Dubai Travel Guide Hotels Restaurants

A relatively new tourist destination, Dubai was gaining popularity in recent years until the global economic crash of 2008. Dubai is essentially a desert city with superb infrastructure, liberal policies (by regional standards), that became popular for its excellent tourist amenities. Just 5 h from Europe and 3 h from most parts of the Middle East, the Near East, and the subcontinent of India, Dubai makes a great short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, and even a few sinful pleasures. It is a city of superlatives: for the fastest, biggest, tallest, largest and highest, Dubai is the destination. It has the largest immigrant population in the world. The weekly day off is on Friday. Note that, since September 2006, a harmonised weekend of Friday and Saturday has been adopted for the public sector and schools.

Dubai's main airport is the Dubai International Airport. You can also enter Dubai by using Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) in the nearby emirate of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in nearby Abu Dhabi. Frequent visitors from countries granted automatic visa on entry may wish to purchase an e-gate card to speed up immigration formalities and save passport pages. The e-gate card office is situated in the upstairs foodcourt area of the terminal 1 departures concourse. The card will cost AED 200. Note: If you intend to buy an e-gate card in Dubai, you must have entered UAE via Dubai airport.

Terminals 1 and 3 are directly connected to each other via the airside (no immigration needed for transfer), while Terminal 2 is located at the other end of the airport. Terminals 1 and 3 are models of modern airport design, but Terminal 2, despite the recent renovations, is still reminiscent of developing world airports, with long check-in lines, queue-jumping and every other passenger checking in 70 kg of luggage. Shuttle buses between the three run every 20-30 min. However shuttles to Terminal 2 are sporadic at best, so a 30 min taxi ride may be your only option. A low-cost option for traveling to Terminal 2 is to catch the metro to a nearby station, such as GGICO metro station, and from there catch a taxi to Terminal 2.

Dubai's only international road border is with Oman at Al Wajajah. Expatriate residents of Oman will require an official permit to exit Oman by road. Visitors do not require the permit. There is an OMR 3.000 charge per vehicle to exit Oman and, if returning, retain the charge receipt as it will be required to reenter. Ensure that insurance is valid for the UAE (preferably before commencing the journey). Temporary UAE insurance can be purchased at the border for a premium price.
There are also road borders between the neighbouring Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Oman at the Al Burami Oasis which divides the sister cites of Al Ain and Al Burami, Oman.

Giorgio Armani's first hotel opened in 2010 in the world's tallest tower, Dubai's 828-metre Burj Khalifa, amid much fanfare. Built on the first 39 floors of the dart-shaped skyscraper, the resort is part-residences, part-hotel - although the same brooding style underpins everything. Sharp lines, neutral tones, stone and mahogany predominate: you can almost smell the masculinity. The best rooms have vast balconies overlooking the Dubai Fountain, another record-breaker with water that shoots as high as 150 metres into the air.

The hotel sits at the furthest point of the islands' outer frond (accessible via a long drive or a shorter boat ride), lending it an air of honeymoon-friendly seclusion. This despite its large size: 64 rooms, 26 suites and four villas in large Moorish-stylemansions. But One&Only The Palm is best known for its restaurants, fronted by chef Yannick Alléno of three-Michelin-starred Le Meurice in Paris. They are STAY (the acronym for Simple Table Alléno Yannick), which aims to show that fine food need not be pretentious; the international restaurant Zest; and 101, a bar-restaurant-lounge that simply sings St Tropez. Price rating: 5/5