Top attractions in Dubai: Your ultimate guide

As recently as the mid-1990s, Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood (Bastakiya) was a run-down place with up to 100 people often crammed into a single house. Now, thanks to a restoration programme undertaken by Dubai Municipality’s Historical Buildings Section, it has become a case study for urban conservation in the Arab world. It’s enjoying a new lease of life as the city’s arts quarter.

Dubai Mall, a shopping extravaganza, is also home to the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo . The aquarium’s most notable feature is the spectacular ‘viewing panel’, towering over the shops by the main entrance to the mall. It’s a huge, floor-to-ceiling transparent acrylic panel filled with an extraordinary array of marine life, ranging from sand-tiger sharks and stingrays to colourful shoals of tiny tropical fish. All this can be seen for free from the mall. Inside, the Underwater Zoo is more likely to appeal to children than adults. This is one of the best Dubai tourist attractions, if you’re travelling with little ones for sure.

Rising imperiously skywards, the needle-thin Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building. The Burj opened in early 2010 after five years’ intensive construction, finally topping out at a staggering 828m. It comprehensively smashed all existing records for the world’s tallest man-made structures, past and present. This is Dubai sightseeing at its very best.

Nowhere is the scale of Dubai’s explosive growth as staggeringly obvious as in the far south of the city. It's home to the vast Palm Jumeirah artificial island, and Dubai Marina development - evidence of the emirate’s magical ability to turn sand into skyscrapers and raise entire new city suburbs up out of the waves. Fifteen years ago the district was the largest building site - at one point it was estimated that Dubai was home to a quarter of the world’s total number of construction cranes. Now the building crews have gone, leaving a new city and the world’s largest man-made island.

The excellent Dubai Museum makes a logical stop on a tour of the city. It’s the perfect place to get up to speed with the history and culture of the emirate. The museum occupies the old Al Fahidi Fort, a rough-and-ready little structure whose engagingly lopsided corner turrets make it look a bit like a giant sandcastle.