With a large concert stage and two main attractions on the ground, the Jubillee area on the Expo 2020 grounds is one of the key entertainment and relax areas of the world exposition. There are rather few pavilions – but some of them were really interesting. Here is my overview of the area and the pavilions we visited.
Expo 2020 Jubilee District – Key Pavilions & Attractions
There is no key pavilion in this area. However, with Garden In The Sky and the Water Feature, there are two key places to visit during your time in Dubai.
Garden In The Sky
I already made a designated posting about the observation tower Garden In The Sky:
Water Feature
The Water Feature is a somehow-close-to-360-degrees round artificial waterfall. There is a picture from Garden In The Sky in its review which shows it from above. It looks quite impressive. People try to climb up the walls, which is of course forbidden and thus attracts the security guys.
Expo 2020 Jubilee District – Country Pavilions
The Country Pavilions are given in alphabetical order:
Argentina
The Argentina pavilion is quite at the edge of the Jubilee grounds.. The positioning is quite unfortunate, as you are not allowed to pass the (natural grass) grounds of the Jubilee stage. Many visitors might not make it to the Argentina pavilion. The people there are very nice, the show is an all walls and ground projection show like you have it in other pavilions as well. The boat and plane alike design is thereby used for multiple places you visit and is thus popping up several times during the Argentina show. Interesting, even though it is not that special.
Canada
The design of the Canadian pavilion is quite promising, the visit is rather boring, though. Again, they are using a audiovisual show, this time in a flat rouund projection. Not poorly done, but just nothing which strikes other pavilions.
Hungary
The Hungarian pavilion concentrates on water, especially the Hungarian thermal springs. Mainly an advertisement campaign for their touristic sector, but done in an entertaining way. Some information is lacking, e.g. where the thermal pools are located (maybe that would help to think about spending your next vacay in at the Magyars…). Finally, you can “relax in a thermal pool” on your own. Okay, the pool is made of plastic balls – but it is still something you keep in mind – and that’s what it is about when there is an overall of 192 country pavilions. Hungarian food and restaurant (unfortunately with very U.A.E. prices) at the end – definitely a nice place to visit. Köszönom 😉
Panama
While Germans love Panama for a children’s book named after the country, most other people likely think about the Panama Canal first. The Panama pavilion is colorful and show culture as well as nature (and the canal, of course…) – but overall did not catch me that much.
Philippines
The Philippines present themselves with a couple of impressive arts installations and according presentations. The intention behind the items is documented, so that visiting the pavilion is a really interesting experience. Finally, there is a really interesting shop with Philippine products – definitely a place worth visiting in the Jubilee district.
Portugal
The Portuguese pavilion already welcomes you with colorful penguin statues. After the somehow mandatory light show, there are more exhibits, also some cultural historic items and an overview of countries in close relation to Portugal. Finally, there is a store with a nice variety of Portuguese products and a snack bar, which is offering these amazing tarts, the Pasteis de Nata – how could a tour through a country end better? Nicely done place, which should be on your bucket list.
Expo 2020 Jubilee District – Partner Pavilions & Other Places
Jubilee is also home of a couple of sponsor presentation. We just visited the Aquafina one.
Aquafina
The Pepsi water company’s pavilion comes with over 40k drink cans, which form the exterior design of their pavilion. The pavilion itself comes with some information, but is not super-striking. To me, the pavilion comes with the biggest fail of the whole Expo: this is the only place (we found) where you can buy their really nice water bottle with the QR code for their water machines. Unfortunately, they neither advertise it nor they have too many of these water dispensers on the ground (exactly: in the Aquafina pavilion, in the Anif and in the Terra pavilion at our time of visit – not marked in the map). This could have been a great, popular, superb marketing thing – hard to judge why they did not go for it.
Expo Postings
Here are all postings about Expo World Expositions, currently only the 2020 one held in Dubai:
Canada Travel Postings
Here are all my travel postings related to Canada: