With shops, restaurants, a waterpark, a beachfront with hammocks and a huge playpark, La Mer is Dubai’s newest beachfront destination. Opened in 2018 (although there is still construction taking place at La Mer North), it’s free to sunbathe or roam the complex. Kids will love the inflatable playground, and you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to eating – try Motomatchi for Japanese desserts or go local at laidback Treej Cafe.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Dubai attractions

1. Pro Art Gallery

0.51 MILES

This gallery seeks to make art accessible (even to collectors without seriously deep pockets) and as such sells limited edition prints alongside original…

2. Jumeirah Mosque

0.54 MILES

Snowy white and intricately detailed, Jumeirah is Dubai's most beautiful mosque and one of only a handful in the UAE that are open to non-Muslims – one…

3. Etihad Museum

1.07 MILES

Opened in 2017, this striking modern museum engagingly chronicles the birth of the UAE in 1971, spurred by the discovery of oil in the 1950s and the…

4. Nikki Beach Dubai

1.26 MILES

At this fashionable pleasure pit on the emerging Pearl Jumeirah residential peninsula, only the crisp all-white look is virginal. On weekends, the bronzed…

5. 2nd December St

1.29 MILES

Quiet by day, 2nd December St turns into one of Dubai’s liveliest walking strips after dark with plenty of fine pickings for street-food aficionados…

6. Dubai Street Museum

1.33 MILES

In 2016, 16 local and international street artists, including Hua Tunan, Ashwaq Abdulla and Inkman, mounted their cherry-pickers to turn the rather drab…

7. Al Khazzan Park

1.53 MILES

One of Dubai's oldest parks, pocket-sized Al Khazzan has been given a total reboot and is now entirely solar-powered, giving it the right to the title to…

8. Dubai Walls

1.57 MILES

More than a dozen hot shots of the international street-art scene, including Aiko, Blek Le Rat, ROA and Nick Walker, have turned new urban-style quarter…