The world's tallest building presents a fun challenge in capturing not only how tall it is in a photo, but just capturing the full height in a single frame is difficult without resorting to a sort of vertical panorama!
I've tried myself, it's tough. It's just so tall
During my first visit to Dubai in 2013 I enjoyed a few opportunities to ascend the tower and explore the shopping and dining, among other attractions at the foot of the tower...
This photo (right) was my own best effort during the evening hours, but there have since been many great examples of newer technology not only allowing people to capture a better photo, but the tower itself also enjoys some great light shows to dazzle guests!
Is this the place with the penguins? What attractions did it have when you visited?
Ooh, that's a great question and super confusing because there are so many gigantic shopping malls in Dubai!
The Burj Khalifa is almost on top of the Dubai Mall, home to the world's largest aquarium and, obviously, a huge number of shopping and dining options.
The tower itself has an observation deck which you can visit, while a lot of the other decks/levels are for hotel & event guests.
There's a large fountain modeled after the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, complete with light and water show!
The penguins are located at the Mall of the Emirates, another giant shopping and activity space a few miles down the coast toward the Palm Jumeirah. It's at Ski Dubai!
Also ascend from the inside or outside? When I first read this I had a picture in my head of you abseiling this monster of a building.😅
It sounds nerdy, but the elevators are a real feat of engineering. As far as I'm aware they're still the world's fastest elevators!
No option to ascend outside or to abseil though. I feel it's surprisingly windy that high up and not really (yet) a safe, feasible option for visitors.
It would be very cool to see them figure out one of those sky-walk experiences though, wouldn't it? Would you be brave enough to try it???