Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Mar 02 - 12, 2025
Dubai International Airport to Downtown by public
transportation
The airport is not far from
the city so getting to downtown from the airport is easy. The best public
transportation option is taking the metro. Dubai has two main metro lines,
red and green and the Red Line services the airport. There are also few bus
routes that operate from dedicated stands at Arrivals in Terminals 1, 2 and 3
and connect with city center. Our hotel was just 2 stops away. A ticket cost us 5 AED. To use the public
transportation, we needed to buy NOL cards. The cost of a NOL Silver card is 25
AED and includes a 19 AED balance. We installed the NOL PAY App and through it
we could load 7-Day passes. The cost for ALL ZONES was 110 AED. Using the
app is easy load more money on the card whenever needed. A Dubai
7-Day Pass is valid for unlimited travel on Dubai metro, buses and trams within
Dubai and the NOL card can be used on all ways of transportation in Dubai.
Our Dubai accommodation – Hampton by Hilton Dubai AlSeef
Our hotel was located along
Dubai Creek and relatively close to a metro station, was affordable and
stylish, had friendly staff and good breakfast included.
Top things to do in Dubai
Dubai has a wide range of
attractions, and most of them are truly unique, “only in Dubai experiences”. Below is our list of best Dubai
attractions.
Al Seef neighbourhood
Located along the Bur Dubai
side of Dubai Creek, this neighbourhood offers a glimpse into the city’s
historical roots. It features a 1.8 km promenade where you can stroll while
gazing at the incredible marina. Here you can try some of Dubai culinary
delights, shop at boutique stores or in Al Seef Village for traditional handicrafts,
souvenirs, walk the narrow alleys called sikkas or admire the sand coloured
buildings that reflect traditional Emirati design. Al Seef means “The Shore” in
Arabic, highlighting the importance of waterfront and marine activities for
Dubai development.
Located north of Dubai
Creek, Deira district is known for its traditional souks (markets) like Gold
Souk, Spices Souk, Perfume Souk and more. To get there we walked from the
hotel, through Al Seef area along the waterfront, to Abra Station South-Bur
Dubai, where we took a water taxi, an Abra (a traditional wooden boat). The
cost of crossing was 1 AED to be paid in cash. We wandered around a bit until
we figured out which pier we had to go to for the 1 AED trip. There were many
locals offering expensive Abra water tours, trying to attract us to their
boats, we kept saying we wanted just to cross the water for 1 AED, in the end
one of them told us to go to Pier 1. Once we crossed Dubai Creek, it was a
short walk to the souks. The whole area is filled with narrow alleyways and
covered markets with a multitude of shops selling spices, gold, perfumes,
utensils, textiles. The markets are a vibrant display of colours, smells and
sounds, shopkeepers shouting at you as you walk past or even walking alongside
you, just to convince you to enter their shops. All in all, exploring the souks
was a unique experience for us and we enjoyed it.
Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood
This heritage site is one
of the oldest areas in Dubai. It dates back to 19th century when was
established by wealthy merchants from Persia who settled in Dubai. The
buildings were constructed in the traditional Emirate style and most of them
are made of coral, stone and gypsum with detailed design. The area also houses
several museums offering a brief look into Dubai’s culture, history and
traditions.
Global Village is a seasonal
attraction that operates only during the winter months, from October until May.
The multi-cultural theme park has pavilions representing over 90 countries and
each one of them provides a view into that country’s culture, traditions and
products. You can shop inside the pavilions for traditional crafts, souvenirs
or try country specific foods. Besides the pavilions, there is a Carnival area
with rides, games and attractions, there are restaurants and food booths
everywhere and a lot of show on the Main Stage. The entry ticket is 25 AED and
provides you with entry to the park grounds. For all the shows and rides you
have to buy separate tickets. The park hours are from 4 pm to midnight but on
the day we visited they opened at 5 pm. Being opened in the afternoon gives you
a chance to enjoy the place at night when all the lights are on and the place looks almost magical. To reach Global Village we took the metro to Centerpoint
metro station, then walked few minutes to Rashidya Metro Bus Station and there we got
on the seasonal Bus 102 which stopped close to the Global Village gates. Buses
103, 104 and 106 also connect various parts of Dubai directly to the spot.
