For many, the heavily-touted, much-talked-about city of Dubai is fantasy realized – record-breaking skyscrapers, world-class restaurants and state-of-the-art sporting facilities. Dubai epitomizes the highest echelon of luxury, ethnic diversity… essentially, an attempt at utopia in the middle of the desert.

But, for London-based painter Sacha Jafri, 30, (whose roster of celebrity supporters reads like a top-tier table assignment at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, think Jude Law, Kevin Spacey and David Beckham), Dubai is much more than that. It’s a billionaire’s playground infused with ancient Middle Eastern traditions and culture, not to mention amazing art – the epitome of a must-see destination. We spoke with Jafri, whose exhibit Jafri Meets Warhol brought him to Dubai last year, for a personal tour. From his home in London, Mayfair Lights in hand, Jafri treated us to a list of Dubai’s best spots:

What are you working on right now?
A 10-year retrospective of my work has just been published. And I was approached to do a world tour, so we put together a collection set to go into museums around the world to launch alongside the book. We decided to launch it in Dubai– it’ll go from Dubai, to Shazia, to Abu Dhabi, and so on.

When was your first time in Dubai?
Four years ago. I actually proposed to my wife in Dubai on the beach in front of her house. Her family used to live on Jumeirah Beach. Then I did the Warhol thing 2 years ago, and I’ve just been back recently to set up the retrospective.

What were your first impressions of Dubai?
It’s a very young country, but in 35 years they have built one of the most extraordinary cities. The Emirates Tower is the most beautiful line of architecture. Top architects from around the world are building these stunning skyscrapers there. It really is a city of the future. I didn’t immediately link to the culture, but because of my wife, I was able to see that they do have a very old culture – Lebanese and Persian food, Persian music, architecture that’s arabesque and Moorish inspired. Among the glitz and glamour, there is this underbelly of culture.

Would you say it is the most modern city in the world?
In some respects, but they have other issues because everything is so bloody new. People like to criticize and knock any pioneers of industry; people secretly want Dubai to fail. Trump has invested a lot, as have Philip Green, the Chinese, Bill Gates... And, for the royal family, who own the constructing companies, there is a huge amount of pride at stake. It is their baby; they can’t afford for it to fail, so I don’t think it will.

Dubai is known for its unrivaled luxury. What is the most lavish place you’ve visited there?
[Laughs] Everything is extremely lavish. The One&Only Royal Mirage, which is the chain’s flagship, is beautiful, with Moorish architecture. It’s absolutely stunning with its use of water, vegetation, courtyards, the smell of people smoking spices smell. They have a rooftop bar called The Rooftop Bar, a Marrakech-style bar that overlooks the Palm and the ocean. The most lavish, but not the most beautiful, is the 7-star hotel Burj Al Arab in the ocean. It’s the most expensive, with the lift that goes all the way up – it’s the tallest hotel in the world.

What about food…
Dubai has some of the best food in the world. One place is by the creek, where old Dubai is. You go on a gondola, pay one direm (30 cents) to go from one end to the other. There are stations along it you can use like the metro. There are restaurants all along it with local Arab and French cuisine. The Madinat also has a series of restaurants – the Mina A' Salam and the Al Qasr. One of the best restaurants is the Peppercrab in the Grand Hyatt. You look at all of the crabs and lobsters in tanks and pick everything. The prawns are nearly a foot long. Everything is so succulent, fresh and huge.

Where’s the best nightlife?
Buddha Bar. Compared to the one in Paris, it’s a joke. It’s 3 times the size, with 400 or 500-foot-tall Buddhas. It’s very cool, very funky, with good lights – a great place to go drinking. The Sky Bar, which is on the 45th floor, is stunning for sunsets.

What galleries or museums are not-to-be-missed?
In the old town, Bastakia is the oldest gallery – Majlis which means “sitting room” in Arabic. It started as someone’s front room; it’s now the number one gallery in Dubai. Allison Collins runs it – she’s an English lady who’s been in Dubai for thirty years. She deals in some of the top artists in the Middle East and India. The Third Line is a very modern, cutting-edge gallery. Then there’s Art Space, which brings in very interesting films and exhibitions from places all over the Middle East.

What are your other favorite spots?
Shazia, a half an hour drive from Dubai, is an older area with some of the main galleries like Sharjah. It’s the size of the Met and where they have the Sharjah Biennial. You can see some of the oldest architecture at the royal palace in Sharjah. Another place is Oman– the most beautiful of the three. It’s up in the mountains; there is the The Chedi, where Stella McCartney and Kate Moss go. It’s a spa hotel and is impossibly hard to get in. Then there are Souks [markets]; there’s the Gold Souk, and the Old Souk– the most interesting with old saris, necklaces, slippers, wood carvings, and the diamonds that they cut in front of you.

Have you tried any of the sporting facilities?
They’re building a sports city with the best stadiums from around the world. There’s the indoor golf course, boating facilities, with indoor speedboat racing, go-cart racing; they have Formula One in Dubai. I’m a skiing fanatic, so I’ve seen the slope [Ski Dubai]. You can rent a chalet for the weekend and have your Schnapps. It looks like the Swiss Alps. There’s also an Ernie Els golf course, which is now part of the PGA tour. If you’re a golf person it’s the place to go.

What is Dubai’s best-kept secret?
I would say the solitude of the desert. You can hire a 4x4 and take off with your family, and not see anyone for thousands of miles and camp under the stars. The temperature of most deserts is very difficult because they are so hot during the day and so cold at night. But, if you go at the right time of year, which is now – it’s not humid during the day, and at night it’s the perfect temperature. It’s extraordinarily romantic.

~Alisa Gould-Simon