They tell you that Dubai is a city designed to make you look up. Skyscrapers draw your gaze skyward, fountains leap in arcs, even the desert seems to lift at the horizon. Helicopter tour Dubai air journey . But the moment you feel a helicopter's rotors gather their rhythm and the city drops away beneath you, you realize Dubai rewards looking down as well. A helicopter tour of Dubai isn't just a thrill; it's an unforgettable experience that rearranges your mental map of the place, turning famous postcards into a single, sweeping panorama.
Before takeoff, there's a small ritual that makes the adventure feel both intimate and serious: the weigh-in, the safety briefing, the cool heft of the headset as it settles over your ears. The pilot's voice arrives as a calm, friendly buzz-protocol, route, a hint of what to watch for. Then the machine shivers alive, the world trembles, and the ground starts to recede. The city's soundscape condenses into the steady thrum of rotors, and a river of light and glass unfurls below.
From the air, Dubai's contradictions come into focus. The old Creek curls like a line drawn by memory, its dhows and abras still moving as they did when pearls were the city's currency. A turn of the rotor blades and you're over the shock of modernity: the grid of Downtown Dubai, where the Burj Khalifa throws its needle into the sky. From street level, the world's tallest building feels like a miracle of engineering; from above, it's an anchor for a city that seems almost to orbit it. You catch sight of the fountain's choreography sketched in stillness, the Dubai Mall sprawling like a small nation.
Then, there's the sea. It is impossible to understand the audacity of the Palm Jumeirah until you see it from above. The fronds radiate so precisely that they look computer-rendered, the crescent holding the turquoise water like a cummerbund. On a clear day the Atlantis sits like a crown at the edge, and beyond it the World Islands scatter across the Gulf like a cartographer's daydream. You see people's imagined geographies-that desire to carve continents out of water-translated into stone and sand. The helicopter drifts, banks, and suddenly the Burj Al Arab appears, the sail that only fully becomes a sail from the sky.
The colors shift constantly. The water swings from jade to deep cobalt. The glass towers of the Marina mirror the light into a thousand shards as you skim along the coast. Beaches look like neat brushstrokes of cream paint, broken by the long shadows of umbrellas and the pinprick movement of sun-seekers. Roads trace clean, confident lines; traffic becomes a toy set. You notice what's missing from ground-level experience: patterns. The city reveals its logic-the way neighborhoods speak to one another, the careful stitching of roadways, rails, and green space-like a blueprint turning into a breathing thing.
Every helicopter ride has a moment where the world feels suspended. For me, it came as we banked toward the desert. Beyond the last line of villas and the final glittering tower, the sand begins-vast, quiet, softly ridged like a sleeping giant's palm. In that transition, you can see the whole story of Dubai in one frame: a frontier city resolved to meet the horizon on its own terms. Helicopter tour Dubai elite experience The pilot pointed out the camel tracks that appear like calligraphy, the solar fields glinting like patient machinery, and I felt the odd, satisfying sense that I was seeing the city's past and future at once.
Practical details punctuate the poetry, as they should. The headset becomes your lifeline: it filters the engine's roar into a private classroom where the pilot's commentary is equal parts trivia and biography. You learn that early morning flights are often smoother, the visibility crisper, the water a more luminous blue. You discover the trick of wearing dark clothes to minimize reflections in the window, of lifting the camera slightly off the glass to avoid vibrations. You also learn restraint: to put the phone down for a minute, to let the view rush into you without the need to capture it.
Helicopter tour Business Bay
Helicopter tour Business Bay
Dubai helicopter luxury experience
Helicopter tour Dubai elite experience
Dubai helicopter aerial sightseeing
A photograph can freeze a scene; a memory replaces the cold rectangle with warmth, with the thrum you feel in your ribs, with the smell of hot air and aviation fuel, with the way the light flickers on the rotor.
There's a human theater onboard too. The family on their first big trip, the couple gripping hands without realizing it, the solo traveler whose grin widens with every banked turn. A helicopter compresses strangers into a shared gasp. You can sense it even in silence-the collective intake of breath as the Burj Khalifa aligns with the sun, the small laughter at recognizing a hotel you just left, the pool that looked endless now a pale coin.
