TRAVEL & HOLIDAY GUIDES. Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates is an extraordinary mixture of ancient Arabic culture and modern Western capitalism. The most opulent hotels in the world fight for attention with open tracts of desert that stretch, uninhabited, to the horizon. Hundreds of kilometres of sandy beaches, which run into the warm and clear waters of the Arabian Gulf, are only interrupted by desalination plants that create enough fresh water to keep acres of Dubai public gardens in luscious bloom. No expense has been spared to make Dubai a five-star paradise for up-market tourists looking for great food and drink, extraordinary duty free shopping, and all-year round sunshine.