Dubai: Eclectic delights and sky-high dares in the desert city
Balloons over the skyline in Dubai.
There’s a nervous energy on the desert breeze as we wait in the dark for our balloon to be inflated. The only noise is the roar of the fuel burner pumping hot air into the massive inflatable.
The pilot has just gone through a safety drill for the 20 passengers and already one anxious couple has pulled out.
Talk of possible impact landings has people on edge. The giant basket can hit the ground two or three times before it comes to a stop, we are told.
It’s important to bend the knees and hold on to waist-high rope loops just before touchdown in case the basket is pulled over on its side. Passengers are also equipped with a waist belt to click on to an attachment onboard.
We are with Balloon Adventures Dubai — after a 45-minute drive from the centre of the desert city — for what will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of our trip.
Four other balloons are also being inflated close by for the sunrise expedition. We climb on board — literally, clambering indelicately over the top of the basket using footholds — and then we take off after mooring ropes are released.
The dark sky is already being banished as we rise almost silently, the sandy desert below stretching as far as the eye can see.
We are in the air a few minutes before the first glimpse of the sun appears. I’m amazed at the speed it rises. It seems only a few seconds before half of it is visible and then the whole, giant, orange orb.
A caravan of camels is on the move below and small deer dart between the sand dunes. In the distance, eight other balloons belonging to different companies are flying at various altitudes.
Vytas, our pilot, informs us that he can’t control the direction of the balloon; he just climbs or descends as necessary to avoid a collision.
All the pilots are in radio contact. He is on his 2,702nd flight, which is very reassuring even though all worries have long disappeared.
Our balloon is in the air for an hour, rising to 4,000ft, before we slowly descend near a tiny village for a textbook landing. There are no bumps, no drama. (From €337/€275, adult/child — balloon-adventures.com.)
A fleet of vintage jeeps takes us to a Bedouin village for a hearty breakfast of Arabian and Western food under canvas. It’s a morning that will live long in the memory, one of several spent in this fascinating nation-state.
Our very first day began with an unforgettable visit to the Aura Skypool, the world’s highest 360-degree infinity pool on the 50th floor of the St Regis Hotel. (From €69, auraskypool.com.)
With the sun beating down we had fabulous views of Dubai in all directions as we enjoyed cocktails while relaxing in the warm water.
It’s a perfect spot to look down on the famous Palm Dubai, the world’s biggest man-made island shaped like a palm tree with its “leaves” stretching out into the Arabian Gulf filled with luxury villas.
I had seen plans for this in Dublin during the early Noughties and thought it was so outlandish it would never be built. Well, it was completed in just a few years and the first wealthy residents moved in in 2007.
Dubai likes to boast that it made the word ‘impossible’ redundant and you can see why.
It has the world’s tallest building, the 828m (2,717ft) Burj Khalifa; the world’s five tallest hotels, including the famous Burj al Arab; the world’s largest shopping mall which is the size of 50 soccer pitches, the Dubai Mall; the world’s former largest indoor theme park, IMG Worlds of Adventure; the world’s largest indoor ski slope ... the list goes on.
The speed and scale at which this glitzy city in the United Arab Emirates is developing is astonishing.
I had a brief visit 15 years ago on the way to New Zealand and Dubai has grown massively since then. Everywhere we turn there are new skyscrapers being built. Two taxi drivers tell us while driving through different suburbs: “Seven years ago this was all desert, there was nothing here.”
Despite a common assumption the non-stop development is not funded by oil as the black gold today makes up just 1% of Dubai’s GDP.
Rather, its wealth comes from tourism, international trade, real estate, aviation, financial services, port and from its massive airport, the world’s biggest for international passengers, handling 90 million a year.
Dubai’s stunning downtown area at night is a magnet for tourists with a trillion lights making it a magical experience.
We spend an evening at the buzzing Time Out market in the Souk Al Bahar, a food mecca with stalls serving up dishes from dozens of different countries while overlooking one of the best views in the city, the illuminated Burj Khalifa Lake and the €200m Dancing Fountain.
After dark the lake comes alive every half hour with a spectacular show of water jets, music and lights. The water can leap 152m (500ft) in the air; it’s the world’s tallest performing fountain.
The lake sits at the bottom of the Burj Khalifa building with all 828m covered in sparkling lights which change colour every few seconds in a dazzling display.
