Summer in this part of the world can get pretty intense, with temperatures easily climbing past forty degrees celsius. While the outdoor beaches and desert tours might become too warm during the middle of the day, that does not mean your holiday has to stop. The city is completely built to handle the heat, featuring some of the most advanced, fully air-conditioned indoor entertainment centers anywhere on the globe. From walking through a tropical jungle to stepping inside giant digital paintings, here are the best places to stay perfectly cool.
Walk through a real tropical rainforest at Green Planet
It sounds impossible, but you can actually escape the dry desert heat by stepping directly into a humid, green tropical rainforest. Located at City Walk, the Green Planet is a massive four-story indoor bio-dome that houses an entire enclosed ecosystem. Right in the center is the largest man-made tree on earth, which supports over three thousand different types of plants and exotic animals. As you walk down the circular path from the top floor down to the flooded rainforest floor, you will see colorful parrots flying freely, lazy sloths hanging from branches, and even a dedicated nocturnal area where cave bats zoom around. It is a fantastic sensory experience where you completely forget about the scorching sun outside.
Step inside the magic of the AYA universe
If you want to experience something futuristic, you should head over to Wafi City Mall and enter a completely digital world. AYA universe is a massive forty-thousand-square-foot interactive space divided into twelve distinct zones, each designed to make you feel like you have traveled to a far-off cosmic sanctuary. Using high-tech light projections, mirrors, and booming soundscapes, the rooms react to your footsteps and movements. In one room, you can watch light water droplets float upwards toward the ceiling, while in another, you can lie down on a soft floor and watch a digital star storm swirl all around you. It is a dream spot for taking incredible photos and a very relaxing way to spend a couple of hours away from the heat.
Play all day at IMG worlds of adventure
Theme parks are usually an outdoor activity, but the city solved that problem by building one of the largest entirely indoor theme parks on the planet. IMG worlds of adventure is fully climate-controlled and covers a massive space equivalent to twenty-eight football fields. The park is split into different zones based on popular brands, meaning you can ride rollercoasters themed around Marvel superheroes like Thor and Iron Man, or hang out with Cartoon Network characters. If you love dinosaurs, the lost valley zone features massive mechanical beasts and an intense rollercoaster that launches you out of the building and back in before you can even register the hot outdoor air. To see how to easily secure your tickets and avoid long lines, check out the options on Dubai sightseeing tickets before your visit.
See art come to life at the theatre of digital art
For a dose of culture without having to walk under the hot sun, the theatre of digital art at Souk Madinat Jumeirah offers a wonderful escape. Instead of staring at small paintings hanging on a quiet gallery wall, this space turns classic masterpieces into a fully moving, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree sensory show. Famous works by artists like Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet are projected across the giant walls, floor, and ceiling, accompanied by a beautiful classical music score. You can sit on a comfortable beanbag and watch the brushstrokes move all around you, making you feel like you are actually walking inside the painting itself.
Explore the sunken world of the lost chambers aquarium
Located deep inside the luxury Atlantis hotel on the Palm, this indoor aquarium is designed to look like the ancient ruins of the lost city of Atlantis. Instead of just looking at standard fish tanks, you walk through mysterious underground tunnels and shipwrecks surrounded by massive glass viewing panels. The main chamber holds over eleven million liters of water and is home to sixty-five thousand marine animals, including giant manta rays, sharks, and schools of colorful fish. They have plenty of interactive touch tanks where marine experts explain how they care for the creatures, and you can even book an indoor yoga session right in front of the glass for a peaceful morning routine.