Dubai has been a trading city since the early 18th century, when the Al Maktoum family established the settlement at Dubai Creek and attracted pearl merchants, spice traders and textile dealers from across the Gulf and the Indian Ocean world — a mercantile heritage that gives Dubai's identity as a shopping destination a historical depth that its modern mall architecture conceals but does not displace. The contradiction between the historic Deira souks (the Gold Souk, with 380 shops selling an estimated 10 tonnes of gold jewellery on any given day, and the Spice Souk, where sacks of frankincense, saffron, dried roses and Omani limes spill onto the narrow alleys of the old market) and the Dubai Mall (1.1 million square metres of retail space, 1,200 shops, the Dubai Aquarium, the Olympic-size Dubai Ice Rink and the Dubai Fountain visible through its floor-to-ceiling windows) defines the experience of shopping in Dubai: the city offers both the oldest continuous gold market in the world and the newest and largest shopping centre.
The Dubai Mall — opened 2008, adjacent to the Burj Khalifa, connected by climate-controlled walkway to the Dubai Mall metro station and by the promenade to the Burj Khalifa Lake — is the world's largest shopping centre by total area (though not by retail area — that distinction belongs to several Chinese malls) and houses the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo (a 10-million-litre tank visible from the ground floor through the world's largest acrylic panel, containing 33,000 marine animals including sand tiger sharks, giant grouper and stingrays, with diving and cage snorkelling available), the Dubai Ice Rink (Olympic-size, lessons and public skating available), KidZania (a children's city simulation attraction), and the Burj Khalifa At the Top ticket desk. As a shopping destination, it contains every international luxury brand in simultaneous proximity — the effect of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermès, Cartier and Rolex all within 200 metres of each other is one of retail density without equivalent outside Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Dubai Aquarium & the Dubai Mall Experience
The Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo — the centrepiece of the Dubai Mall's ground floor, its 48-metre-wide acrylic viewing panel (the world's largest, Guinness-certified) giving an unobstructed view of the 10-million-litre tank from the mall walkway (free to view from outside; entry to the tunnel and the zoo approximately AED 100–150 with various package options at thedubaiaquarium.com) — is one of the finest aquarium experiences in the world: 300 species and 33,000 marine animals, the tank occupying the full three floors of the mall's atrium, with glass-bottom boat tours of the surface (AED 70), shark dive experiences (certified divers, AED 500) and cage snorkelling (non-divers, AED 250) available. The Dubai Ice Rink (adjacent; public skating approximately AED 80 including skate hire) and the VR Park (Dubai Mall upper floor; virtual reality experiences AED 30–150) complete the non-shopping attractions. The Dubai Mall is also the easiest base for the Burj Khalifa At the Top ticket desk (Level 1, ground floor) and the Dubai Fountain (visible from the lower ground floor lakeside terrace).
The Gold Souk & Spice Souk, Deira
The Gold Souk — in the Deira district of old Dubai, 20 minutes from the Dubai Mall by taxi or metro (Union station, then 5 minutes on foot), a covered market of narrow alleys with 380 gold shops displaying an estimated 10 tonnes of gold jewellery on any given day — is the most concentrated gold market in the world: the shop windows are filled floor-to-ceiling with yellow gold, rose gold, white gold and platinum jewellery in styles ranging from the traditional heavy Gulf Arabic designs (favoured by local and South Asian buyers) to the more restrained contemporary designs marketed to European and East Asian visitors. Bargaining is expected and effective (10–20% is achievable on larger purchases); the gold price itself is fixed daily to the international spot price, but the making charges (which can double the price of a piece) are negotiable. The Spice Souk (5 minutes on foot from the Gold Souk, crossing to the Bur Dubai side by abra if you wish to visit the Textile Souk simultaneously) has sacks of frankincense, whole dried limes (an Omani and Gulf Arab flavouring), rose petals, star anise, cardamom pods and saffron (cheaper than in Europe, though verify quality carefully) available in bulk or small packets. The abra crossing (AED 1, the traditional wooden boat ferry that has crossed Dubai Creek since the city's founding) between Deira and Bur Dubai is the finest free experience in Dubai.
Mall of the Emirates & Ski Dubai
Mall of the Emirates — on Sheikh Zayed Road, 20 minutes from Downtown Dubai, 30 minutes from Dubai International Airport — is the Dubai Mall's principal competitor and, for many visitors, the more manageable alternative: 630 shops (versus the Dubai Mall's 1,200) in a layout that is navigable without a map, with the extraordinary Ski Dubai (an indoor ski slope of 22,500 square metres with five runs including a 400-metre black run, a snow park with penguins, a regular programme of lessons, and the surreal juxtaposition of skiers visible through the glass wall from the mall's tropical warmth — approximately AED 150–250 for 2-hour slope access including ski hire) as its primary non-shopping attraction. The Harvey Nichols Dubai (four floors, the only Harvey Nichols outside the UK) and the Debenhams (one of Dubai's largest) are at Mall of the Emirates. For visitors with limited time, Mall of the Emirates (Ski Dubai) + Deira souks is a more rewarding combination than the Dubai Mall alone.
