I recently spent a long weekend in Dubai to learn as much as I could about what the city has to offer.

Although this was a very short stay I did manage to see a lot of Dubai, I did a City Tour first - this can easily be arranged and there are red double decker buses which operate the tours. No visit to Dubai is complete without a visit to the Gold and Spice souks; these are fascinating places where you can wander to your heart’s content, enjoying the sights and aromas all around you. I also visited Dubai Creek and enjoyed a short boat trip on the water taking in the fantastic views along the way.

I spent a wonderful afternoon at the Aquaventure park at the Atlantis Palm Hotel, this is a great place to relax with family or friends and enjoy the delights of the water park, and you can also enjoy watching dolphins in their pool.

I also managed to fit in a visit to the ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates, here I donned a thick jacket and boots and experienced the strange sensation of leaving the hot sunshine of Dubai for the freezing temperatures of an alpine winter.

My favourite experience was a jeep safari; we were collected from the hotel in a convoy of 4x4’s and drove for about one hour to the desert. Our first stop was for the driver to let down his tyres so that the pressure was suitable for driving on the sand. We then took off for an exhilarating and hair raising drive over the dunes, it was very exciting. At the end of the drive we were taken to a desert camp and were offered a camel ride and then greeted by musicians and refreshments. We seated ourselves on cushions and enjoyed a wonderful meal while being entertained by belly dancers, fire eaters and other performers. Another white knuckle ride awaited us as we drove back through the desert at the end of the evening.

Dubai is growing fast, there are numerous new hotels and attractions under way including a Walt Disney theme park, I would love to return to find out what more there is to discover.