Top Travel Tips in Dubai From Our Readers
Comments on our call for advice to Dubai do not shy away from the city’s less attractive locations. But this is definitely useful information if you are planning any travel in the near future. Here are a few highlights.
Every Monday onHack Your City, we ask readers for the best tips about the city: driving tips, restaurant tips, entertainment, and any other tips for visitors and locals alike. Then, on Thursday, we present the best comments. We work in the USA and around the world.
Mohamad Safadiye gives some tips and some tips for saving money:
Visiting Dubai on a budget is challenging but doable. A good suggestion is to use Careem (a local ride sharing app similar to Uber) as it is significantly cheaper than local taxis. Try small local restaurants rather than the big restaurants you find in tourist areas (find a local or use Yelp / Zomato for help).
A reader of dmay1 recommends visiting the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding for an informational lunch, although you should probably highlight your basic research ahead of time:
There is a presentation “Questions and Answers”, where no question is prohibited. […] Foreigners and Westerners can ask any question that would otherwise be unacceptable and answered as if it were a real opportunity to introduce the audience to Arab culture, Islam, Dubai, etc.
Sami , who has lived in Dubai for 10 years, has a long list of tips you should read before you travel. Some good ones:
- There is a gold branch in Dubai Metro which is not very expensive and costs extra money in terms of comfort.
- There are many laundry facilities around the Mall of Emirates. Laundry services at your hotel are likely to be expensive.
- If you love Persian cuisine; Closer up there is a wonderful authentic old restaurant called Ostadi. Try their kebab and rice. The hosts sometimes run the tables themselves and are really nice and friendly people.
QADude says you should skip Burj Khalifa:
Save money, head to the Armani Lounge for a similar view instead. Wild Wadi was super fun and worth a try.
But if you do go, H3KB4Y2K calls the best time:
Enjoy breakfast at the At.mosphere restaurant on a weekday. Great view, no crowds, no sunrises, etc. When you combine the ride upstairs and lunch, it’s much better than other Burj tickets (At The Top, etc.)
Kaluza explains the weekend:
Friday and Saturday are public holidays and it is very common for locals to go for a sumptuous Friday brunch at one of the many hotel restaurants (which are very popular in Dubai) or chic cafes.
Treibert has a trick for organizing a one-day visit to Dubai:
If you are flying with Emirates and have an overnight stopover, you will receive free hotel accommodation. I had a trip to Vietnam where we arrived in Dubai around noon, but our connecting flight was in the morning. This allowed us to spend the day sightseeing.
JubiTheGreat provides some tips and recommended activities. Some highlights:
- A flight to Abu Dhabi can be a great option instead of a direct flight to Dubai. Etihad provides a free shuttle service between Abu Dhabi Airport and Dubai, but you can only use it within 24 hours of your flight.
- There are no street numbers in Dubai. Before leaving, download a Google city map in case you don’t have internet.
- My husband playfully patted my ass while we were at the mall, which was noticed by the security guards there. Remember that you are still in a Muslim country, so you should not use the PDA.
More information on the HoliDaze shuttle hack .
QADude can show you some vacation photos:
According to Hashish16 , not all visitors are treated the same:
I’m from South Asia and we’ve all noticed that restaurants go out of their way to serve others first. We spoke with some Africans and East Asians who have similar experiences.
Hashish16 also recommends a ride on the sand dunes:
Dune Bashing: Don’t forget to plan your day. Drive a Toyota Landcruiser through the desert, then head to camp for food, shisha, camel rides, belly dancing and shopping. Just make sure you have a private car, because you don’t want to get too crowded with strangers. Amazing sunset, like in “Star Wars”.
This is how jjdebenedictus does:
Jeep rides on the sand dunes (with dinner and camel rides later) are damn cool. It’s like a half-hour roller coaster ride; they take you up one side of the dune, try to catch some air coming out of the top edge, then go down the other side and repeat until they lead you to a desert dinner spot. Dinner was pretty good, camel rides are fun and they allow for shisha (or is that shisha?).
They also have their own warnings:
It is illegal to photograph local women (it’s okay if they wander in their shot but don’t take a photo of the woman). It is illegal to photograph police officers, police cars and government buildings. Yes, even by chance. Doing a lot of things is illegal and it is not always obvious to the visitor which things might be the problem. They really assured us that most foreigners in trouble are simply deported immediately rather than going to jail.
And, of course, there is a little slave labor in Dubai that I was not aware of at the time and which now worries me very much. Construction workers and cleaners, in some cases, are mostly trapped there because their employer took their passport from them, and the wages are often not as promised or even adequate.
ButSportsTho has notes on drinking and women’s dress code:
Alcohol can only be found in hotel bars and restaurants. If you’re in the mood for a drink, be sure to have a booze brunch on Fridays.
Women do not need to cover themselves completely, as in other Middle Eastern countries, but I would not wear things like thin spaghetti straps, tops or short skirts.
Check out vegetariancoder for a long list of RICs, including these cultural sites:
- If you have the time and money, plan an hour-long trip to Abu Dhabi to visit the Louvre (yes, they have one in Au). It’s worth it. While in Abu Dhabi, be sure to visit the Grand Mosque.
- The Etihad Museum at Jumeirah One, 2 December Street is a new contemporary museum dedicated to the history of the UAE.
- For music recordings visit the Back Side (Al Serkal); sometimes local artists also play there.
As far as Dubai is concerned, read all the comments on the original post . Leave your own Dubai tips below and come back next week for US city tips.
The quotes have been slightly edited for clarity.