Twenty years ago, Dubai was just a desert now it's one of the hottest destinations. Read this itinerary to prepare for your visit.
Dubai has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years thanks to their effective marketing. It's important to note that it is a city and not a country. The country it is in is United Arab Emirates, which is a federation formed of seven emirates or cities. It is an ancient city with deep historical roots, especially in the jewelry industry. It was first settled by nomadic cattle herders, evolved to agricultural use and then grew with fishing and pearling. In the more modern history, Dubai really had a turning point in 1966 with the discovery of oil. This led to the formation of the UAE and the independence of the Persian Gulf from Britain. Dubai played a large part in the Gulf war in the 1990s, but led to stabilization in the area. The global increases in oil prices brought many business to Dubai. Since then they have focused on building projects like the Burj Khalifa and the Palm to entice visitors.
When to visit Dubai?
Unlike Canada with four seasons, Dubai only has two, summer and winter, with an overall hot and arid climate. The best time to visit Dubai is in their winter which falls from November to March. The weather will be more pleasant and it will be easier to spend time outside.
How to get to Dubai?
Dubai is a very easy city to get to and has a large international airport. This is a common city for layovers when flying long distance from west to east or vice versa. The airport is very well signed and you'll have no problem navigating it. They've put a lot of effort into making it easy for tourists, everyone is even handed a free SIM card on arrival.
How to get around Dubai?
We found getting around Dubai to be tricky, and would be my biggest hesitation on recommending it as a place to visit. Accommodations re not cheap, you will rarely find a place under 100$ and if you want to be central it will be more. They do have a public transit system and we were expecting to be able to navigate it all around the city for city seeing. As a city built towards tourism, we expected the transit system to make everything accessible. Unfortunately, we found getting around on transit wasn't that easy.
For example, if you want to visit the Palm, you will most likely have to take multiple methods of transportation and walk a while. When we went to it, we had to take the metro, then a bus and then buy separate tickets for the Tram that functions on the Palm. If you're heading there from another popular destination, say the Burj Khalifa, it would take at least an hour. You would need a metro and a walk or metro, bus and walk, all before getting on the Tram.
If it is in your budget, then I would recommend renting a car for Dubai. The drive from the Burj Khalifa to the Palm is only 20 minutes. You could save a lot of time and confusion by having access to a car. This would also allow you to take a day trip to Abu Dhabi or visit some of the further out places like the Miracle Garden.
Of course, it is possible to use Uber to get rides here. However, you won't be paying 2-3$ like in South East Asia. Expect the rides to be quite pricey, and for the driver to show up in a Lexus or BMW. We did take a taxi one night, after our dinner cruise we got to the metro only to discover it closed before 11pm. This was very surprising for us on a weekend in a popular tourist city. Our less than 30 minute taxi ride cost around 60CAD.
What to do in Dubai?
Day 1: Downtown Dubai
For the first day in Dubai, we recommend taking it easy and hitting up some of the central attractions in the downtown area. If you came here to shop, then you will not be disappointed by the Dubai Mall. Even if you weren't planning on shopping, you need to check this place out! There is an aquarium, indoor fountain, an ice rink and much more.
We highly recommend spending a day in the area, you can visit the Burj Khalifa or admire it from below, watch the marine life at the aquarium, and grab dinner in the food court. After the sun starts to set, the fun really begins. Their water and light show is one of the best we have seen yet. The water show in Dubai is one of the best we've seen yet. The one in Singapore and the wedding Kuala Lumpur are both nice but smaller. The pond that fills the area between the Burj Khalifa, did you buy mall and several luxury hotels and restaurants is large. This means the water show is visible from many areas.
We had originally planned to pay for the Burj Khalifa and visit it. However, once we arrive and read more reviews, especially recent ones, we changed our minds. Several people talked about not only waiting in line to enter it, but waiting 2 to 3 hours to get on the elevator to exit. This was just something that we could not risk while traveling with Kymani.