Dubai makes a particular kind of promise: that ambition, scale, and imagination can coexist not just in plans but in concrete and glass and living ocean. From the air, that promise feels less like spectacle and more like coherence. The big pieces-tower, palm, marina, creek, desert-lock together into a single picture that explains the city better than any tour bus ever could. Even the heat, which on the ground can press on your shoulders, becomes drama from above, a shimmer that turns edges soft and colors bold.
When you land, the earth feels heavier for a second, as if reminding you where you truly belong. The rotors spin down, the headsets come off, and the city's ordinary noises surge back-the taxi horns, the laugh from a nearby bench, the distant rasp of construction. You step out with a small sheen of dust on your shoes and a new map in your head. Streets will look different now. Every time you catch a slice of blue between buildings, you'll see the palm's geometry hiding in it. Every time the Burj comes into view, you'll remember its shadow crossing the fountains like a sundial.
A helicopter tour of Dubai is unforgettable not because it is daring-though there is a thrill in the lift, a joy in the arc-but because it shows you the city's secret language. It translates the audacity of building a modern metropolis between desert and sea into lines, curves, and colors you can hold in your eyes long after the flight. And once you've seen Dubai speak from the sky, every step you take on the ground carries an echo of that higher perspective.
The Palm Jumeirah (Arabic: نخلة جميرا) is an archipelago of artificial islands on the Persian Gulf in Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is part of a larger series of developments called the Palm Islands, including Palm Jebel Ali and the Dubai Islands, which, when completed, will together increase Dubai's shoreline by a total of 520 kilometres (320 mi).[3] It has a population of over 25,000[4] as of 2022.[5]
The islands were created using land reclamation. They were created to resemble a palm tree when seen from the air, and are roughly divided into three areas: "trunk", "fronds", and "outer crescent". The trunk is a mixed commercial and residential area, the fronds are reserved for residential homes and villas, while the outer crescent is used for luxury and upscale resorts.[6]
The Palm Jumeirah was constructed by a Dutch specialist dredging company, Van Oord. The same company also created The World Islands.
Construction
[edit]
The Palm Jumeirah Dubai, Villas on a frondThe Palm Jumeirah Dubai's frondThe Palm Jumeirah Dubai aerial view on 5 January 2013Shoreline Beach in The Palm Jumeirah Dubai
Construction of The Palm Jumeirah Dubai island began in June 2001 and the developers announced handover of the first residential units in 2006.[7]
In October 2007, 75% of the properties were ready to hand over, with 500 families already residing on the island.[8] By the end of 2009, 28 hotels were opened on the Crescent.[8]
In 2009, The New York Times reported that NASA's laser altimeter satellites had measured the Palm as sinking at the rate of 5 mm (0.20 in) per year.[9] In response the developer, Nakheel Properties said they had received no reports of structural problems of a type that would be expected if there were any subsidence, and pointed out that the laser satellites had a measurement resolution of only 50 mm (2.0 in).[10]
Transportation
[edit]
The Palm Jumeirah Dubai's Monorail
The Palm Jumeirah Monorail is a 5.4-kilometre-long (3.4 mi) monorail connecting the Atlantis Hotel to the Gateway Towers at the foot of the island.[11][12] The monorail connects The Palm Jumeirah Dubai to the mainland, with a planned further extension to the Red Line of the Dubai Metro.[13] The line began operating on 30 April 2009.[14] It is the first monorail in the Middle East.[15]
Environment
[edit]
According to a study published in the journal Water in 2022, the construction of this island has had an effect on increasing water-soluble materials, changing the spectral profile of water and also increasing the temperature of the water surface around the island.[16]
The outer breakwater was designed as a continuous barrier, but by preventing natural tidal movement, the seawater within the Palm became stagnant. The breakwater was subsequently modified to create gaps on either side, allowing tidal movement to oxygenate the water within and prevent it from stagnating, albeit less efficiently than would be the case if the breakwater did not exist.[17][18]
In the summer seasons, jellyfish frequent the beaches surrounding the Palm.[19] In early 2020, due to the reduction of human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in wildlife, such as dolphins, around The Palm Jumeirah was observed.[20]
Housing density
[edit]
After launching the project, it was revealed that the developer increased the number of residential units on the island (with a concomitant reduction in the amount of physical space between individual properties) from the originally announced 4,500 (comprising 2,000 villas purchased early in the expectation of greater separation between properties[21]). This increase was attributed to the developer miscalculating the actual cost of construction and requiring the raising of additional capital, although they had never commented publicly on the matter.[citation needed]The New York Times reported in 2009 that many people had bought houses before they were built and are furious about the space available now and the way they seem to be living on top of each other.[9]
Residential properties
[edit]
Palm Jumeirah has a varied array of buildings, ranging from townhouses to hotels to apartments and villas. The apartments are mostly concentrated on the Trunk, while the Fronds are bordered with villas.
