Top 7 tips for a trip to Dubai

I recently travelled to Dubai together with my friend Jini. We visited our friends Jigna and Ed, who moved there a couple of years ago. This was not only my first ever trip to the UAE (a layover in Abu Dhabi airport excluded), but also my first trip abroad in nearly two years (my trips in England and Greece excluded). Since I can now work from anywhere in the world, I stayed in Dubai for a total of 3 weeks, combing 2 weeks of holidays with 1 week of work. It’s now been 3 weeks since I returned to London, and it’s about time to share my top 7 tips.

Tip 1: Explore Bur Dubai and Deira

Bur Dubai is a historic district located on the western side of the Dubai Creek. You can get there by metro (Al Ghubaiba station), or even better by ferry boat (a catamaran to be precise) from the Dubai Marina Mall (2 hours) or the Dubai Canal (1 hour). If you have time, I would strongly recommend you take the boat from the Dubai Marina Mall, as the journey along the coastline offers unique views of some of the most iconic landmarks of the city: the Atlantis Hotel at the Palm Jumeirah, the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

From Al Shindagha to the Al Fahidi Historical District (Al Bastakiya)

Once you arrive at Bur Dubai, you can walk along the Creek towards the Al Shindagha and then towards the Al Fahidi Historical District (also known as Al Bastakiya). The Al Ghubaiba metro and ferry stations are between the two historic districts. There are quite a few museums in the area, including the Dubai Museum (which was closed at the time of my visit) and the much smaller Coffee Museum (in the heart of Al Fahidi).

Around the corner from the latter, there’s a lovely cafe, where I had traditional Arabic coffee served with dates.

There are also galleries, such as the Majlis Gallery and the XVA Gallery. The latter is located in the XVA Art Hotel, which is also home to a courtyard cafe-restaurant, perfect for breakfast or lunch.

If you’d like to try traditional Emirati dishes, then head to the nearby Arabian Tea House Restaurant & Cafe. Jini and I shared raqaq (traditional bread), chicken majboos or machboos (spicy casserole with rice) and saloona chicken (in a tomato-based stew).

Meena Bazar and Deira

Alternatively, you can head to Meena Bazar, home to many Indian shops and restaurants. I had an excellent meal (a thali, a cup of chai and dessert) at Sampoorna, which cost me about £5 (by far the cheapest meal I had in UAE).

From Bur Dubai, you can take the abra boat to Deira, on the opposite side of the Creek. Here you will find many souks, including the famous Gold Souq and the Spice Souq.

Tip 2: Visit Madinat Jumeirah

If you want to get closer to the Burj Al Arab, then head to Madinat Jumeirah, home to hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. I had a coffee at Street Diversions, overlooking the sail-shaped landmark, and brunch at the Folly, overlooking the sand-coloured wind towers.

Perhaps it’s now time to explain what Dubai expats mean when they say ‘brunch’. Certainly not a light/healthy meal to be consumed late morning/early afternoon. Brunch in Dubai is more of a feast that usually comes at a fixed price and includes an unlimited amount of alcoholic drinks and food. Brunch takes place on a Friday or Saturday afternoon (the weekend used to be Friday and Saturday up until this year). As Friday is now only half a workday, I don’t think that much will change when it comes to brunch.

The easiest way to get to Madinat Jumeirah is by taxi, as there’s no metro or tram station within walking distance.

Tip 3: Visit Alserkal Avenue

Al Quoz is located roughly between Dubai Downtown and the Dubai Marina, and consists of a residential area and an industrial area. The latter is home to Alserkal Avenue.

Originally an industrial area, Alserkal Avenue is now a creative hub home to leading art galleries, housed in the former warehouses. Among the galleries, there’s also Cinema Akil, showing arthouse and indie films, and many cafes, such as Pekoe and Nightjar.

Opposite Alserkal Avenue, there’s the Courtyard, another creative hub well worth a visit. Casette (in the Courtyard) and Tom & Serg (a couple of minutes away) are two lovely cafes, perfect for breakfast or a light lunch.

