What to see
Curated, not a directory. The sights worth your time, with an honest verdict and the bit the brochure leaves out.
Abu Dhabi's vast white marble mosque, free to enter and open to visitors outside prayer times. Worth the drive from Dubai — dress modestly and go for the late-afternoon light.
The choreographed water show on Burj Lake, set to music beneath the Burj Khalifa. Runs every evening at intervals, costs nothing, and is the best free thing in Dubai.
Jean Nouvel's domed "rain of light" on Saadiyat Island, opened in 2017. A genuine universal museum — and the dome alone is worth the ticket.
The torus with the Arabic calligraphy you have seen on every Dubai reel. Inside it is part museum, part immersive set — and the most thought-through building in the city.
The tallest building in the world, and the one Dubai sight that lives up to the postcard. The view earns the hype — the trick is which deck and which hour.
Country pavilions, street food, and fairground chaos, open from late October to spring. Cheap entry, a lot of walking, and far more fun than its theme-park billing suggests.
A 150-metre gold picture frame in Zabeel Park, with a glass-floor bridge at the top. Old Dubai on one side, new Dubai on the other — better than it has any right to be.
One of the largest suspended tanks in the world, set into The Dubai Mall. The catch: you can see most of it for free from the mall walkway before you pay to go in.