Dubai

Dubai decided the future should arrive early, then built it out of the desert in a single generation. The scale is the show — the needle of the Burj Khalifa, the palm-shaped islands, the mirror-and-calligraphy shell of the Museum of the Future. But there is an older Dubai worth finding: the wooden abras still crossing the Creek for a single dirham, the lanes of the gold and spice souks, the wind-tower houses of Al Fahidi telling the story of a pearling town. Days run indoors through the heat and open up at night — a desert safari over the dunes at sunset, a long weekend brunch that has become an institution, dinner high above a glittering skyline. The food alone rewards the trip: this is a true global crossroads where a hundred nationalities eat side by side, and where Trèsind Studio recently became the first Indian restaurant in the world to earn three Michelin stars. Come for the spectacle; stay to be surprised by the warmth beneath it.

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