Dubai trip

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Wannaretireearly
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Dubai trip

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Going to be Dubai for 6 nights - staying at the Atlantis hotel in Dec.
With 2 kids, 4 & 6.

First time to Dubai...would love to hear stories & hidden gems re: places to eat and things to see...

Many thanks.
WRE
“At some point you are trading time you will never get back for money you will never spend.“ | “How do you want to spend the best remaining year of your life?“
dgdevil
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by dgdevil »

I went there on a mileage run a few years ago, and was pleasantly surprised.

Dubai is described as Singapore meets Vegas - which is my idea of exponential hell. But it's actually pretty cool. You have enough time to grab a rental car - very easy but get GPS, pop over to Abu Dhabi for a quick look (not a helluva lot there), then head out to Al Ain where your kids will like the zoo and camel market. You could even overnight at nearby Jebel Hafeet mountain.

Separately, you could also do a day trip up into Oman's Musandam region for a nice day out on the water swimming and watching dolphins, though it's an early start and maybe best started after reaching Musandam the day before.

Dubai itself obviously has the huge mall overlooked by the Burj Khalifa - one of the tallest buildings in the world. You can go to the top - but I estimated you're only about two-thirds of the way up, so it's a bit of a scam and certainly not worthy of being called "At the Top." Best to buy your timed ticket a few days ahead. If culturally motivated, there are various tours of mosques/eateries and Q&As with local women (mine was a Brit who married a local) about life as a Muslim. Food is obviously great.

BTW, you won't actually meet (m)any locals. Everyone is a foreign worker - Filipinos, south Asians - and all wonderful people. Taxi drivers are also friendly and honest. Can't believe I am saying this, but tip generously. They send all their money back to their families in Pakistan/Banglasdesh, etc., and live in terrible conditions. Metro train is also very efficient, as you'd expect. B.O. is an issue.
bigred77
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by bigred77 »

I had a great trip there a few years ago.

I would not rent a car. Taxi's are dirt cheap and the roads there are pretty agressive. You can go ANYWHERE is Dubai for less than 20 -25 dollars US in a taxi.

I reccomend:
The "Old City" Souks. I bought quite a bit of gold jewlery for family. Much better prices than the "new" souks in the mall.
Jumeirah Beach was very nice but its a maze of giant residential buildings to get to the water.
We really enjoyed the Marina area where you can walk, shop, eat, people watch, etc. A lot of pretty cool yachts.

Probably the highlight of our trip was a desert tour (booked through the hotel). We were picked up at the hotel in a private car and taken out to the desert sand dunes. We drove 4 wheelers around the dunes for a while. Then they deflated the tires in a 4WD Jeep and drove us slipping and sliding around the dunes and mountains to their base camp. We rode camels, snowboarded down sand dunes, ate a nicely prepared dinner, smoked hookah, and then they put on a show with belly dancers. It was affordable and I think it would make a great activity if your bringing kids.

Take note that they do not eat on the same schedule of the US. It was hard for us to find a place to have lunch anytime around noon. They eat much later. Also, dinner is usually much later as well (at least 9-10pm, if not later).

I found the city very clean and all the people very nice. Almost everyone spoke english.
barnaclebob
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by barnaclebob »

Definitely recommend the dessert tour. I was surprised by the good service everywhere, made me edgy that I was always walking into somewhere where I was going to pay way more than I wanted to.
retired recently
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by retired recently »

I have been there a few times but last trip was probably 7-8 years ago. At the time, I enjoyed the Wild Wadi water park which is right by the Burj Al Arab (hotel which looks like a sailboat). They have several malls which are interesting just to walk around in. My wife and I really enjoyed Dubai the times we were there.

Look on tripadvisor for suggestions...
Topic Author
Wannaretireearly
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Thanks all - how much should a cab ride cost from the airport to the palm/atlantis?
Is it worth booking transfers in advance? They seem expensive at $100 each way..
“At some point you are trading time you will never get back for money you will never spend.“ | “How do you want to spend the best remaining year of your life?“
dgdevil
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by dgdevil »

Sounds excessive. Hotel-arranged transport is always a scam. Just call the hotel now and ask how much a taxi normally costs, or maybe someone mentioned it on the TA hotel review.

PS looks like about USD 27 via taxi (as of 2011) per this random google search:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... Dubai.html
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LadyGeek
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (travel).
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bodominiums
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by bodominiums »

Dubai is like disneyland. Or Vegas without gambling. It's as artificial as you can imagine. But it's also a great place to visit. And they love children there.

