Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa is one of the most popular buildings in the world. The tallest construction, the highest restaurant, the biggest number of stories, the elevator with the longest travel distance in the world and other record titles belong to this building.
Recently, we also visited that place to discover the famous skyscraper. In this article you will learn all the necessary information about the Burj Khalifa. Insider's tips, useful advices and interesting facts - find out everything you need to know about the world's tallest building.
- What is Burj Khalifa?
- How the Burj Khalifa was created?
- Architecture and design of Burj Khalifa
- Armani Hotel Dubai
- Observation decks
- When to visit Burj Khalifa?
- How much does the Burj Khalifa visit cost?
- At.Mosphere: the Burj Khalifa's Restaurant
- Useful tips & advices
- Around the Burj Khalifa
WHAT IS BURJ KHALIFA?
The world’s tallest building
Burj Khalifa is the highest structure in the world, a skyscraper with a height of 828 meters situated in Dubai Downtown. Before 2010 the tower was called “Burj Dubai” (Burj from Arabian means “tower”). During the ceremony of opening on 4 January 2010 the current Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid al-Maktoum, said: “From now on and forever this tower will bear the name of Khalifa - “Burj Khalifa ”. In such a way this high building got its new name in honour of arab Sheikh Khalifa, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates. This is due to the fact that he granted monetary aid and funding for its construction.
The exact height of the structure is 828 m, it has 160 floors and a spire of 180 meters long (the highest spire in the world) on the top of the building. Burj Khalifa is situated in the heart of the new business centre in Dubai. Inside the complex, there are luxury apartments, offices, shopping centres, gym and even a restaurant.
![Burj Khalifa day view from the Dubai Fountain](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_day.jpg)
What is situated in Burj Khalifa?
The building has 3 separate entrances:
- the entrance to the hotel,
- the entrance to the apartments
- and the one to the officess.
Hotel Armani and offices of the company occupy floors from the 1st to the 39th (with the exception of the technical 17th and 18th floors). The design of this luxury hotel was developed by Giorgio Armani himself.
The floors 44-72th and 77-108th are occupied by 900 private residential apartments (which were, by the way, sold out within eight hours from the start of sales). The hundredth floor is fully owned by Indian billionaire B. R. Shetty, there are 3 apartments, each of them with an area of approximately 500 m².
Offices occupy the floors 111–121st, 125–135th and 139–154th. On the 43rd and 76th levels, there are gymnasiums, swimming pools and viewing platforms with a jacuzzi. The highest observation deck in the world is located on the 148th floor at an altitude of 555 m, the second platform is on the 124th floor at an altitude of 452 m. At the 122nd floor, there is a restaurant "Atmosphere" with 80 seats, which is for the moment the highest restaurant in the world.
![Burj Khalifa](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_design.jpg)
This is interesting, that the air in the tower is not only cooled, but also flavoured by the unique aroma, created especially for the Burj Khalifa. This fresh aromatized air is supplied to the building through special floor grills. The building has 57 elevators but among them, only one rises from the first floor to the last one. Residents and visitors of the Burj Khalifa have to use different elevators to reach the last floor from the ground.
There are numerous references in various sources that the building contains the world's fastest elevators, moving at a speed of 18 m / s. But on the official website of Burj Khalifa, as well as during the excursion there, it is stated that the speed of these elevators reaches only 10 m/s. In fact, the fastest elevators are located in the Taipei 101 (Taiwan) skyscraper, their speed is 16.83 m/s.
The company named Emaar Properties, one of the biggest real estate developers in the United Arab Emirates, has developed the project of the Burj Khalifa. Another large development projects commissioned by Emaar Properties are the Dubai Fountain and Dubai Opera House. They also created a lot of another high buildings in the world.
![Burj Khalifa downtown view](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_downtown.jpg)
HOW THE BURJ KHALIFA WAS CREATED?
Construction of Burj Khalifa
The construction of a skyscraper began in 2004 and took 6 years. Every day, up to 12,000 workers were involved in the creation of the future world’s highest building. They used over 45,000 m3 of concrete, weighing more than 110,000 tonnes for the creation of steel foundation.
In general, the construction of Burj Khalifa needed 330,000 m3 of concrete and 39,000 tonnes of steel rebar. By the way, the foundation of the Burj Khalifa is not fixed in the rocky ground. For its creation, special hanging piles were used with a length of 45 m and a diameter of 1.5 m (about 200 such piles in total). After the construction of the 160th floor with concrete was completed, the builders continued to elevate the building with metal constructions.
