Dubai, the concrete emirate on steroids in the United Arab Emirates, tends to get stretched out into 24, 48, 96 hours or longer when it comes to travel advice. In a city where everything is larger than normal (even the most inconsequential buildings seem 3 times the size required), why not do the opposite.
Overload your senses before you arrive in Dubai, only to have them shocked again on your 24, 48 hour, or however-long trip to the city that sees over 10 million tourists each year.
Really Big Buildings
Every piece of modern architecture in Dubai seems like it was built with the express purpose of outdoing another (now former) Dubai wonder. For many, the first image to come to mind is the Burj Al Arab – that iconic sailboat overlooking the popular Jumierah beach. Under the imposing luxury of the Burj Al Arab you can surf, get a tan, or simply relax from the steel intensity you tend to find everywhere else.
Dubai Beachwear For Women – Ladies, bikinis and swimsuits are acceptable when laying out to get a tan; however when up and about on the beach a sarong wrapped to cover top and bottom was the norm. (Gourmantic has good information on what to wear for women visiting Dubai.) I also wouldn’t recommend getting romantic in public if you know what I mean.
The Wild Wadi Water Park also happens to be right next to the Jumierah Hotel, of which I inadvertently got an extensive tour of. Having to use the bathroom somewhere, they let me in and a worker escorted me to the toilets on the other side of the park. The way back took around an hour though, as I got an unexpected (yet detailed) tour of over-the-top park by an employee who wasn’t too keen on getting back to work.
I never went in the Burj Al Arab myself; the least expensive way to visit (you must have an invitation) being to book a reservation at one of the hotel restaurants. Spending $50 for a cup of coffee to see a hotel I wouldn’t pay $1,100 a night to stay in didn’t appeal to me personally; though not to put you off, those of you interested will need to book any restaurant reservations an average of 5 days in advance.
The World’s Tallest Building (Soon To Be Third)
Although the Burj Al Arab might be the most famous building in Dubai, right across from the Address Downtown Building and the popular Dubai Mall, is the world’s largest building. The Burj Khalifa stands 828 meters (~2,700 feet) and there is a 3-5 day wait to get entry tickets. It costs about $50 to reach the top of the world’s largest building – a distinction that the Burj Khalifa won’t have for long. Kuwait is currently building the 1,001m Madinat al-Hareer and the Saudi’s plan to beat that several years later with the proposed 1,600m Mile-High Tower.
The park (yes, it’s concrete too) surrounding the Burj Khalifa, next to Dubai Mall, is full of bustling cafes active well into the weekend nights, with the occasional concert or other free event popping up as well.
Travelers with children might also want to check out the aquarium in Dubai Mall which has a number of hands on displays and plenty of sharks up close to keep things interesting.
Take A Ride To Dubai’s Spice Souk
Not quite as built up or obviously in a modern facade as Doha, Qatar’s Souk Waqif, Dubai’s Spice Souq comes as a refreshing reminder that there are layers of reality under the constructed tourism industry all around.
The shopkeepers were fairly subdued with the occasional “yes, please” you’ll find in this part of the world, and although the prices are hardly bargains, the boat ride over for the ambiance more than makes the trip worthwhile.
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Stuff Yourself Before You Digest
Dubai is a destination that comes at you…and fast. Literally a city designed for tourism from the bottom up, it has every tourist draw in abundance. Shopping in gold souks new and old, any cuisine on Earth, and adventure that lets you shoot desert sand into the skies with 4x4s of all shape and size. Dubai has it for you – pardon the cliche, but most of the tourist infrastructure is created to keep the city running on tourism. In fact, that’s why Dubai is there in a sense, to let you shop and drop while supporting its economy as it moves away from dwindling oil reserves.
Dubai really does seem like a whole other world! I would love to go there for a few days or as an extended stop over for sure!
It is something like another planet…very reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers with everything jumbo-sized.
Extreme heat puts me off going to Dubai but you still make it sound interesting. I guess I could always go skiing to cool off.
The weather though is quite nice in winter. When I was there (January I think) is was a mild 22-24C (~74F). Indoor skiing though, now that’s a wild concept, though not sure it could compare to the Rockies 😉
I can definitely recommend the interior of the Burj Al Arab. Cavernous and beautiful. I was fortunate to be able have an amazing dinner at the rooftop restaurant, with stunning views of Dubai (and a whole lot of construction cranes).
Hi Joel, I will definitely keep that in mind when I’m back there. Any restaurant recommendations?
I wish I had some. It was all for business, so it was arranged by our hosts. Wonderful meals the entire time, but I have to admit I didn’t pay attention to where exactly we were eating (outside of the Burj, of course). At any rate, I don’t think there was a single meal I could afford on my own dime on a return visit!
