The View
The fifty-second floor of the Palm Tower, the only place that shows the whole shape.
Member of the Expedition 22 crew. — Public domain · Aheilner — CC BY-SA 4.0 · giggel — CC BY 3.0 · Hansueli Krapf — CC BY-SA 3.0
An artificial island shaped like a palm tree, reclaimed from the sea between 2001 and 2006, and after the Burj Khalifa the most famous thing in Dubai — one of the few built things visible from space. The layout is simple: a trunk running out from the shore, fronds branching off it, and a crescent enclosing the whole as a breakwater. The trunk holds apartments, restaurants and the monorail; the fronds are private houses you cannot enter; the crescent holds the large hotels, Atlantis foremost among them. One thing should be said plainly: there is no «place» to visit on the Palm. It is a residential and hotel district, and the experience is a stay, a meal, a beach or a drive through. Anyone arriving in search of a monument to stand in front of will find nothing. What genuinely rewards a visit is The View on the fifty-second floor of the Palm Tower, an observation deck from which the whole palm shape is visible from above — the one thing that shows why anyone talks about it. From ground level the Palm never looks like a palm at all. On the crescent, Atlantis has the Aquaventure water park and its aquarium, both full-day destinations in their own right with children. The monorail links the trunk to the crescent and beats driving at peak hours.
The fifty-second floor of the Palm Tower, the only place that shows the whole shape.
The Aquaventure water park and aquarium — a full day with children.
Built entirely of sand and rock between 2001 and 2006, with no concrete foundation.
Palm Jumeirah, Dubai
If you have The View, Atlantis or a restaurant booking, yes. Simply driving the trunk shows very little — towers block the sea and the shape is invisible from the ground. Many visitors leave disappointed because they expected a monument.
The View at the Palm Tower is the only way from the ground. Otherwise: a window seat landing at Dubai airport if the approach runs that way, or a helicopter or seaplane tour, which is expensive.
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