10 interesting facts about Dubai

Dubai is a global city. It’s home to over 200 nationalities and is an international hub of business and leisure. It’s also part of the Islamic world, where weekends have traditionally fallen on Thursday and Friday in contrast to the Saturdays and Sundays of the West. Like many of its neighbours, Dubai switched to Friday and Saturday weekends at the start of the 21st century so it could better align with worldwide routines. Then, in January 2022, it took things a step further.

Today, a Dubai weekend begins midday on Friday and continues until Monday morning. Official working hours from Monday to Friday are 7:30am to 3:30pm, meaning every afternoon is an early finish. All this is great news for Dubai holidays, with daily happy hours and evening events keeping the atmosphere bubbling whenever you visit.

It might be hard to imagine now, but almost nothing you see on the Dubai skyline existed only a few decades ago. The UAE was formed in 1971. The first skyscraper, the Dubai World Trade Centre, was built in 1979. Emirates, the national airline, wasn’t created until 1985. Even then, it was only at the start of the 21st century the city began growing in earnest. In 1950, Dubai was home to around 20,000 people; by 1980, this was 250,000; in 2000, it reached one million, and today, the population of Dubai is just over three million.

Compared to cities in China or America, Dubai was late to the skyscraping game, but it has certainly caught up. On average, Dubai builds around 10 new towers every year, and some years, more than 40 have appeared. To keep up with construction, more than a quarter of the world’s cranes are permanently located in Dubai. In 2024, only New York, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong have more skyscrapers than Dubai, and none have anything to rival the emirate in height.

Standing head and shoulders above the rest of the skyline, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. At 828 metres, it’s so tall the sunset at the top is two minutes later than the sunset at the bottom. Dubai also has the tallest hotel in the world, the Gevora Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. None of this means the city is resting on its laurels. Waiting in the wings and about to begin construction is a project known as the Dubai Creek Tower, which is expected to reach - at least - 1,300 metres.

Glass and steel might be the dominant architecture of present-day Dubai, but the city is already committed to embracing the future of construction. How will the UAE’s most dynamic destination create the buildings of tomorrow? Easy. It’ll print them out. In 2022, The Dubai Municipality became the world’s largest 3D-printed structure. It stands 9.5 metres high and needed only three workers to put it together. While larger buildings have since been created elsewhere, Dubai’s ambition - as ever - remains unmatched. The emirate has set a target of printing a quarter of all its buildings by 2030.

When Dubai committed to reinventing itself as the Middle East’s most exciting travel destination, it knew it would need to maximise its coastline. While other resorts may have built a boardwalk or cleaned up their beaches, Dubai went further and created new islands. Between 2001 and 2007, constructors rearranged seven million tonnes of rock and 120 million cubic metres of sand to create the Palm Jumeirah. Now, when we plan our Dubai family holidays, we have plenty more coastline to enjoy. In addition to this iconic engineering, Dubai has created artificial archipelagos at Dubai Islands, Palm Jebel Ali, The World Islands, Bluewaters Island, and the manufactured platform on which the Burj Al Arab hotel stands.

Before brunch banquets with bottomless fizz, Dubai’s traditional residents filled their plates by hunting in the desert. Falcons became an essential partner to Bedouin communities and are now viewed as status symbols for the emirate's wealthiest citizens. Costing upwards of a million dollars per bird, Dubai’s falcons are cared for with their own hospital and given passports for international travel. Some birds don’t even need to use their wings to fly, as Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways all include falcons in their luggage allowance and, on certain routes, allow them to travel in the cabin alongside their owners.

With some of the world’s most extravagant malls and traditional souks selling jewels, silks, and spices, Dubai is undoubtedly the home of luxury shopping. A lesser-known Dubai fun fact is that it also has a reputation for novelty and convenience. In the UK, cash, chocolate, and fizzy drinks are the main things we can take out of ATMs and vending machines. In Dubai, you can tap a few numbers and walk away with cupcakes, Champagne, and - best of all - gold. Gold to Go ATMs offer 24-carat bars ranging from a gram to an entire ounce.

Spotting a luxury car on the streets of Dubai is far from unusual. Sheikh Zayed Road’s 14 lanes are regularly populated with Lamborghinis, Mercedes, Bentleys, and more, all capable of screeching away in a cloud of dust. Of course, the police need something that will keep up. Unlike the Ford Focus or Vauxhall Vivaro, which is most likely to pull you over in the UK, Dubai’s law enforcers might be seen behind the wheel of a Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari FF, Bentley Continental GT, McLaren MP4, or even a £1.4 million Aston Martin One-77. In short, you won’t get too far as a getaway driver.

Dubai loves horse racing, as you’ll see when the Dubai World Cup comes to the Meydan Racecourse at the end of each March. As part of the Arabian Peninsula, the emirate has also been home to camel racing for more than a millennium. Due to the animal’s size and shape, camel jockeys need to be much smaller than their horse-riding counterparts. In the past, children would take the reigns, but this was banned by the UAE in 2002. Today, tiny robots in full jockey outfits are charged with riding their camels to victory. It’s quite a spectacle, and visitors are invited to watch every Friday and Saturday morning from October to April.

If these interesting facts about Dubai have made you curious about visiting, you certainly won’t be alone. Latest figures by Euromonitor show Dubai to be the third most-visited city in the world. Only the historic metropolises of Istanbul and London welcomed more guests in 2023. At almost 17 million arrivals, Dubai outranked travel giants, including Paris, Bangkok, and New York City. Don’t worry, though. Dubai has around 600 hotels and over 100,000 rooms, so you’ll always find somewhere amazing to stay.