The only over-the-top luxury hotel is the Emirates Palace - but it is crazy expensive and very conservative.

The Emirates Palace occupies 850,000m2 of floor space.

The Emirates Palace is the second most expensive hotel ever built, only surpassed by Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Emirates Palace is located on 1.3 km of private beach and surrounded by 85 hectares of gardens, with 114 domes that are 80 meters high.

The path to the front of the Emirates Palace is not a straight shot; visitors enter through a formal garden flanked by pavilions designed like triumphal arches.

On paper, the Emirates Palace sounds grand to the point of grandiosity, and almost grotesquely opulent.

At roughly $3 billion, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, which just opened to the public, is said to be the most expensive hotel ever built.

The Emirates Palace, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, is perhaps the ultimate case in point.

Rather than the last word in luxury accommodations, however, the Emirates Palace may just be the start of the discussion.

Other notable modern buildings include the Emirates Palace with its design inspired by Arab heritage.