The emirate of Dubai is a land of contrasts. In a single day, the tourist can experience everything from rugged mountains and awesome dunes to sandy beaches and lush green parks. Dusty villages and ancient houses with wind-towers sit beside luxurious residential districts and ultra-modern shopping malls.

The emirate is both, a dynamic international business center and a laid-back tourist escape; a city where the sophistication of the 21st century goes hand in hand with the simplicity of bygone era.

But it is these contrast that give Dubai its unique flavour and personality: a cosmopolitan society with an international lifestyle, yet with a culture deeply rooted in the Islamic traditions of Arabia.

Since the earliest times, Dubai has been a meeting place, bringing together the Bedouin of the desert interior with the pearl-diver, and the merchant of the city with the seagoing fisherman.

Al-Almadiya School in Deira was constructed in 1912 by Sheikh Ahmed bin Dalmouk as Dubai’s first regular school. It has been restored with the same materials used in the original building – gypsum, coral, shells, stone and sandalwood.
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The old Bastakiya district of Bur Dubai, with its narrow lanes and tall, still functional wind-towers, gives a tantalizing glimpse of old Dubai, while immediately to the east of Al Fahidi Fort is the largest concentration of traditional courtyard houses with wind-towers. Historically, the city was famous for its mass of wind-towers that lined either side of the Creek. Not merely decorative, they were the only means of cooling houses in the days before mains electricity.
The Bastakiya district is currently undergoing renovation and preservation and will eventually become a small “tourist village” with a museum, cultural center, restaurants and a heritage hotel with an art gallery.

More than 30 traditional houses in the nearby Shindagha district have been restored in a multi-million dollar initiative to re-establish its original character, featuring wind-towers and quaint sikkas (alleys).
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Set on its own man-made island, projecting 280 metres into the Gulf and shaped like an enormous billowing sail, Burj Al Arab is a 321-metre-high masterpiece of architecture. With restaurants at the very top and underwater , kaleidoscopic interior décor and 202 luxury duplex suites, the hotel is one of the world’s most architecturally exciting.
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A group of distinctive and remarkable modern buildings are ranged near the purpose-built dhow wharfage beside Maktoum Bridge. These buildings include the Etisalat Tower, the Department of Economic Development, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Bank of Dubai headquarters, Dubai Creek Tower and Twin Towers.

The Etisalat Tower is topped by a telecommunications dome resembling a giant globe – particularly striking when illuminated at night. The Department of Economic Development is a five-storey building with delicately designed window screens and massive, decorated main doors.
By contrast, the neighbouring Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry tower is a dramatic blue glass-faces structure – a symbol of the emirate’s prosperity and forward vision. And nearby is the Municipality building, which manages to convey an impression of cool shade through the clever use of water and screens.

By contrast, the neighbouring Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry tower is a dramatic blue glass-faces structure – a symbol of the emirate’s prosperity and forward vision. And nearby is the Municipality building, which manages to convey an impression of cool shade through the clever use of water and screens.

Most striking though is the headquarters of the National Bank of Dubai building, home to the DTCM Head Office that, with its use of polished steel and glass, produces a shimmering reflection of the Creek on its curved façade. This eye-catching building, which was designed by Carlos Ott, architect of the Bastille Opera Houses in Paris, is at its most spectacular at sunset.
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Der Dubai Creek is a natural sea-water inlet that cuts through the center of the city and is historically – and to this day – a focal point for life in Dubai. A stroll along its banks will evoke the city’s centuries-old trading traditions. The colour and bustle of the loading and unloading of dhows, which still ply ancient trade routes to places as distant as India and East Africa, captivates visitors.

The best way to see the Creek is from water itself. Small water taxis called abras criss-cross the Creek from the souqs of Deira to the Bur Dubai side, charging each passenger less than a Dirham. The abras can also be hired by individuals and the boatmen will take visitors on a fascinating, hour-long trip from the abra embarkation points to the mouth of Dubai Creek and inland to the Maktoum Bridge, passing a number of the city’s historic and modern landmarks along the way.

On the Deira side, a broad and well-lit paved promenade extends from the Corniche - which faces on to the Arabian Gulf – all the way to the attractive purpose-built dhow terminal beside Maktoum Bridge.

On the Bur Dubai side, between Maktoum and Garhoud bridges, Creekside park offers pleasant, paved walks and extensive landscaped public gardens.
At the inland end of the Creek a large, shallow lagoon has been turned into a wildlife sanctuary and is a haven for migratory shore birds.

