The only man-made island built in the shape of a palm tree with sand and rock formations, Palm Jumeirah is considered as the “eighth wonder of the world”. This is definitely considered as one of the most ambitious and recognizable projects in Dubai to date by Nakheel, a company owned by the Dubai government. It is one of three islands called The Palm Islands that will increase Dubai’s coastline by a total of 520 km. The Palm Jumeirah is the smallest and the original of three Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira), located in the Jumeirah coastal area of ​​the Emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

Palm Jumeirah consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent-shaped island that forms an 11-kilometre-long breakwater. The island measures 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers and its total area is greater than 800 football fields. The crown is connected to the mainland by a 300 meter bridge and the crescent is connected to the top of the palm by an underwater tunnel. In the coming years, as the tourism phases develop, The Palm Jumeirah is heralded as one of the world’s leading resorts. The island will double the length of Dubai’s coastline.

Jumeirah Palm Island is primarily a retirement and residential area for living, relaxing, and entertaining. It will contain themed boutique hotels, three types of villas (Signature Villas, Garden Homes, and Canal Cove Town Homes), waterfront apartment buildings, beaches, marinas, restaurants, cafes, and a variety of retail stores. The Palm Jumeirah will feature more than 25 major international hotel brands, including Movenpick Resort Oceana Palm Jumeirah, Moevenpick Resort & Spa Palm Jumeirah, Antara, Fairmont Palm Residence, Radisson SAS, Hilton, Metropolitan, Shangri La, One and Only Royal Mirage, Starwood, Marriott, Oberoi, Kempinski, Chedi, Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, Anantara Resort, and Dusit. Other developments will include the Al Basri Building, Al Habool Building, Al Anbara Building, the Emerald Palace, Oceana, and the Trump Plaza and Marina residences.

After years of construction, Palm Jumeirah is now home to a large number of residents, and the many luxury hotels scheduled to open on the outermost part of the island are underway. This project has been important to the Dubai real estate market in many ways, demonstrating the engineering capabilities of developer Nakheel, giving rise to other similar projects such as The Waterfront and Palm Jebel Ali, bringing the Emirate of Dubai more global attention and showing the residents a new way of living.

The island of Palm Jumeirah offers buyers luxury properties and a lifestyle like no other. The island was conceived at the start of Dubai’s real estate boom and has taken several years to complete, but the end result should be worth the wait for enthusiastic homeowners. Dubai is known for trying to have the biggest and best of everything, and Palm Jumeirah is no different, with different types of properties catering to the high end of the Dubai real estate market.
The blue seas that lap the man-made shorelines are teeming with stingrays, hermit crabs, and baracuda. Away from the ongoing construction, which is four years in the making, life in the middle of the ocean is incredibly peaceful. It’s a world away from the exclusive closed fronds of Palm, where the only sound is often the splash of a paddle from a kayak, a favorite pastime of Palm locals. “Life here is 150% better than in the UK,” says Donna Dempsey, 46, a ballet teacher from Kent. “We collect our garbage every day, we have clean streets, we have low crime. You can really relax here. Sometimes it’s hard to go to work.”