When my suggestion to go on a cruise for our 2018 vacation flopped with my husband, he started thinking “where is someplace warm we could go?” (We live in Utah and were planning a trip for chilly November) Along those lines, he started Googling places that have deserts (because deserts are warm, right?).
I was still fuming from his rejection of a cruise when he asked, “What about Dubai?”
“What do you even do in Dubai?” I shot back, still angry.
He turned his phone around. In that moment, I was sold.
Our trip was once-in-a-lifetime, the way only Dubai can be with all its fantastic superlatives, like “tallest,” “biggest,” “newest,” and so forth.
Getting there.
- I highly recommend flying via Emirates, the official airline of the UAE. They have amazing food options, comfy seats, great amenities included with your flight, and tons of FREE entertainment options, which is important on 14-hour flights.
- At the Dubai airport, DO NOT follow anyone into the parking structure who says they’re a “Taxi.” We accidentally did this and paid 4x-5x the going rate for the length of trip to our hotel.
Where to stay.
- Dubai is HUGE. It’s one “city,” but it takes over 30 minutes at freeway speeds to traverse the length of it. Accordingly, map out where the activities are you want to do, and look for hotels closest to those. We stayed downtown (close to the Dubai Mall) and that worked out pretty well given our itinerary. The other main area for hotels is the Dubai Marina, down south.
- Upgrades can be worth it! At check-in, we were asked if we wanted to get an upgrade to include breakfast with our room, which I declined, then they offered breakfast and a room upgrade for less than the original upgrade cost–we ended up on the 63rd floor with the best view (see below). And that free breakfast we ended up using every day and saving money on meals, too.
Getting around.
- The above-ground trains are decently inexpensive and hit a lot of major landmarks. I’d use them whenever you can.
- We also got a hop-on hop-off bus tour ticket that let you traverse more of the city. It was good both for interesting local information, but also as transportation around town.
- Our biggest means of transportation was Uber, and occasionally taxis. Concerning the latter: always, always, ALWAYS use the taxis that are labeled as such. There are private taxis that look like normal cars and have meters, but they charge a TON more. Just use the regular taxis. I cannot stress this enough.
Things to do.
There are a TON of things to do, but these are the ones we did that I have specific tips for. Do your research and tailor your trip to you! And if you do any of the below, keep these things in mind:
- Burj Khalifa. The entrance to the elevator is inside the Dubai Mall, so don’t run around the outside of the building like my husband and I did, ha! Also, get dinner on the mall walk and enjoy the different lights and fountain shows–there’s more than one that runs at a time! We sat having dinner for a couple of hours and it only just started repeating towards the end of our time there.
- Ski Dubai. This was a fun place, but we had a few issues:
- Most tickets don’t actually include skiing! Double check when you get there that you have skiing included if that’s what you want to do there
- There are a few Ski/Fly ticket packages out there. The iFly is NOT at the same location as the indoor skydiving, so don’t expect to do them at the same time.
- We did have a GREAT time with the penguin encounter. Would highly recommend.
- Dubai Aquarium. This is ALSO inside the Dubai Mall! (We ended up there quite a lot.) Our tickets included a behind-the-scenes tour of how the aquarium operates and a ride in the glass bottom boat. I don’t necessarily recommend those, but I DO recommend upgrading your tickets to do an animal encounter. We fed the King Crocodiles, and it was an EXPERIENCE. And at 50 AED a person, it’s a steal for what you get.
- Safari. This was my FAVORITE night. We rode camels, had an authentic Arabian dinner, a falconry demonstration, henna tattoo, and so much more. It was a wonderful cultural experience. Biggest tip here: don’t book a package to stay the night. The rooms are basic, no air conditioning, and small. For the price, it simply isn’t worth it. Just go back to your hotel after!
- Seaplane flight. My husband is a big aviation fan, so we planned a short seaplane flight, which ended up canceled due to weather. We attempted to reschedule but couldn’t fit it in on another day. (Can you believe it RAINED while we were there? It only does that 5 days a year!)
Food.
- My husband is vegan, so I made a large list of places with vegan options for him before we went. The one time he went off-list was a distaster. Yes, there are vegan options out there (Matt’s favorite was Bareburger, mine was Zaroob), but it’s still a new thing for Dubai.
- After a week in Dubai and trying very hard to eat local, I was craving American food–luckily, if that’s what you’re into, there are a TON of western options. I saw everything from Baskin Robbins to Johnny Rockets to Starbucks to Auntie Annie’s.
Other tips.
- Shisha. In Dubai, it’s very common to find people smoking something called “Shisha” via a water pipe. Spoiler alert: it’s a form of tobacco (and not harmless). My biggest problem was the smell. It’s not like cigarettes and instantly made me nauseated anytime I smelled it.
- Time difference. My husband and I struggled with this the entire time we were there–Dubai is +12 from our home. The one bonus was by waking up early (think 5am), we could get ready for the day, call home, and take an easy morning. We did take a lot of naps, which I think hurt us more than helped in the end.
Have you taken a trip to Dubai? What tips do you have for those planning a trip there? Leave your comments below!