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Dubai is the jewel of the Middle East

The Burj Dubai is as much a landmark as the Eiffel Tower.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - There are many reasons to visit this glittering new city now nicknamed the Jewel of the Desert.

The world’s largest building is being constructed here.

The biggest theme park, three times the size of all Disney theme parks put together, is taking shape in the desert sand.

The best shopping in the world can be found here.

The world’s largest airport, bigger than London’s Heathrow and Chicago’s O’Hare combined, is now being constructed.

City-sized islands shaped like palm trees sit in the tranquil azure waters that lap the white sand beaches you find here.

There’s even an indoor ski hill and a bar completely made of imported Canadian ice.

With all that to come and see, ironically, it’s a hotel that’s become the biggest tourist attraction in Dubai. But calling the Burj al Arab just a hotel would be like calling the Eiffel Tower just a radio antenna.

As we drive up to the entrance of the Burj al Arab, the sail shaped building that has quickly become known as the Eiffel Tower of Arabia, a lineup of other cabs and an army of gate guards greets us.

“Each day the lineup gets longer,” grumbles our cabbie, who originally hailed from Sri Lanka.

Camelia Binbrek, the business development manager for the Burj, also known as the most expensive hotel in the world - rooms start at around $1,500 a night - later tells us when the hotel first opened the public was allowed to just wander its hallways.

“The situation soon became unbearable for our guests, though” the enchanting Camelia tells me. “So we started charging

Dubai is now a forest of glass and steel towers.

people to enter but that didn’t dissuade them either – in fact, even more people came. So, we now restrict access to paying guests and to those with lunch or dinner reservations.”

The fact it’s hard getting dining reservations at one of the hotel’s expensive restaurants – our buffet lunch (the best I’ve ever had) for two came to $400 – tells you people will pay any price to see inside the Burj and brush shoulders with one of its celebrity guests – hey, that’s designer Roberto Cavali over there!

Each room at the Burj is a two-storey masterpiece that comes dripping in brightly-colored fabrics, the finest personal and electronic amenities, breathtaking views of the surrounding sun, sea and sand, and even your own butler.

The beaches offered at the Burj and the other hotels in this area of Dubai, near what is known as Media City, are some of the best in the world – the sea is always bath water warm and the sand, which is heated by the ever-present sun, feels like hot sugar.

The Burj is indeed a must-see attraction when you visit Dubai but it’s not the city’s best hotel. We give that honor to Al Maha, the desert oasis hotel that gives you a chance to touch and feel the real Arabia – and isn’t that what we came all this way to do?

The Al Maha, which is owned by world-famous Emirates Airline, sits about an hour outside Dubai and a world away from the concrete and glass jungle that has sprouted up in the city centre.

Christine, a transplanted South African, and now one of the guides at Al Maha, a collection of well-appointed villas

Dubai Creek is where traditional life is played out daily.

constructed in a remote part of the Dubai desert, greets us upon our arrival and tells us to hurry because “it’s almost time to have afternoon tea with the Bedouins.”

The whole idea at Al Maha is to introduce guests to desert life – think Lawrence of Arabia goes on holiday.

So, along with first-class accommodation – the secluded villas come complete with private swimming pools – you also get to ride camels, meet Bedouin tribesmen, touch falcons, pass camel farms, herds of gazelles and other desert wildlife, and ride sand dunes in 4-by-4 trucks.

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0 #1 Francine Hébert 2010-09-25 08:14

How much would it cost to stay at the Al Maha for 2 days at the beginning of March 2011? We will be 4 adults.

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