Travelling to Dubai?
Dubai is the city that decided limits were optional: the tallest building, the biggest mall, an island shaped like a palm. The traveller’s trick: old Dubai exists. The gold and spice souks, and the abra boats crossing the Creek.
DXB
What to see in Dubai
8 ROUTESOur routes, not a list of everything. Places that have been there for centuries: no opening times or prices, which go stale.
- 01
Dubai in a day
9 hThe tallest building in the world was going to be the Burj Dubai. The name changed weeks before opening, and that change is a receipt.Al Fahidi and the wind towers · The Creek by abra · The Deira souks · The tower, at sunsetRead the full guide - 02
A weekend in Dubai
20 hDubai isn’t rich from oil. It has almost none, and what’s left is a marginal part of its economy: something else paid for this.Saturday morning: the Dubai that came before · Saturday afternoon: what gets sold · Sunday: the desert · Sunday night: the city that worksRead the full guide - 03
What to see in Dubai
8 hBefore oil, this lived on diving for pearls. And that economy was destroyed by Japan inventing the cultured pearl.The Burj Khalifa · The Palm · The fort museum · The islands that didn’t workRead the full guide - 04
Where to eat in Dubai
3 hTwo hundred nationalities cooking in one city. That’s what’s on the plate here, not a local tradition: it’s arithmetic.Karama, Satwa and Deira · Emirati food, if you look for it · Karak · Brunch, and alcoholRead the full guide - 05
Dubai’s neighbourhoods
5 hNine in ten people living here were born abroad. Emiratis are a small minority in their own city, and that explains everything.Deira and Bur Dubai · Downtown and Marina · Al Karama and Satwa · The city you don’t visitRead the full guide - 06
Day trips from Dubai
8 hThe Arabian oryx went extinct in the wild in 1972. Today there are herds running free an hour from the world’s tallest tower.The desert reserve · Sharjah · The Hatta mountains · Abu DhabiRead the full guide - 07
From Dubai airport to the city
1 hThe red line stops at two of the terminals. The third has no metro, and several low-cost airlines fly from it.The metro, and which terminal · The taxi, and its two surcharges · Dubai doesn’t have one airport: it has two · And one thing about the airport itselfRead the full guide - 08
Dubai: practical tips
1 hCheck your medication before flying. Drugs that are ordinary in Europe are a criminal offence here, and that isn’t an exaggeration.The things that are offences here · The heat, which here is another category · Ramadan, if it falls on your trip · Money, water and the easy partsRead the full guide
Airport to city centre
2 OPTIONSThe real options, with what actually decides it: which terminal it leaves from and where it drops you. Fares and timetables live with the operator, who keeps them current.
- MetroRojaDowntown · MarinaThe driverless metro has stations at two terminals and runs the length of the city along the main artery.·Fares and timesRTA
- TaxiDowntown · MarinaMetered, with an airport pick-up surcharge that isn’t token here, plus a 20% night surcharge from ten at night to six in the morning. Plentiful at any hour.·Fares and timesDubai Taxi (RTA)
VIP lounges in Dubai
20Before you fly, or on the layover. Pay per visit, whatever airline.