There are a lot of fabulous visuals in Dubai. The most dramatic restaurants, opulent hotels, extravagant spas, over the top shopping malls, glitzy souks ad nauseam. In my first visit since its initial renaissance I coined it Last Vegas Arab style and as the years passed this aesthetic only amplified. For first timers, to get a gist of all its jazz-hands glam, watching the sunset over a terracota desert, followed by dinner at Tresind in the One and Only Royal Mirage and closing the night with a massage at Guerlain Spa in the One and Only The Palm could be stars in your eyes fun. Note that there is a complementary hotel speedboat transfer between these two outfits of the One and Only hotels which is so much quicker than getting between them through the roads.

If shopping and dinner is more of what you are after, head over to Madinat Jumeirah and browse through the souks for souvenirs, kaftans, abayas, pashminas, jewellery, then take photos of the Burj al Arab and dine in one of the multiple restaurants by the water canal.