At 828 meters, Burj Khalifa
is the tallest building in the world. The building has two
observation decks, one on level 124 which can be booked for 179 AED and one on
level 148, which we booked for 399 AED per ticket. Sky Level 148 Observation
Deck is set 555 meters above the ground and the ticket includes an outdoor
terrace, visit to Level 124 &125 and also some tasty Arabic sweets and coffee. The
panoramic views of the city from that height were just amazing.
Connected to Burj Khalifa
through a walkway, Dubai Mall is one of the largest in the world. The Mall
houses Dubai Aquarium, the Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink, a VR Park, a huge
cinema complex and high end shopping stores selling the latest collections of
world known designers and brands. Another indoor attraction is the three-storey
Dubai Mall Waterfalls comprised of
two 24-metres tall cylindrical walls exhibiting fiberglass statues of men
diving at once creating a mesmerizing visual illusion that the divers are in
real motion. It is another example of Dubai’s vision for the future, a national
plan to establish the city as a hub for technological innovation, economic
growth and environmental sustainability.
Burj Park
Being located in the heart
of the city, at the base of Burj Khalifa and along Dubai Fountain, Burj Park is
one of the most visited places in Dubai. There are so many things to do here, enjoy
the art sculptures designed by international artists, like Wings of Mexico, a
popular spot for photos, Dandelion Light sculpture or the Three Fingers statue,
take an Abra ride in Dubai Fountain Lake or shop at Dubai Mall. Regardless if
is day or evening, the park is always crowded with locals and visitors, people
trying to snap some pictures of Burj Khalifa, enjoying the Dubai Fountain shows
or just strolling around in the eerie atmosphere created by this place. One
could even run on the Burj Park Jogging Path, a 5 km circular running route
around Dubai Fountain Lake while enjoying the breathtaking views of Burj
Khalifa and of the Dubai Fountain.
Palm Jumeirah is a palm tree-shaped artificial island and was created through land reclamation. The
island is part of a series of similar developments called the Palm Islands. The island houses a combination of commercial
areas, residential villas and homes and luxury hotels. You can get here by
using public transport, metro or the tram to the nearest station and from there
you have to take the Monorail and get off at Nakheel Mall Station. The Monorail
has 4 stations, the last one being the Atlantis Aquaventure. The Monorail
tickets were not included in the 7-Day Pass so we purchased return tickets for
15 AED each. We could have use the NOL card balance but would have cost 20 AED,
10 AED each way.
The Palm Tower is a 240
meters-high observation deck and is the best place to view the unique island. A
general admission ticket to The View at The Palm was 110 AED. From the terrace
at the top you can have 360-degree views of Palm Jumeirah island and of the
Persian Golf blue waters. The view is really spectacular, the island being a
testament to human potential, when there is money, vision and determination.
A pleasant neighborhood to
spend few good hours. While here you can enjoy the Dubai Marina Walk, a seven-kilometer
waterfront attraction lined with palm trees, shops, malls and restaurants along
the promenade and the amazing views of elegant yachts and of the city skyline. Each
turn in the path offers a unique perspective of the marina and you feel
compelled to keep taking pictures. Dubai Marina is conveniently located near
all public transportation options, metro, tram, buses.
Dubai Fountain is located
in the Dubai Fountain Lake, near Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. It was designed
by the same company that designed Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas. Between 5:45
pm and 11:30 pm there are water, light and music shows every 30 minutes, every
day of the week, attracting millions of visitors annually. The shows are free
but for people wanting a close up experience there are tickets for the
boardwalk, a floating platform placed within the Dubai Fountain.
Day trip to Abu Dhabi
While visiting Dubai we
decided to travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, to visit Sheikh Zayed Grand
Mosque and the Louvre Museum Abu Dhabi. It was a challenging endeavor because
of the amount of time spent on the public transportation relative to the time
spent at the attractions but we managed to do it and at the end of the day were
content even though tired.