I find Dubai completely bizarre – but becoming more curious about it.
I remember the Gourmantic article. Really good. From the amount of bodies we see waddling around on the beaches of Turkey on an annual basis, I wish your Dubai beachwear advice was enforced here, too! 🙂
Julia
I imagine Dubai as being built by a big kid constantly trying out different eccentric designs. A fun place though and the international food is amazing as well like Bahrain and Qatar. I think you would like the craziness of Dubai 🙂
That seals it for me – I don’t really have a need to ever see Dubai. The idea of constructed for tourism gives me flashbacks of Disney and I certainly have no interest in a concrete tourist ‘park’. I flew over the top of it this winter when I had a layover there – and I think that will be good enough for me!
haha, maybe good for a long layover…though the airport does have free wi-fi…tempting to resist. Well, probably for people like you and I!
Actually – only part of the Dubai airport has wifi. I flew FlyDubai, a budget carrier, this winter with a layover there in their budget terminal – I think it was terminal #2 and it was HORRIBLE! One of the worst terminals I’ve ever been in. 3 plugs for charging in the whole place, no wifi, and 2 choices of food – McDonald’s and a Chinese place…and a coffee shop. It was a huge disappointment as I know the rest of the Dubai terminals are stellar!
Ah, didn’t know that. Yes, the rest of the airport though is pretty fancy with little parks inside even 🙂 Though I did find it strange that the lounges (~$40) didn’t have wifi but everywhere else in the terminal did.
Yep…when people ask me my least favorite place on my RTW trip, I always say Dubai. I didn’t hate it, but it was like nowhere else. The only ‘locals’ I got to know were an expat Pakistani family. It was impossible to get around as a budget traveler (the monorail was just being built). It is not a ‘walking city’. It seemed to lack a heart and soul. And exactly like you said, i’ve said it seems like every building was trying to outdo the last one–making for an enormous, over the top, yet VERY incohesive landscape. I love cities and buildings and architecture, but this was just all too much. No cohesive design.
I am glad I went and saw it, but the sheer greed there and unfairness to workers really gave me a bad feeling there.
Lisa
That’s actually one thing I was quite surprised about – the lack of good public transportation. Like you mention, getting around right now is mainly by taxi.
If the Dubai airport is anything to go by- then I must agree Dubai is a spectacular place! Loved all the pics and it makes me want to stop over next time and REALLY visit- plus meet some friends who are living there now.
I think it makes a great layover city but if you have friends living there a good excuse for an even longer stay 🙂
Dubai was a surreal experience for me. I was there for a weekend lay-over. It was fun but have no desire to return.
I wonder if they’re going to connect that metro system with the airport into town…would make those layovers in Dubai even easier 🙂
I loved Dubai and can’t wait to go back! We didn’t make it to the spice souk last time, although we went to the other souks. I must remember to take a boat ride!
After the boat ride back, a short walk right from the harbor are some good places to eat and drink tea by the water next time you make it Dubai 🙂
And thank you for the shoutout 🙂
You’re very welcome!
Never been to Dubai, would love to see it someday, but I’m also curious what will happen to all the countries and cities in that area after the oil runs out. Will they still be able to support this “manufactured” tourism?
Dubai is certainly trying its best. I think with the shopping industry and business roots its founded, chances look good. I’m not as sure if Qatar will be as successful, although it’s got that huge World Cup boost coming up…
It’s true, about the World Cup, but I don’t think the publicity will be that good if they will arrest people for kissing on the street 😀
Dubai just seems like an excellent place to visit with all the things for both adults and children to do. I cant believe that they actually have an aquarium in the mall. The buildings there are simply amazing.
That mall even has a full ice skating rink!
Never been to Dubai yet, but chances are my wife and I will visit it in the near future – my wife’s sister will move to Dubai for the next few years, which means we won’t have to worry about accommodation.
In fact, if it wasn’t for that, I guess we wouldn’t be very keen to see Dubai anytime soon – the financial aspect being, obviously, the main reason.
Other than that, I think Dubai is worth visiting if you have enough budget, even if everything there was designed/built for tourism – in fact, I am quite curious about that: besides the man-made attractions, are there any natural attractions in Dubai worth mentioning?
Finding budget accommodations in Dubai isn’t easy – or rather “budget” is a relative term, especially there 🙂 Good thing you’ve got a place to stay!
Natural attractions near the city? There is the coast and the tours out to the sand dunes which are quite popular; although it’s mostly a concrete paradise.
Dubai seems to be like a Disneyland for adults. I would like to visit the city, eventhough if only to see those huge buildings. I imagine it like a Singapore on steroids.
‘Disneyland for adults’ – haha, love the description 🙂
Been there and Singapore on steroids hits it right=)