Old Town

Old Town is the low-rise Arabian quarter beside the Dubai Mall, the part of Downtown that was built to look as if it had always been there: sand-coloured buildings a few floors high around courtyards and a souk, with the tower rising behind them. Its flats trade as a market apart from Downtown's towers, and the register files most of them under Downtown, whose guide carries the district's figures.

The place

The quarter lies beside the mall and the lake, between the boulevard and the opera district, with the tower and the fountain a short walk and the Metro's station across the mall. Its buildings, low and shaded, sit around courtyards, pools and the souk's lanes, with the district's cafes and restaurants at street level and the mall's everything next door.

What you get

Apartments from studios to large layouts in the quarter's low-rise buildings, with courtyards rather than views, and larger, quieter homes on the quarter's island beside the lake. There are no towers and no villas.

Who it suits

People who want to live at the centre of Downtown without living in a tower: couples, families, anyone who values shade, a courtyard and a walk to the mall over a skyline in the window. Owners who intend to let to the same people.

It suits people less well who want a view, a pool of their own, or the most space for the money.

Buying and renting here

The register files most of the quarter's sales under Downtown, so the figures that describe it sit on that page; the buildings' own pages carry their own records where the register names them. Buyers should look at the building's owners' association and service charge, which vary across the quarter. For tenants, the official index caps a renewal while a new lease follows the market.