Al Yaqoub Tower
Dubai's Big Ben — 328 meters tall, and deliberately missing its clock.
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The 69-floor tower on Sheikh Zayed Road was designed to echo London's Elizabeth Tower. A working clock was planned for the crown but scrapped — city authorities decided it would distract drivers on the fast road below. That absence is now the whole story.
What to look for
- The pointed crown modeled on London's Elizabeth Tower — the resemblance is the building's stated design brief
- The bare clock faces: find the spots where the clock dials were meant to go but never appeared
- The Gevora Hotel directly to the north, which shares a similar silhouette — useful for spotting the difference between the two
On Sheikh Zayed Road; the tower is a pass-by landmark best appreciated from street level or a slow-moving vehicle on the road that ironically killed its clock.
Al Yaqoub Tower is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Dubai, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Dubai pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Dubai
- Burj KhalifaHalf a mile of reinforced concrete, straight up — the tallest structure on Earth since 2009.
- Burj al-ArabA hotel shaped like a dhow sail, planted on its own man-made island 280 meters off the beach.
- Dubai MallIn 2023 it drew a record 105 million visitors — up 19 percent year-on-year from the 88 million recorded the year before.
- 23 MarinaFifty-seven swimming pools stacked into one tower — and since 2026, visible war damage on the skyline.
- Palm JumeirahSand and stone stacked on the Persian Gulf to form a palm shape — only legible from the air, and reportedly still sinking 5 mm every year.
- Rose Tower (Rose Rayhaan by Rotana)A 333-metre hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road that actually outreaches the Burj Al Arab — and most people walk past it.