Another destination, that I always tried to avoid. The mecca of mass tourism, pulling travelers into the void of luxurious hotels, credit card wonderland, and bragging with record breaking architecture. There’s just no stop for the imagination and budget of creating a new modern world. Dubai is different, Dubai is big, Dubai is rich, … so was it really that bad for someone who seeks the simple and authentic travel experience?
How did we ended up in Dubai by the way? We only had a week off in April for the Easter holidays. Still many countries didn’t make it easy to enter their country, with covid-testing, PLF forms… we wanted a hassle free one week holiday, with pleasant weather conditions. The price for the flight tickets, were among the cheapest we had found, so we told ourselves “Why not?”. Initially we would have loved to witness the World Exposition that took place in Dubai, as it seemed to be something out of this world. Once again, there was no limit in creativity and hi-tech, for Dubai’s world expo. However we just missed it, as we were too late by only a few days.
Do you really need to visit Dubai ?
In short…. No. Definitely not. Was it that bad? No it was alright.
Let’s make it super easy, with a pros and cons:
(-) it’s really expensive
(-) Dubai is huge, it takes time to move from A to B
(-) Emiratis are hard to meet & find
(-) No bars.. only in Hotels or at the beach.
(+) the weather is always great
(+) you get all kind of food, everywhere
(+) shopping, shopping, shopping
(+) you can easily stay a week in Dubai, without getting bored
Yeah, you need a well packed wallet to enjoy Dubai. Taxis aren’t that cheap, as you usually spend 20-30 minutes to reach your destination. Dubai is huge indeed. Prior the trip, I expected the size of Vegas, just a main road, surrounded by hotels and shopping malls. But no, I was so wrong. From our hotel at Jumeira Beach to the Dubai Mall, we needed at least 25 minutes by train & walking. Because of the traffic and redlights, it would have taken us easily 15-20 minutes by car.
When you’ve made it to the Emirates, you expect to get a full blast of arabic culture. Sadly the only experience you get is paying for the experience. Buying arabic fragrances, fashion accessories, or arabic food…nothing comes for free. And you hardly ever bump into Emiratis. The employes that will serve you or offer you any service, will 99.9% be an immigrant, mostly form asian or african countries. It was fascinating to see, how many people were from Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka. Don’t get me wrong! There’s nothing to complaing about that… however if you visit Italy, you expect to meet Italians, in France, you wanna hear the french language, while someone brings you the wine or baguette to the table. However in Dubai, it’s all english, because of the huge melting pot of different nations in Dubai.
You can make it your own way in Dubai.
You wanna spend money, just go for it. You feel like spending your time at the beach, you can do it. You wanna be adventurous, go sky diving or deep-sea diving. You can do whatever your feel like in Dubai. Again it’s not the most authentic place, and you gotta wave with bills, to make it happen.
During our one week holidays, we obviously visited some of the major attractions like the Frame of Dubai, Dubai Mall and Burshkalifa. Why not? We tried to get a more local feel, while visiting the Souks, however it was just another tourist trap. We crossed the river by a tiny wooden boat and headed to Al Seef, which comes up with a different face of Dubai. You get the vibe of an arabic old town, which was totally ok to visit for an hour, walk around the alleys and souks, but be prepared for the hassle.
If you aren’t in a rush, their metro network is really good, and you can reach almost every destinaion by train within the city.
As we booked our hotel in the JBR (Jumeira Beach Resort) area, we wanted to spend time at the beach as well with our baby daughter. The hotel was 15 minutes walking away from the beach, nothing’s really close in Dubai. On our first day, we were all satisfied that we got a sunbed and umbrella, and we thought it would be for free, as no one showed up for the bill. Later we found out that you pay 35€ for a sunbed, but you had to pay in front of the beach, and register your spot. Luckily we had a free afternoon at the beach, but disgusted afterwards to spend 70€ for 2 sunbeds at the beach. So we avoided the cosy sunbeds, and visited a waterplayground with our daughter during the week, which was super cheap. She was happy, and we enjoyed the watergames while the soil was burning during midday.
In my opinion JBR is a great location to book your hotel. It’s definitely touristic, that’s all you see in the streets, tourists. But you got everything you need to spend your evenings walking around: restaurants, shops, playground and games for kids, ice-cream and coffees, and everything is very safe and accessible for pedestrians. Some people love all-inclusive resorts, because they don’t have to leave the resort at all during their stay. Actually the worst part for me, spending your holidays in a hotel. So JBR in Dubai, gave me the feel of a resort, but it was right in front of the hotel, and it felt more like a small village, and you actually had to leave your hotel.