Apartments range in size from 375 to 11,774 square feet (34.8 to 1,093.8 m2), from studios to 6-bedroom layouts. Each apartment normally has a large living space, en-suite bathrooms, fitted kitchens, and balconies or patios.
The community has villas with sizes between 4,000 and 35,000 square feet (370 and 3,250 m2) ranging from 2 to 10 bedrooms. There is direct beach access from these villas, which range in style from classic Arabic designs to modern high-tech alternatives.[22]
Notable residents
[edit]
Grigory Anikeev, one of the wealthiest deputies of the Russian State Duma, bought a $13 million penthouse apartment in the Serenia Residences of Palm Jumeirah in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[23]
Mykola Zlochevskiy, a Ukrainian oil and natural gas businessman and oligarch who was Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources in the Viktor Yanukovych administration, owns two apartments in the W Residences worth $11 million.[24] Ukrainian authorities accused Zlochevskiy of embezzlement, leading him to plead guilty while transferring ownership of the properties to his daughter.[24]
Balvinder Singh Sahni, Indian businessman[25]
Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers, a Dutchman who goes by the name 'Chubby Jos', and is on European Union's Most Wanted List for alleged narcotics trafficking, is a resident in the Grandeur Residences of Palm Jumeirah.[26]
Danilo Vunjao Santana Gouveia, a Brazilian who goes by Dubaiano, and was indicted in Brazil for fraud and moneylaundering in relation to a Bitcoin pyramid scheme, is a resident in the Palm Tower Dubai.[26][27]
Obaid Khanani, a Pakistani national who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2016 for alleged moneylaundering for drug traffickers and organized crime groups, is a resident in Five Palm Jumeirah.[27]
The ruling Aliyev family of Azerbaijan owns multiple properties in the Palm Jumeirah.[28][29]
Samuele Landi, an Italian fugitive businessperson, owns a villa in the Palm Jumeirah.[30]
Rasul Danialzadeh, an Iranian steel magnate sentenced to 16 years in prison for bribery, owns a villa in the Palm Jumeirah.[31]
Hotels and resorts
[edit]
As of 2024, The Palm Jumeirah Dubai has around 30 hotels, located in the trunk and outer crescent of the palm.
^"Palm Jumeirah". Visit Dubai. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
^"The Palm Jumeirah". thepalm.ae. 2006. Archived from the original on 17 February 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
^ ab"Dubai's Palm and World Islands – progress update". AMEInfo. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
^ abLaid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down, The New York Times, 11 February 2009
^"Nakheel: Palm Jumeirah is 'not sinking' – Real Estate". Arabian Business. ArabianBusiness.com. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^Nice and Easy, but Fares Not So Fair
^"Home". palmmonorail.com.
^"Middle East's first monorail to start services in Palm Jumeirah by April". Gulf News. 7 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
^"Palm monorail tried and tested – The Knowledge News". Time Out Dubai. TimeOutDubai.com. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
^"ME's 1st monorail to begin services in April". MENAFN.com. 8 August 2008. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
^Mansourmoghaddam, Mohammad (January 2022). "Mansourmoghaddam M, Ghafarian Malamiri HR, Rousta I, Olafsson H, Zhang H. Assessment of Palm Jumeirah Island's Construction Effects on the Surrounding Water Quality and Surface Temperatures during 2001–2020. Water. 2022; 14(4):634. doi.org/10.3390/w14040634". Water. 14 (4): 634. doi:10.3390/w14040634.
