Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre

The hotel fills the upper floors of the Burj Daman, at the eastern edge of the financial centre. The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa are a few minutes away by car, and the airport about 20.

The lobby is on the 18th floor, where floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Burj Khalifa. The whole hotel is mid-century in spirit, all brass, bronze, mirror and marble, and it took our breath away like few hotels have.

Our first suite felt like a luxury apartment, with a foyer, a living room around a marble coffee table and a hallway leading to the bedroom. We drank our morning coffee at the window facing the Burj Khalifa, and the bathroom was white marble from the sinks to the bath.

For our second night we moved to a corner suite, with a vast living room, a library nook and a coffee table of bronze and marble. Its bathroom has twin marble sinks around a freestanding tub, and the corner suites on the far side face the Burj Khalifa directly.

Breakfast is at Bull & Bear, around a life-size bronze of a bear and a bull locked in battle, with the city spread out below. Peacock Alley, the bar and lounge, has a quiet cigar room at its far end, and the pool’s infinity edge looks toward St. Trop, the bar beside it.