Dubai (19)

A weekend in the city

Your 48 hours of downtime in Dubai kicks off on Friday morning (the city has a Friday-Saturday weekend) with a trip to Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates (Sheikh Zayed Road, Interchange 4, +971 4 409 4000). This colossal snowdome is home to a challenging black run (along with more manageable options) as well as some seriously impressive fan and freezer technology that leaves the slopes covered in thick, crisp snow all year round. Get a two-hour pass and they'll provide you with all the equipment you need except for a hat and gloves, which you can pick up at the ski shop. Taking the chairlift to the top, you'll pass the Avalanche Cafe at the midway point, a nice place to pop in for a warming mug of hot chocolate before whizzing down again.

Once you're done slaloming, it's time for brunch. Brunching is a weekly ritual for Dubaians and there are some highly decadent options on offer. Spectrum on One at the Fairmont (Sheikh Zayed Road, +971 4 332 5555) and Yalumba at Le Meridien Dubai (Airport Road, Garhoud, +971 4 282 4040) both offer champagne brunches with free-flowing bubbly, but the most extensive gourmet selection on offer is at the Al Qasr hotel at the Madinat Jumeirah resort (+971 4 366 8888), which combines cascading international buffets with live cooking stations and cocktail mixologists.

The gluttonous marathon ends at 4pm, when you'll probably just want an afternoon snooze. Instead of retiring to your hotel, walk over to Seven Seas at the neighbouring Jumeirah Beach Hotel (+971 4 328 0109), a cruise company who can arrange you a trip into the Gulf on a luxury boat where you can stretch out on deck, occasionally raising your head to look at the amazing developments on the Jumeirah Palm Island and World Islands (a series of reclaimed islands built in the shape of a world map).

When you arrive back on shore, it'll be time for a sundowner - make for the Grosvenor House Hotel (Dubai Marina, +971 4 399 8888) and Bar 44, where you can order any of 44 different types of champagne, while overlooking the glinting heart of New Dubai. After drinks, it's downstairs to Mezzanine, a fine-dining flagship restaurant, which has just been taken over by Gary Rhodes, and then on for post-dinner drinks at Dubai's chapter of the Buddha Bar, located under the hotel.

On Saturday morning, make straight for Bastakia (down on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek), one of the last remnants of Old Dubai. It's a neighbourhood filled with attractive traditional buildings based around big open courtyards, which play home to a series of art galleries and cafes. Weave your way around, making sure to pop into XVA (+971 4 353 5383), XVB and the Majlis Art Gallery (+971 4 353 6233). Once you've had an al fresco lunch at the XVA cafe, walk down to the creek and get an 'abra' water taxi to the other side, where you'll find the small but charming spice souk and the larger, pushier, haggle-happy gold souk.

Use the rest of your afternoon to take a proper look at the huge desert that surrounds the city. Call Desert Rangers (+971 4 340 2408) and they'll pick you up from anywhere in town to check out the desolate beauty of the sands in a dune buggy, 4x4 or hot air balloon. Round off your day with dinner at Vu's at the Emirates Towers Hotel (Sheikh Zayed Road, +971 4 330 0000), a 50th-floor restaurant with beautiful night-time views and an excellent upstairs bar to pop up to after dinner.

24 hours in the city

Start your day off at the colossal Mall of the Emirates (Sheikh Zayed Road, Interchange 4, +971 4 409 9000), the epicentre of Dubai's shopping experience. The place is enormous - you can check in at the maps dotted about the place but you will definitely end up getting lost, so it's probably best to just take a stroll and graze at the hundreds of stores. Particular highlights are the large Harvey Nichols and label-stuffed Rodeo Drive, plus the upmarket West End section. After a solid morning's spree, have a bite to eat at Sezzam restaurant on the ground floor. It looks over the ski, toboggan and snowboard action going on at Ski Dubai, and does a nice line in light lunches (make sure to try the dim sum). Alternatively, there's the pleasant Paul cafe, with it's Parisian-style baked treats - peruse your purchases over a nice tomato and mozzarella sandwich and a just-squeezed juice.

After you've assaulted your credit card at the mall, the afternoon calls for more active pursuits. Take your energy levels up a few notches at Dubai Autrodrome (just past the Dubailand roundabout, +971 4 367 8700), a professional racetrack where you can indulge your Lewis Hamilton aspirations speeding round in an Audi TT or RS4, a Subaru or an open-topped GTS. For more timid souls, there's also an onsite Kartdrome with supercharged go-karts.

Once you've proved your speedy credentials on the track, it's time to head back into town, to The Montgomerie Golf Club (Sheikh Zayed Road, Interchange 5, behind Emirates Golf Club, +971 4 390 5600). This beautiful 18-holer, designed by Colin Montgomerie and Desmond Muirhead, is a lush green all year round, despite being in the middle of the desert. It's an exquisitely attractive place - club your way around the pristine fairways, 14 island-dotted lakes and 81 bunkers, and make sure to watch out for the tricky fourth hole.

As the evening draws in it's essential you get yourself to a beautiful terrace for drinks and dinner in the glorious warmth. Sadly, for a city blessed with such a fantastic climate, Dubai has surprisingly few great restaurants where you can eat outdoors. Happily, one of them is at the Montgomerie, just down the road from the golf course. Nineteen restaurant (+971 4 363 1275) has a lovely outdoor seating area (make sure to book it in advance as it's really popular) and serves excellent European food: start with a lemony risotto and follow up with the wonderful scallops or hearty roast lamb.

If you feel like seeing another side of the city, leave the Montgomerie after your pitching session and head down to the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club (+ 971 4 295 6000), located on the edge of the Creek. There you'll find the outdoor QDs bar, a grand spot for a cold beer, some fruit-flavoured shisha and a tasty pizza. If you make it there in time you can grab a table right by the water and watch the sun set and boats cruise up and down the creek: a beautiful end to the day.

One hour in the city

Question: What's the one thing everyone's guaranteed to ask you after your trip to Dubai? Answer: "Did you see the Burj Al Arab?" This round-chested hotel - the world's tallest - has become internationally associated with the city and its ravenous ambition. It cuts an attractive dash on the skyline; inside you'll find gilt-lined suites and prices to make your wallet squeak in dismay. Understandably, the hotel doesn't encourage sightseeing tourists - if you want to take a look inside you'll need to have a reservation at one of the restaurants. However, you can still get a close-up view of this architectural icon from key vantage points in the neighbouring beachfront hotels. Over at the Al Qasr Hotel in the Madinat Jumeirah resort (+ 971 4 366 8888) you'll find Koubba, a bar with a great terrace overlooking the Burj, where you can knock back a fancy cocktail while drinking in the view. If you want a bite to eat with your hotel-ogling, go for high-class dim sum on the terrace at Zheng He's at the Mina A'Salam hotel, also at the Madinat Jumeirah (+971 4 366 8888, make sure to request a seat on the terrace when booking). And if you're in town in the evening, spend your 60 minutes at 360 at Jumeirah Beach Hotel (+ 971 4 348 0000), a cool bar and club on its own mini-island just offshore, where only a few hundred of metres of the Gulf separate you from the magnificent Burj. The hotel is at its best at night, when a light display kicks in - the front of the building changes colour regularly, shifting from red to green, spotlights comb the sky, and you can see flames burst into life along the road leading up to the entrance every time a VIP is chauffeured in. Very Dubai.