Washington DC to Dubai, UAE from $612

🌍 About dubai

Dubai is two cities stacked together, and the older one is the surprise. Skip the assumption that it's all glass towers and malls: take an abra — a wooden ferry — across Dubai Creek for one dirham, then walk Al Fahidi, the 19th-century quarter of coral-and-gypsum houses with barjeel wind towers, the original air conditioning. For food, the thing to order is luqaimat: crisp fried dough balls soaked in date syrup, an Emirati dessert you won't find done well back home. Try harees too, a slow-cooked wheat-and-meat porridge. Come November to March, when days sit at 20–30°C — but that's high season, so fares and hotels cost more. July and August are genuinely punishing (45°C and humid); the upside is that's when flights are cheap, if you can take the heat.