The most memorable tourist attraction for us was the Global Village. It looks like a theme park, but as soon as you step inside, you see all the signs with the names of the countries. Every country that is listed in the park, has its own area, where you can taste specific foods from that country, or specific products that come from the given countries. For example, for accessing “China” you had to cross red wooden bridges, to access a gate surrounded by fake brick walls, fake temples, chinese music… it was just insane, how pretty they decorated each section, with lights, colors, music, costumes… At some point we were rushing through the countries, as we couldn’t wait to try all their food and drinks. In the end we went to a floating marked (which looked like the ones in Thailand), as we were craving Pad-Thai. The food was excellent, while we enjoyed our minutes in Thailand, the country we’ve been missing for the last two years.
no PCR, no mosque
After doing lots of touristic things, we were looking forward to see the beautiful mosque in Abu Dhabi. It only takes 40-50 minutes to make it to Abu Dhabi by car. Getting there by taxi, will cost around 80-100€. Which is totally ok, considering the price we pay at home in our country. We felt it was worth the price.
Even from afar, the mosque looked mind blowing, it reminded me of the Taj Mahal, which gave me the same impression, when I first got to see it. As soon as we stepped out of the taxi, we headed towards the entrance, and decided to have a bottle of water first. While we were giving some water to our daughter, a family from Thailand asked us if we would be visiting the mosque, and they told us, that they were denied entrance, because they couldn’t present a PCR-test, that has been made maximum 14 days, prior the date of our visit. We couldn’t believe it. We made it to Dubai without any test, restaurants were open, no masks, nothing…. and for that mind-blowing beautiful mosque, we needed a PCR. At the entrance, obviously they didn’t let us in.
Later we were told, that if we would have flown into Abu Dhabi, we would have needed a PCR-Test for the flight, as laws are different than those from Dubai. Disappointed to took some photos from the outside, and called another taxi to get back to Dubai. I hope that I will get the chance to make it to that mosque one more time, maybe with a longer layover in Abu Dhabi.
Solid Tiki Bar
Just before making it to Dubai, weeks before, I totally got into the world of “TIKI”. There’s a ban for alcoholic drinks in public, so don’t expect to grab a beer in the street. However some fancy bars are hidden inside the bigger hotels. For “Trader Vic’s”, you’ll find the bar at the HILTON Hotel at JBR Beach.
It’s located on the 2nd floor of the hotel, and you’re free to visit the bar, even without being a guest a at Hilton’s. Just to make it short, there were 2 main dudes who started the tiki thing “Don the Beach Comber” and “Trader Vic’s”. So I felt pretty excited to visit one of the few “Trader Vic’s” bars left. The hotel bar, definitely hits the tropical beach vibe, with all kinds of wooden artifacts, tiki statues, and maritime lamps.
The drinks, which got served in fancy tiki-mugs, were excellent, however rather on the expensive side. Expect to pay around 12-15€ for a drink. Food was good, but for finger food, it was pricey as well. The music wasn’t, what I was expecting in a tiki bar, however we definitely enjoyed our 2 visits there. Our daughter enjoyed it as well.
Seek and find
Obviously you’ll find some hidden gems in the city, if you prepare well before visiting Dubai. It definitely has a lot to offer, however 85% of all these attractions, won’t be or fray, and most will be super touristic. Through Instagram I discovered a beautiful “Iranian Mosque”. If you look it up on social media, you’ll notice the 100’s of beautiful photographs of influencers swirling around the colorful tiles of the mosque. It took us 3 attempts to find the right mosque (the one we wanted to see), it’s located right across the “Iranian Hosptial” (look for that one on Google Maps). There are a couple of Iranian mosques spreaded through out the city, but the previous one, is the most photogenic.
Walking around Al Seef (old town), you will discover some cosy bars or restaurants, colorful street arts, and the souks. It will be less expensive, as visiting the top of Burj Khalifa. As far as I can remember, they were selling tickets at the Dubai Mall to get on top of the worldfamous skyscraper for 180€ (190$), per person. So buying two tickets to get on top, would the price we paid for a flight ticket.
So we decided to opt for cheaper experiences, like spending time at the waterperk with our daughter at JBR, which cost only 8€.
Another scam, was the aquarium at Dubai Mall. From the outside, the aquarium just looks fantastic, with its fascinating aquatic world behind the glass. The colors, the fishes, the lights, they’re just mesmerizing. So we stood in line, and paid 50€ per person for the whole experience. The Aquarium on the ground floor, actually isn’t bigger than what you see for free from the outside. After walking through the amazing tunnel, in which you will spend not more than 2 minutes, you will get to an elevator, that will bring you to the next level, where all the tourists come together for a walking tour through a kind of park. It was funny to see the penguins, however we just walked through the whole thing, as it just felt lame, paying that much for just another tourist trap. In the end it wasn’t worth the money.
You can’t go wrong with food and shopping in Dubai, however opting for crazy adventurous experiences, will come with their price.
Would we turn back to Dubai?
To be honest, if we would be desperately reaching for the sun during our coldest winter months, and i’d fancy some cosy times at the beach, and enjoy some delicious food in the evening, watching my daughter play at the beach, i'd make it back to Dubai. People who are fond of all-inclusive resorts, definitely will enjoy their holidays in Dubai.
However if you’re looking for an authentic and more eye-opening experience, fly a little further and go for a better and cheaper Asian destination.
