Dubai 2017. Travel Inspiration.

Dubai is definitely a unique destination of travel. Modern architecture with Burj Khalifa tower dominating the skyline with a beautiful Dubai Fountain at its foot that comes alive every evening and steals the hearts of all tourists and locals. It seems to be always developing, always building something anywhere you look. But if you are looking for a guaranteed sun and warm sea - this is definitely a place to go. I will give you some great money saving tips at the end to help you experience the luxury without overspending.

I would not recommend spending your whole holiday in the city. Where most of the hotels will have a pool, maybe two on their premises walking around from one metro station to another will make you feel like you are in the desert, plus don't forget about the clothes etiquette -  you need to dress modest and when entering malls you will be expected to cover your shoulders and knees. It is much less stressful with the dress-code if you are male, but then you need to be careful with metro - they have women and children only cabins in metro and men often get fines for being in the wrong cabin. Don't think you want surprises like that on your holiday.


Even though Dubai is considered to be a destination for luxury lifestyle, it has much more to offer than you might think.




When to go:

During the colder winter months from December to February the average temperature will be around mid 20 degree Celsius but of course due to being the busiest time to visit the hotel rate will be expected to be high as well. so my advice would be to go either March / April or October /November
when the weather reached +30 degrees and up but it is still bearable to be a tourist and walk around.  Nevertheless if you think you can handle the heat at summer months and +40 and up does not scare you - this will be the cheapest time for hotel room rates, just be ready to jump from air-cons to air-cons on the malls.

Where to go:

Spend most of your holiday next to a beach! Ras Al Khaimah or Jumeirah beach would be my suggestion.

We spent 6 nights at Hilton Al Hamra Beach and Gold Resort and I cannot fault the location. The beach was beautiful, bright and clean. It had several great hotels within walking distance, the sea was the warmest I've ever experienced and I have spent all my days getting a tan on the sun loungers   with occasional dips in the pools or walk to swim in the sea.
Our hotel had several restaurants and bars to dine, but when we wanted we walked down the beach to Waldorf Astoria - which I highly recommend, for an absolutely amazing Arabic cuisine or one of their other 9 restaurants.

Whilst staying in Al Hamra we signed up for a Desert safari  - an experience that I will not soon forget. We were picked up at 3P
M from the hotel and and taken to a camp in the middle of the desert. There you could take a picture with a hawk, ride a camel, roam the desert on a quad-bike, get a henna tattoo and mingle drinking free soft drinks or
Arabic coffee. Shortly after our arrival we got into cars and our drivers took us on our Safari.
We had the craziest driver ever, in a good way, who was not afraid to out his foot down and give us a brilliant experience in Dune Bashing - fasten your seat belts is not a joke. With the sounds of Arabian music blasting from his speakers and car flying up and down the sand dunes my stomach felt like giving up a few times but we arrived at the photo location just in time for the drivers to cool down their engines and for me too calm down my stomach. There we had a chance to take stunning pictures of the sunset in the desert and of course feel like a total princess of the desert running up and down the endless sand dunes.

After our free-roam in the desert we arrived back at the camp where we appreciated a cold drink and sat down at our tables to watch the show and have dinner in the traditional style. Belly-dancers, traditional dances and fire shows all were a great addition to our Arabian Night experience and I would do it all again.
The only thing I did not do at the camp was the henna tattoo. I have no problem with tattoos and I have a few myself but I did see way too many stories of people being allergic to the henna ink and having a permanent burn on their skin so it was not a risk I was willing to take, although I did see a lot of people doing it.
After that we were taken back to the hotel where we had a drink and went to bed after a very long day.

After our 6 nights on the beach we went to stay in the city - DoubleTree By Hilton right next to The Mall Of Emirates. On the first day we headed to the highest observation decks - Burj Khalifa, got up to level 124 and 125. At there you could see the whole city and it is a must do when you visit Dubai. You could get a photo with a green screen background where they out you in a few backgrounds for you to purchase if you want to. They also have a penny press machine and you can get your elongated penny made for 10 AED which I was very excited about. We wandered

around the Dubai Mall until it was time for the fountains to come alive. I could not believe how beautiful the fountains were, I had to ask my partner to watch it 3 more times before we went home. Every half an hour they played a different song and the fountains danced to it like ballerinas on the water. This jut might be my favorite part of the city holiday - just sitting on the bench watching the fountains dance.

On the second day we went to the Atlantis Waterpark - I could not believe how big that place was. I was quite keen on buying the tickets with the Aquarium entry but my partner told me that it is better to get just the waterpark entry, and where you would probably think - well that is mean - he was
absolutely right in saying so. We have spent the whole day until closure in the Atlantis and still did not finish all the rides! The lazy river goes on for miles and you really do need another day to to the lost chambers Aquarium.

On our last day before going home we went to the Jumeirah beach  to embrace all the sun we can before it was time to go home. Where the beach was free, there were so many thing that you had to pay for to enjoy, but we were clever about it and brought everything we needed to enjoy our beach break without spending money.



Bucket List Ticked This Holiday:

Get to the top of Burj Khalifa ✔
Ride a camel ✔
Build a sandcastle on Jumeirah beach ✔
Belly dance in a middle of a desert ✔
Watch the Dancing Fountains ✔
Bring back great memories ✔

Money Saving Tips:

Take your own towels everywhere!
Whether it is Atlantis Waterpark Or just Jumeirah Beach they will charge you for towel rent 40 AED if you forgot to take your towel with you and it might not be a lot, 10£ here and there for the family will round up in a pretty penny. Plus grab just one locker in the Atlantis water park and out all your belongings together - because you need to pay for that as well.

Careful where you suntan!
Where all hotels in Ras had their own loungers by the sea and you could use them as you please, at Jumeirah beach they asked you to pay 200AED to rent the sun lounger. Trust me your experience will not be any different of you grab your own towel or something to lay on on the beach and you will save yourself money.

Pre-Book all your tickets!
Online purchased tickets for Burj Khalifa and Atlantis were a lot cheaper than those purchased on the spot. Plus you avoiding the chaos of queues at the Burj Khalifa if you purchase "skip the line" tickets, because queues are endless. Waterpark is the same, I wished we had skip the line tickets there because the coolest and fastest rides seemed to have endless queues. But is it up to you whether to go standard tickets and save money or go skip the lines and have a better experience.

Try to get the price down at any souvenir shops!
The same items will cost different depending on the location and time of the day. Two different shops were selling the same item to us on for 250AED teh other for 70AED, but we got it down to 40EAD in the last one so it proves that realistically it is not even that pricey but until people will be willing to spend money whey will put high prices.

Get taxis on the meter!
Of course it is sometimes easier to get the hotel to organize your taxi, but we found that taxi on the meters end up costing much less and they do have comfortable air-conditioning so don't worry about being too hot.

Overall I did enjoy my first trip to Dubai and I would definitelly go back there again, not so much for the cultural trip but at some point on a cold Autumn when I will start craving the sun and the sea.