1 SightS
1 Downtown Dubai
It’s easy to spend an entire day taking in
the sights of this newly developed area,
which has positioned itself as the vibrant
and urban centrepiece of Dubai. The near-
est metro stop is Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall.
burJ Khalifa iConiC builDinG
Map p216 (%04-888 8124, toll free 800 2884
3867; http://www.burjkhalifa.ae; entrance ground fl,
Dubai Mall, Financial Centre rd; reserved admis-
sion adult or child over 13yr Dh100, child 4-12yr
Dh75, instant admission Dh400; h10am-10pm
Sun-Wed, 10am-midnight Thu-Sat; c) Call it im-
pressive or call it preposterous, there’s no
denying that the Burj Khalifa is a ground-
breaking feat of architecture and engineer-
ing. The world’s tallest building pierces
the sky at 828m (seven times the height of
Big Ben) and opened on 4 January 2010,
only six years after excavations began. Up
to 13,000 workers toiled day and night, at
times putting up a new floor in as little as
three days. Inside Dubai’s own ‘Tower of
Babel’ is a mix of offices and apartments;
the building is also home to Armani
Hotel (p140) – the world’s first hotel to be
designed and developed by Giorgio Armani.
For visitors, the main attraction is the
observation deck on the 124th floor. From
such lofty heights you can easily pinpoint
the offshore developments and other land-
marks. Getting to the deck means passing
various multimedia exhibits until a double-
decker lift whisks you up at 10m per second.
When you reach level 124, you’re a lofty
442m in the air. Reserved time-stamped
tickets are available at the ticket office
and online; ponying up Dh400 lets you go
straight through.
Fdubai founTain FounTain
Map p216 (burj khalifa lake; hshows every
20min 7-10pm Sun-Wed, 7-11pm Thu-Sat; c)
Against the backdrop of the Burj Khalifa in
the midst of a massive artificial lake, these
choreographed dancing fountains are the
antithesis of what you’d expect to find in
the desert. Water undulates as gracefully
as a belly dancer, arcs like a dolphin and
surges as high as 150m to stirring sound-
tracks gathered from around the world.
There are plenty of great vantage points,
including from some of the restaurants at
Souq al-Bahar, the bridge linking Souq al-
Bahar with Dubai Mall, and the Dubai Mall
terrace.dubai Mall Mall
Map p216 (www.thedubaimall.com; Financial Cen-
tre rd; h10am-10pm Sun-Wed, 10am-midnight
Thu-Sat; c) The world’s largest shopping
centre, Dubai Mall is much more than the
sum of its 1200 stores: it’s a veritable fam-
ily entertainment centre. Check out Dubai
Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, Sega Repub-
lic indoor amusement park, Kid Zania and
Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink.
There’s also a four-storey waterfall that’s
gorgeously lit at night. The Gold Souq at the
centre of the mall is dominated by the beau-
tiful Treasury Dome, a 25m by 13m atrium-
cum-projection-ceiling with multimedia
shows, which is pathetically undervisited.
Dubai Mall has its own glossy monthly
magazine, the Dubai Mall, and free wi-fi
access, but you need a United Arab Emir-
ates (UAE) mobile-phone number to regis-
ter for the service (see p178 for details on
how to obtain one), although this may soon
change. For more on the mall, see p88.souq al-bahar Mall
Map p216 (www.soukalbahar.ae; old Town is-
land, next to Dubai Mall; h10am-10pm Sat-Thu,
2-10pm Fri) Designed in contemporary
Arabic style, this attractive mall is Down-
town Dubai’s answer to Madinat Jumei-
rah (p93). Meaning ‘Market of the Sailor’,
it features natural-stone walkways, high
arches and front-row seats overlooking
Dubai Fountain from several of its restau-
rants and bars, including Baker & Spice
(p83), Left Bank and Karma Kafe (p84).
It’s located next to Dubai Mall.dubai aquariuM &
underWaTer Zoo aquariuM
Map p216 (www.thedubaiaquarium.com; Dubai
Mall, Financial Centre rd; aquarium tunnel &
underwater zoo Dh50; h10am-10pm Sun-Wed,
10am-midnight Thu-Sat; c) Dubai Mall’s
most mesmerising sight is this gargantuan
aquarium where 33,000 beasties flit and
dart amid artificial coral and behind the
‘world’s largest acrylic viewing panel’ (as
recorded in the Guinness World Records).
Sharks and rays are top attractions, but
other crowd-pleasers include a sumo-sized
giant grouper and massive schools of pe-
lagic fish. You can view quite a lot for frees
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