Berlitz: Dubai Pocket Guide

Ladies Nights are a Dubai institution. These are usually held on Wednesday, Thursday or, most commonly, Tuesday nights in an attempt to drum up custom during the quieter midweek evenings, with lots of places around the city offering all sorts of deals for women, ranging from a couple of free cocktails up to complimentary champagne all night.

hotels divide into beachfront resort-style hotels, almost all of which are located in the southern part of the city, and business-oriented hotels, the best of which can be found strung along or near to Sheikh Zayed Road. There are also a handful of good places in or around the old city centre. There is plenty of cheaper accommodation in the areas around the Creek as well, although standards are more basic.

during the holy month of Ramadan, eating and drinking in public (which includes smoking and chewing gum) are forbidden during daylight hours, and although hotels serve guests food and drink in curtained-off areas, no alcohol is served anywhere until after dark

Irish Village at Dubai Tennis Stadium, with outdoor seating in a pleasant garden

In the 1990s, the growth corridor was along Sheikh Zayed Road, southwest of the creek. Today, this eight-lane highway to Abu Dhabi boasts a number of eye-catching skyscrapers, including the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa – and, further west, the spectacular massed high-rises of the Dubai Marina development

More recently, Dubai has been expanding into the sea and the desert. The Palm Island projects off the coast southwest of the old city centre are steadily adding more residential neighbourhoods and resorts to the city, while inland, new themed residential communities such as the Arabian Ranches are springing up amidst the sands.

Dubai Creek remains the established heart and soul of the city. Dubai began on the banks of the Creek, and for visitors there’s no better place to begin than at the beginning.

Saeed’s son, the young Sheikh Rashid, arrived in Deira with his Bedu retainers and shot down the rebel leaders. Those who survived were blinded in one eye as punishment and only allowed to keep their remaining eye on payment of a sizeable sum.

Within the lifetime of its oldest residents, Dubai has grown from three settlements of palm-frond, mud-brick and coral-stone dwellings based around the mouth of its 15km- (9 mile-) long creek – Shindagha, Bur Dubai and Deira, each little changed from the century before – to a modern metropolis that incorporates the once-distant fishing village of Jumeira and sprawls as far west as Jebel Ali Port, some 30km (19 miles) along the coast.

credit crunch may have signalled the end of Dubai’s rock ’n’ roll years, although reports of the city’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and the city is now beginning to face the future with renewed, if somewhat chastened, optimism.