Dubai

At 828m the tallest building in the world, with viewing floors at 124 and 148. Every ticket is tied to an hour, and sunset costs the most.

Wooden abras cross the water for one dirham a trip. They leave as soon as the seats fill, so no timetable exists.

Windows are hung with gold from floor to ceiling, and the price splits into metal weight and workmanship. The weight follows the day's rate everywhere, so only the making charge is negotiated.

Sacks of spice, dried lemon and saffron are sold by weight. With saffron the test is water: real threads let the colour out slowly.

Mud houses topped with wind towers form a set of narrow lanes. Before air conditioning those towers pulled the breeze down into the rooms.

Four wheel drives run the dunes and the evening ends at a camp with food and dancing. The tilting makes some people sick, and the front seat is the recommendation.

Seven kilometres of promenade follow an artificial channel with yachts moored along both sides. As the evening cools the number of walkers rises sharply.

Jets rise to 150m on an artificial lake and run to music every half hour. The bridge positions are charged for while the lakeside is not.

One of the few mosques open to non Muslim visitors, entered with a guide. A question period is set aside for asking about the faith and the customs.

Arabic calligraphy is cut through the surface of a ring shaped building and serves as its windows. Each floor takes a different subject across space, ecology and the senses.

A picture-frame tower 150m high in Zabeel Park, opened in 2018. Part of the bridge floor at the top is glass, so the drop shows straight beneath your feet. One side looks onto old districts such as Deira, the other onto the towers of Sheikh Zayed Road.

A viewing deck up on floor 52 of The Palm Tower, mid-way along Palm Jumeirah. The trunk of the island and its frond-shaped housing lie spread below, the nearest you get to seeing the whole palm at once. The lifts start inside Nakheel Mall.

One whole face of the giant tank opens onto a ground-floor corridor of Dubai Mall, so sharks and rays are free to watch. The tunnel beneath the tank and the underwater zoo upstairs are ticketed. Passes bundled with the Burj Khalifa deck are sold too.

Restored houses of the Shindagha district at the Creek mouth, made one museum. It shows how Dubai lived by its creek, and the Perfume House wing lets you smell oud and rose for yourself. Next door is the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, a former ruler's home.

Beside Union House, where six of the seven emirates signed to form the federation on 2 December 1971. Seven columns shaped like the signing pens stand before a building folded like an open document. A giant national flag flies above Union House on the shore.

A free public beach on the Umm Suqeim shore where kitesurfers gather on breezy afternoons. A running track and a row of beach cafes follow the sand. Stand at the southern end and the Burj Al Arab rises straight ahead.

A sail-shaped hotel on its own man-made island, opened in 1999. The bridge is gated, so only guests, diners with a booking and holders of an inside-tour ticket cross. For the full outline, the Madinat souk or the neighbouring beach works better.

A resort whose covered arcade, styled on an old Arab market, runs along canals. Souvenir shops and restaurants tangle into a maze, and its canal bridges look close onto that sail hotel. The wind towers are lit after sunset, so most come in the evening.

A garden in the desert of Al Barsha South where flowers are shaped into heart tunnels and castles. A full-size Emirates A380 covered in blooms is the centrepiece. It shuts through the summer heat and usually reopens in autumn.

An open-air fairground lined with pavilions by country, open only from autumn to spring. Each pavilion sells that country's snacks and crafts, and people graze their way through the evening. It opens in the late afternoon, with the biggest crowds after dark.

Warehouses in the Al Quoz industrial zone turned into galleries and studios. Galleries began arriving around 2008, alongside an independent cinema and cafes. From outside it is an ordinary lane of sheds, so without a map the entrances are easy to miss.

A glass hall shaped after a dhow, opened in 2016. The seating can be lowered into a flat banquet floor, so opera, musicals and banquets all take place in one building. It sits right below the Burj Khalifa, handy to drop by before the fountain show.

A promenade of shops and cafes along the Bur Dubai bank of the Creek, opened in 2017. One stretch, of coral stone and wooden lattice, imitates an old street before giving way to a modern one. An abra stop out front takes you straight across to the Deira souks.

A fish, meat and vegetable market on the Deira shore, opened in 2017 to replace the old Deira fish market. Hand your fish to the cleaning counter and they charge by weight to scale and gut it. Restaurants inside will grill it for you as well.

An indoor ski slope inside Mall of the Emirates, opened in 2005, where you ride on snow in high summer. Warm clothing and gear are lent, so arriving empty-handed is fine. A separate session brings you close to its penguins.

The Expo 2020 Dubai site, now turned into a city district. Al Wasl Plaza sits under a steel lattice dome whose inside doubles as a projection screen, and Terra, the sustainability pavilion, stays on as a museum. The metro Red Line runs out to it from the city.