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.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Dubai offline.
Fifth-tallest hotel in the world, yet it sits in the shadow of flashier neighbors. The building earns a second look: blue and silver mirrored glass wraps convex cylindrical forms that fold into each other, and the whole thing resolves at the top into a sculptural crown of intersecting petals — the literal "rose" behind the name. It opened two years late (finished 2007, opened December 2009) and cost $180 million.
What to look for
- A narrow vertical strip of oculiform — eye-shaped — gold rings running straight up the center of each face of the tower
- The point near the top where the flat facade sections give way to the intersecting petal forms, capped by a sphere
- The spire above the sphere, the element that accounts for the full 333m height
Alcohol-free hotel with a 24-hour coffee shop — the easiest way to step inside without a room reservation.
Rose Tower (Rose Rayhaan by Rotana) 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.
- Princess TowerFor three years this 413-metre block of apartments was the tallest place anyone called home on Earth.