Must-see attractions in Downtown Dubai

  • Dubai

    Burj Khalifa

    Downtown Dubai

    The Burj Khalifa is a stunning feat of architecture and engineering, with two observation decks on the 124th and 148th floors and a restaurant-bar on the…

  • Alserkal Avenue

    Downtown Dubai

    Edgy contemporary art from the Middle East and beyond has found a home in Dubai thanks to the vision of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal. The local developer…

  • United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Mall, Aquarium

    Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo

    Downtown Dubai

    Dubai Mall’s most mesmerising sight is this gargantuan aquarium where thousands of beasties flit and dart amid artificial coral. Sharks and rays are top…

  • United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Downtown Dubai, Burj Dubai, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa Lake, The Dubai Fountain

    Dubai Fountain

    Downtown Dubai

    This dancing fountain is spectacularly set in the middle of a giant lake against the backdrop of the glittering Burj Khalifa. Water undulates as…

  • Third Line

    Downtown Dubai

    A pioneer on Dubai's gallery scene and one of the city's most exciting spaces for contemporary Middle Eastern art, the Third Line represents around 30…

  • Greater flamingo's (Phoenicopterus rosens) with in the background the skyline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Shutterstock ID 526380268; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Keith; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Authentic Dubai Article

    Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary

    Downtown Dubai

    Incongruously framed by highways, this surprising sanctuary on Dubai Creek is an important stopover for migratory waterbirds on the east Africa–west Asian…

  • Dubai Design District

    Downtown Dubai

    Creative folks have a new HQ in Dubai. The fresh-off-the-drawing board Dubai Design District (d3) has drawn both regional and international talent and…

  • KidZania

    Downtown Dubai

    For guilt-free shopping without your kids, drop them off in this indoor miniature city – complete with a school, a fire station, a hospital and a bank –…

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    Gate Village

    Downtown Dubai

    Two wooden bridges link the massive Dubai International Finance Centre to Gate Village, a modernist cluster of 10 midrise stone-clad towers built around…

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    Emirates Towers

    Downtown Dubai

    Although neither the tallest nor the newest skyscrapers in Dubai, the twin, triangular towers coated with silver-coated aluminium panels and topped with…

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    Empty Quarter

    Downtown Dubai

    It's always worth stopping by this top-notch gallery, which is the only one in the UAE focused entirely on fine-art photography. While providing a…

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    Cuadro

    Downtown Dubai

    In a fabulous space taking up the entire ground floor of Gate Village’s Building 10, this highly regarded gallery shines the spotlight on midcareer and…

  • Dinosaur Skeleton in Dubai Mall, Dubai Downtown, United Arab Emirates, UAE, 6th May 2015; Shutterstock ID 646770508; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Keith; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Authentic Dubai Article

    Dubai Dino

    Downtown Dubai

    The Jurassic era meets the future in Dubai Mall's Souk Dome, the home of Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus, an almost complete 155-million-year-old dinosaur…

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    Ayyam Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    With branches at Gate Village and well as here, on the Alserkal Avenue gallery campus in Al Quoz, this top gallery's main mission is to promote emerging…

  • Sheikh Zayed Bridge Waterfall

    Downtown Dubai

    This illuminated and motion-operated waterfall cascades down both sides of Sheikh Zayed Bridge, stopping only for passing vessels. It's an impressive…

  • 1x1 Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    With the energetic Malini Gulrajani at the helm, this gallery has brought some of the foremost names in India’s contemporary art scene to Dubai since 2009…

  • Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

    Downtown Dubai

    This edgy gallery has developed relationships with artists from Europe, Latin America and Africa whose work has some connection to the Middle East. Part…

  • Meem Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    A co-venture by two Emirati business tycoons and British art dealer Charles Pocock, this blue-chip gallery is dedicated to presenting the masters of…

  • Salsali Private Museum

    Downtown Dubai

    Founded by prominent Iranian collector Ramin Salsali, SPM is the first private museum for contemporary Middle Eastern art in the region and has made it…

  • Green Art Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    Green Art has been around for more than four decades and played a key role in championing modern Middle Eastern art, including such masters as Fateh…

  • Carbon 12

    Downtown Dubai

    This minimalist white-cube space serves as a gateway to the UAE art scene for accomplished artists from around the world, and vice-versa. Some of them…

  • Tabari Artspace

    Downtown Dubai

    Don't be deceived by the relatively small gallery space here; the emphasis is firmly on quality rather than quantity. This is one of the pioneering…

  • Custot Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    This fabulous, vast 700-sq-metre space is associated with the prestigious Waddington Custot gallery in London. The exhibitions promote such major masters…

  • Leila Heller Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    This prestigious New York import presents cutting-edge art from emerging and mid-career artists from the Middle East, Central Asia, southeast Asia and…

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    Dubai International Financial Centre

    Downtown Dubai

    Dubai’s stock exchange and leading international financial institutions are housed in a complex of six buildings surrounding an impressive central 80m…

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    Opera Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    More an art showroom than a classically curated gallery, Opera caters to collectors of artistic heavyweights in genres as varied as pop art, calligraphy…

  • Cartoon Art Gallery

    Downtown Dubai

    This bi-level space is the first gallery in the Middle East dedicated to cartoon and animation art from across the entire spectrum of media, from paint to…

  • Courtyard

    Downtown Dubai

    Housing an eclectic combo that includes a community theatre, edgy concept stores and galleries, this enticing cobblestoned complex wraps around its…

  • Grey Noise

    Downtown Dubai

    Since 2008 this contemporary gallery has built up its reputation as a go-to space for experimental and cutting-edge art from the region, South Asia and…

  • Chi-Ka

    Downtown Dubai

    Escape the heat and bustle by stepping into this cool Japanese art space with changing exhibitions that range from exquisite silk kimonos to photography…

  • Lawrie Shabibi

    Downtown Dubai

    Lawrie Shabibi has energised the local art scene since 2011 by promoting the works of innovative contemporary talent from the Middle East and North Africa…

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    World Trade Centre

    Downtown Dubai

    Compared to its cloud-touching cousins, the 149m-high World Trade Centre seems small today, but when completed in 1979 was actually Dubai's first…

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