The Burj al-Arab is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 321 metres (1,053 feet), it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel.

Jumeirah Beach area, Dubai
Official website

The Burj al-Arab is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 321 metres (1,053 feet), it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel. It stands in the sea on an artificial island 280 metres (919 feet) away from the beach in the Persian Gulf, connected to the mainland only by a private curving bridge.

Construction of the hotel began in 1994, and its doors were opened to guests on December 1, 1999. It was built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Near the top is a helipad, and extending from the other side of the hotel, over the ocean, is a restaurant called Al Muntaha (Arabic meaning Highest or Ultimate) supported by cantilever. A remarkable element of its architecture is the outer beachward wall of the atrium, which is made of a woven, Teflon-coated fiberglass cloth.

The Burj al-Arab does not have ordinary rooms; rather it is divided into 202 duplex suites. The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 square metres (1,819 square feet), and the largest one covers 780 square metres (8,396 square feet). It is one of the most expensive hotels in the world to stay in. The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night and increases to over $15,000 per night; the Royal Suite is the most expensive, at $28,000 per night. The total cost to build and furnish the hotel has never been released.

The Burj al-Arab features the tallest atrium lobby in the world (180 metres, or 590 feet). The atrium can accommodate the Dubai World Trade Center building, which, at 38 stories, was the tallest building in Dubai from the late 1970s to the late 1990s.

Search for hotels around this attraction

burj, al, arab, hotel, middle-east, dubai