New Downtown
BURJ KHALIFA, DUBAI LAKE, DUBAI FOUNTAIN, DUBAI MALL, DUBAI AQUARIUM

New Downtown is one of the newest neighbourhoods of Dubai, situated about halfway between the old Downtown and Dubai Marina. Here you can find Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building! The New Downtown is literally built around Burj Khalifa, a wide boulevard, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Blvd, surrounds it in a half circular shape. The views from Burj Khalifa can be found on this page. Burj Khalifa stands atop the world's largest shopping mall, the exclusive Dubai Mall, with over 1000 stores, and its own aquarium, souk and hockey rink. Inside the "circle" you also find the artificial and newly built Dubai Lake, with the spectacular Dubai Fountain show with light and music in the middle, that was one of the absolute highlights during our visit! It is the world's highest fountain. There are many other skyscrapers in Downtown as well (the two Address hotels for example), even though they are dwarfed by Burj Khalifa. There are also new residential buildings in Middle Eastern style with fancy restaurants built right next to the lake, as well as a new souk (Arabian market) and a fashion street is under construction.

Some of the tallest skyscrapers along Sheikh Zayed Road can be found on both sides of Burj Khalifa.


BURJ KHALIFA:
Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building! It was completed in 2010 and is 829m to the top of the spire (739m to the roof) and has 163 floors! We visited the observaton deck, called At the top. The skyscraper was designed by Adrian Smith at the famous Chicago based architect firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The elevators are the fastest in the world! It is a mixed use building, so it houses both offices, apartments and luxury hotels, like the 7-star Armani Hotel. Inititally it was called Burj Dubai, but the name was changed just bofore completion to honour Sheikh Khalifa of Abu Dhabi (the president of UAE), since he borrowed money to complete the project in 2009 when Dubai went bankrupt. To watch my pictures from the observation deck of the world's tallest building, visit this link.

Burj Khalifa is only 171m from one kilometer! The height was kept secret during the construction period 2004 to 2010. The entrance is through Dubai Mall.

 


Burj Khalifa was completed in 2010, but surpassed Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building already in 2009, and has surpassed Toronto's CN Tower as the tallest man-made structure in the world!

The top of Burj Khalifa

Palms at the base of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building!

 


Burj Khalifa seen from Dubai Lake

Burj Khalifa seen from Sheikh Zayed Road



INTERIOR OF BURJ KHALIFA:S OBSERVATION DECK "AT THE TOP":

Even if it's called At the Top, the observation deck is not at the top, it is situated about halfway to the top to the world's tallest building, 424m in the sky, the 124th floor. There are 163 floors in the building totally, but also a lot of height with just the spire and mast. It is important to know that you have to book you tickets a few weeks before your visit at this site and they are pretty expensive (125 AED for an adult)! The observation deck, partly outside, features a 360 degree view of Dubai! Unfortunately the weather was not the best during our visit to the top (a bit grey and foggy) considering it was in Dubai but could be worse of couse, and since you have to book several weeks before in advance (or pay 400 AED!) you can't really plan the trip considering the weather. To watch my pictures from the observation deck of the world's tallest building, visit this link.


 
Line to the entrance of the observation deck, groudn floor, and a model of Burj Khalifa   Escalator to the elevator   Passage to the elevator that is going to the observation deck

 
The world's fastest elevators (700m/min). It takes less then a minute to the observation deck!
  There is a spectacular light show in the elevator while going to the top   The roof of the elevator

 
Model of Burj Khalifa in "At the top" souvenirs store where you can buy souvenirs of Burj Khalifa
  "At the top" observation deck entrance at ground floor in Dubai Mall   Diagram with competing building in China and USA, an easy match for Burj Khalifa!

 
Sheikh Mohammed's words can be seen even in Burj Khalifa. You could even here the call for prayer inside the building, otherwise you could have thought you were in the USA
  The tower seen from inside the entrance at Dubai Mall   The elevator button's in Burj Khalifa's super fast elevator

 
The moving sidewalk towards the exist of Burj Khalifa's observation deck, to Dubai Mall
  Certificate from Guiness World of Records as the world's tallest building!   The observation deck is located at a height of 452m

EXAMPLE OF VIEWS FROM BURJ KHALIFA:S OBSERVATION DECK "AT THE TOP":

Even if it's called At the Top, the observation deck is not at the top, it is situated about halfway to the top to the world's tallest building, at the 124 floor. There are 163 floors in the building totally, but also a lot of height with just the spire and mast. To watch my pictures from the observation deck of the world's tallest building, visit this link.Here you can find 3 examples.

 
Dubai Mall, Dubai Lake and The Address Downtown Hotel seen from Burj Khalifa.
  Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Blvd, or just The Boulevard, that surrounds Burj Khalifa in a half circular shape.   The nearby skyline of Sheikh Zayed Road, here dominated by The Index, seen from Burj Khalifa.

 

DUBAI LAKE and DUBAI FOUNTAIN:

Dubai Lake is the beautiful artificial lake in front of Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall, where you can find brand new buildings in Middle Eastern style housing residential buildings,a souk and outdoor restaurants as well as skyscrapers in western or islamic style. The most famous feature of the lake is the Dubai Fountain, that plays a spectacular water show accompanied with different music songs every half hour. The show is especially spectacular during night (click here to see pictures). It is the highest fountain in the world!

