We parked in the garages of Souk Al Bahar, where the first few hours were free. Then we walked to the lake with great views of Burj Khalifa. It is a stunning feat of architecture and engineering, with two observation decks on the 124th and 148th floors and a restaurant on the 122nd. The world’s tallest building pierces the sky at 828m and opened in January 2010, six years after excavations began. Up to 13,000 workers toiled day and night, putting up a new floor in as little as three days.
Taking in the views from the world’s tallest building is a deservedly crave-worthy experience, which we will try soon once we get our tickets online. After watching the amazing Fountain Show, we entered the huge Dubai Mall to get our dinner in the food court.
The Burj Khalifa is not only the world’s tallest building (for now) but also flaunts other records and impressive figures, including the following:
• tallest free-standing structure
• highest outdoor observation deck (555m)
• highest occupied floor (160th floor, at 585m)
• longest elevator (504m)
• highest number of floors (211)
• highest restaurant (122nd floor, at 452m)
• the weight of concrete used is equivalent to 100,000 elephants
• the service elevator has a carrying capacity of 6 tons
• the facade is made of 28,261 glass panels
• it takes three to four months to clean the facade
• in 2011, French climber Alain Robert scaled the Burj in just over six hours
• in April 2014, two other Frenchmen (V. Reffet and F. Fugen) set the world record base jump from the Burj
• the largest light-and-sound show on a single building on New Year’s Eve 2017
Parking location – Dubai: 25.192781N 55.278126E (🚻)