World Tourism Blog

Abu Dhabi Sky Tower

The Middle East houses some of the world’s most impressive and stunningly beautiful structures. Dubai, Doha and Al Riyadh all have residential areas which are sure to impress. However, if you are looking for a luxurious property Abu Dhabi is the first place in the Middle East you should concern yourself with.

The Emirate’s architecture is modern and futuristic, and the architects who designed the hotels, residences and commercial buildings have won many prestigious awards for their work. Abu Dhabi is certainly a great destination for high flying executives with a taste for refined elegance.

In the Shams Abu Dhabi development in Abu Dhabi, the Sky Tower structure is one of the most impressive buildings in the Middle East. The 75 storey sky scraper has residential quarters starting from the 41st floor. These apartments are being sold very quickly, so if you want one you’ll have to get in quick. Architecturally, the Sky Tower is relatively simple in appearance; the structure almost looks like a huge pile of gleaming silver coins.

If you would like to live along the waterfront, you should head over to Harbour Heights in Reem Island. The spectacular 41 storey building is as streamlined and penetrating as a stack of knives. The beautiful building overlooks Reem Island’s bustling harbour, and is fully equipped to handle the most demanding of occupants. The fully equipped residential building has a modern gym containing state of the art machinery. If you are a more spiritual person there is a huge Yoga suite ready and waiting for your display of various asana. After your workout, you can head down to the impressive spa rooms and saunas – you can even enjoy a massage to unknot any worries.

Following on the waterfront theme is the Oceanscape building in Shams Abu Dhabi. The building consists of two offset arcs with a mirror finish reflecting the vivid Middle Eastern sky. This beautiful structure is part of larger development consisting of 10 districts. Oceanscape is a 32 storey building with each apartment facing the ocean. Internally, each apartment is the essence of luxury. The living spaces are configured differently catering to the needs of the occupant. The apartments have 1 to 4 bedrooms and the residents can enjoy the huge private swimming pool.

There are too many impressive residential areas in Abu Dhabi to list here; however, with so many glorious properties available you are sure to find one that fits your style and lifestyle. Abu Dhabi has, without doubt, some of the most beautiful properties in the Middle East.

By  LUCAS LOWECROFT

Now that Dubai’s glory days are over, it’s a great time to visit.

That sentiment is true enough to guide your travel plans. In a city where $600 per night hotel rooms were once routine, a premium vacation now comes at a nice discount. But once you land in the emirate and start taking in the city there’s a buzz that defies the economic downturn. World-class restaurants are full enough, but will still give you a table at late notice. Hotels abound, at much friendlier rates (a 5-star stay goes for $150-$400 per night). With fewer crowds, service staff are happy to see you, striking just the right deference toward a paying customer.

Here’s what happened: over the past year, while Dubai’s corporate giants downsized and the city stared down payments of roughly $100 billion in debt, a half-built city was largely completed. The over-construction of luxury hotels, swanky apartments, and all-age entertainment meant they all virtually went on sale. The result is that there is now, at last, a way to do a Dubai vacation on the cheap.

That’s especially true in August, when a combination of desert summer heat and the holy month of Ramadan coincide. Travel in the Muslim world slows down, leaving surprising low rates. Just prepare to avoid eating, drinking, or smoking in public during daylight hours (just keep your consumption indoors - hotel restaurants and many eateries remain open, but draw curtains over the windows). On the other hand, Dubai during Ramadan can give you a great local experience, with lush nighttime tents and lavish buffets that open at sunset.

Choosing your hotel is, in some ways, the fun part – a multitude of luxury resorts, some with enough self-contained entertainment to fill a short vacation. The 5-star Monarch Hotel, which played host to Paris Hilton’s Dubai visit last year, starts at $106 on Expedia . A beachside Westin starts at $162. At the bottom, a Holiday Inn Express in Dubai Internet City, at $36 per night (all prices on Expedia.com). Go to the hotels directly and you can get a rich package deal; the Atlantis Hotel, an entertainment mega-complex, offers deluxe rooms at $243 along with unlimited access to its Aquaventure water park and Lost Chambers aquarium. Otherwise Aquaventure and its competitor, Wild Wadi, cost $54 per adult, with a slight discount if you enter after 3 pm (Aquaventure is running sessions by dark, called ‘Cool Summer Nights,’ charging $40 for access from 7 pm to midnight. Available most Thursdays).

By LARA SETRAKIAN

Now that Dubai's glory days are over, it's a great time to visit.

Burj Al Arab hotel

For years, Dubai boasted that whatever bling project it embarked upon, from carving its coastline into palm-tree-shaped resorts to building vast ski domes in the sand, it would be the “number one in the world”. After the credit crunch, however, it looked like the only record the Gulf city state would claim is the biggest boom and bust.

Tomorrow, though, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, will celebrate at least one global milestone he can be proud of when he opens the tallest building on the planet.

The £1 billion Burj Dubai is at least 2,683ft from its base to the tip of its spire — that’s more than half a mile, the equivalent of three-and-a-half Canary Wharf towers or two Empire State buildings stacked up. Its final height is being kept secret until tomorrow, but architects who have worked on the building have hinted it could break the 2,700ft mark.

