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TRAVELOGUE

For romantics, for families or for fun-seeking singletons, Dubai embraces

all with a repertoire brimming with splendour and variety. It’s just the type

of holiday that you need, when looking to coddle your weary soul

By Priyanka Banerjee

You can move down to a restaurant that seems

submerged in a large aquarium, where you have

fi shes and sharks for company, or scale precipitous

heights to enjoy the sights and sounds of this

destination atop the tallest building, not in Dubai but

in the world. Hotels built there, either look like boats,

sails, towers or like majestic royal fortresses. The

view at the horizon is exhilarating, and could make

the Manhattan skyline blush with envy. At places

though, you could feel a bit claustrophobic with

mammoth sized cranes and road rollers, possibly

building another record breaker in concrete.

Tourist Tales

Staying in Dubai should be the last of your concerns.

Even a relatively modest property proffers a

luxuriant ambience and top-notch services. Be it

night or day, think of doing something else apart

from staring at the splendours of Dubai from your

hotel window, Dubai won’t fall short to surprise

you. The customary gamut of mosques, museums,

historical monuments, theme parks, etc are just

few of the many things, you can choose to explore.

However, the two ‘monuments of love for all things

gargantuan’, the Burj Al Arab and Burj Khalifa are

not to be missed.

Dubai is truly a shopper’s paradise – colossal

malls with the best brands, and streets with

traditional treasures double your chances for excess

baggage. Alternatively, you can soak up the souks,

the gold, the Spice, the Perfume and Textile, amongst

many others.

Spa Sojourn

Dubai is a wellness hub with almost every hotel or

resort housing a spa. There is an excellent mix of

world-class hotel and standalone spas, and fi tness

centres giving a surfeit of therapies to choose from.

An array of Ayurveda and traditional Middle-Eastern

treatments and ingredients up the scope of trying

something new in this Emirate. The perfect time

to go for a spa treatment is around evening, after

a tiring day of sightseeing and shopping. You can

simply recharge yourself after a heavenly ritual

for the experiences ahead. Or better still, pamper

yourself with a jetlag massage after check-in, like an

auspicious start to the cosseting journey, that you

have envisaged.

“An array of Ayurveda and

traditional Middle-Eastern

treatments and ingredients up

the scope of trying something

new in this Emirate”

N

ot every holiday you want to

take has to be in the abode of

Gods. Mountains, open skies,

pristine water bodies, fresh air,

tranquillity – you might just

say, ‘give me a break, all I want

to do is seek relaxation, reboot and indulge, dine,

drink and dance the night away’. If this sounds you,

wanting to trade your wander-lust for wonder-lust,

go ahead and book your tickets to Dubai. Fly business

class if you can, and pack almost every fancy attire

you have in your wardrobe, because in Dubai travel

gear is kind of passé.

At fi rst, you are curious. Why this half natural

and half man-made mass of land spiking onto to

the Persian Gulf has millions of tourists visiting

it every year? Well for that, you can trust Dubai’s

Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing

(DTCM), for making sure, that every travel company

or agent gives an unremitting list of Dubai’s

enchantments for you to get instantly intrigued. In

fact, forget agents or anybody else, a click on their

website, will get you hooked and booked, as the visa

process is a cakewalk.

An air of ease and opulence pervades a celebrity-

infested Dubai, and interestingly, even if you don’t

have deep pockets, you won’t be disappointed.

All the swanky hotels, pleasure-laden food tables,

and over-the-top extravagances, encapsulate the

spirit of this scintillating jewel on the crown of

Emirates. A confl uence of cultures, a juxtaposition of

traditions and trends, and an epitome of grandiose

architecture, Dubai can be dubbed as the ‘land

of excesses’. Head-to-torso sized gold necklaces,

copious buffet spreads, and countless fl oors in the

skyscrapers, you have just scratched the surface.

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