Hong Kong
A harbour, a tram line and a mountain in one skyline — one stop via Dubai.
Hong Kong stacks more city into less ground than anywhere else we fly. A working harbour at the bottom, a funicular that has climbed the same gradient since 1888, and above all of it a peak that is somehow still forest.
Nearly eighteen hours with a change in Dubai — the honest price of the distance. The board scores that whole itinerary at its worst point rather than at the pleasant end, so the figure you see already includes the stop.