During the autumn migration up to 27.000 birds have been counted here at any one time, the most spectacular of which are the many Greater Flamingos that have made the Creek their permanent home.

The Aerogulf Services Company offers interesting sightseeing flights of 10-40 minute’s duration around Dubai and other emirates by helicopter, as well as convenient passenger transport to and from selected hotel locations. As a more sedate alternative, Voyagers Xtreme offers balloon flights.
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Dubai Museum is housed in Al Fahidi Fort, an imposing building which is also a fascinating military museum. Built around 1787, It once guarded the city’s landward approaches and has served variously as a palace, garrison and prison. Renovated for use as a museum in 1971, the building underwent further restoration and the addition of galleries in 1995.

Colourful and evocative dioramas, complete with life-size figures and sound and lighting effects, vividly depict everyday life in pre-oil days. And galleries recreate several scenes from the Creek, traditional Arab houses, mosques, the souq, date gardens, and desert and marine life.
One of the museum’s most spectacular exhibits portrays the underwater world of pearl-diving, accompanied by sets of pearl merchants weights, scales and sieves.

Also on display are fine copper, alabaster and pottery artifacts uncovered in 3.000-4.000 years old graves situated at Al Ghusais.
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Rising 39 floors above the city, the Dubai World Trade Centre’s office towers houses the regional headquarters of many of the world’s largest corporations. Built in 1979, and the tallest building in the Middle East at the time, it has a Arabian restaurant on the 37th floor with stunning views of the Dubai skyline. Situated next door, a modern conference centre and exhibition-hall complex hosts an active programme of international trade fairs that attract exhibitors and visitors from all round the world.
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Located in Jumeirah, the Dubai Zoo is a popular attraction, especially for families. Its modern facilities, though small, house many indigenous Arabian species, including the Arabian Wolf, which is no longer found in the wild, Gordon’s Wildcat and the world’s only captive-breeding colony of Socotra Cormorants.

Featured in its large aviary are regional birds of prey, while nine species of large cat and seven species of primates are also on show, along with many Arabian mammals in other areas.

The zoo will soon relocate to a site near Mushrif Park, and undergo redevelopment to display six major habitats: Sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian desert, a wadi valley, Arabian coastal desert, Asian temperate forest and Himalayan hillside. The new zoo will contain a biodiversity museum, breeding and conservation areas and a well-equipped veterinary centre.
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No matter where you are in Dubai, it is hard to miss the elegant hotel- and office-complex of Emirates Towers. At 350-metres high,
the office tower is the tallest building in the Middle East and Europe.
Primarily a business hotel, Emirates Towers has every conceivable luxury for the traveling executive.
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Even for the non-golfer, Dubai’s 18-hole championship golf courses are worth a visit, both for the spectacular architecture of their clubhouses and as examples of the successful greening and landscaping of the desert. Full details of the courses are given in This sporting life.
A nine-hole country course is also available at the Hatta Fort Hotel, where golfer can enjoy the unique experience of playing in craggy mountain scenery.

Situated on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek near the Ruler’s Cour6t, the Grand Mosque was renovated in 1998 and now has, at 70 meters, the city’s tallest minaret. With nine large domes boasting stained-glass panels, and 45 small ones, it is one of Dubai’s most distinguished landmarks.

Built in 1890 and once owned by Dubai’s most famous pearl merchant, Sheikh Ahmed bin Dalmouk, this lovely example of Dubai’s vernacular architecture was restored and reopened in 2000, as a vivid recreation of local period household interiors. It is located in Deira.

Dubai has many fine mosques, but one of the largest and most beautiful, Jumeirah Mosque, is a spectacular example of modern Islamic architecture and is frequently photographed. Built in the medieval Fatimid tradition, it is particularly attractive at night when the subtle lighting throws its artistic twin minarets and majestic dome into relief. The mosque offers guided tours for visitors.
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From seashore to mountain parks, Dubai is a land of great natural beauty and variety. The desert, which accounts for much of the emirate’s almost 4.000-square kilometer area, encompasses rocky plains, high dunes and countless other combinations of sands, gravel, stone and sparse vegetation.

The seemingly barren expanse supports a surprising diversity of wildlife, both plant and animal, although much of the former is seasonal and the latter nocturnal. Once isolated and forbidding, the desert now offers a fascinating and accessible experience for visitors, with an array of recreational opportunities from 4x4 safaris to sand-skiing.

