable sight in a country with almost no rainfall.

Old Dubai along Dubai Creek is the counterweight to all of this. Abras cross the water for a dirham or two, the wind-tower houses of Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood stand behind the museums, and gold and textiles are loaded and unloaded exactly as they were a century ago.

When to go and how long to stay

The comfortable season runs from November to March, when the days are warm and the evenings are mild enough to eat outside. April and October are quieter and still pleasant, while the summer months are extremely hot and mostly indoor. Four or five nights allows you to cover the skyline, a desert night and a day in the old city without rushing — and travel agents advice tourists to give themselves plenty of time, because this city always grows one more attraction than you expect.