Dubai, UAE

Fifty years ago, much of Dubai was open desert and a modest fishing and pearl-diving port along the Persian Gulf. Today, it's home to the tallest building on Earth, an indoor ski slope in the middle of the desert, and man-made islands shaped like palm fronds visible from space. Dubai's transformation is staggering, but the city hasn't erased its roots entirely — the winding alleys of Al Fahidi Historic District and the wooden abras crossing Dubai Creek still carry the rhythm of the old trading port this city once was. Beyond the glass towers of Downtown and the glittering Dubai Marina, the Arabian Desert stretches out just beyond the city limits, offering dune safaris and starlit Bedouin-style camps a world away from the skyline. Dubai has become a global crossroads — a majority-expat population from every corner of the world, world-class shopping and dining, and an ambition that shows in nearly everything it builds. It's a city unafraid of superlatives: the tallest, the biggest, the most extravagant — and somehow, it usually delivers.