Dubai Miracle Garden

Dubai Miracle Garden is 72,000 square metres of flowers arranged into shapes that range from impressive (a full-size Emirates A380 aircraft covered in flowers) to whimsical (houses, hearts, arches, characters). It is open seasonally from November to May because the summer heat would kill everything. During the season, there are over 150 million flowers in bloom. AED 55 entry (about $15).

The instinct is to dismiss this as Instagram bait, and in one sense it is. The entire garden is designed for photographs. But the execution is impressive. The flower arrangements are maintained to a standard that makes the engineering behind them (the irrigation, the climate control, the logistics of planting and replacing millions of flowers) genuinely remarkable. The Emirates A380 display holds the Guinness World Record for the largest floral installation.

Go in the late afternoon (3-5 PM) when the light is soft and the worst heat of the day has passed. The garden is outdoors and there is minimal shade, so morning or late afternoon visits are essential. Weekdays are significantly less crowded than weekends. The butterfly garden next door (included in the ticket) is a pleasant, air-conditioned addition with thousands of live butterflies.

The garden is located on the outskirts of the city near Al Barsha. There is no metro station, so you will need a taxi (AED 35-50 from Downtown, AED 25-35 from the Marina). Allow 2 hours for the garden and 30 minutes for the butterfly garden.