After spending a brief moment at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi to, at the very least, see its famous white domes and opulent architecture and designs, we hopped on the Etihad Shuttle for a 1 hour drive into Dubai to see the iconic Burj Khalifa.
(Previous post – first stop on our 14 hour layover: Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi)
We would only have time for 2 things in Dubai:
1) Go up the World’s Tallest Building, Burj Khalifa (this post)
Burj Khalifa
Just keeping looking up!
Basic Stats and World Records
- Tallest building in the world
- Tallest free-standing structure in the world
- Highest number of stories in the world
- Highest occupied floor in the world
- Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
- Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
- Tallest service elevator in the world
How to book
Book your tickets online in advance for a discount! You are given options to select a specific time, with peak times being the most expensive (before sunset).
We booked for 3:00 pm.
Sky (Level 125 + 148) – 350 AED
Extra for prime hours (200 AED and 500 AED)
After getting dropped off at the Etihad office, we hailed a cab towards the Dubai mall. To get to the entrance for the Burj Khalifa, we walked through the giant Dubai mall (one of the largest in the world by total area) and past the Aquarium where I saw giant stingrays and other fish!
There are separate lines for men and women and you need to pass your bags through a metal detector.
Once inside, you walk along a pathway that gives you some history behind the building.

As you leave the elevator and venture out onto the deck, staff members offer to take some photos of you pretending to sit on the edge or jump off the side. We didn’t pay to purchase these 🙂
It’s pretty amazing how high up you are and the reason you come here (for the views) speak for themselves! Eric has a bit of a heights phobia when it comes to man-made objects so he didn’t stay long. I lingered around long enough to get these shots.

Two interesting options that we didn’t go for:
