Bar of the week

The chic rooftop bar Palm Jumeirah – and all of New Dubai – has been waiting for

City View Lounge open daily 11am-1am, Marina View Bar Terrace open Sun-Wed 4pm-2am, Thu-Sat 4pm-3am.

FIVE Palm Jumeirah Dubai, Golden Mile, Palm Jumeirah (052 900 4868).

If you think you’ve seen all the spectacular views this city has to offer, and yet still haven’t visited new day-to-night spot The Penthouse, you should jolly well think again. Welcome to the top of the world. Kind of. Set on the roof of FIVE Palm Jumeirah Dubai, stepping out onto this terrace will stop you in your tracks and rob you of the ability to form coherent sentences (related to literally anything other than the venue) for a good 60 seconds. It’s split into two sections: the City View Lounge Terrace, which hosts the day club and pools, all looking out to the Burj Al Arab and beyond; and the Marina View Bar Terrace (pictured above). Each seriously spacious and surrounded by unobstructed glass panelling, there are few better outdoor vantages anywhere in town, and none offering such superb views of the Marina, Ain Dubai and Bluewaters Island. It may only be 16 floors up, but with nothing overheard and no towering skyscrapers leaning in from neighbouring plots, you’ll feel as though you could reach out and touch the clouds above. (You may also feel a little vertigo – this is not for those who get wobbly knees on mall escalators.) Service and mixed drinks are as slick as the venue itself – and really, this is the kind of place that implores you to order something fancy, though doesn’t sting you too much for the indulgence. That said, ladies who head down on a Tuesday between 6pm and 9.30pm get three free drinks – just be prepared for roughly half the population of Dubai having the same excellent idea as you. Because it really is excellent. You may have been to a million al fresco bars in Dubai, but you’ve never been to one like this.

THE BOTTOM LINE – A knockout.