Ostentatious wealth is everywhere in Dubai. You will never see so many Ferraris and Maseratis. It’s one of the few cities in the world where the bulk of the 3.6m population are ex-pats and immigrants. Just 10% are citizens.
Food guide Arva Ahmed, who launched Frying Pan Adventures a decade ago with her sister Farida to show tourists around the narrow streets and markets of the old town, was born here but cannot become a citizen.
Citizenship depends on the nationality of your father and hers is Indian so she has an Indian rather than an Emirates passport. More than half the population is Indian or Pakistani.
But Arva, a former high-flying consultant, loves the streets of her birth and set up her tour business to show visitors the “real” Dubai.
She takes tourists around the spice markets and tiny street cafés to sample local delicacies.
She points out the small Shia and Sunni Mosques and the Hindu and Sikh temples, emphasising how they all live in harmony, unlike many places in the world.
Her Dubai is worlds away from the glitz and glam of downtown and her evening tour, which involves sailing in a traditional wooden boat, or abra, across the deep and busy Dubai Creek, is another highlight of our trip. (€108 per person for 3.5 hours including food, fryingpanadventures.com.)
The abra is not our only adventure on water in Dubai. We also have an afternoon with Hero Boat Tours piloting our own vessels around the city’s iconic coastline.
The powerful rubber Zodiac-style boats can do 50kph and it is an adrenaline-pumping adventure as the sea is rough. (From €75, heroboattours.com.) A much calmer afternoon is spent at the Byron Bathers Beach Club on the trunk of the Dubai Palm where we enjoy a lovely seafood lunch on the terrace before retiring to sunbeds on the sand.
With so many English accents around it has the feel of a British colonial club of bygone times. It’s a hugely popular afternoon destination. ( byronbathers.com)
Real adventure lovers will not want to leave Dubai without doing the Edge Walk at Sky Views Observatory, the city’s highest full circle hands-free walk on a ledge encircling the top of the Tower skyscraper at nearly 220m above the ground.
Daredevils are equipped with a harness and helmet and are led along the ledge by a guide who encourages them to hang out over the side. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
Nor is the glass floor walk one storey below where you can see the streets 720ft below your feet. (From €147, skyviewsdubai.com.)
To calm your nerves, stop off at the beautiful Michelin-starred restaurant, Cé la Vi on the 54th floor for cocktails. Its wraparound balcony delivers the same views as above but in a more sedate setting, while I tuck into a gorgeous lamb ragu pasta lunch. (celavi.com/en/dubai.)
Our home from home in Dubai is the funky 25 Hour Hotel which is full of quirky paraphernalia like old record players, ancient TVs and thousands of books everywhere.
The rooms are eccentric with showers in the middle of the floor and old-style telephones and the hotel’s Monkey Bar is the place to strut your stuff until 3am.
A neon sign above reception declares: “We are all nomads here.” They’re not wrong.
- Jim was a guest of Visit Dubai.
- Dubai summers, which last from the end of April to the beginning of October, are scorching hot with temperatures regularly hitting the 40s. The best time to visit is in winter.
- Emirates fly direct from Dublin to Dubai from €652: emirates.com
- 25 Hours Hotel, rooms from €140 per night: 25hours-hotels.com/en/hotels/dubai
- For more: visitdubai.com
The stunning Museum of the Future, an architectural and engineering marvel, has been described as the most beautiful building in the world.
Its circular shape is covered in the Arabic poetry of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The Museum combines elements of exhibition and immersive theatre. Each floor is like a film set from a future that you can inhabit, explore and interact with.
Crafted by designers, artists and filmmakers the museum “builds on the visionary culture that has transformed the UAE into one of the world’s most advanced nations in less than 50 years.”
- €38, museumofthefuture.ae
Want to sample some local Arabic food? Then head to Al Khayma Heritage Restaurant in the old city.
Try the Salona with dried lime or loomi, a form of stew, along with lamb Machboos, a dish cooked in one pot a little like an Indian biryani, with yoghurt and a spicy tomato and green chilli sauce.
And watch them make the unleavened bread Regag and cover it with an anchovy sauce with cream cheese, a great appetiser while you wait for the main meal.
Prices in the old town are much cheaper than downtown.
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