Free Always Places in Dubai

1010 Mural, Satwa

The German artist whose layered colour portals appear to open holes straight through the wall.

Dubai

18b Street Murals, Karama

Twenty-four murals above the 'handbag street' souk — 3D illusions, falcons and a floating green pickup, painted over one hot summer.

Dubai

Al Fahidi Wind Towers

Dubai's oldest neighbourhood, where coral-stone lanes are crowned with barjeel wind towers — air-conditioning from before electricity.

Dubai

Al Jaddaf Dhow Building Yard

Dubai's last working dhow yard on the Creek, where craftsmen still build wooden ships by hand as they have for a century.

Dubai

Al Seef Promenade

Nearly two kilometres of Dubai Creek waterfront split in two — a re-aged heritage village on one side, glass-and-steel pavilions on the other.

Dubai

Al Sheraa Heritage Area

A 200-year-old mosque and one of the UAE's most important archaeological sites, in the heart of old Hatta.

Dubai

Alex Senna Murals, La Mer

Black-and-white silhouette figures reaching from shadow toward light — permanent works by the colour-blind Brazilian muralist.

Dubai

Apple Store Solar Wings

A Foster + Partners kinetic mashrabiya of 340 carbon-fibre rods that open at dusk toward the Burj Khalifa.

Dubai

Arabian Stallion, Gold Souk

A bronze Arabian horse guarding the south entrance of the Gold Souk — heritage counterpart to the camels up north.

Dubai

Bedouin Portrait by Vhils

A portrait of a Bedouin carved into the wall with hammer drills and chisels — not painted on, but cut out of the surface.

Dubai

Ben Eine Typography, City Walk

Bold letterforms set high on a wall by the artist whose work a British prime minister gave to the White House.

Dubai

Burj Khalifa

The world's tallest building and the world's largest LED screen

Dubai

Camel Family

Three life-size bronze camels resting under a starry dome — Donald Greig's welcome to the mall's Gold Souk.

Dubai

Cayan Tower Helix

The world's tallest 90-degree twisting tower when it opened — a helix by the architects of the Burj Khalifa.

Dubai

Chinatown, The Dubai Mall

The UAE's first Chinatown — a designed immersive district of moon gates, lantern streets and neon, by Kokaistudios.

Dubai

Declaration by eL Seed

A 30-metre ribbon of bright pink Arabic calligraffiti outside Dubai Opera — a quote you can walk through and climb on.

Dubai

Deira Gold Souk & Spice Souk

Lattice-covered arcades where hundreds of shopfronts glitter with gold, and narrow lanes nearby spill over with saffron and frankincense.

Dubai

Dubai Street Museum

Old Satwa's 2nd of December Street reborn as an open-air gallery — heritage murals by artists from five continents.

Dubai

Dubai Walls

Sixteen global street artists — Blek le Rat, D*Face, ROA, Vhils and more — turned City Walk into an open-air gallery, including a six-storey mural.

Dubai

Dubai Water Canal Waterfall

A curtain of illuminated water pouring off the Sheikh Zayed Road bridge — that parts automatically to let boats glide through.

Dubai

DubaiDino

A real 155-million-year-old Diplodocus skeleton, 24 metres long, standing in the middle of the mall.

Dubai

Hatta Sign

Giant 19.28-metre letters on a Hajar Mountain ridge — the world's tallest landmark sign, taller than Hollywood's, reachable only on foot.

Dubai

IMAGINE, Dubai Festival City

A Guinness-record light, water and fire show on Festival Bay — lasers, fountains and 36 storeys of projection mapping on the InterContinental.

Dubai

Infinity Bridge

A 42-metre steel arch bent into the mathematical symbol for infinity, spanning Dubai Creek at its historic mouth.

Dubai

Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park

The UAE's first open-air sculpture park, wrapped around Jameel Arts Centre on the Creek — monumental works by international and Emirati artists.

Dubai

Jameel Arts Centre Desert Gardens

Seven courtyards by Anouk Vogel, each a different desert of the world — sculptural plants on pink terrazzo, some rescued and three centuries old.

Dubai

LOVE ME

Richard Hudson's five-metre mirror-polished heart, aligned so the Burj Khalifa lands on its surface.

Dubai

ME Dubai Lobby

Zaha Hadid's only fully self-designed hotel interior — a fluid white-and-gold lobby set directly beneath the Opus void.

Dubai

Madinat Jumeirah Bronze Horses

A herd of life-size bronze Arabian horses by Danie de Jager, galloping across the lawns of the Madinat Jumeirah resort.

Dubai

Meydan Bridge

An undulating wave of a bridge that dissolves after dark into an unbroken ribbon of royal-blue neon across the desert.

Dubai

Mohammed Bin Rashid Library

A seven-storey building in the shape of a rehal — the wooden book rest for the Quran — opened like a book above Dubai Creek.

Dubai

Neon City Light Installation

A three-storey kinetic light show of the Chinese zodiac by Jason Bruges Studio, at the heart of Chinatown.

Dubai

Shepard Fairey Murals, d3

Two facing walls by the artist behind Obama's 'Hope' poster — his first murals in the Middle East, a peace dove and a fist holding a flower.

Dubai

Souk Al Bahar

An Arabesque 'sailor's market' of stone arches and lanterns on Burj Lake, linked to Dubai Mall by a bridge with the best fountain view.

Dubai

Souk Madinat Jumeirah

A recreated Arabian town of wind towers, lantern-lit lanes and abra-plied canals, framing the Burj Al Arab across the water.

Dubai

The Fashion Catwalk

A kinetic LED "chandelier" of five choreographed rings above the Fashion Avenue atrium — with a runway that rises from the floor.

Dubai

The Waterfall (Human Waterfall)

A four-storey indoor cascade of diving figures — Dubai's pearl-diving past, cast in fibreglass and falling water.

Dubai

Treasury Dome, Gold Souk

A 25-metre projection dome that crowns the world's largest indoor gold souk with ever-changing multimedia.

Dubai

Wings of Mexico (Alas de México), Dubai

Jorge Marín's monumental bronze angel wings — stand between them and the Burj Khalifa frames the shot.

Dubai