Just imagine, a special mark of the concrete was created, able to maintain temperatures up to +50°C. The concrete mix was laid mostly at night and some ice was added in to cool it up.
WHAT TO SEE AROUND THE BURJ KHALIFA?
The Burj Khalifa is not only an iconic Dubai’s skyscraper, but it is also very conveniently located in the pure center of the city, in the Dubai Downtown. Thanks to this, you can easily visit two other important sights without spending time on the road. These are The Park, Dubai Mall, Aquarium & Underwater Zoo and Dubai Fountains.
The Dubai Downtown
The Dubai Downtown is an area in Dubai, a complex of buildings in the city centre. It is the place where the main attractions of Dubai are located, such as the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Dubai Fountain.
The Burj Park
Burj Park is a little island along Dubai Fountain Lake, which is accessible by bridges from the mainland. It is also known as 'Burj Khalifa Island', 'Dubai Tower Park', 'Burj Island Park', etc. From the park, you can have amazing views of the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Downtown. 11 hectare of gardens, trees and sophisticated design elements will serve as an excellent background for your photos.
![Dubai Burj Park](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/dubai_burj_park.jpg)
An extremely remarkable fact makes this park even more special. In such a dry climate, like in the Emirates, to keep the greenery planting may seem to be a daunting task. However, the Emiratis have come up with a solution.
They collect the condensate from the Burj Khalifa’s air conditioning system and use it to water the lawns and gardens of the Park. Every year 15 million gallons of water are used to keep this urban park green and beautiful. Take a leisurely stroll through the park, enjoying the stunning views and take pictures.
The pleasant fact is that the Park is free, open 24 hours and there is a car parking nearby. The bike rent is also available on the entrance of the Park.
Dubai Mall
The Dubai Mall is the world’s largest destination for the shopping, entertainment and leisure situated next to the the Burj Khalifa building. It has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens, 1200 shops and around 200 restaurants.
Even if you will spend in each shop only 1 minute, you will need more than 24 hours to visit them all :)
![Dubai Mall from the outside](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_dubai_mall.jpg)
In 2011 Dubai Mall was the most visited building on the planet - over 54 million people visited it for one year. And today it remains the second largest shopping mall in the world. If you really want to do great shopping, count on at least 4-5 hours to spend there. In fact, despite the huge area, it is difficult to get lost in this mall, as informative signs are everywhere. However, if you don’t know in which direction to move, feel free to ask the guards in black suits. They all speak english and will kindly show you the right way.
![Dubai Mall inside](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_dubai_mall_inside.jpg)
In general, the Dubai Mall is a great place to spend time there for friends, couple, a family with kids or a solo traveller. There are shops for every taste and budget, as well as
The Dubai Mall is open every day from 10am to 12am.
Aquarium & Underwater Zoo
Indeed, one of the best things you can do after / before visiting Burj Khalifa is to go to the Dubai Aquarium. The giant aqua complex consists of Aquarium Tank, Aquarium Tunnel and Underwater Zoo.
![Dubai Mall inside](https://cdn.mylittleadventure.com/collections/burj_khalifa/burj_khalifa_aquarium.jpg)
The Tunnel is a 48-metre track, with the huge aquarium enveloping around. This tunnel provides 270 degree views so you can enjoy the amazing panorama of the aquatic world. Incredible variety of different marine inhabitants lives in this aquarium.
Aquarium tank is another impressive construction, which holds about 10 million litres of water and more than 140 different species. Having a height of 11 meters, the aquarium allows you to feel yourself at the depth of the ocean. A huge number of different types of sharks live in this aquarium, including rare ones. You can also take a glass-bottom boat tour, have a mermaid’s makeup, go into a snorkelling cage and even go swimming with the sharks.
You can find the Dubai Aquarium on the Ground floor of the Dubai Mall by following informative signs.
Entrance price starts from 120 AED (30 EUR). The most economical option is to buy a combo ticket for 170 AED (40 EUR) which includes:
- Aquarium Tunnel
- Underwater Zoo
- Behind the Scenes tour
- Submersible Simulator
- Aquarium Glass Bottom Boat.
The most economical option is to buy a combo ticket for 165 AED (40 euros) which includes Burj Khalifa and Dubai Aquarium visit. Please keep in mind, that you can buy tickets on the spot, but to be sure that there are some left and to avoid the queue it is better to buy them in advance.
- the Check Burj Khalifa package tickets