Transportation to Abu Dhabi
There are many ways to get to the capital, by public transport, taxi or just driving there. The most affordable is by public transportation. We took Bus E100 in the morning, from Al Ghubaiba Bus Station in Dubai to Abu Dhabi Central Station. The trip by bus was 2 hours 20 min and the cost is 25 AED one way. Before leaving we made sure to load our NOL cards with more cash as the inter city tickets were not covered by the 7-Day Pass which only covers Dubai area. You can have a 7-Day or 1-Day Pass while maintaining a separate balance on the card to be used for trips not covered by the pass. Inside the Bus station we purchased Hafilat cards, which are the cards you have to use for public transportation in Abu Dhabi. We paid 20 AED for each card, 10 AED the cost of the card plus 10 AED balance. For visiting attractions in Abu Dhabi many tourists choose to use a taxi as the buses tend to be very crowded, especially during rush hours when the ride might take longer time than expected.
Before considering to visit
the Grand Mosque visitors have to obtain online Access Passes through the
reservation system. The visits have timed entry every quarter of hour, but when
we arrived there the place was very busy and nobody cared about our exact time window,
the staff just scanned our QR codes and let us in, even though we arrived one hour
earlier. Another important thing to consider is the Dress Code, women need to
be completely covered, including the hair and shoulders so I brought my own scarf (see one of the pictures below for dress code details for both women and men).
We went to the Grand Mosque
by Bus 94 from Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station, and the bus stopped close to
the Mosque. Once there, to reach the Mosque we had to first go through the
underground shopping mall, until we reached the visitor’s entrance. Here they
scanned our tickets and bags and then we were directed toward the mosque. There
were crowds of people and many tour groups and it felt kind of chaotic but
somehow, we just followed the people in front of us as directed and everything
worked fine. We could only wander outside and on the sides of the mosques
between columns but that turned out to be a good thing because everybody got a
chance to take pictures of the mosque from the cordoned area and it just seemed
like there were no people there. The Grand Mosque is one of the world largest
and is truly amazing. The architectural details are also impressive: 82 domes, four
minarets rising about 107 metres in height, more than 1,000 columns,
24-carat-gold gilded chandeliers and the world largest hand-knotted carpet. The
chandelier in the main prayer room is one of the largest. What strikes you at
first sight is the whiteness of the mosque as the exterior and the interior are
adorned with white marble decorated with precious stones, lapis lazuli,
amethyst, mother of pearl. The courtyard is designed with beautiful flower
mosaics and the windows are just stunning. It is truly a must-see attraction
while in Abu Dhabi.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum
is located on Saadiyat Island. It is easy to get there by Bus 94 either from
the Grand Mosque or from Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station The museum is part of a big project for development of the Saadiyat
Island, a multi billion dollars’ project to add more world class cultural
attractions, and example being the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi which was in
construction. Actually the whole area looked like a construction site at the
time of our visit. The museum also has a very interesting history regarding its name. The Louvre Abu
Dhabi is linked to Louvre Paris through a thirty-year agreement, signed in
2007. Under this agreement, Abu Dhabi paid 400 million Euros for the use of the
Louvre name. The museum has an interesting architecture being designed as a “floating dome” from
thousands of aluminum stars of different sizes allowing the sun to shine
through. The watertight basement and the tidal pools within the galleries were
designed to create the illusion of a “museum in the sea”. The museum’s
permanent collection comprises about 700 artworks from prehistoric times to the
present and another 300 works on loans from other museums, mostly from Louvre Paris.
Museum of the Future in Dubai is an
architectural wonder, housed in a torus-shaped building with windows formed by
Arabic calligraphy cutouts on its façade with double purpose, windows and a
visual display of quotes written by Dubai ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum. It is not what you would expect from a museum, it is a transformative
experience for all the visitors, an immersive journey into the world of
tomorrow. The whole journey and experience is set up to transport the visitors
to the year 2071 while exploring themes like space travel, bioengineering,
sustainable living. The journey begins on the fifth floor and you are taking
down from there floor by floor either by taking the futuristic elevators or by
using the spiral staircase.
Fifth Floor is the Orbital
Space Station Hope which is about life in space in year 2071 and how the future
of help travel can help humanity
Fourth Floor is The Heal
Institute which offers a glimpse into the ecology and biodiversity in the
future
Third Floor is Al Waha (the
Oasis) where you can experience different therapies, sound, touch, smell
Second Floor is Tomorrow,
Today and addresses solutions to present global challenges
First Floor is Future
Heroes where children can have interactive activities.