^"Palm Island Dubai FAQ".
^"MegaStructures – National Geographic Channel episode guide". Archived from the original on 24 November 2005.
^"Jellyfish along UAE coastline". Ecocoast. 15 August 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
^"Rays, sharks, and dolphins enjoy new freedom as humans retreat from the oceans". 29 April 2020.
^Moye, Catherine (20 August 2005). "Palm before a storm?". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
^Palm Jumeirah Area Guides, Bayut.com, 27 August 2024
^"Russians bought up $6.3 billion in Dubai property after 2022 Ukraine invasion, report finds – ICIJ". 22 May 2024.
^ abOvsyaniy, Kyrylo; Andrushko, Serhiy; Tolstyakova, Kira (17 May 2024). "Dubai Unlocked: How Yanukovych-Era Ukrainian Officials Poured Millions Into Secretive U.A.E. Real Estate". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
^"Who is Balwinder Singh Sahni, Indian billionaire jailed for money laundering in Dubai?". News18. 10 May 2025.
^ abReport (14 May 2024). "Global players feature in Dubai property leaks". Dawn. Pakistan.
^ ab"How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate – OCCRP". How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate – OCCRP. 2024.
^"How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate: Leyla, Arzu, and Heydar Aliyev". How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate – OCCRP. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
^"How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate – OCCRP". How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate – OCCRP. 14 May 2024.
^Abrahamian, Atossa Araxia (7 January 2025). "A Fugitive Businessman, Done In by One Law He Couldn't Dodge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
^"Convicts, Wealthy Iranians With State Ties Implicated In Leaked Property Data". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 2024.
^"Dukes the Palm, a Royal Hideaway Hotel | Luxury hotel in Palm Jumeirah".
^"First look: Aloft opens first hotel in Dubai". 21 January 2018.
^"Visit Atlantis the Royal now: New massive hotel opens on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah after grand reveal – Arabian Business: Latest News on the Middle East, Real Estate, Finance, and More". Arabian Business. 10 February 2023.
^"Th8 Palm Dubai Beach Resort". th8palmdubai.com.
^"Th8 Palm Beach Resort review: Dubai hotel has family-friendly facilities and ocean views". The National. 15 July 2025.
^"Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah set for January opening in Dubai". GulfNews.com. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^"Nakheel Mall on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah to open on 28 November 2019". nakheel.com. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Palm Jumeirah Dubai.
The Palm Islands Multimedia website
The Palm Tower website
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About Burj Al Arab
Luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
For other uses, see Burj (disambiguation).
This article is about Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. For other uses, see Borg El Arab (disambiguation).
Burj Al Arab برج العرب
Jumeirah Burj Al Arab in 2007
Interactive map of the Burj Al Arab برج العرب area
The Jumeirah Burj Al Arab (Arabic: برج العرب, lit.'Arab Tower'), commonly known as Burj Al Arab, is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[8] Developed and managed by Jumeirah, it is one of the tallest hotels in the world, although 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space.[9][10][11] Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island that is 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah Beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to resemble the sail of a dhow.[12] It has a helipad near the roof, at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground.
Site
[edit]
The beachfront area where Jumeirah Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach.[13] The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land, 280 m (920 ft) offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The former hotel was demolished during the construction of the Burj Al Arab.[14] The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tanks, known locally as Kazzans, on the site.[13]
History
[edit]
The Burj Al Arab was designed by the British multidisciplinary consultancy Atkins, led by architect Tom Wright of WKA. He came up with the iconic design and signature translucent fiberglass facade that serves as a shield from the desert sun during the day and as a screen for illumination at night.[15] The design and construction were managed by Canadian engineer Rick Gregory, and construction managed by David Kirby also of WS Atkins. The Burj Al Arab's interior is by British-Chinese designer Khuan Chew. Construction of the island began in 1994 and involved up to 2,000 construction workers during peak construction. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium. The setting of a high rise building on saturated soil and the novelty of the project required groundbreaking dynamic analysis and design to take into consideration soil-structure interaction, effect of water, high winds, and helipad among other loads, to help finalize the design and take the project into construction.[16][failed verification]
The hotel was built by South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts, now renamed Concor and Al Habtoor Engineering. The interior designs were led and created by Khuan Chew and John Carolan of KCA international and delivered by UAE based Depa Group.[17]
The building opened on 1 December 1999.[1] The New Year's Eve fireworks celebration originated in 2000 with the inauguration of the United Arab Emirates.
