The biggest and most upmarket mall in the old city centre mall, BurJuman pulls in vast crowds of tourists and locals alike thanks to convenient location and wide-ranging selection of 300-plus shops. The mall divides into two sections. The older part is large but relatively run-of-the-mill, though plays host to a number of interesting handicraft shops as well as branches...

This huge old mall isn’t anything special to look at, and doesn’t begin to compete with newer and flasher shopping venues elsewhere, but remains one of the most popular in the city among less wealthy residents thanks to its huge selection of relatively downmarket shops (plus a fair selection of more upmarket places as well). The upper level is also...

The vast new Downtown Dubai development is one of modern Dubai’s most spectacular developments, built at a reputed cost of $20 billion and centred on the cloud-capped Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Ringing the Burj Khalifa are a string of other record-breaking attractions, including the vast new Dubai Mall, the extravagant Dubai Fountain and the chintzy “Old Town” development,...

Nowhere does shopping malls better than Dubai, a city which has reinvented retail and raised it almost to the status of an art-form. Several of the city’s malls are major sights in their own right, none more so than the eye-popping Ibn Battuta Mall, a kilometre-long colossus is inspired by the journeys of legendary Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta – the...

Standing next to Sheikh Zayed Road in solitary splendour, this orangey-pink colossus is Dubai’s second biggest mall and perhaps the best place in the city for some serious shopping – a fair bit smaller than the mammoth Dubai Mall down the road, admittedly, though equally a lot less exhausting to navigate. All the usual retail bases are well covered, including...

One of Dubai’s quirkier malls, Mercato is a nice place to shop and an even better place to get an idea of the lengths to which Dubai will go to dress up the retail experience. The mall is themed as a kind of miniature medieval Italian city, its central arcade lined with kitsch, brightly coloured palazzi, while side passages (complete...

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...

Walk out of the back of the Dubai Mall at you’re at the beginning of the area known as Downtown Dubai, built at the same time as the Burj Khalifa in an attempt to provide it with an appropriately lavish setting. Immediately in front of you is a large lake (home to the Dubai Fountain), with the Burj rising majestically...

For a perfect example of the sort of bizarre kitsch which Dubai does so well, head to the wacky Egyptian-themed Wafi leisure complex, complete with giant statues of assorted pharaohs, plus copious quantities of obelisks, pillars, pyramids, and heiroglyphs galore. The whole thing looks like it’s been airlifted straight out of Vegas (or perhaps the pages of Asterix), while the...