Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture, and a lively nightlife scene. Burj Khalifa, an 830m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline.

At its foot lies Dubai Fountain, with jets and lights choreographed to music. One of the city's top tourist attractions, the Dubai Aquarium houses 140 species of sea life in the huge suspended tank on the ground floor of the Dubai Mall. Although there is free viewing from the mall, the highlight of a visit here is entering the Underwater Zoo, with its three-story-high, 270-degree views along the length of the glass-panel tunnels. As well as viewing the vast amount of marine life, the Dubai Aquarium offers plenty of aquatic experiences and things to do for visitors who want a close-up encounter with some of the aquarium's inhabitants, from hand-feeding eagle rays to diving with reef and tiger sharks.

Sitting slap-bang between Dubai's older neighbourhoods clustered around the creek and the city's modern sprawl, this ginormous 150-meter-high picture frame is one of Dubai's latest sights. Inside, a series of galleries whisk you through the city's history and explore Emirati heritage before you travel up to the Sky Deck, where there are fantastic panoramas of both old and new Dubai to be snapped on the viewing platforms.