- The city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is known for extravagant, newly built landmarks like the Burj Khalifa, the Palm Jumeirah , and the Dubai Mall .
- Towering over the city at 2,722 feet tall with 160 floors, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest tower in the world. It has an observation deck at the 124th floor that allows tourists to see Dubai from the top of the tower.
- While the Burj Khalifa is a marvel from below, heading to the top is an exhausting, overhyped, and, frankly, boring experience. The observatory is cramped, the way up to the top is excruciatingly long, and the view is nothing to write home about.
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I visited the top of the tallest building in the world and it was a colossal waste of time
Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
To visit the Burj Khalifa, you have to buy tickets for a certain date and time. The price of the ticket depends on the time. If you want to go around 5 p.m. (sunset), it could be as much as $60. I decided to go around 7 p.m., which cost me $40.
Three decades ago, Dubai was little more than desert.
But an oil boom in the United Arab Emirates produced unprecedented wealth for the small Gulf nation. Dubai's rulers, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his successor Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, put into effect a plan to turn the city into the world's top tourist destination. The building of outlandish landmarks like the Burj Khalifa was key to the plan.
Towering over the city at 2,722 feet tall with 160 floors, the Burj Khalifa became the tallest tower in the world when it opened in 2010. It is also holds the Guinness World Records title for the tallest man-made structure, the highest restaurant, and the highest observation deck in the world .
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Dubai's strategy of building extravagant landmarks is paying off. The city is climbing in the ranks of the most visited cities in the world it's currently fourth, with a projected 16.7 million visitors this year, according to Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index . The Burj Khalifa has been a major part of that growth, ranking as the No. 5 attraction in the city, according to U.S. News & World Report .
When I visited the city for the first time in November, I knew I had to visit. But after spending $40 and a couple lackluster hours at the observation deck, I was wishing I had skipped going inside and just enjoyed the view from below.
Here's what it was like.
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