The Museum of the Future

Opened in 2022, the Museum of the Future is a building before it is a museum: a silver torus standing on a green mound beside Dubai's main highway, its curved surface covered in three-dimensional Arabic calligraphy, quotations from the ruler about the future, which double as the windows. It has no internal columns, the structure being carried entirely by a steel exoskeleton, and the void in the middle represents what is not yet known. Inside, floors are given over to immersive, theatrical exhibits rather than collections: a fictional space station orbiting the moon, a digital library of engineered species from a rewilded Amazon, a wellness floor that asks visitors to put their phones away, and a large children's zone. It is closer to a very well-made experience attraction than a traditional museum, and it books out.

What you actually see

• The building - the calligraphy-clad torus, best seen from outside as well as in.
• The space station floor - the fictional orbital station opening the sequence.
• The species library - the digital archive of engineered and recovered life.
• The children's zone - a large, well-designed play and learning floor.

When to go

Year-round, being entirely indoors, which makes it one of the better options in the summer heat. Tickets are timed and sell out days in advance, especially at weekends and in the winter high season, so book online early. Allow two to three hours.

Honest expectations

It is an experience attraction rather than a museum with a collection, and visitors expecting objects and scholarship will find theatre instead; whether that is a criticism depends on what you want. Tickets are expensive by museum standards and non-refundable. It is busy, with timed entry and queues at each floor, and photography stops for pictures slow the flow considerably.

Nearby

Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall are one metro stop away; the Dubai Frame is a short taxi ride.