CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: VR Park; Burj Khalifa; La Mer; Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo
PICTURES: Dubai Tourism; Victor Romero; JV Photography; Fares Jammal; Sebastian Opitz/Parallax Creations; JD Studio UAE
top tip
Check out
visitdubai.com for more information
DAY ONE
10.00: Kick things off with a trip downtown. You can’t come here and not visit the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, which soars up more than 2,700ft like a giant needle. Even the lift up is an experience, whizzing you 125 floors high in a matter of seconds to reach the observation deck, where you get 360-degree views over the city – a sea of silver and white stretching off in every direction, skyscrapers poking through like mini Lego models. Tickets from £31.
tickets.atthetop.ae
11.30: Next door is the Dubai Mall, a sprawling entertainment hub that’s the size of 200 football pitches. Stop by the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo to see the world’s largest collection of sand tiger sharks as well as penguins, exotic fish and wide-eyed owls, plus one of the largest crocodiles in existence. Entry from £32.
thedubaiaquarium.com/en
13.00: Afterwards, up the adrenaline factor with a trip to the VR Park. Also in the mall, it’s a pitch- black, fluorescent-lit indoor amusement park that’s home to rides, arcade games and attractions that use virtual-reality headsets to plunge you into another realm. Among the highlights is a rollercoaster that simulates flying over the city as you hurtle along a real-life, stomach-lurching
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track, and a desert simulator that had us jolting up and down the dunes in a dusty 4x4, scorpions and insects smashing into the windscreen in a way that felt so realistic I had to duck. Tickets from £37.
14.00: Feeling peckish? Make a beeline for La Mer, an artsy, colourful collection of cafes, restaurants and boutiques set on a pristine, powder-sand beachfront. Towering palm trees, verdant gardens and landscaped ponds line its shiny, manicured promenade, and there’s a sizeable water park on hand for families, as well as playgrounds, watersports and surf-style shacks
TRIED & TESTED
that give it a Miami-meets-Caribbean vibe.
lamerdubai.ae/en
16.00: A 10-minute taxi ride away is the Dubai Frame, a giant, gold structure that juts up from the contemporary Zabeel Park. It’s set at the dividing point between the old, low-rise part of the city and the new, skyscraper-clad side, with a lift hurtling you up to take in the contrasting views. There’s a vertigo-inducing glass floor you can walk over, alongside an interesting museum about the future of the city. Tickets from £10.
thedubaiframe.com
caEsars palace BLUEWATERS DUBaI
Opened in late 2018, the much-anticipated Caesars Palace – the first of its kind outside Las Vegas – doesn’t disappoint. Set on the new Bluewaters Island and one of two hotels on the wider Caesars Resort Bluewaters Dubai, it has 194 rooms, all with sleek decor, huge bathrooms and high-tech touches with a creative, stylish design that has all the Julius Caesar influences you’d expect, including a giant statue of his head in reception. There’s a beautiful, quiet pool area overlooking the beach, plus Gordon Ramsay’s acclaimed Hell’s Kitchen restaurant. In the rest of the resort, there are five other restaurants – including rooftop
Japanese spot Paru – as well as a Roman-inspired spa and several kids’ clubs. It’s all set around a new waterfront promenade that, while currently a little quiet as it’s still under development, promises to be one of the city’s next big hubs with shops, restaurants and the soaring Ain Dubai (the city’s answer to the London Eye).
travelweekly.co.uk
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