Dubai is one of the most exciting places in the world for a holiday – a place where the traveller’s wildest and most outrageous dreams of luxury and fantasy can be matched. Glittering and futuristic, the city is a showcase for the grandiose and uninhibited ambitions of its rulers.
Less than a century ago, Dubai was little more than an unpretentious fishing village at the mouth of the Dubai Creek, home to the pearl divers, fishermen and dhow traders that earned their living on and under the waters of the Persian Gulf. Nomadic Bedouin tribes roamed the deserts of what is today the UAE, and the chief means of transport was the camel.
In the 1960s oil was discovered, and Dubai has never looked back. Now it is one of the most flamboyant cities in the world, frequently breaking its own records when it comes to claiming credit for the tallest, biggest or most expensive property.
Dubai luxury hotels are among the most impressive anywhere: the Burj al Arab is the tallest hotel in the world, the Palm and World projects – man-made islands visible from outer space – are simply breathtaking, and Ski Dubai is the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort. Shortly it will open the world’s largest Mall, and Dubailand, a massive leisure oasis in the desert and a colossal new airport.
Superlatives become inadequate when describing Dubai. Luxury hotels here must be seen to be believed.