Travel Guides And Tips: Atlantis The Palm

Dubai's Palm Island trilogy have become icons of the Emirate and few could deny that they are truly impressive examples of man's ability to create not just massive feats of engineering, but also structures that can rival those created by Mother Nature, when it comes to beauty and scale.

The Palm Islands were designed and built with the idea of creating more beachfront land for Dubai, which was previously in short supply. During the initial brainstorming sessions, the ruler of Dubai is said to have drawn a sketch of a palm tree, realising that its fronds would provide more beach space than the traditional circular island, and from this insight, the idea of Palm Islands were born.

Three separate Palm Island projects exist: The Palm Jebel, The Palm Jumeirah, and The Palm Deira. The Palm Jumeirah was the first to be completed, and residents started moving into properties at the end of 2006. The trilogy is the largest land reclamation project in the world and also represents the world's largest artificial islands and they can even be seen from space. The trilogy required extensive studies, planning and research, which was unprecedented in its scale and complexity.

The Jumeirah Palm doesn't just feature luxury villas and white sand beaches, however. The Atlantis Resort is an ambitious construction featuring the Royal Towers - an architectural wonder, and yet another impressive landmark for Dubai, with its towering arches, arabesque domes and ornate spires overlooking the warm, clear and calm waters of the Arabian golf.

The Atlantis resort also features hotel accommodation in the form of 1539 rooms and suites, the first open air marine habitat in the Middle East, and Aquaventure: a huge 17 hectare water park, featuring a 2km long wave river, a tidal pool and the 27.5 meter near-vertical drop slide which propels visitors through a submerged tunnel into a shark filled lagoon. The entire Atlantis complex is set amongst manicured aquatic gardens and white sand beaches, and is expected to be fully open to the public by autumn 2008.

With such a vast amount to see and do, Dubai holidays are becoming extremely popular with westerners, and many are finding that Dubai's ever developing landscape means that despite the relatively small size of the Emirate, there is always a new architectural wonder to experience.

With the other two Palm Islands constructions in progress and many more exciting projects in the pipeline, Dubai's dynamic landscape continues to grow, creating an outstanding destination for a honeymoon, family or luxury holiday and shows that the Emirate has become the Middle East's foremost vacation destination.

Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys travelling.

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