A grandmother's 3am alarm

Benjamin Parker wakes in Dubai to a buzzing phone, convinced it is an emergency siren. It is his grandmother, ringing over and over after watching the news about US and Iran tensions.

“It isn't an alarm at all. It's my grandmother, calling. Repeatedly.”

The city carries on

By morning there is no sign of crisis under the skyline. Planes keep landing, hotels are full, and the laser show still lights the 829.8m Burj Khalifa every night.

“In Dubai, the show goes on.”

Why the warning existed

The UK Foreign Office issued 'do not travel' advice in February after one-off drone attacks on the Fairmont The Palm and Dubai International Airport. One local worker was killed by falling missile debris.

Bookings jumped 16 per cent

Emirates says forward bookings leapt 16 per cent the moment restrictions eased, with sustained demand for the winter sun season ahead.

Insurance as a sales pitch

In June, Emirates became the first airline to give every customer travel insurance including medical and conflict cover, a bid to reassure people who wanted to fly anyway.

The locals shrug

Haroon, a taxi driver of ten years, says outsiders lump the emirate in with Iran and forget how big the region is.

“You are here now and you would never know there had been fighting.”

First meal, first clue

Time Out Market inside Souk Al Bahar is so packed he cannot find a seat at the communal tables. Dim sum, tacos and 18-hour brisket, and pints cheaper than London.

You have picked the hot season

He crosses paths with almost no British or European visitors. Daily highs hit 40C and the real tourist season only starts in November when things cool.

When the sheen wears thin

Designer boutiques, air-conditioned malls, influencers hunting the perfect shot. The polished version of Dubai gets tired fast if that is all you see.

“There are only so many air-conditioned malls and influencers posing for the perfect shot before the sheen starts to wear thin.”

Dubai Creek, the old lifeline

Fifteen minutes from downtown is the saltwater inlet where pearl divers and merchants traded with Persia, East Africa and India for generations.

Twenty pence to cross

The creek splits the city into Deira and Bur Dubai. Wooden boats called abras ferry you between the two sides for one dirham, about 20p.

Wind towers and shade

On the Bur Dubai side, Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood is narrow alleys between sand-coloured buildings, their shadows a break from the heat.

“Narrow alleyways weave between wind towers and sand-coloured buildings.”

Rebuilt on a royal nudge

Much of old Dubai was reconstructed after a preservation push championed by the then Prince Charles following his 1989 visit. Britain's ties here run from about 1820 to the UAE's founding in 1971.

A £3.60 beard trim

From the abra the city noise drops away to warehouses and minarets. He steps off on a whim for a barber visit that would cost five times as much at home.

Dubai's Shoreditch moment

In industrial Al Quoz, Alserkal Avenue turned old factories into galleries, food trucks, Pilates studios, Nightjar's strong coffee and the Cinema Akil picturehouse.

Paintings and 2,000 records

At Efie Gallery he falls for British-born Tunji Adeniyi-Jones's orange and blue oils, next to a Seventies-style room holding more than 2,000 records.

Tourism is newer than you think

In a vintage bookshop he finds a first edition of the original Lonely Planet guide to Dubai, published in 2000.

“It's easy to forget how new tourism is to the emirate.”

Nine in ten born elsewhere

He expected soulless celebrity-chef outposts. Instead the restaurants mirror the population, where nine in ten residents were born overseas, so the food is properly international.

The corn bomb

Michelin-starred Orfali Bros reworks Syrian heritage from a two-storey open kitchen. Porcini-cream eclairs, and a single bite of sweetcorn custard, Parmesan and huitlacoche. Tasting menus are £60.

Tacos, cannoli and a food tour

Tresind stuffs cannoli with aloo matar, Taqueria El Primo draws hour-long queues for £5 achiote chicken tacos, and Frying Pan Adventures walks small groups through the lesser-seen city.

“Dubai is very much alive.”