What is it like to visit the tallest building in the world? How about the tallest free-standing structure in the world? How long is the longest elevator ride in the world? Well, you can find the answer to all of these questions in one place: the Burj Khalifa, located in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper, featuring offices, residences, a hotel, restaurants, stores, and art exhibits. It also has the world’s highest pool, on the 76th floor of the building! And how tall, exactly, is this building? It climbs up for 200 stories, with a “needle” on top that stretches the building’s total height to 2,716 feet. That’s twice as tall as New York’s Empire State Building.
The building took six years to build. Construction began in 2004 and was completed in 2010. During construction, you might find up to 12,000 workers a day putting the building together.
It’s very expensive to stay at the hotel in the Burj Khalifa. It’s often visited by celebrities and world leaders. However, anyone can buy a ticket to the building’s observation decks, which are on floors 124, 125, and 148. And you probably already guessed—they’re the world’s tallest observation decks!
Burj Khalifa
This video shows what it’s like to go up in the Burj Khalifa’s elevator and look down from floor 148. Some people choose to stay indoors while others prefer the outdoor observation deck where you can look down at the city or up at the steel needle that forms the top of the building.
Do you think you’d like to go to the 148th floor? If you did, would you stay inside or brave the outdoor deck? Would it be more interesting to look up or down?
Here’s another view from the observation decks—what are some things you can spot in this video that make this dream destination so unique?