Wanderlust

It’s exceptionally tall 

Burj Al Arab Jumeirah – which stands at 321m – is 14m taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 60m shorter than the Empire State building. 

The eiderdown duvets in the rooms are some of the most exclusive in the world 

Not known to do anything by halves, the eiderdown duvets used at Burj Al Arab are the finest and rarest in existence. The down is harvested from abandoned eider duck nests in Iceland. One nest provides about 15-20g of eiderdown, and only 2,000kg are allowed to be harvested each year, which is why the duvets are so highly prized. 

There are 17 types of pillow available to guests on the pillow menu

Burj Al Arab’s extensive pillow menu is tailormade to enable every guest to get a blissful night’s sleep.

It sits on a man-made island

Located 280m off the shores of Dubai, Burj Al Arab was built on a man-made island. Guests access it via a bridge road that is 340m long.

It took five years to build

Construction began on the iconic landmark in 1994. It took two years to create the island, and then three years to build the hotel itself.

It has broken an impressive number of records

In addition to being the tallest all-suite hotel in the world, in 2008 Burj Al Arab also broke the Guinness World Record for the most expensive cocktail, valued at 27,321 AED. It also created the world’s largest tin of caviar in 2016, which contained 17kg of Empress caviar – the world’s only fully-certified organic caviar from native-raised sturgeon.

The hotel has 6 in-house florists

A team of up to six florists takes about eight hours to create the flower arrangements in the lobby, using flowers shipped from Holland, Kenya, South Africa and Thailand. The flower team always aims to include a guest’s favourite flowers in the floral displays in their suite, creating bespoke arrangements ahead of their arrival.

The interiors are gilded in 24-carat gold

Approximately 1,790sqm of 24-carat gold leaf was used to embellish the hotel’s opulent interiors.

It is home to the largest Swarovski crystal ceiling in the world

The ceiling is adorned with 21,000 crystals, used to represent the Milky Way. The installation is worth AED 1.3 million

More than 24,000sqm of Statuario marble is used throughout the hotel

The hotel features more than 30 different types of Statuario marble, in the walls and flooring. It is the same marble that was used by Italian artist Michelangelo to create many of his most famous sculptures including the statue of David.

The spa is set 150m above the Arabian Gulf

The hotel’s ultra-luxurious Talise Spa is set on the 18th floor, giving guests spectacular views as they unwind.

The hotel’s dramatic helipad has given a platform to a number of incredible stunts

In 2004, Tiger Woods teed off from the helipad. A year later, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer took to it to play tennis on a makeshift court. In 2013, Chinese world number one players, Long Ma (men’s) and ShiWen Liu (women’s) played the first ever table tennis match on the platform. And more recently, in 2017, professional kitesurfer Nick Jacobsen, jumped off it with his kiteboard, in a death-defying world first.

The Terrace is the first man-made luxury beach facility of its kind

The 10,000sqm luxury platform, which features two pools, cabanas and a 1,120sqm beach area (for which 1,000 tonnes of white sand were imported) opened in 2017. The Terrace was constructed in a cruise ship and yacht production facility in Finland before being shipped to Dubai in six pieces. Since then, its two pools have been adorned with 10 million gold and azure mosaic tiles.

The hotel has a designated turtle hospital

Burj Al Arab and neighbouring Madinat Jumeirah are home to Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP), which treats sick and injured sea turtles in collaboration with Dubai’s Wildlife Protection Office, Dubai Falcon Clinic and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory. Since it was launched in 2004, the programme has released more than 1,600 rescued sea turtles safely back into the Arabian Gulf.