A ticket to the museum cost
was 159 AED.
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Soaring 150 meters high in
the sky, the Frame gives the appearance of a huge picture frame framing Dubai’s
skyline. The two towers are joined by a glass bridge at the top which serves
also as an observation deck. The Frame provides two perspectives of the city, depending where you are looking from, its past and future. Looking to the north you can see the Old Dubai, looking to
the south you can see the new, modern Dubai. You can also visit the museum inside which is organized in three divisions: Past, Present and Future. The Frame comes to life
at night when the structure is illuminated in different colours. Some of the
best pictures of The Frame can be taken from atop of Lulu Bridge, walking from
the opposite side of the street.
Zabeel Park is one of the largest parks in Dubai and is also the place where The Frame is located. Even if the two are separated by a fence and have separate entrances, if you visit the park you can view The Frame from a unique perspectives . The park is very popular for the multitude of the activities that can be done here: sports, live music, picnic, children’s play areas, boat rides, Dubai Garden Glow or visit the Dinosaur Park. There are also the remnants of a former indoor theme park, Stargate Dubai, resembling a spaceship with five domes representing planets. Even though this themed park is permanently closed it was fun to wander around. The entrance to Zabeel park is 5 AED.
Jumeirah Mosque is a
popular attraction in Dubai. The Mosque’s architecture originated from Syria
and Egypt, with a large dome flanked by two tall minarets, rounded at the top.
Under the current ruler’s program Open Doors, Open Minds, the mosque is open to
all visitors and travelers for guided tours and interactive cultural
discussions in order to build cultural awareness, understanding and tolerance
between different nationalities and cultures from around the world.
Located in the Jumeirah 1
district, the beach offers nice views of the Persian Gulf. Even though the area
surrounding the beach seemed like an abandoned site from a dystopian movie
where the nature takes over, the beach was nice, lined up with palm trees, arts
and murals, nice sand and clear waters and it is still a popular place for
locals and tourists. Currently the whole area is undergoing a significant
redevelopment meant to attract more visitors, promote economic growth and
enhance the beach experience for everybody.
Dubai Desert Safari
Booking a Desert Safari
trip while visiting Dubai is a must, especially if, like us, this is the first time having
such an experience. There are very many Safari offers, with different
companies and different prices depending on personal preferences, activities
booked and budget. We booked our trip through Viator online, and paid CAD 51
per person. Our Desert Safari experience included hotel pick-up and drop off, a stop at desert ATV riding area (at extra cost, we didn't do it for safety reasons) dune
bashing, camel riding, sandboarding and once arrived at the Desert Camp, a great BBQ
Dinner, Henna painting, refreshments and live shows. It was an approximately
6-hour activity, we were picked up at 2 in the afternoon, our guide was on
time, and were dropped a bit after 8 pm. It was an amazing experience, with amazing
views of the desert, activities, food, shows, and friendly people, we felt like being transported into a different world.
Considered the world largest flower garden, Dubai Miracle Garden has amazing floral displays in various patterns and designs, sculptures, tunnels, arches, including a Guinness World Record breaking life-size replica of an Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft. Being surrounded by more than 150 million petunias, marigolds, calendulas was just a breathtaking experience. The garden is a seasonal attraction open only during the cooler months between November and May. To get there we took Bus 105 and the cost of the ticket was 5 AED, not included in the 7-Day Pass.
This mall is a nice place
to go shopping or like us window-shopping, dining or having leisure activities. Some of the most popular
attractions of the mall are Magic Planet, an entertainment center with arcade
and online games, and Ski Dubai, the Middle East first indoor ski resort and
snow park.
Visiting Dubai
Dubai is one of the most
popular tourist destinations and a modern metropolis in the heart of Arabian
desert. Even if is not cheap, Dubai compensates by offering unique attractions
and experiences, luxury shopping and entertainment, beaches and water
activities, lots of theme parks and thrilling desert adventures. Rapidly
transforming into a “city of the future”, Dubai is aiming to become a top
global destination.
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