I spy with my little eye... a Drink on top of the World.

A Drink on top of the World. I am talking about the At.mosphere Lounge of course. 

Getting into At.mosphere is quite a challenge. First of all, the booking: I asked for a table around 7.30pm. "Miss we don't have any table before 8.30pm", as often in Dubai, the Staff forgets to give you an alternative solution, so I simply asked for the Bar, common sense is the new black, again and always. Then I received a confirmation of my the booking on my mobile, good logistics. I will pass on the disastrous taxi drive to get there, no it is not the Dubai Mall entrance, no it's not Soukh Al Bahar either, not the Armani Hotel, at last we found the At.mosphere entrance, just follow the signs and you'll be fine (for once!). Once you finally find the right entrance, there are two gates to cross, someone will ask you if you have a reservation and will check the number of that reservation so if you are meeting Friends there, forwarding them the details is a good idea. 

After getting into the Burj, do not claim victory yet: there is an other gate, with a (not so smiley) hostess who will ask for your ID, and believe me, I saw three charming ladies stuck down the Burj because they had forgotten it (because they don't tell you they will check your ID, when I suggested they add it on the website, I was answered quite sharply "Miss every Bar or Lounge in Dubai will ask for your ID anyway."... not so smiley). 

When I started breathing again and remembered I was not a criminal and I was not doing anything illegal (frankly, all this security checks are oppressive... I understand that they should check every person that enters the building because once you're up there, you're kind of trapped and if anything happens it's their responsibility, but if they could do it with a Smile, it wouldn't feel like a revival of Ghost Protocol), I was already in the elevator. 123 floors, no stop, impressive.

When you get out of the elevator, surprisingly, you have to go down one floor to reach the Lounge, where you are welcomed by three charming Ladies who will finally walk you to your table. As expected when I called then, they had lots of free tables at 7.30pm, they just didn't have availability near the windows. They didn't even realise I wasn't asking for that, so they nearly lost a Client because I thought they had no availability at all. But once you are there, the view is amazing, the service is very good, nice and smiley, the Drinks and Snacks are good, and the Music is not too loud so you can actually hear each other, which is not always the case in Dubai.

All in all a very good experience, one definitively has to earn it but it's worth the Fight. Next time I will  simply warn my Guests about the level of security involved in a simple drink at At.mosphere.

At.mosphere Lounge
Burj Khalifa
Opening hours: from 12pm until 2am

Dress code:
for Gentlemen: formal, dinner jackets with smart jeans, and closed shoes, UAE national dress
for Ladies: semi formal, cocktail dress

For further details, have a look at the website here.