The easiest way to get there is by taxi, or alternatively you can take the metro to Al Safe station. From there, it’s a 20-25 minute walk, through the industrial area.

Tip 4: Enjoy a Dubai Fountain performance

The Dubai Fountain is located in a manmade lake between the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai. The fountain is illuminated by thousands of lights and animated with performances set to light and music, against a backdrop of the tallest building in the world. Performances take place every half an hour each evening.

You can combine your visit to the fountain with a walk through Dubai Mall, the second-largest mall in the world. Right next to the Mall, there’s Souk Al Bahar, home to Time Out Market Dubai, a food court where you can try food from around the world.

You can easily get there by metro (Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station).

Tip 5: Enjoy a pool day at the Dubai Marina

Dubai’s warm and dry climate makes it an ideal destination for soaking up the sun. It therefore comes as a little surprise that swimming pools abound. Some hotels, such as the Intercontinental Dubai Marina, offer non-residents free access to the pool area, for a minimum consumption of food and beverages.

However, the city has much more to offer than chilling days by the pool. In fact, Dubai is famous for its daytime pool parties. Entry to these parties comes at a fixed price that also includes unlimited drinks and food and is usually cheaper for ladies, teachers and cabin crew. I went to the infamous Zero Gravity, where the poolside party starts at 1 pm on Fridays and lasts until the early evening.

Tip 6: Visit the Museum of the Future

The Museum of the Future opened its doors just a couple of days before I visited Dubai, on the 22nd of February 2022, a couple of months after the UAE celebrated its 50th anniversary. Advertised as ‘The Most Beautiful Building On Earth’, the museum is housed in an elliptical ring-shaped building in Dubai’s financial district, a few minutes’ walk from the Emirates Towers station. Although it is far from being a part of the city’s skyline (it is only 77-metre or 7-storey tall), it is certainly a memorable building thanks to both its unique shape and its facade. The latter is a canvas for the quotes of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum rendered in the calligraphy of Mattar bin Lahej.

As the name suggests, and despite the rich cultural heritage of the UAE, the Museum of the Future is not about the past or the history. According to the museum website, visitors can ‘go on a journey through possible futures and bring hope and knowledge back to the present’. I did not get the chance to visit the museum, but this is certainly something I’m planning to do… in the future.

Tip 7: Take a day trip to Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, the capital and second-most populous city of the UAE is about an hour’s drive from Dubai and well worth a visit. There are two main attractions, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Louvre. The former, completed in 2007, is the largest mosque in the country. The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated a decade later, in 2017. Located on Saadiyat Island, it features historical exhibits from all over the world, as well as artworks by Mondrian, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso. Branded as ‘a mindful museum’, the Louvre also hosts yoga classes. Last, there’s also the option of a tour around the museum on a kayak.

How to get to Dubai

Dubai International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, as well as the world’s busiest by international passenger traffic. Terminal 3 is the largest airport terminal in the world and is used by Emirates (the largest and one of the two flag carriers of the UAE) and flydubai (a government-owned low-cost airline). The former operates in more than 150 cities in 80 countries on 6 continents, whereas the latter operates a total of 95 destinations in Asia, Europe and Africa.

When and how long to visit

According to my friend Jigna, it is best to visit Dubai either in the early spring or in the late autumn. When I visited (in March 2022), the temperature was mostly in the mid-20s, although there were a couple of days that it was well above 30 degrees Celsius.

I would recommend staying in Dubai for at least a week, which will be sufficient to follow my tips.

Where to stay

If you don’t have a friend to stay with, no need to worry. Dubai is certainly not short of hotels. I would recommend you stay at the Dubai Marina, as it allows you relatively easy and quick access to all the places mentioned above. Furthermore, the marina is a very pleasant place to walk around and is full of cafes and restaurants. In fact, I was a regular at Cafe Bateel.

Further reading

To prepare for my trip to UAE, I used the Lonely Planet Pocket Dubai.

Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

Ibn Battuta

Alex

(the Traveling Psychiatrist)