Insider Guide: Best of Dubai

by Jade Bremner

Dubai may be famed for its bigger, bolder, blingier design philosophy, but it's not all shiny buildings and alligator-skin Rolls-Royces.

Its origins as a small fishing settlement centuries ago remains within the cracks.

When you're not withdrawing gold bars from the ATM or planning a stay at a giant Taj Mahal, the best of Dubai brings sand dunes to bash, souks to explore and seafood restaurants that will put any limited expectations to rest.

Dubai has become a go-to career stop for tax-averse foreigners -- it is Arab at its core but capitalist at its edge. And that means glistening shopping malls, outrageous hotels and a lifestyle that has been acclaimed by Mercer as the best in the Middle East.

With a population of just more than 2 million (about 75 percent of which is male), it's flashy and it's ostentatious. That's why the best of Dubai is expected to draw 15 million tourists by 2015.

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