TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

The shopping malls and leisure subsidiary of Emaar Properties has introduced air-conditioned trolley buses, each with a capacity of 25 passengers to enhance the ease of access for visitors to Downtown Dubai. The 500-acre mega-development in the heart of Dubai features several must-visit tourist attractions including Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building; The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping and entertainment destination, and The Dubai Fountain, the world's tallest performing fountain.

The iconic attractions in Downtown Dubai, described as 'The Centre of Now,' can now be accessed by visitors with a new convenient addition - the luxury Trolley Buses. Emaar Malls Group, the shopping malls and leisure subsidiary of Emaar Properties, has introduced air-conditioned Trolley Buses, each with a capacity of 25 passengers to enhance the ease of access for visitors to Downtown Dubai.

As soon as I hear the Armani hotel has FINALLY opened, following several delays and a volcanic eruption, my blackberry immediately calls hotel restaurant reservations. So what exactly does the Armani Hotel offer Dubai? Anything new? Anything exciting? Or just an extension of the existing restaurants in Dubai? Read on… you won’t be disappointed.

When the Burj Khalifa opened a little more than a year ago, international attention focused, laser-like and rightly so, on this neo-Emerald City apparition in the Dubai desert. Its dizzying half-mile height and status as the world's tallest building were matched only by an elegant form that pierces, needle-like, the Middle East horizon. The 2,717-foot-tall building was designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM).

I was expecting Burj Al Arab-esque tack, but instead found At.mosphere’s grill restaurant to be a most handsome venue: with its polished wood panels, crisp white tablecloths, glittering glassware and low lighting, it would look good anywhere, be it on the first floor or the 122nd. As it happens, its elevated location provides a spectacular view: to see Dubai lit up at night is a sight to behold.

The recently opened At.mosphere restaurant on the 122nd floor of Burj Khalifa in Dubai — billed as the highest restaurant in the world — could be exported to other major cities. According to executive chef Dwayne Cheer, the concept from Emaar Hospitality Group’s (EHG) Lifestyle Dining division is not a one-off.

World No. 2 Roger Federer arrived in the city ahead of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and visited the spectacular Dubai Fountain. Set on the 30-acre Burj Khalifa Lake, the fountain shoots water jets as high as 150 metres, equivalent to that of a 50-storey building. The 16-time Grand Slam winner admired the 275-metre long fountain designed by California-based WET, the creators of the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Sculptured by Syrian artist Lutfi Romhein, ‘Together’ features an Arab couple dressed in the iconic white dish-dasha and black kandoora in typical Emirati style, made from Italian Carrara marble and Swedish black granite. Commissioned by the owner of the Courtyard Gallery, Samia Saleh, the 4.25 metre-high sculpture rest on a granite base, near the entrance to Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

The recently-launched At.mosphere at the Burj Khalifa, the world's highest restaurant, located on the 122nd floor of the tower, which demands a minimum spend of Dh450 per person was fully booked for the night. "At.mosphere ... is fully booked for February 14 - for both lunch and dinner, at both The At.mosphere grill and The At.mosphere lounge," a spokesman for the restaurant said. "The regulations, announced much earlier, have not impacted bookings. In fact, the restaurant has received overwhelming response since its opening in January."

Outside the shopping malls the tourists can choose among a plethora of attractions and activities including the performances of the Dubai Fountain reaching 275 meters in height or walk on the outdoor observation deck of the highest man-made structure in the world – the skyscraper Burj Khalifa (828 m). Tourists are also often lured to explore the artificial archipelago – Palm Islands.