That Dubai Site The Must Do's

You wouldn’t go to Paris without visiting The Eiffel Tower or to New York without visiting The Empire State Building would you?... No, and you cant go to Dubai without visiting The Palm Jumeirah. Although still a little way from completion The Palm already rates as a marvel of the 21st century and proof of what can be accomplished when you won’t accept the philosophy of ‘Cant be done’

In the year 2000, Dubai was fast becoming one of the most exciting and rapidly growing holiday destinations in the world. This provided Dubai with its own challenge. The huge demands of the increased visitors made it perfectly clear that the Dubai coastline could not cope with the increased number of visitors.

It was proposed to build an artificial circular island offshore. HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum then put forward his vision of building an island in the shape of a palm leaf that would maximise the beach area and also to become a vision of beauty.

Palm Jumeirah has ensured that everything you need and expect of this artificial island, off the coast of the Jumeirah coast of Dubai is provided, to ensure that everyone has something to enjoy on their holiday of a lifetime.

Palm Jumeirah is already amongst the most exclusive places to visit in the world just for the sheer experience of being on what was once the ocean. There are already a wide range of shops, resorts, hotels and attractions open with much more planned for the years to come. The golden mile along with the shopping mall will soon be awash with retail outlets, of the most luxurious kind.

Providing access to the island is a state of the art monorail system. This is 5.4km long, and runs between the gateway station at the trunk of Palm Jumeirah, and the Atlantis Station on the crescent, with a number of stops in between. This system was needed to provide access on and off of the island and is capable of transporting 6000 people a day at full capacity. These days’ people live in the many luxury and exclusive homes that have been built along the 16 fronds of Palm Jumeirah, as well as on the 11 kilometre crescent that surrounds the palm.

With the island built on sand and natural rock, surrounded by coral reef, Jumeirah is quickly becoming the perfect place to visit, live or holiday on. The impressive sunsets are unrivalled and are always a welcome sight at the end of a hard days shopping or a full day’s entertainment that may involve visiting the fabulous beaches, experiencing the water sports, theme parks and the many luxury restaurants available.

Possibly the most exclusive and complete resort to stay at is Atlantis, The Palm that is an ocean themed centre (which we heavily feature and explore on this site.)

The resort caters for families, couples and friends and features a 42 acre Aquaventure water park which consists of Aquaventure, Dolphin bay, the Lost Chambers and the dive centre where you can scuba dive amongst the aquatic creatures found in the lagoon.

At night the bars and clubs come alive to provide you with a different type of entertainment, and a star filled night at the open restaurants where you can eat and drink under the stars whilst listening to the Arabian Gulf water lapping up on the beach. This is a truly exciting place to be, and to experience everything on offer is a must do in our opinion. The options are truly never ending.

This is one of the best ways to see dubai and a definite Must Do!. Big Bus double decker sightseeing tours operate in six countries around the world, with the pinnacle the City of Dubai. There is no other city comparable, with its monstrous skyscrapers, many malls and countless number of attractions to see close up in person. The views will leave your mouth open from the awe inspiring architectural achievements and natural beauty of Dubai.

The day tours are on a Hop on - Hop off basis which gives you maximum flexibility to get on or off at any time to see the things you want to see, when you want to see them; you can even split the tour over two days to further maximise your options. The other great thing with Big Bus is that their sales team who can be found at their booths at all the major malls and attractions are incredibly helpful and friendly; just tell them what you want to see and they will recommend the best tour for you all; if your not sure they will be able to advise you and give you an idea of the most popular attractions.

Audio commentary is via headphones (Supplied in the price of your ticket) and is available in a variety of 8 languages again giving you the choice to whether you take in the information as well as the sights. Even free water is provided, but just remember what goes in must come out.

There are a variety of different tours available as mentioned below, remember to take a camera with you as this trip will be a memorable one in your mind, however trying to explain it to your family and friends afterwards will be fruitless without pictures.

The Red tour takes you to a number of attractions including: The Dubai Museum, Al Fahidi Fort, The Spice Souk and Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum's House.

The Blue tour takes you to a number of attractions including: The towering Burj Khalifa, Jumeirah Mosque, Burj Al Arab, then along the coast line where you will see close up the Palm Island and the World Islands which were constructed solely with rocks and sand and are visible from space, then off to the Atlantis hotel.

There is also available the hugely popular night tour of Dubai where you will get to visit some of best sights at night where the lights make these attractions feel like you have entered another world.

There is also available the hugely popular night tour of Dubai where you will get to visit some of best sights at night where the lights make these attractions feel like you have entered another world,. The spectacular buildings and attractions take on a different personality such as the Wafi and Raffles Hotel , Burj Khalifa, Mall of the Emirates, Atlantis The Palm Hotel, Burj Al Arab and the Maktoum Bridge.

On all of these tours, your ticket offers you the Dubai Beach Tour free of charge, also included in the price of your ticket on the relevant tours are entry to the Dubai Museum, Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum's House and discounts at various places in Dubai.

Although the excursions may be up to 2 hours long you can get on and off as many times as you like. The running commentary of these night tours are provided “live” by a member of the tourist board.

A visit to the tallest building in the world is a definite must. At The Top the new observation deck on level 124 of the newly opened Burj Khalifa. This is by far the highest observation level of any building in the world.

The observatory is destined to be one of the main highlights of any visit to Dubai or even the Middle East. There is also a choice of ticket options including a VIP entry that means you can go straight to the top without having to queue; however with your ticket showing a entry time you can purchase your ticket in advance them turn up at the allotted time and go straight in.

The journey starts on the lower ground level of The Dubai Mall whilst on a 65-metre-long travelator ride. Throughout the journey to the top the visitors are entertained by a multi-media presentation of the history of Dubai and the marvel of Burj Khalifa tower itself.

Take your time to play with the gadgets and to read the information on route to the elevators as you wont be coming back the same way. You then begin your ascent to the observation deck in a high-speed elevator, travelling at 10 meters per second. The elevator walls are made of backlit black glass which makes for a very strange sensation coupled with the fact that there is no sense that the lift is actually moving until you notice the pressure change in your ears.

Then the doors open and floor-to-ceiling glass walls provide a breath-taking unobstructed 360-degree view of the city, desert and ocean.

The small tower you see in the middle of the picture above is in fact the 63 story Address Hotel. Its not until you realise just how tall the other buildings are around the Burj that you come to appreciate just how tall the Burj is itself. The other great thing about this tower is that so much of the surrounding area is still under development so there will always be something new to see each time you visit.

See pictures and information on the Spectacular Opening Ceremony Of THE Burj Khalifa here on our events page.