WEEKEND IN DUBAI

Petra Shepherd joined Travel Channel for its launch back in 1994. She looks after our research and works on all original productions. Petra's one of the most recognisable faces in the travel industry and when she's not on the canapé circuit promoting the channel, she spends every free moment travelling. She's visited over 70 countries and prefers back packing to 5 * luxury, unless of course it's in the name of research!

This month she shares with us a trip to the playground of the Middle East, Dubai…

Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates is the Middle East's holiday hot spot. Far East. Nowadays many are happy to take the seven-hour flight from the UK just for a long weekend, to snap up tax-free clothes, electrical goods and jewelry and to get some winter sun, but there's also so much more to do and see as I found out when I headed there. Back in the 1970s Dubai was simply a stopover on the way to or back from the

I flew with Etihad, the airline which describes itself as “the national carrier of the UAE” much to the annoyance of Dubai-based Emirates. It was launched in 2003 and flies into neighbouring Abu Dhabi. There's a coach to meet the flight and take you the hour's journey into Dubai but it's even easier and sometimes a little quicker – depending on the time of day - just to take a cab. Our cab journey took 40 minutes and cost about 30 Euros. Forty years ago, Dubai had only three hotels. Now it has more than 350 including several self styled six and seven starred properties. There are basically two types of hotel accommodation in Dubai; city hotels, and beach resorts found along Jumeirah Beach. If you've only got a long weekend, you'll want to head for the beach - it's a good 45 minutes from the city to the beach and takes longer in traffic. I stayed at The Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa and with 2 swimming pools, 12 restaurants and bars and a Roman themed spa, you hardly wanted or had time to leave the hotel complex.

If you're in Dubai, you can't miss seeing the world's only seven-star hotel – the Burj Al Arab. The Burj is completely over the top and if it hadn't been built in Dubai, then someone in Vegas would have commissioned it. It was built to resemble a 1,050 ft high Arab dagger, but by day it looks more like a towering white sail. At night it becomes a canvas for spectacular light displays. If you're not staying there and want to take a look, you'll either need to make a dinner reservation or go there for tea (tea costs approximately 40 Euros so it's not altogether cheap but still worth it to have a look at the dazzling interior). However, the Burg Al Arab will soon be surpassed by the Burg Dubai, due to open in 2007 and set to be the tallest hotel on the planet.

Wild Wadi Waterpark's been around sometime but remains hugely popular with children and adults alike. Wild Wadi is one of the world's most technically advanced water theme parks and knocks the spots off most Meditteranean offerings and is seriously up there with Walt Disney World's Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Close to eight million litres of water are pumped through the 5-hectare park's various tunnels, tubes, slides, caves and pools daily. The 24 rides are all interconnected so that you can jump off one and jump straight onto another. Some of the hairier rides reach speeds of 80 km/h while the Jumeirah Sceirah is the highest and fastest free-fall water slide outside North America, a real fly by the seat of your pants experience. If you're staying at The Jumeirah Beach Hotel you get free entry into the park and so this hotel is extremely popular with families. Be sure to book ahead if you want to go over one of the half term breaks or Christmas.

Long weekenders like myself tend to be happy spending their days by the hotel pool, making the most of the watersports available along the beach and shopping of course. However a desert safari is a must and not to go on one is to miss out on much of what Dubai's all about. Some last a half a day, some a full day and some are overnight.

We chose the full day's experience with leading adventure tour operator Alpha Tours heading first for the inland town of Hatta. You leave the desert behind and wind up into the mountains. There are loads of photo opportunities and great views along the way. This is Dubai away from the skyscrapers and development and for me, it was easily the highlight of the weekend.

One of the main reasons to head for Hatta is to visit the famous pools that are actually outside Dubai in Oman. You can impress the colleagues back in the office by saying you've visited three countries over the weekend, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Oman. The pools are normally quite shallow; they're a big draw for visitors and can get pretty crowded. We were extremely lucky, Dubai had an unusually significant amount of rain in early 2005 and the pools were full, crystal clear but deserted. It was an amazing experience to swim through the narrow rock corridors. Next stop was Hatta itself, one of the oldest settlements in Dubai and dating back two to three thousand years. Hatta's main attraction is the Heritage Village (a re-created traditional mountain village) but we chose instead to have a leisurely lunch at the Hatta Fort Hotel (all included in the price of the trip).

During the afternoon, most tours offer roughly the same experience . You start with an exciting bit of 4WD ‘dune bashing'. It's a roller coaster ride, skidding up and down the dunes, being driven by experienced drivers. Sadly, you're not allowed to have a go yourself but it's still a thrill. Don't worry if you get stuck as we did on the very top of a dune, you always go in a covoy of at least 10 cars, so there's one to pull you out. From the top of the dunes there are great views and it's the perfect place to watch the sunset over the desert. Scattered all over this part of Dubai, there are various “tourist camps” jointly owned by the adventure tour companies. You'll arrive at one of the camps in time for a camel ride and sand boarding or for the less adventurous you can have your hands or feet hennaed with traditional Arabic designs. Having worked up an appetite, the day finishes with a bbq dinner of Arabic and Lebanese food, and yes, alchohol in the form of wine and beer is served at a small extra charge. Dinner is followed by sheesha (water pipe) and a belly dancer before returning to Dubai. It's a very full day and it's all rather put on for the tourists but still great fun and dune bashing in particular is something I could never do at home.

With its oil running out, Dubai has probably the most ambitious plans for the future of anywhere in the world. There's an extraordinary amount of development going on at present, Dubai is hot and it seems everyone wants a piece of the action. In future, weekend breakers will be able to play golf on two 18 hole golf courses. One is renovated, the other new, and they've been carved out of the heart of the city; the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club and the Al Badia Golf Resort at Dubai Festival City. The latter is a stunning 18-hole course from top designer Robert Trent Jones II and is now open for pay and play.

Shoppers can spend all weekend in one of the many new Malls. The new Ibn Battuta Mall is a renowned 14 th century Arab explorer, Ibn Battuta and includes malls themed on China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and Andalucia plus there's also a 21-screen Megaplex and Imax cinema. Dubai Festival City, the first phase of which opens this autumn is also bound to be a hit. On completion, there'll be 450 shops including Swedish favourite IKEA and 70 restaurants. However, if you get bored of shopping head instead to The Malls of the Emirates where alongside the shops there are entertainment complexes and restaurants. You'll even find a 320 metre indoor ski run. The Mall is under construction off Sheikh Zayed Road, the main strip of skyscrapers in the middle of the city, and is due to open in September.

Beyond the shopping malls, it's still worth visiting the traditional souks, particularly the gold souk, the biggest of its kind in the world. Shoppers should also try and tie in their weekend visit with the annual Dubai Shopping Festival (mid-January to mid February). 2.6 million diehard retail slaves are attracted to the discounts, sometimes up to 70 % off as well as the festival's carnival atmosphere.

With so much development going on, it won't be long before a weekend will barely be long enough for this destination – Dubai hopes to give Walt Disney World a run for its money. For the moment though, four days will give you just enough time to relax by the pool and work on your tan, hit the shops, restaurants and bars as well as do a bit of sightseeing and a couple of tours. Yep, it certainly is a busy couple of days.