A number of roads now also cross the wilderness, joining settlements and oases where, thanks to modern irrigation, ever-larger areas are turning green under the cultivation of vegetables and fodder corps.

Along the flanks of the Hajar Mountains, underground springs provide water for the date gardens, their foliage a magnet for birds. In the mountain enclave of Hatta, there is a heritage village where restoration work has preserved the old falaj or irrigation canals. Nearby, water can also be found year round in wadis–steep-sided valleys gouged from the mountain by torrents unleashed by winter rains.

The wadis are popular with naturalists and explorers and their tranquility contrasts with the clamour of the city.

Although stark and barren, the beautifully exposed rock formations also provide a fascinating insight into the geological origins of the area and the forces that sculpted this rugged landscape.

Situated around Dubai are numerous public parks and gardens offering a peaceful respite from urban life. Particularly popular with families, they offer attractive picnic spots and children’s play areas with a wide variety of entertainment facilities. The largest are Jumeirah Beach Park, Dubai Creekside Park, Mushrif Park, Al Mamzar Park and Safa Park, while many smaller ones throughout the city provide pleasant green oases. The Dubai government is constantly creating new parks to serve new residential areas.

The World Trade Centre, Emirates Towers and Dubai International Financial Centre highlight the growing focal point of modern business that is emerging along Sheikh Zayed Road. Ultra-modern towers of glass and steel, which reflect Dubai’s international and cosmopolitan outlook, line both sides of the main highway to Abu Dhabi. This trend looks set to continue even further with the rapid growth of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and other new office districts further south along the highways. Spas and Health clubs.
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Having expanded along both banks of the Creek, Dubai’s central business district is divided into two parts – Deira on the northern side and Bur Dubai to the south – connected by a tunnel and several bridges. Each has its share of fine mosques and busy souqs, of public buildings, shopping malls, hotels, office towers, banks, hospitals, schools, apartments and villas.

Outside this core area, the city extends to the north towards the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah, and south and west through the districts of Satwa, Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim and the newer suburbs in the vicinity of Dubai Marina in a long ribbon of development along the Gulf.

Although at first glance – from the city’s futuristic-looking airport to its ever-changing skyline of striking glass and concrete towers – the city presents a modern face, traditional Arabian architectural motifs and features are everywhere. And, a short walk will soon transport you into living Arabian history.

Dubai is famous for its souqs, particularly its gold souq, which is the biggest in the world.Both sides of the Creek have souqs that are attractive not just for their shopping bargains, but also al places for the sightseer and photographer in search of local atmosphere.

A huddle of narrow alleys has survived on the Deira side, despite intensive building in recent years and, in the tiny lanes of the spice souq, the atmosphere and the scents of the past can be savoured. Bags of spices, incense, rose petals and traditional medicinal products are al stacked outside each stall.
Along the slightly larger lanes of the gold souq, each shop window is crammed full of gold necklaces, rings, bangles, earrings and brooches. The gold prices are among the lowest in the world and in the evenings the area is a hive of activity.
In other small streets, the visitor can find shops selling shishas (hookah or hubble-bubble pipes) and coffee pots, and nearby stalls where both these items are in daily use.
There are also traditional bakeries where large flat patties of delicious unleavened bread are baked to order inside a domed oven called a tandoor. And small textile shops sell veils with decorated edges, pantaloons with embroidered anklets, and dress lengths with similarly embroidered necklines reminiscent of The Arabian Nights.
On the Bur Dubai side of the Creek, the lanes are full of textile shops, where a blaze of colourful raw silks and cottons hang in profusion in many shop windows.
An attraction in itself is the fish souq in Deira. Early in the morning and late at night, local fishermen unload mountains of fresh fish, which they sell in a frenzied bargaining session.
Kingfish, red snapper, rock cod (the popular hammour), barracuda, tuna, lobster, crab, king prawn, sea bream, squid, pomfred, mackerel, shark sardine and many other species are all available in abundance for most of the year.
The fish souq will soon be the home of the Fisherman’s House, a new museum providing information on the many varieties of fish found in UAE waters.

Wild Wadi is an exciting, state-of-the-art water park that forms part of The Jumeirah Beach Resort. The park has 24 rides – 16 of which are interconnected – including The Jumeirah Sceirah, which is the tallest and fastest freefall slide outside the United States. The Summit Surge uses high powered water jets to transport as many as people simultaneously uphill, while the Wipeout Flow Rider is another Middle Eastern first on which thrill seekers can surf a perfectly shaped tube wave that’s nearly three metres high.
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