Day 1 - dubai mall

dubai mall

dubai fountain

burj khalifa

The Dubai Mall is more than just the world’s biggest mall at 1.3 million square feet. The area includes the world’s tallest building, largest shoe store, the largest indoor gold market, and an indoor skating rink to boot. Never been so excited about visiting a mall!

dubai mall

The grand entrance to the mall.

Indoor aquarium, right inside the mall. We just admired it from outside.

Candyliscious. The girls’ eyes lit up like... well, like kids in a candy store.

The food court is massive.

Indoor ice skating rink, full size, right in the mall.

The iconic Dubai Waterfall in the mall. We added a diver to the mix.

We went to Logma on third floor to try Emirati food and enjoy the view of the fountain.

The lamb was delicious. The sweet vermicelli (balaleet) wasn’t my cup of tea.

The view from our table was great. It’d be even better during fountain shows.

Level, it’s more like a shoe district than a shoe store. You can find all kinds of fancy name brand shoes here.

We found Megan's next pair of shoes.

My niece Alyssa Lai loves her moon boots. These $3000 limited edition boots with Swarovski crystals would be nice stocking stuffers. I provide the pictures, her bf can do the rest.

How do you pronounce this? Ass-hole-line??

Mall taxis to take people around in the massive mall... for a fee.

Gold Souk, the largest indoor gold market in the world. Lots of bling here.

This 150-million years old dinosaur from Wyoming is surprisingly complete. They bought it and brought it here to display right in the gold souk area. Is this a mall or a museum? Yes.

Plenty of GIA-certified diamonds to choose from.

Huge nutcrackers. Decorations in this mall are impressive.

Borders, they still exist? Is this the last Borders store in the world? They seem to sell mainly souvenirs.

The food court underground isn't as massive as the one on 2nd floor.

Din Tai Fung, right by the fountain. Good location.

This mall really is massive!

Voyagers tips: Download the free Dubai Mall app to help you navigate through the mall. For the mobility challenged, they also have “taxis” inside the mall. For those using Uber, be careful — The drop-off area and pick-up area are far apart, don’t assume the pickup area is where you got dropped off. You can easily spend a whole day here, visiting the mall, the fountain and Burj Khalifa all in one day. The entrance to Burj Khalifa is inside the mall. The stores from ground level and up are upscale, whereas the stores on “underground” floor are much more affordable. Naturally, the underground floor is also the most crowded.

dubai fountain

The fountain show is spectacular. Day and night shows have different feels to them, it's definitely worth seeing both.

The outside of the mall, starting with the fountain, is a nice place for a stroll.

Burj Khalifa is lit up at night.

Dubai Fountain is located right next to the mall. There are two fountain shows during the day, and many more at night. The light show on Burj Khalifa is only shown at night, of course, and can be seen from the same places where you can see the fountain show. Both the fountain shows and light shows are amazing.

Voyagers tips: Download the Dubai Fountain app to easily see the next show time. There are alternating light and fountain shows in the evening, the app also clearly indicates which one is which.

burj khalifa

Walking towards the elevator

Nice views from up here.

Many people here on the 124th & 125th floors.

An angel got her wings.

We each tried the VR experience on Burj Khalifa 125th floor. It’s a mission-impossible-style game where you climb up Burj Khalifa on the outside then jump down. A cool addition to the experience.

Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, is a work of art and an engineering marvel.

Voyagers tip: The base price gets you to 124-125th floor for roughly $40 USD. The next level is $100USD and gets you to 148th floor and includes afternoon tea. The high price means exclusivity and less crowd. The highest accessible level, 154th floor, costs around $165 USD and gets you VIP treatment. Groupon offers skip-the-line passes but don’t offer kids prices as discount, so it ends up costing more if you have kids in your party. Many reviews complain about the long line. Sunset time costs more. Here’s a tip — Book the earliest cheap price time slot right after sunset and show up 15-20 minutes early. No one is willing to pay the premium price for the last slot after sunset, so that last premium sunset slot is usually empty. If you show up 15-20 minutes early, they’ll let you up. Viola, no line going up. The VR experience is worth the extra $6 USD if you buy the combo ticket. Last tip — There are two ticket kiosks to the right of the ticket counter. Order tickets online and go to the kiosks to collect your tickets, allowing you to bypass the ticket line. Most people don’t know about the kiosks or can’t find them and end up waiting for the ticket line in addition to the entry line. Don’t make this mistake.