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  3. Dubai has a $20 billion megacomplex with the world's second largest mall, the world's tallest building, an aquarium, and 1,200 stores. I can't imagine why any tourist would want to visit.

Dubai has a $20 billion megacomplex with the world's second largest mall, the world's tallest building, an aquarium, and 1,200 stores. I can't imagine why any tourist would want to visit.

Harrison Jacobs   

DubaiMall FromBurjKhalifa

Shutterstock

The Dubai mall has seen over 80 million annual visitors over the last four years, making it the most visited mall in the world.

  • Dubai has the world's second largest mall, a gargantuan complex with 1,200 stores, an aquarium, a virtual reality theme park, an Olympic ice skating rink, and hundreds of restaurants.
  • The mall has seen over 80 million annual visitors over the last four years, making it the most visited mall in the world.
  • After spending a day wandering through the mall's many amenities, I understand why it is a necessary and appealing place for Dubai's residents, but I still cannot understand why any tourist would visit.

Dubai doesn't do anything small.

The desert city has the world's tallest building, palm tree-shaped artificial islands that fan out along the coast, the world's largest indoor theme park, and, soon, the world's first rotating skyscraper. And of course: Who could forget the malls?

Dubai has approximately 65 malls in a city of just over 3 million people, with ten more on the way. For some, the malls are the most iconic part of Dubai. And no mall is more iconic than the Dubai Mall.

Opened 10 years ago this November, the Dubai Mall is the second largest mall in the world by total land area (it was surpassed in 2013 by the New Century Global Center in China).

To call it a mall is an understatement. Aside from more than 1,200 stores, the mall has its own neighborhoods - from a high-fashion district akin to Fifth Avenue to "The Village," an open-air "street" - hundreds of restaurants, movie theaters, a luxury hotel, an Olympic-size ice skating rink, a virtual reality theme park, and an aquarium.

Despite talk in the US of a "retail apocalypse" shutting down America's malls, no such danger appears to be in sight for Dubai. Emaar, the Dubai Mall's developer, said recently that the property has seen over 80 million annual visitors for the last four years, making it the most visited mall in the world.

With Dubai climbing the ranks of most visited cities in the world - it's currently fourth with 16.7 million visitors per year - and The Dubai Mall ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the No. 1 attraction in the city, that number is only going to climb.

All of which is to say, as a first-timer to Dubai, I had to visit. Here's what it was like:

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