Let me start this post by saying that 2012 was a very bad year in terms of travelling. Dubai in November was the only trip I managed to make. Also, I’m writing this post from Abu Dhabi right now. I didn’t know when I visited Dubai in November that half a year later I would actually live in the UAE. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes.

My first visit to Dubai was pretty similar to what most tourists do when they come to Dubai. They go to the malls and to the seaside. I did the same with my mum. We were here only for a long weekend. Transavia offers very cheap flights from Amsterdam to Dubai, so that’s why we went. We stayed in the Coral Dubai Deira Hotel, which suited our needs perfectly. Knowing what I know now though, I would advise people to either take a hotel close to a metro stop (due to its convenience) or I would advise people to take a hotel near a beach.

I have one of the most amazing shots from the plane of the skyline of Dubai.

Dubai Mall

My mum and I saw this trip mostly as a shopping trip, so of course we spent one full day in one of the biggest malls of the country, Dubai Mall. It’s a pity that I didn’t take any picture of the aquarium back then, maybe I’ll go soon and I’ll write a separate blog post about it.

You can shop here to heart’s content. My favourite shop in Dubai Mall is the book shop called Kinokuniya, because it has a very big selection of international books.

Dubai knows very well how to make a mall look as glamorous as possible, so it’s a pleasure to walk around in it (which is very important in a country where outside temperatures can reach 50 degrees in summer).

Not only walking around the mall is nice, in winter it’s a great place to sit outside as well. You’ll find Address Hotel and Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountains outside. All around the water, they built restaurants with outside seating. It can get really busy so it’s best to go as early as possible. If you go before sunset you can enjoy the fountains in day light and in the evening. A little tidbit about the fountain is that it’s the world’s largest choreographed fountain – it shoots the water up to 150m high and it’s really nice to sit, enjoy a meal and to listen to the ooh’s and aah’s of the spectator when the music and the show starts.

Here you can see all the restaurants outside Dubai Mall, most of them are international chains.

When I was there with my mum, we had dinner at Vapiano’s (a place I knew and loved in the Netherlands – don’t forget I lived in Edinburgh at that time so I didn’t get to enjoy my Dutch pleasures).

Mall of Emirates

The second mall I visited with my mum, on a different day, was Mall of the Emirates. This is again a big mall and it’s home to Ski Dubai, the indoor ski slope. You can also meet penguins at the ski slope. I’m thinking of doing that before I leave the country (there are still so many things on my to-do list).

At the end of the day Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall are essentially the same thing. A big mall with lots of shopping opportunities and also a lot of places for a nice dinner/lunch.

— Side note, in my experience I prefer to dine at hotels. It might sound odd, but in the UAE you can actually get decently price food (incl. alcohol) in big chain hotels. It’s not strange to walk into the Hilton or Sheraton to have dinner. Especially on a short visit I would recommend that, simply because the service will be better and the food will definitely be better.

Madinat Jumeirah

The last mall we visited was Madinat Jumeirah, which is a very small mall that tries to emulate a traditional souk. The best thing about this mall is that there’s a The Meat Co restaurant (which has the best steak in Dubai and Abu Dhabi). And there’s a great view on Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s 7-star hotel.

Dubai Museum

During this stay we didn’t actually only visit malls, we managed to view the cultural side of Dubai. First of all, to reach Dubai Museum from Deira (where we were staying) you can & should really experience a short dhow trip. It costs only a few cents and these traditional boats take you from one side of the creek to the other (keep an eye open for future posts where I’ll describe the creek in more detail). If you’re not staying in Deira you can still use this commute to go from the regular Souk to the gold souk which is on the Deira side.

My mum and I thought we would be able to walk from the hotel to the creek. It wasn’t more than a fifteen minute walk, and everyone insisted we take a taxi. We ignored their pleas and walked. Even in November, it’s super hot in Dubai. After a short walk, this was the result. Sweaty faces…

When you get off the boat – after about ten minutes, the first thing you’ll see in the regular souk.

Dubai Museum is only a few minutes walk from the souk. The museum is located in the Al Fahidi Fort, which was built in 1787 and is the oldest existing building in Dubai. The museum shows all the elements of traditional life in Dubai before all the major business moved there. You can see small exhibitions about the pearl fishing and trade and about falcons. It’s nice, but certainly nothing special. It will give you a good idea about local life though, which is not something you will experience when you visit Dubai nowadays.

Jumeirah Public Beach

One part of the day we also decided to take in some vitamin D by enjoying the sun on a public beach. We chose Jumeirah Public Beach. Now there are a few things that were not great about that. First of all, it was very far from the hotel; travel by taxi from and to a beach is not great. Second of all, it’s public so everyone goes there and you get ogled a lot. You’re free to walk around in a bikini, but I always feel a little uncomfortable on the public beaches in the UAE (not on Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi but I’ll write about it in a future post). For some people it’s better to spend a little bit of money on the public beach than to spend a lot on a hotel by the beach, but I definitely prefer the latter. Or if a hotel by the beach is too much, at least a nice pool.

Conclusion

Dubai is a perfect destination for a long weekend trip. Even after two years in Abu Dhabi, I love Dubai as a weekend destination. Many more posts about the UAE will follow due to my time spent working here.

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