The Dubai Mall is one of the world's largest shopping centres by total area — 1,124 stores, an Olympic-sized ice rink, a 10-million-litre aquarium, a dinosaur skeleton (a 155-million-year-old diplodocus), a cinema complex, and a waterfall with fibreglass divers frozen mid-fall. It connects directly to the Burj Khalifa and is the starting point for the Dubai Fountain.
The aquarium, branded as the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, is genuinely impressive: a 48-metre-long tank visible from the ground floor atrium that holds 33,000 aquatic animals including sand tiger sharks. Entry to view it from outside is free; tickets to the tunnel walk and zoo are separate. Even if you are not a shopper, the mall is worth an hour for the aquarium, the rink, and the sheer scale of the spectacle.
story: > The Dubai Mall aquarium holds the Guinness World Record for the largest acrylic panel in the world — the main viewing window is 32.88 metres wide and 8.3 metres tall, a single seamless pane of acrylic 750mm thick. It took seven years to design and manufacture.