Welcome back to another Travel With Me post!
This time I will be talking through our recent trip to Dubai and as usual, I will be discussing our travel arrangements, the hotel and the places we visited. Me and my boyfriend flew to Dubai for a week from 17th March - 24th March 2018. I was a little bit nervous about going as I wasn't sure what to expect with the culture especially after reading a few things online about a dress code. However, I was pleasantly surprised and the only time I had to cover my knees/shoulders was at the Dubai Mall. We had the best time and Dubai is definitely a place that I would like to return to.
Travel Arrangements
We found that the most cost efficient way was to book our flights and hotel separately. We booked our flights through Sky Scanner and hotel through Expedia - both websites we have used before and haven't had any issues with. Our flights were with Emirates and we flew from Heathrow, our flight was at around 9am so we travelled down the night before and stayed in an Airbnb which was only about a 10/15 minute drive from the terminal in the morning. We were really pleased with the place that we stayed and we were able to leave our car on the side of the road for free which was a bonus.
It was our first time flying with Emirates but we both had high expectations and we weren't disappointed. There was a lot of choice of entertainment so there was no chance of getting bored. We were fed twice - breakfast and lunch on the way there and lunch and afternoon tea on the way back. All of the food was absolutely delicious and the cabin crew came round a lot to make sure that we always had a drink in hand. I would definitely recommend Emirates for a flight to Dubai.
Marriot Al Jaddaf Hotel
Our hotel was located around a 15 minute drive from the airport and a 10 minute drive from the Dubai Mall. It was about a half an hour drive from the Jumeriah area and the Dubai Marina. The hotel itself was stunning, the service was 10/10 and we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a city view room so we had a pretty impressive view of the city skyline. Our room was a nice size and was cleaned daily to a high standard. The pool area also provided stunning views of the skyline and had a jacuzzi which surprisingly nice even in the heat.
The location of the hotel meant that we did have to get an Uber pretty much everywhere as there wasn't really anything within walking distance. Although this was a pretty easy process with an Uber arriving within a couple of minutes, we did end up spending quite a lot of money just on this. The hotel does have a Shuttle Bus which runs to various locations such as the Kite Beach, Dubai Mall, Emirates Mall but we found the times weren't always accommodating.
We did enjoy our stay at this hotel but would recommend staying in the Dubai Marina area as there you would have access to all transport links.
Places to Visit
Dubai Mall - this is a shopping addicts dream and literally has every shop that you could think of. As well as this it's also home to lots of food places and the Dubai Aquarium. As well as the Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa being on its door step. It's definitely a place full of life and I would definitely recommend visiting the Dubai Mall.
Burj Khalifa - currently the tallest building in the world, this is the place to get some stunning sky views of Dubai from 450 metres high. We booked our tickets on the official website and they come out three weeks in advance. We also got a deal with Dubai Aquarium tickets included for a few pounds extra. The Burj is definitely worth a visit even if it's just to say you've been up the tallest building in the world.
Dubai Aquarium - located in the Dubai Mall, you see a big chunk of the aquarium whilst strolling through the mall itself. I would say that this is the best bit of the aquarium and I was actually quite disappointed with the rest of it. I wouldn't personally buy tickets for it separately as I didn't think there was much of the aquarium to see when you're inside but if you get a good deal with the Burj Khalifa tickets then it's worth a visit.
The Dubai Fountain - a beautiful display of dancing fountains every half an hour (in the evenings) and we were also lucky enough to see a light show on the Burj Khalifa at the same time. This area is so stunning with the views of the fountains and the skyscrapers but can get very busy especially in the evenings. There's also lots of restaurants in this area which overlook all of this madness.
Dubai Marina, Jumeriah Beach & The Walk - Jumeriah Beach is located near The Dubai Marina - which was an incredible harbour surrounded by more sky scrapers. This whole area is again surrounded by lots of shops and restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shack and PJ Changs (a delicious Chinese that I would recommend) It's a great place for a beach day or to spend the evening. We spent a few evenings here and really enjoyed ourselves.
Global Village - this place was recommended to us by our Uber driver. The concept of it is that it has an area for each country which contains shops relating to that country. We spent an evening here and felt that it was a quite different to any place we visited in Dubai. Although, some of the shops did get a little bit repetitive. There's also lots of food stalls and a fun fair, it's definitely an interesting place to spend an evening.
Aquaventure at The Palm - a water park located on The Palm which can be accessed via the monorail. I was SO excited to visit The Palm and the water park didn't disappoint. It was a really fun day out and there were some really cool rides, there were a couple that I chose not to go on as they looked way too scary. Also, the food and drink is very expensive as expected with any waterpark.
Getting Around in Dubai
As I mentioned earlier, we used Uber quite a lot in Dubai. This was quite a reasonable price and a lot cheaper in comparison to the local taxi's which run on a meter and due to the city traffic, you could end up getting stung. If you're staying more central then then Metro and the Tram about are both really accessible and cheap to use. The monorail can be used to get on to The Palm.
OVERALL...
I felt that Dubai was a really modern, clean and fun city to visit. It's constantly changing with new buildings being built as we speak so it's definitely a place that I would love to return to in a few years time. I think the time of year that we visited was perfect weather wise as it was still really hot (between 27-30 degrees) but not too hot. I feel like I have pretty much covered everything but if there's anything else you would like to know, feel free to ask.
Anastasiya X
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