Dubai City Tour

This city tour introduces the modern side of Dubai in a single morning. Indeed, it was designed to show the innovative, newly built part of the city. Moreover, it starts right at the cruise terminal exit and is timed to your call.

The Landmarks of Modern Dubai

Comfortable transport carries you to the great landmarks of the new city. You see the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab from the beachfront, cross onto the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah and pass the Atlantis hotel at its tip. Afterwards, the route reaches Downtown with the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall. Above all, your guide explains how a fishing village became this skyline within living memory.

Tour Highlights

The sail-shaped Burj Al Arab
The artificial island of Palm Jumeirah
Downtown Dubai and the Burj Khalifa
Modern architecture across the city

How Dubai Grew

Until the 1960s Dubai was a modest trading and pearling port on a creek, with a population of a few tens of thousands. Indeed, the first paved road arrived only in 1961. Oil was found soon after, but Dubai never had much of it compared to its neighbours, so the ruling family invested instead in ports, aviation and free trade. As a result, the city grew as a trading hub rather than an oil town. Above all, that history explains the pace of building you see today, and why so much of it is aimed at drawing the world in rather than shipping goods out.