The hotel's helipad was designed by Irish architect Rebecca Gernon.[18] The helipad is at the building's 28th floor, and the helipad been used as a car race track, a boxing ring, has hosted a tennis match, and the jumping off point for the highest kite surfing jump in history.[19]
In 2017, the hotel hosted the wedding of Daniel Kinahan, head of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group.[20] The wedding was attended by several prominent drug traffickers, such as Ridouan Taghi, Edin Gačanin, 'Ricardo (El Rico) Riquelme Vega, and Raffaele Imperiale.[20]
Features
[edit]
An AgustaWestland A109E Power landing on the Burj Al Arab's helipad
Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 40-metre-long (130 ft) concrete piles into the sand by drilling method.[21]
Engineers created a ground surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, while it took less than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 (92,000 yd3) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.[21]
Inside the building, the atrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall.[22]
Given the height of the building, the Burj Al Arab is the world's fifth tallest hotel after Gevora Hotel, JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur and Rose and Rayhaan by Rotana. But if buildings with mixed use were stripped off the list, the Burj Al Arab would be the world's third tallest hotel. The structure of the Rose Rayhaan, also in Dubai, is 333 metres (1,093 ft) tall,[23] 12 m (39 ft) taller than the Burj Al Arab, which is 321 metres (1,053 ft) tall.[23]The Burj Al Arab's helipad, located 210 meters above ground, has been the site of several high-profile events, including a tennis match between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, and stunts by Red Bull athletes.[citation needed]
Rooms and suites
[edit]
The hotel is managed by the Jumeirah Group. The hotel has 199 exclusive suites each allocated eight dedicated staff members and a 24-hour butler service.[24] The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 m2 (1,820 sq ft), the largest covers 780 m2 (8,400 sq ft).[25]
The Royal Suite, billed at US$24,000 per night, is listed at number 12 on World's 15 most expensive hotel suites compiled by CNN Go in 2012.[26]
The Burj Al Arab is very popular with the Chinese market, which made up 25 percent of all bookings at the hotel in 2011 and 2012.[27]
Restaurants
[edit]
Al MuntahaAl Mahara
There are six restaurants in the hotel, including:
Al Muntaha ("The Ultimate"), is located 200 m (660 ft) above the Persian Gulf, offering a view of Dubai. It is supported by a full cantilever that extends 27 m (89 ft) from either side of the mast, and is accessed by a panoramic elevator.[citation needed]
Al Mahara ("Oyster"), which is accessed via a simulated submarine voyage, features a large seawater aquarium, holding roughly 990,000 L (260,000 US gal) of water. The wall of the tank, made of acrylic glass in order to withstand the water pressure, is about 18 cm (7.1 in) thick.[citation needed]
Rating
[edit]
While the hotel has sometimes been described as "the world's only 'seven-star' hotel", the hotel management claims never to have done so themselves. The term appeared due to a British journalist who had visited the hotel on a tour before it was officially opened. The journalist described Burj al Arab as "more than anything she has ever seen" and therefore referred to it as a seven-star hotel.[28] A Jumeirah Group spokesperson said "There's not a lot we can do to stop it. We're not encouraging the use of the term. We've never used it in our advertising."[29]
Reception
[edit]
Burj Al Arab has attracted criticism as "a contradiction of sorts, considering how well-designed and impressive the construction ultimately proves to be."[25] The contradiction here seems to be related to the hotel's decor. "This extraordinary investment in state-of-the-art construction technology stretches the limits of the ambitious urban imagination in an exercise that is largely due to the power of excessive wealth." Another critic includes negative critiques for the city of Dubai as well: "both the hotel and the city, after all, are monuments to the triumph of money over practicality. Both elevate style over substance."[25] Yet another: "Emulating the quality of palatial interiors, in an expression of wealth for the mainstream, a theater of opulence is created in Burj Al Arab ... The result is a baroque effect".[25]
In popular culture
[edit]
The last chapter of the espionage novel Performance Anomalies[30][31] takes place at the top of the Burj Al Arab,[32] where the spy protagonist Cono 7Q discovers that through deadly betrayal his spy nemesis Katerina has maneuvered herself into the top echelon of the government of Kazakhstan. The hotel can also be seen in Syriana and also some Bollywood movies.[which?]