Dubai Lake with the Dubai Fountain show during daytime. Beautiful, but nothing compared to how it looks at nighttime (click here see pictures in the Dubai by night - part 1 section). The skyscraper is The Address Downtown Burj Dubai Hotel, 302m tall. Another, even taller Address hotel is under construction in the area. The photo is taken just outside Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall.

 


The Address Downtown has 63 floors and was built in 2008. In the front is the Palace Hotel in Middle Eastern style

Dubai Fountain


Skyline of Downtown Dubai with Business Bay to the right. The skyscrapers that surround the new Dubai Lake are just a few years old.

The lake and the downtown skyscrapers seen from Dubai Mall

 


Artificial waterfalls and greenery around Burj Khalifa

Futuristic architecture in the New Downtown

The Burj Khalifa Lake (or Dubai Lake), part of Burj Khalifa and the skyline of Business Bay, a brand new business area

 


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The souk (arabian market), built in traditional style with restaurants next to the lake

The skyline of Business Bay -dominated by Millenium Tower, a brand new business area, and the lake

 


Futuristic architecture

Details of Burj Khalifa

The residential buildings at the lake, and the hotel called Old Dubai are built in traditional Arabian style, but are actually brand new

 


Millenium Tower (285m)from 2006, Business Bay

Burj Khalifa Lake



DUBAI MALL:

Dubai Mall is a huge shopping mall that opened in 2008. It is the largest in the world upon completion based on total area (and 6th largest based on store area, 2014)! It has over 1200 stores and services, the entrance to Burj Khalifa's observation deck At the top is located inside the mall, as well as two water falls, a large aquarium that is a destination of its own, a hockey rink, a souk (market) and international department stores like the American Bloomingdale's, the British Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and the French Galeries Lafayette. In 2012, the mall attracted 65 million visitors, more then the cities of New York and Los Angeles! The internal floor area is 59 million square feet. The mall also features an indoor SEGA theme park, the world's largest candy store and 22 cinemas.

The beautiful waterfalls at Dubai Mall - the world's largest shopping mall upon completion! The mall was designed by DP Architects and opened 2 years before Burj Khalifa, 2008 but had "only" 635 stores at that moment.

 




One of several large atriums of Dubai Mall

The hockey rink inside Dubai Mall

 





Dubai Aquarium has the world's largest acrylic panel, it can be seen from the mall.

 


Dubai Aquarium seen from the second level

The shark tunnel at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo

 
Dubai Aquarium inside Dubai Mall
  Shark in the Dubai Aquariuml   Dubai Aquarium

 
Galeries Lafayette, a Parisian department store   Most stores of Dubai Mall are very fancy, attracting rich costumers   Dubai Mall, gold souk

 

Gold souk and atrium in Indian style

  The roof of the "Indian" atrium
  The gold souk

 

Grand Atrium, Dubai Mall

  Grand Atrium   Model of Downtown Dubai and Burj Khalifa, Grand Atrium

 

Grand Atrium, Dubai Mall

  Model of Burj Khalifa, Grand Atrium   Model of Burj Khalifa and the mall

 

The history of Dubai and the sheikh, Dubai Mall

  Model of Downtown Dubai with Burj Khalifa, Grand Atrium   Model of Downtown Dubai

The Fashion Avenue inside Dubai Mall has a winterlike atmosphere

 


Fashion Avenue


The grand entrance to Dubai Mall, at Financial Centre Road

 

FINANCIAL CENTRE ROAD AND THE BOULEVARD, DUBAI FINANCIAL CENTRE, entrance to the Dubai Mall:

These roads surround the relative small New Downtown area. The Boulevard, also called Sheikh Mohammed bin Rasheed Blvd is very new, filled with palms, fountainas, fancy residential buildings and skyscrapers, and is constructed in a half circle. The photos below were taken from one of the entrances to the Dubai Mall. To get from Dubai Mall to Burj Khalifa's metro station, you have to get through eternal networks of elevated pedestrian bridges, escalators, moving sidewalks and part of this huge shopping mall, one evening just to find out that the metro was closed one half hour before closing time at midnight! However, the views from these pedestrian bridges are nice.

Sheikh Zayed skyline seen from the Dubai Mall, from the left: Park Towers (2010), Al Rostamani Maze Tower (2010), Al Yaqoub Tower (328m, built 2013), The Tower (2013)

 


Dubai Financial Centre


The Boulevard, rush hour

 

Cars at the entrance to Dubai Mall

  Cars at the entrance to Dubai Mall   Cars at the entrance to Dubai Mall

 

The Address Dubai Mall

  Tiffanys at the entrance to Dubai Mall   A new skyscraper u/c, seen from the pedestrian bridge to Burj Khalifa metro stopars at the entrance to Dubai Mall, above The Boulevard

The Index (right), a 326m tall skyscraper with 80 floors from 2013, and Al Murooj, a luxury residential complex (foreground), and Park Towers, part of Dubai International Financial Centre


The Boulevard and view towards Northeast Dubai with Wafi City (pyramid shaped mall) and the D1 Tower (u/c, right)

 


The entrance of Dubai Mall and the base of the Index, Financial Centre


Skyline of Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Financial Centre (DIFC)




DOWNTOWN BY NIGHT: To see more of night/evening pictures from the New Downtown, click on this link

 

Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building! Watch the night section here

  The Lake, Dubai Fountain, and The Address Downtown Hotel   Burj Khalifa and other Downtown skyscrapers @ night