Dubai has some of the world's most interesting food, as people from all over the world live there. There is a NORTH Korean restaurant in Deira, near the airport. The staff (who are indeed from North Korea) do song and dance routines.

Brunch at a five-star hotel is de rigeur on Friday afternoons. (The weekend is friday and saturday there) Time Out Dubai has lots of listings and various price ranges. The fancy ones can get expensive, but generally they'll run $50-$100 per adult including free flowing (alcoholic) drinks. Hotels compete on the elegance and ridiculousness of their buffets.

The Park Hyatt (also by the airport) has a fabulous brunch deal at their Thai restaurant, which I think is the best Thai I've ever had outside Thailand. (and I lived in Bangkok for four years).

If you are into Indian food then Dubai is a paradise. I'm a huge fan of Sangeetha, which is a chain of Indian vegetarian restaurants. It's dirt cheap (the thali special is around $4) and is amazingly tasty. I always went to the one near the al-ghubaiba bus station (and metro stop) but they are numerous.

The hole-in-the-wall bread ovens in the older neighborhoods like Deira are also a must-try in my mind. Hot chewy flatbread (naan) right out of the oven for $0.25 each simply cannot be beat. And you'll see some real people living their real lives while you wait in line. You're only a mile from Sheikh Zayed Road but the vibe is completely different.

Taxis in DXB are cheap. really cheap. And the metro is a great option too. You should be able to get pretty much anywhere in town for less than $20. Get cash at an ATM. The exchnage rate is fixed at roughtly AED 3.67 to $1 usd; Get out an odd amount of money (AED 900 / 1900) if you can do tht you have smaller bills. Breaking an aed500 bill in a less fancy part of town (or in a taxi) can be problematic.

BTW, A taxi to Abu Dhabi, around 100 miles away, is about $100 / AED 400. Speaking of Abu Dhabi, Ferrari World, the world's largest indoor amusement park, with the world's fastest roller coaster, is about an hour's drive from your hotel on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. That's probably $75 / AED 300 given the distance (maybe 60 miles door to door).

The Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building) is worth going to the top. I understand they've installed a new observation deck even higher than the old one. One trick we use is to go to the bar at the atmosphere restaurant around mid-afternoon. You need to make a reservation, but it's free as long as you spend some money on food and drinks. Otherwise, the observation deck ( 2 floors up) can run $40 - $100 per person.

The Burj Khalifa is attached to Dubai Mall, allegedly the world's largest. It has a huge aquarium (worth seeing) and the basement is full of food options, including numerous U.S. chain options if the kids get tired of the more adventurous options.

The weather in December is likely to be fabulous - in the 80s during the day, sunny and dry. Perhaps a bit chilly to swim in the Persian Gulf, but pretty much perfect in my mind.
4stripes
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by 4stripes »

Book Burj Khalifa online at least two weeks ahead.

Wander around the mall near Burj for a day or two.

Always do cabs. They are minimum 10AED. Hotel arranged service is 5x to 8x that. I didn't have a problem with any cab. They didn't seem to expect tips, I'm not really sure the protocol on that. 10% is probably enough.

The metro was immaculate and easy to ride as well. It's worth it to buy the gold pass to ride in the gold cars.
Topic Author
Wannaretireearly
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Bump! Thanks to all the responses
Leaving in 2 weeks, anyone else wanna share their experience?
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“At some point you are trading time you will never get back for money you will never spend.“ | “How do you want to spend the best remaining year of your life?“
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Aptenodytes
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Re: Dubai trip

Post by Aptenodytes »

Wannaretireearly wrote:Thanks all - how much should a cab ride cost from the airport to the palm/atlantis?
Is it worth booking transfers in advance? They seem expensive at $100 each way..
The term of art in requesting a taxi is to ask for a "Dubai metered taxi." The airport trip should be closer to $25. If you know what the fare would be for a metered taxi sometimes the unmetered cars will match it, but you have to know what to ask. Two weeks ago I was looking for a metered cab to go from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, which is normally around 300 Dirhams. I turned down a request from an unmetered Lexus (they charge more like 600) but he offered to go for 300 so I went with him.

There are loads of taxis in Dubai and no need to book in advance. When other people make my arrangements and set up car service in advance, about 2/3 of the time it ends up being less convenient than a taxi because you have to locate the assigned driver rather than jump in a cab. In some places that hassle is worthwhile for safety / scam-prevention reasons, but not Dubai.

If you are going to be taking lots of taxis you may want to investigate smart phone apps that are supposed to help -- I haven't used them but the locals say they are helpful.
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