Richard Hammond included the building in his television series Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections.
The Jumeirah Burj Al Arab serves as the cover image for the 2009 album Ocean Eyes by Owl City.
The Burj Al Arab was the site of the last task of the fifth episode of the first season of the Chinese edition of The Amazing Race, where teams had to clean up a room to the hotel's standards.[33][34]
The building is featured in Matthew Reilly's novel The Six Sacred Stones, where a kamikaze pilot crashes a plane into the hotel, destroying it in an attempt to kill the protagonist, Jack West Jr.
The building was the location of the main challenge of the ninth episode of the Canadian-American animated television series Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race,[35] where contestants were tasked to either return a serve from a tennis robot on the hotel's helipad, or squeegee an entire column of the hotel's windows.
See also
[edit]
Hotels portal
W Barcelona (Hotel Vela) – skyscraper of similar appearance in Barcelona, Spain (sail)
Oman TiT – residential skyscraper of similar appearance in Taipei, Taiwan (sail)
Elite Plaza – a similar-shaped skyscraper in Yerevan, Armenia
JW Marriott Panama (Panama City) – similar structure
Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth – similar structure in Portsmouth, UK
Vasco da Gama Tower – a skyscraper of similar appearance in Lisbon, Portugal (sail)
Sail Tower – a skyscraper of similar appearance in Haifa, Israel (sail)
List of tallest buildings in the United Arab Emirates
List of buildings in Dubai
List of tallest buildings in Dubai
References
[edit]
^ ab
"Media Fact File of Burj Al Arab" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
^Swibel, Matthew (15 March 2014). "Forbes.com: Arabian Knight". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
^ abcd"Burj Al Arab Hotel – The Skyscraper Center". Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^"Emporis building ID 107803". Emporis. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020.
^"Burj Al Arab". SkyscraperPage.
^Burj Al Arab at Structurae
^"Stay at Burj Al Arab". Jumeirah. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
^Eytan, Declan. "Milan: Inside the World's Only Certified 7 Star Hotel". Forbes. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
^"Vanity Height: the Use-less Space in Today's Tallest". CTBUH. Archived from the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^"Study: Skyscrapers Topped by Wasted Space". World Property Channel. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^Solon, Olivia (6 September 2013). "Report names and shames vanity skyscrapers with unnecessary spires". Wired. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^"Burj Al Arab". www.atkinsglobal.com. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
^ abKrane, Jim City of Mud: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism, page 103, St. Martin's Press (15 September 2009)
^"Dubai's Chicago Beach Hotel". Dubai As It Used To Be. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^Chalhoub, Michel Soto (1993). "Structural Design and Deep Foundation Soil-Structure Interaction of Burj-Al-Arab - A Comparison of Two Alternatives". Parsons Engineering.
^Pantin, Travis (17 February 2009). "Depa announces strong growth". The National. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
^"From the inside out". Construction Week Online Middle East. March 2011.
^"Global Gateway". CNN. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ abCaesar, Ed (20 October 2025). "The Cocaine Kingpin Living Large in Dubai". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X.
^ ab"Burj Al Arab". EgyptEng.com engineering directory. 2000. Archived from the original on 17 January 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2007.
^"VIDEO: Burj Al Arab's 15th anniversary 'dream'". HotelierME. 28 November 2014.
^ ab"The world's 17 tallest hotels – for the ultimate room with a view". The Telegraph. 11 February 2016. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^"Burj Al Arab". www.jumeirah.com. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
^ abcdDamluji, Salma Samar, The Architecture of the U.A.E.. Reading, UK: 2006.
