Inside Dubai’s eerie mostly empty 300 manmade islands that were built for the super rich

A man-made island off the coast of Dubai all to yourself? When can I move in?

With Christmas just around the corner, it's wise to start thinking about an escape plan when the inevitable family argument kicks off and running off to live on your own remote island seems like a great option.

Alas, as you'd expect, the islands aren't being built to help ease the housing crisis with no hope left for young people at affording a property one day or as a way to escape after a showdown over Monopoly, but as a series of futuristic man-made islands for the super rich.

The World Islands project (Getty Images/ Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2024)

What does the project look like?

The development - titled the 'World Islands project' - spans five miles long and each island ranges from 250,000 to 900,000 square foot each, created using large amounts of sand taken from the Persian Gulf alongside millions of tonnes of rock to keep it all in place.

There's roughly 300 islands - reportedly representing each country in the world.

Global icons with big wallets like Richard Branson and the late Karl Lagerfeld have taken visits to some of the islands.

Oh and former F1 driver, Michael Schumacher, was gifted one of the islands for his record-breaking career.

There are around 300 of the man-made islands (NASSER YOUNES/AFP via Getty Image)

A problem arises

Back in 2008, the United Arab Emirates economy reportedly got into a bit of trouble and the real estate sector was subsequently brought down with it - as an estimated $300billion (£237bn) worth of projects were scaled down or cancelled altogether.

Progress on the World Islands project slowed too and the islands have still yet to be completed.

Although one of the 300 islands - Lebanon Island - is completed and was made available to the public to visit.

But what's next?

Plans for the islands have been delayed (CHRISTIAN CHAISE/AFP via Getty Images)

Next steps

The 'Heart of Europe project' is the next phase of the World Islands development, where each island was meant to have luxury hotels, private mansions and floating villas.

The aim is to bring tourists to Dubai and have them experience different European destinations as they hop from island to island.

The Heart of Europe website says: “We combine the best of European culture, architecture, and hospitality with the luxury and innovation of the Emirates and the white, sandy beaches of tropical islands. The Heart of Europe offers novel experiences, from underwater living to the climate controlled Raining Street."

It's said to be completed in 2026 and is reported as expecting to have cost a whopping $14 billion (£11bn).

If you happen to have billions in the bank, there aren't many of the islands left for sale, so you'll want to act quickly before they're all snapped up.