Sheikh Zayed Road and Downtown Dubai

Sheikh Zayed Road can seem intimidating from ground level with its multi-lanes of traffic hemmed in by skyscrapers. Since the 1990s, the area has increasingly eclipsed the Creek as the city’s new business district and for many, its dramatic skyline and expat haunts are still the definitive Dubai. 

Downtown Dubai serves in part as a residential area with its multitude of sand-coloured apartments on the doorstep of some of Dubai’s best shopping, designer hotels and the trendy eateries of Souk al Bahar.

Dubai International Financial Centre, one of Dubai's major art areas

Just east of Sheikh Zayed Road is the ever-developing DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre). Dubai’s equivalent of Wall Street, it’s also one of the city’s famous free trade zones (operating independently of the Municipality). Look out for the ‘Gate’, designed like a triumphal arch and housing Dubai’s stock exchange.

Now also home to one of Dubai’s major new art areas, a number of dynamic galleries can be found here which exhibit changing exhibitions of Middle Eastern and international art, including Artspace and Cuadro.

Shopping and dining at Emirates Towers

Known as Dubai’s ‘twin towers’ and one of the city’s new architectural icons are the Emirates Towers. The taller tower is not open to the public; the smaller twin contains the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, as well as its own mini mall, the Boulevard.

A good spot for some post-retail relaxation is Vu’s Bar on the 51st floor, itself something of an institution on the after-hours scene. A visit is worthwhile just for its stunning views.

Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building

The long-awaited, much-vaunted Burj Khalifa is now one of Dubai’s greatest attractions. It opened in 2010 and offers visitors not just the usual boutiques, bars and restaurants, but a nightclub, luxury spa, Armani-decorated interior and a boutique hotel, plus an observatory deck served by the world’s fastest elevator.

On 17 January 2009, the tower topped out at 818m (2,684ft), officially becoming became the tallest freestanding structure in the world. But the building comprises only one part of the US$20-billion development dubbed Downtown Dubai. 

With over 1,200 shops covering an area the size of 50 football pitches, the Dubai Mall comfortably stole the largest-mall-in-Dubai crown. Keen to keep shoppers from rival malls, extras include an Olympic-sized ice rink, an aquarium boasting the largest acrylic panel in the world, the largest gold souk in the world, the largest cinema complex in Dubai, and an entire waterfall cascading down one interior wall.

The Souk Al Bahar next door seems like 1,001 Nights-gone-shopping. In fact, the Orientalist interior is surprisingly atmospheric and its shops contain a decent selection of good-quality Middle Eastern exports.

Excellent birdwatching at Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary

The city’s sole nature reserve, Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, lies around 15km (10 miles) south of the city in the Creek’s basin. During the cooler winter months, it attracts birds (mainly waders, shore birds and the odd bird of prey) in their thousands, including hundreds of Greater flamingos. Three hides have been established from where you can observe the birds and identify them with the help of useful information panels.

State-of-the-art Meydan Racecourse

The famous Nad Al Sheba Racecourse was in 2010 discarded for a younger, better-looking model: the Meydan City Racecourse comprises a 76 million square-foot racecourse, a specially constructed Meydan Marina (where you can watch the race from your yacht), a futuristic-looking grandstand with a capacity for 60,000, and a five-star hotel in which almost every room has a grandstand view of the gee-gees.

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• Need a shopping fix? Go to Dubai Marina and the Palm Jumeirah