The tower is more than 1,000ft higher than its nearest inhabited rival, Taiwan’s 1,671ft Taipei 101. It is also the tallest man-made structure in the world, surpassing the 2,063ft KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, America.

The steel-ribbed, glass-clad structure looks like a giant hypodermic needle piercing the desert sky. As the 169-floor building rises, it passes through several climatic zones. The temperature at the top is up to 10C cooler than at the bottom.

It has the highest swimming pool in the world, on the 76th floor, and the most elevated place of worship with plans for a mosque on the 158th floor.

The Burj Dubai — “burj” means tower in Arabic — is the culmination of Sheikh Mohammed’s vaulting ambition for the emirate. It is the first time the Arab world has claimed the title of the world’s tallest building since 1311, when Lincoln Cathedral exceeded the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

However, after the economic downturn ripped through Dubai — sending property prices plunging 50% and forcing Sheikh Mohammed to go cap in hand to his wealthy neighbour, Abu Dhabi, for a $25 billion (£15 billion) bailout — critics are already dismissing the tower as a gaudy memorial to a lost decade of uncontrolled speculation. “It’s the last blast of the Noughties in a city that got too big for its dishdasha [robes],” said one local banker.

The Burj is so tall that architects are calling it not just a skyscraper but a “superscraper”. It is mostly residential. There are 900 studios and one- to four-bedroom flats and 144 apartments, designed by Giorgio Armani. The tower also houses the Italian designer’s first hotel, which means fashionistas can live in a branded home and go on holiday in chic surroundings without leaving the building.

Emaar, the developer, has made £700m selling apartments in the Burj since building work started in 2004, but investors are nursing losses totalling hundreds of millions of pounds after the property crash. Many may be forced to sell their new homes at below purchase price. There is also 300,000 sq ft of office space in the tower. None is occupied yet and observers question how many tenants will move in.

However full the building turns out to be, it is an undoubted engineering triumph. Summer temperatures of up to 50C, desert dust storms and the tower’s extreme height forced builders to go to extraordinary lengths to complete the job. Surveyors had to take their measurements just before dawn when the building was “at rest” — not expanding in the heat of day or contracting in the cool hours of night.

Human rights groups and workers’ organisations say the tower has been built using “slave labour”. Construction workers, mainly from India and Pakistan, toiled round the clock for as little as $5 a day.

Environmentalists have criticised the building’s power consumption. Its air-conditioning system is the equivalent of melting 12,500 tons of ice a day, and it will consume millions of gallons of desalinated water — in a city that already has the world’s highest per capita carbon footprint.

The Chicago-based architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, deny the claim. “Tall buildings are inherently energy- efficient because they are high-density,” said Bill Baker, chief structural engineer. He described the Burj as an affirmation of the power and importance of tall buildings following the 9/11 attacks that brought down the World Trade Center in New York. “It’s a symbol of optimism. It says, ‘We believe in the future’.”
By John Arlidge

If what you need is a long walk in the desert, the Banyan Tree Al Wadi is the place to take it.

The hotel officially opens this month in Ras Al Khaimah, a wealthy statelet of the United Arab Emirates. The Banyan Tree’s canopied bedrooms and tented villas evoke all the romance of 1001 nights, outfitted with flat screen TVs and private plunge pools. Each unit looks out onto ghaf trees and desert dunes.

The hotel is set on a wildlife preserve that hosts native birds, Arabian oryx, and different breeds of gazelle. The property is designed such that you could wake up to an oryx grazing just beyond your bedroom window. The staff offer guided bike tours of the preserve, and an on-site Falconcy Center mixes education and interaction for guests interested in native birds. The downside of vacationing in the desert habitat is an exposure to the elements; summers are excruciatingly hot, and the occasional sandstorm can keep guests indoors.

The hotel décor is a kind of Zen Arabesque, mixing Thai and Middle Eastern accents. The Moon Bar, a rooftop lounge, serves drinks and water pipes with a view of the sunset on the sand dunes. An exceptional Thai restaurant, Saffron, overlooks a watering hole designed so that the preserve’s animals can join you for dinner.

By LARA SETRAKIAN

The Banyan Tree Al Wadi officially opens this month in Ras Al Khaimah, a wealthy statelet of the United Arab Emirates.

Mecca, receiving over 3 million pilgrims a year during the month of hajj, and during month of Ramadan for umrah around 2 million. During the rest of the year Mecca receives around 4 million for umrah. This is not really tourism, but rather religious pilgrimage, i.e. people who want to fulfil their goal of seeing the Kaaba or other attractions and observe religious rites. The Hajj, or pilgrimage to the city, is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. However, it is forbidden to non-Muslims.

The mountains, valleys and Red Sea beaches with turquoise water known for some of the world’s finest diving attract some, but not much. Some other spots are hard to reach, such as Nabatean ruins, a four-hour drive from Medina, the nearest city with an airport for visitors to fly into. It is almost dependent on oil, a habit Prince Sultan Bin Salman wants to change by forming the Tourism commission in 2000. No non-Muslim can enter the kingdom without a sponsor. There is also the famous bridge to Bahrain.