In the middle of Creek Park, Children’s City offers an educational but enjoyable morning or afternoon out for kids aged from 2 to 15. Occupying a brightly coloured cluster of buildings, designed to look like children’s building bricks, the “city” consists of a sequence of themed galleries covering subjects like nature, physical science, international culture and space exploration, with lots...

Next to Aquaventure water park at the vast Atlantis Resort, Dolphin Bay offers the chance to spend some time in the water with the resort’s resident bottle-nose dolphins. Shallow-water “Dolphin Encounters” (30min; from 695dh) are open to all ages, including non-swimmers. Alternatively, there are also deep-water “Dolphin Adventure” and “Royal Swim” packages (30min; ages 8 and above only) – the latter includes the...

Go in through the main entrance of the Dubai Mall, one of the first things you’ll see is the spectacular “viewing panel” of the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo – an enormous fish tank 8m high and 30m wide, packed with a huge array of marine life ranging from delicately coloured little tropical species through to large and unforgettably ugly...

In this very state-of-the-art city, the Dubai Zoo is a throwback to older and simpler times – although not necessarily in a good way. This was the first zoo in the Middle East when it was opened in 1967, and not much has changed since, with animals packed into small cages behind stout wire-mesh fences (designed, ironically, to protect the...

Located in the Dubai Mall, this fun “edutainment” attraction gives kids the chance to finally take over the world – and to prove that they can run it better than grown-ups. The idea is simple. At the entrance, visitors fly off to the imaginary city of KidZania, run entirely by children. On “arrival”, young ones get the chance to dress...

Bounding Bur Dubai to the south, the formless suburb of Oud Metha lacks the character of other districts nearby, but is home to a number of attractions tucked away amongst the rather drab concrete streets. The suburb’s major landmarks are the quirky Wafi complex, with its spiky pyramids poking up above the surrounding streets, and the even larger pyramid of...

The idea of a massive indoor ski-slope in the middle of the Arabian desert may sound odd going on weird – but then, making the outlandish come true is something of a Dubai speciality. Hence Ski Dubai, the world’s largest indoor snow park, comprising a slice of fake-Alpine mountainside, complete with its own chairlift, pine trees and intermittent flurries of...

One of Dubai’s kookiest attractions, The Lost Chambers occupy part of the vast underground aquarium at the Atlantis resort, a sequence halls and tunnels, dotted with assorted “ruins” and looking like something out of a Lara Croft movie. According to hotel publicity, these are no less that original ruins of the legendary city of Atlantis – last seen (according to...

One of the city’s most enduringly popular attractions, Wild Wadi waterpark boasts a wide range of attractions to suit all ages. Younger kids can inner-tube around Lazy River or splash about in Juha’s Dhow and Lagoon play area, while older children and grown-ups can try the various master-blaster tube rides or have a crack at surfing the Wipe-Out and Rip...