Burj Al Arab Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

The Burj Al Arab stands on its own artificial island, 280 metres off Jumeirah beach. It opened in December 1999 and has been the shorthand image of Dubai ever since. The shape is a dhow sail.

What the building is

• Height. 321 metres of steel exoskeleton behind a double-skin screen of Teflon-coated glass fibre, lit from within after dark.
• Atrium. An open shaft 180 metres high runs up the middle, the tallest in the world when it was built.
• Rooms. 202 suites, every one of them on two floors.
• Helipad. Cantilevered out 212 metres up, and used over the years for a tennis rally and a golf tee shot.

The seven-star label came from a visiting journalist, not from the hotel. No such rating exists. The hotel has never claimed it.

Getting past the gatehouse

A private causeway is the only way onto the island, and it is closed to anyone without a booking. You cannot walk up to it. A guided tour of the public areas is sold in limited numbers, and it ends with the gold-dusted cappuccino people photograph.

The other way in is a table, booked ahead. From outside, the standard view is from the public beach at Umm Suqeim, south of the island. Boat runs out of the marina pass close enough for the angle most photographs use.

Practical

• Dress code. No shorts or sportswear, and closed shoes for men in the evening.
• Minimum spend. Bars and restaurants set one, and it is the real price of getting inside.
• Booking. Days ahead for anything. Taxis without a reservation are turned round at the gatehouse.
• Light. Late afternoon puts the sun behind you from the beach; after dark the facade cycles through colours.
• Season. The beach works from November to March and is unusable at midday in summer.