Dubai is a city that seems to have been dreamed up rather than built. In a few short decades it has risen from the desert into a skyline of impossible towers, crowned by the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on earth. There are indoor ski slopes, palm-shaped islands, fountains that dance to music, and shopping malls the size of small towns. It's brash, futuristic, and unapologetically over the top, and yet right beside all that gleaming newness sits the old Dubai of the creek, the spice and gold souks, and wooden boats still ferrying goods as they have for generations. It's a fascinating collision of worlds.
Here's the honest part, and it's the opposite of what you'd expect: Dubai has a reputation as a playground for the super-rich, and it absolutely can be that, but it's far more achievable on a budget than almost anyone realises. Some of the city's best experiences are free, the fountains, the beaches, the souks, the old quarter, the metro is clean, cheap and excellent, and you can eat brilliantly for a few pounds if you follow the city's huge South Asian and Middle Eastern working population to the residential districts. The trick in Dubai, more than anywhere, is knowing where the locals' version of the city is, just behind the glittering tourist one. We'll show you exactly how to find it.
