The Dubai Miracle Garden is certainly aptly named considering that – like pretty much everything in this Middle Eastern destination – it was built on desert land.
Billing itself as the world’s largest natural flower garden, the 72,000-square-meter attraction has more than 60 million flowers on display.
Located in Dubailand near the Arabian Ranches, it opened on Valentine’s Day in 2013 and now attracts up to 1.5 million visitors a year.
The floral structures are changed every season to ensure repeat visitors get a different experience each time they travel here.
Highlights have included a life-size replica of the Emirates Airbus A380, which received the Guinness Book of World Records’ “largest floral installation” title in 2016.
“People get tired of malls, closed places,” Abdel Nasser Y. Rahhal, the man behind the attraction, told NBC News.
“I hope people will understand that this country is not only for extremes in concrete and steel.
“This country is given beautiful weather for seven months … with a little care, you can get a really beautiful production.”
There are 60 different varieties of flowers on site, including petunias, geraniums and marigolds. Flowers are preserved by re-using waste water through drip irrigation.
The gardens are closed during Dubai’s notoriously hot summer months. Temperatures average 40 C (104 F) from June to September – not exactly conducive to flower gazing.
However, the sanctuary is also home to the region’s first indoor butterfly garden and sanctuary, Dubai Butterfly Garden, which is open all year round.
Dubai Miracle Garden: Al Barsha South; open daily from October to April
Editor’s note: This article was previously published in 2013. It was reformatted, updated and republished in 2017.