Dubai City Tour

Start with the creek, the Al Khor, which is the heart of the city. Towards its mouth, on the west bank, is the rambling Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, the former official family residence and administrative nucleus of old Dubai. Adjacent to it lies the hubbub of Bur Dubai with its crammed shopping precincts and never-say-die vendors. There you'll also find the Dubai Museum, the colourful textile souq and the old quarter of Bastakia. Further down, towards the west, is Jumeira and Dubai's classic beachfront, a 60-kilometre long belt of sand and resorts, beginning with the Dubai Marine Beach Resort and ending at the doorstep of Jebel Ali, the busy port complex and free trade zone.

In between is the awesome bulk of the new Jumeira Beach Tower, a 321-metre tall structure shooting out of the sea. Extending southwards from the shoreline is part of the city: the Emirates Golf Club, the space-age commercial towers of Sheikh Zayed Road, the unmistakable World Trade Centre and -- swinging back towards the creek -- the verdant green expanse of the creekside park. Across the Al Khor with a glimpse of the dhows. There on the east bank is the Dubai Creek Golf Course with its icon, the sail-shaped clubhouse. Ahead lies the expanse of the Dubai International Airport with its new Terminal 2 while to the north and the Arabian Gulf is the centre of Dubai's commerce: Deira and the old souq. On this bank of the creek you'll find the dhows, several hundred of them, overlooked by some of the city's most magnificent pieces of architecture: the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bank of Dubai and the Etisalat Tower. Clustered around the final bend of the Al Khor is the spice souq, the bargain-basement street shopping centres of Naif Road and Nasser Square and finally -- what every wish list ought to end with -- Dubai's dazzling Gold Souq.