Burj Khalifa – The Top Of The World

Since technologies are forwarding with the fast of the light, our world is keep changing. What we see today, we would be probably burned for,  if we talked about it one hundred years ago. People walking on the moon, at the bottom of the ocean, traveling from one continent to another in less than 8 hours and buildings, that are high above our heads. One of them is Burj Khalifa, currently world’s tallest building in Dubai.

Burj means „tower“ in arabic, and Khalifa is surname of the president of UAE, so Burj Khalifa means „Khalifa’s tower“. As you can see on the picture above (SOURCE), Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world with the total height 829,8 meters. It is also called as worlds first vertical city with many facilities. There are homes to be found, offices, corporate suites, luxury hotel, a public observatory, fitness and leisure facilities. Who lives in Burj Khalifa has everything what is needed for everyday life. Even shopping, since this monumental skyscraper is connected with the biggest shopping mall in the world – Dubai Mall.

Burj Khalifa is a singular project that illustrates the success of collective human endeavour. A project of Burj Khalifa’s scale happens once in a lifetime. (Mohamed Ali Albbar)

The original name of Burj Khalifa was Burj Dubai, but right before the construction has finished, the skyscraper was renamed to Burj Khalifa in honor to president of United Arab Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who helped to Dubai to pay debt of 10 million dollars. Burj Khalifa is „the most“ in many ways, as whole Dubai is. It has the most number of floors ever in a building, it is more than 200 and the tip of the spire can be seen from 95 kilometers. Over 80 different nationalities worked on construction with total number 12 000 of people involved. There are 57 elevators, which are the fastest in the world, of course. The speed 10 meters per second is unbeatable.

I could not miss the visit of Burj Khalifa during my stay in Dubai, since this skyscraper is the biggest pride of this oil kingdom. Tickets can be purchased on Burj Khalifa official webpage and the price is 125 AED (25 EUR) per adult person, 95 AED (19 EUR) per children up to 12 years. Infants up to 4 years can enter for free. If you are in hurry or do not want to stand in long queues, there is an option for you, as well. You can purchase „fast track“ ticket for 400 AED (80 EUR). All tickets except of fast track tickets are for a specific date and time. This means that when you purchase your tickets online, you are asked to select specific date and time of your visit. If you miss this time, you have to purchase new ticket. About the ticketing, I strongly recommend to purchase tickets in advance, since tickets are sold out weeks before. Mainly on sun set times. The peak time for visiting Burj Khalifa is when sun sets down, so in the evening. When you want to be at the top at this time, book tickets even more in advance (at least 6 weeks)

The entrance is from the Dubai Mall and you can not miss it. There are signs and information boards in whole mall, so just follow them. Do not forget to arrive 15 minutes before the admission starts, because you have to pick up your purchased tickets. Remember your purchase number you got in your email. Queues are long, but the view totally worth it. Before you enter the fastest elevator in the world, you and your bag will be scanned. While you stand in the queue, you will not get bored. There are many pictures and information, models all around you so you can have a look on them and read information about construction, interesting facts and many more. When you clear security, you are ask to stand in front of green wall where they make a picture of you. You can get the picture, framed, when you leave building. I was thinking, if this is only tourist attraction or it has another, hidden reason. I think it has, security reason, since all of people who visit Burj Khalifa are required to take this picture, even if the do not want to buy it later. But I get it, security is first. Then enter elevator.

Once you are at the top, on 124th floor, you can fully enjoy the stunning view from the tallest building in the world. The observation deck is not very spacious, and when there are more people, it may be crowded.  You can spend as much time as you want there. Hope you will be lucky and have clear sky, since during my stay it was more windy than usual and there were a lot of sand all over so I could not see too far. I visited Burj Khalifa during the noon, since evening tickets for sunset were sold out weeks ago. From the top you can see clearly on Dubai Fountain and then you will understand, why is it biggest fountain in the world. You can clearly see on the Dubai International Airport (DXB) which is very close, as well.

Your visit will continue in the inside of building, where tourists can buy a lot of Burj Khalifa mugs, t-shirts, books or small model of your own skyscraper. I find prices here too high, but somebody may not. Popular attraction is to take another picture in the front of green wall. Then is an background added and final picture looks like you are standing at the top just on the constructions.  This was popular mainly for Japanese tourists. From the inside is view to opposite side of Dubai and a lot of pictures comparing, how Dubai have changed and is keep changing. I remember two pictures, picture on the left was just shot of wide desert with sand only and on the picture right was plenty of skyscrapers, parks, lakes. It was the same place, and the difference between these two pictures was only fiveteen years. It is awesome how Dubai is changing every year.

The visit of Burj Khalifa should be on your „to do“ list when you are in Dubai. This skyscraper is another evidence of that, how modern the city of Dubai is and what people can create. Do not forget to purchase tickets in advance so you will not be limited when deciding about the time of your visit. The visit of Burj Khalifa was totally worth it and I recommend it to anyone who is in Dubai. Except of Burj Khalifa, you can read about my visit of Dubai here: Dubai – The City of Movement

Milan Bardun 2014 …because it’s better to travel, than to arrive