Day 2: Historic Dubai
Dubai is famous for its souks, or markets. The perfect place to visit them is in the historic old town or Al-Fahidi district. It's quite easy to get here using public transportation and I would recommend going in the early morning before it gets too busy. You can wander through and look at the gold, the textiles, home decorations, spices and more. Shop owners will stand at the doorways and yell for you to come in, they are very friendly and they will not get angry if you do not make a purchase. Feel free to go in and ask questions, try things on and learn about the culture.
After you've explored the old town we recommend hitting up the Arabian tea house for a late breakfast. Compared to many of our meals on this trip it was expensive, however it is not by Dubai standards. They serve many traditional dishes and it is a great way for you to sample Arabian food.
We chose to have one of the breakfast platters, the Egyptian platter, and the waitress reassured us that it was perfect for splitting between two people. It had fresh hummus, cheese and tomato, labneh with honey, falafel, foul (which is kind of like hummus but made with fava beans), french fries and a potato dish. It also came with hot flatbread, it was unlimited and anytime they saw we were getting low they would bring it fresh from the kitchen. They also have an extensive tea menu and after discussing it with the waitress we selected the cinnamon milk tea. That is important to know that their tea is only served by the pot so be prepared to drink a lot or share it.
Day 3: The Palm & Dinner cruise
One of the most iconic places in Dubai is the Palm. This is a man-made archipelago that extends out into the gulf. Can be tricky to get to it as they have their own public transportation system. We were able to take the Metro close to it and then walk to their tram station. Now they're tram is not necessarily cheap but it depends on how far you want to go and how long you will be there. They charge based on how many stops you will go to. So if you only want to visit the first stop and go shopping your ticket will be cheap. However if you want to go all the way to the end to see the Atlantis, it'll be a more expensive ticket. We chose the all-day pass because we wanted to watch the sunset there.
The tram is a nice way to see the palm as it is up on the rails. If you are to take an Uber you do not see the fronds and the shape of the palm the same way as you do when you're in the tram. It's also cool to see some of the attractions from the height, like the water parks, luxury hotels and boat tours.
After enjoying our time at the palm we went to the port to catch our dinner cruise. This was something our hotel said was not to be missed while visiting. You will see an abundance of dinner cruise to choose from, the majority depart the same place and follow the same route. The biggest difference will be the luxury level of the boat and buffet dinner. We enjoyed ours, there was lots of food and traditional entertainment. The view of the skyline at night is really something to experience.
Bonus: Desert Safari
Probably one of the most famous things to do in Dubai is a desert safari. Now you don't need to fall down a loophole of researching which one is the best bang for your buck or has what you want. They are more or less all the same. They will pick you up from your hotel in the city and drive you to a stop, they'll be an opportunity to shop there or to participate in dune bashing (writing an ATV in the desert). Then they will drive you through the desert to a camp where dinner will be served with entertainment. Don't worry if you are traveling with a baby or young children, you can request your driver take a safe route to the camp that does not involve dune bashing in the SUV.
We enjoyed the photo stop in the desert and our guide was happy to help us get some nice family pictures. When we arrived at camp we decided to do a camel ride, it is included but briefly. If you want to pay extra you can and you will get a private tour on the camel that goes further and they'll be more relaxed about taking pictures. When we first showed up, we were amongst the first to get in line for the camel and the guy offered us to do the private ride for a really reasonable price. However we decided we didn't want to spend that extra and we would wait. In a matter of 10 minutes, the price had quadrupled for the private tour. However, if you want to get good photos and not have cars in the background you will want to pay for the private ride. The one that is included in the desert safari they keep going very fast so that everybody can do it. They do not pause for you to take photos nor offer to take any of you.
Dinner is a traditional buffet and you will be called up table by table. They have the men and women enter different quests, however because I was holding Kiki, we were allowed to go together. Once you are seated with your dinner, the traditional shows start. There were belly dancers and a Tanoura dance. The Tanoura dance has roots in Egypt but is popular across many Arab countries. It's hard to post a picture here so make sure you check out the reel on my Instagram!