1. Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai
Twenty-five years after it rose from its man made island, the sail shaped tower is still the shape people picture when they picture Dubai. The seven star label came from a journalist in 1999 and officially does not exist, yet nobody has found a better description. Every suite is a duplex, and the two Royal Suites top out at 8,395 square feet each, wrapped in 24 carat gold leaf. Guests are chauffeured in Rolls-Royce Phantoms, handed gold finished iPads at check in and can eat at Al Muntaha, the Michelin starred room suspended on the 27th floor. Put it at the front or the back of a Gulf itinerary and treat it as the exclamation point, because nothing scheduled afterward will read quite the same.