^Arnold, Helen "World's 15 most expensive hotel suites" Archived 2 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine CNN Go. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012
^"Jumeirah gets ravenous for China". TTGmice. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
^Parr, Christopher. "Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Dubai: Inside The 7 Star Luxury Hotel". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^Bundhun, Rebecca (14 July 2009). "Hotel star ratings standards long overdue". The National. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
^"Performance Anomalies". Goodreads. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
^Lee, Victor Robert (20 December 2012). Performance Anomalies. USA: Perimeter Six. ISBN 978-1-938409-22-6.
^Lee, Victor Robert (15 January 2013). Performance Anomalies: A Novel. Perimeter Six Press. p. 327. ISBN 978-1-938409-20-2.
^"Burj Al Arab hotel stars in Chinese reality TV show". Arabian Business. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
^"卓美亚集团与「极速前进」首次合作" [Jumeirah Group collaborates with The Amazing Race for the first time]. Neeu (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
^"Press Release". corusent.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
Further reading
[edit]
Rose, Steve (28 November 2005). "Architecture: Sand and freedom". The Guardian.
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Burj Al Arab (category)
Official website
Records
Preceded by
Dubai World Trade Center
Tallest building in Dubai
1999 – 2000
Succeeded by
Emirates Office Tower
v
t
e
Jumeirah Group
Facilities
Burj Al Arab
The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management
Jumeirah Beach Hotel
Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel
Madinat Jumeirah
Palais Quartier
Wild Wadi Water Park
Related
Dubai Holding
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Timeline of the world's tallest hotels
Hotel New Netherland (71m, 1893)
Hotel Manhattan (76m, 1896)
Westin Book Cadillac Hotel (111.9m, 1924)
Waldorf Astoria Hotel (191m, 1931)
Hotel Ukraina, Moscow (198m, 1953)
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (220m, 1973)
Westin Renaissance Center Detroit (221.5m, 1977)
Westin Stamford Hotel (226m, 1986)
Baiyoke Tower II (304m, 1997)
Burj Al Arab (321m, 1999)
Le Royal Méridien Shanghai at Shimao International Plaza (333m, 2006)
Rose Tower (333m, 2009)
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai (355m, 2012)
Gevora Hotel (356m, 2017)
Ciel Tower (377m, 2025)
v
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e
Dubai skyscrapers
List of tallest buildings in Dubai
Supertalls
> 350 m
Burj Khalifa (828 m)
Marina 101 (425 m)
Princess Tower (414 m)
23 Marina (392.8 m)
Elite Residence (381 m)
Ciel Tower (377 m)
Address Boulevard (370 m)
Almas Tower (360 m)
Gevora Hotel (356 m)
Il Primo Dubai (356 m)
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai (355 m)
Emirates Office Tower (355 m)
The Marina Torch (352 m)
300-350 m
Uptown Tower (340 m)
DAMAC Residenze (335 m)
Rose Rayhaan by Rotana (333 m)
Big Ben Tower, Dubai (328 m)
The Index (326 m)
Burj Al Arab (321 m)
HHHR Tower (318 m)
Ocean Heights (310 m)
Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel (309 m)
Amna Tower (307 m)
Noora Tower (307 m)
Cayan Tower (306 m)
One Za'abeel (305 m)
Address Downtown (302 m)
Skyscraper
250-300 m
Emirates Crown (296 m)
Khalid Al Attar Tower 2 (294 m)
Sulafa Tower (288 m)
Opera Grand (288 m)
Millennium Tower (285 m)
Al Hekma Tower (282 m)
Marina Pinnacle (280 m)
D1 (277.5 m)
Burj Vista Tower 1 (272 m)
Central Park Towers (270 m)
Radisson Royal Dubai (269 m)
21st Century Tower (269 m)
DAMAC Towers by Paramount Hotels & Resorts (268.1 m)
Al Kazim Towers (265 m)
Ubora Towers (263 m)
Vision Tower (260 m)
