Dubai in review
Well known as a flight stopover, the desert city of Dubai is fast becoming a tourist playground in its own right. Here, hitting the impossibly white beaches is of course the most popular way to beat the formidable heat and humidity, and ocean temperatures never drop below 22°C, even in winter.
A shopper's dream, Dubai's gargantuan air-conditioned malls are open until at least 10pm every day, offering every kind of indulgence imaginable, even, in the case of the Mall of Emirates, an indoor skiing and snowboarding centre where it's a chilly -4°C. For a more traditional Arabic shopping experience, however, enjoy the dazzling array of colours and textures on display at the Textile Souk (market).
And, in Dubai, the hotels make luxury accommodation an art form. The remarkable sail-shaped Burj al-Arab claims to be the tallest and, perhaps more dubiously, the only seven-star hotel in the world. Even if the rooms are way out of your price range, it certainly makes an interesting place for afternoon tea.
- From our editor V.White – United Kingdom