Paramount Tower Hotel & Residences (258 m)
Conrad Dubai (255 m)
Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites (254 m)
Chelsea Tower (250 m)
200-250 m
Al Tayer Tower (249 m)
Rolex Tower (247 m)
Al Fattan Marine Towers (245 m)
AAM Tower (244 m)
Sama Tower (240 m)
Churchill Residence (235 m)
Burj Daman (235 m)
Park Place (234 m)
Mag 218 Tower (232 m)
Carlton Hotels & Suites (221 m)
Jumeirah Bay (218 m)
Jumeirah Beach Residence (216 m)
Al Seef Towers (215 m)
Grosvenor House (210 m)
Al Rostamani Maze Tower (210 m)
The One Tower (209 m)
Executive Towers (208 m)
Tamani Hotel Marina (207 m)
Dubai Mixed-Use Towers (201 m)
Shangri-La Hotel (200 m)
150-200 m
Al Salam Tecom Tower (195 m)
Concorde Tower (190 m)
Al Sahab Tower 1 (187 m)
Dubai World Trade Centre (184 m)
Armada Tower 2 (167 m)
Four Points by Sheraton Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai (167 m)
Sky Gardens (160 m)
Al Attar Business Tower (158 m)
World Trade Centre Residence (158 m)
Clusters
Jumeirah Lake Towers
Marina 1
The Residences
See also: Future Dubai skyscrapers and List of tallest buildings in Dubai
Category
v
t
e
Supertall skyscrapers (300 m/984 ft and taller)
Completed
Africa
Egypt
Iconic Tower
Americas
Chile
Gran Torre Santiago
Mexico
Torres Obispado
United States
1 Manhattan West
1 World Trade Center (1970–2001) †
111 West 57th Street
2 World Trade Center (1971–2001) †
270 Park Avenue
3 World Trade Center
30 Hudson Yards
35 Hudson Yards
432 Park Avenue
50 Hudson Yards
53W53
875 North Michigan Avenue
Aon Center
Bank of America Plaza
Bank of America Tower
Brooklyn Tower
Central Park Tower
Chrysler Building
Comcast Technology Center
Empire State Building
Franklin Center
JPMorgan Chase Tower
One57
One Vanderbilt
One World Trade Center
Salesforce Tower
St. Regis Chicago
The New York Times Building
The Spiral
Trump International Hotel and Tower
Two Prudential Plaza
U.S. Bank Tower
Wells Fargo Plaza
Willis Tower
Wilshire Grand Center
Asia
China
Baoneng Center
Changsha A9 Financial District
Changsha IFS Tower T1
China Merchants Bank Tower Global HQ
China Resources Headquarters
China World Trade Center Tower III
China Zun
Chongqing IFS T1
Chongqing World Financial Center
CITIC Plaza
Citymark Centre
Dalian International Trade Center
Diwang International Fortune Center
Dongguan International Trade Center 1
East Pacific Center
Eton Place Dalian
Fortune Center
Gate to the East
Greenland Hangzhou Center
Golden Eagle Tiandi Tower A
Golden Eagle Tiandi Tower B
Greenland Puli Center
Guangdong Business Center
Guangxi China Resources Tower
Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre
Guangzhou International Finance Center
Guiyang International Financial Center Tower 1
Hanking Center
Heartland 66 Office Tower
Hengqin International Finance Center
Hon Kwok City Center
Huachuang International Plaza
Huaguoyuan Tower 1
Huaguoyuan Tower 2
Huijin Center Guangzhou
Huiyun Center
Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Central Plaza
Jin Mao Tower
Jin Wan Plaza 9
Jinan Center Financial City
KK100
Leatop Plaza
Logan Century Center 1
Longxi International Hotel
Minsheng Bank Building
Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre Tower 1
We booked this as a surprise for my son's birthday and we nailed it - he loved the thrill of the helicopter ride itself, but also the spectacular views from above. The pilot was very friendly and knowledgeable. We learned so much more about Abu Dhabi than we would have ever done from walking around - and the views from above of the Mosque and of the palaces are unmatched.It is MUST experience in Abu Dhabi.
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Helicopter Ride and Tours Dubai, Al Warsan Building - near Media Rotana, Ground Floor - Al Thanyah First - Barsha Heights - Dubai - United Arab Emirates