Dubai Advice Required
Discussion
Looking to go Dubai in Feb for the first time with the Wife and a 1 year old. Never been before but seen some great deals for 4-5 nights.
1) As we are with a 1 year have a bit more flexibility as she isn't walking yet and will just do what we want to do. Want to see the main highlights of Dubai as we are only there for a short time so not to bothered about sitting on a beach for the whole 4 days. Seen a great deal for the four points by sheraton on sheikh zayed road. Is this a good location to see everything? Also some great hotels on the Palm but is it really to far to travel from to see the main bits? (Heard taxis are expensive)?
2) Is it worth paying the extra £200 to go half board or is it better just to eat out? Heard restaurants are really expensive in Dubai?
1) As we are with a 1 year have a bit more flexibility as she isn't walking yet and will just do what we want to do. Want to see the main highlights of Dubai as we are only there for a short time so not to bothered about sitting on a beach for the whole 4 days. Seen a great deal for the four points by sheraton on sheikh zayed road. Is this a good location to see everything? Also some great hotels on the Palm but is it really to far to travel from to see the main bits? (Heard taxis are expensive)?
2) Is it worth paying the extra £200 to go half board or is it better just to eat out? Heard restaurants are really expensive in Dubai?
Somewhere like the Pullman Deira is connected to a shopping mall, so you can just wander in for a pretty wide range of restaurants at relatively inexpensive prices. Check the metro as it connects various places, but we found taxis were cheap when you consider distances involved.
The gold souk is interesting and a boat trip across the creek, Karama is a bit of an eye opener, then it’s just malls and tallest buildings.
Palm is fine if you plan to stay there.
Taxis are dirt cheap. Palm can be traffic intense but there is metro to nearby and a monorail (not that cheap). If you aren t staying on the Palm you can get day passes for most of the hotel beaches or beach clubs.
Edit: you can eat for 30p a meal at Pakistani cafeteria, or £300 for a starter alone, within a few hundred metres of each other.
Don’t bother paying for museum of the future, but do try and see it at night. If your flight times work, get Gold Class on metro and you should be right at the front of the train so get a bit of a view of the city and different areas as you pass through it, all lit up.
Deira is analogous to Little Mumbai.
Edit: you can eat for 30p a meal at Pakistani cafeteria, or £300 for a starter alone, within a few hundred metres of each other.
Don’t bother paying for museum of the future, but do try and see it at night. If your flight times work, get Gold Class on metro and you should be right at the front of the train so get a bit of a view of the city and different areas as you pass through it, all lit up.
Deira is analogous to Little Mumbai.
Edited by GiantEnemyCrab on Tuesday 30th December 15:59
Thanks for the advice all.
Done loads of research and seems the JBR and Dubai Marina area is by far the best bit to stay. Was on a bit of a budget but got a really good deal with breakfast at The Marina Byblos hotel which is located in the heart of the JBR strip. Got upgraded so we have the marine views in our room.
For 6 nights B&B and flights from Birmingham (costs more from Brum. If fly from London airports it's about £100 or so less p/p but Birmingham is closer to home) all in all its cost around £1800 for 2 adults and a 1 year old. Booked flights on Emirates site and hotel on booking.com for which I got a decent discount for being a 'genius' member.
Done loads of research and seems the JBR and Dubai Marina area is by far the best bit to stay. Was on a bit of a budget but got a really good deal with breakfast at The Marina Byblos hotel which is located in the heart of the JBR strip. Got upgraded so we have the marine views in our room.
For 6 nights B&B and flights from Birmingham (costs more from Brum. If fly from London airports it's about £100 or so less p/p but Birmingham is closer to home) all in all its cost around £1800 for 2 adults and a 1 year old. Booked flights on Emirates site and hotel on booking.com for which I got a decent discount for being a 'genius' member.
Edited by donnie85 on Tuesday 30th December 23:35
donnie85 said:
1) Anyone recommend any decent but well priced (no more then £20-£30 each per main) restaurants in the JBR or marine area?
2) Is Global Village worth visiting?? Sounds like it's a big global market or something.
PF chang is a nice Chinese (chain). Also Tribe (chain) if you like meat. 2) Is Global Village worth visiting?? Sounds like it's a big global market or something.
Next to Marina is a place called JLT (cross road via metro bridge), has lots of restaurants too. Glosoitalia is always rammed with Italians so must be good. Excellent ice cream too. More of an Italian cafe than restaurant but good is v good in my experience. Papa chits for a v cheap and cheerful Filipino cafe.
Not been global village, although I hear it is nice at night all lit up.
Near your hotel (inside Rixos hotel) is Lock Stock, a bar who have bands on, also open during the day and the loaded nachos are v good value.
Also, CQ in JLT is *excellent*.
For lunch time, always ask for the business lunch menu as it’s often 2 courses for X quid, 3 for Y quid. Usually massively cheaper.
Download Careem app ahead of time, can taxi and order food and other stuff from it if needed.
with a 1 year old dare say you'll be sticking to chain restaurants etc?
PF changs as has been mentioned, cheesecake factory, Awani (fantastic if you want some middle eastern style food), Bosnian house good but take something for the baby (literally 2 turkish items on menu). There will be tons of fast food options too, recommend you download talabat/keeta/noon if you would be happy to get stuff delivered (groceries or food).
Global village, id say with a 1 year old it may not be worth the hype, I always find it too busy (14/10/2 year old kids) It's great for my 14 year old, she'll run off and go on the rides. Theres nice food options there, lots of different areas from around the world selling goods, but all pretty much the same. I think with a 1 year old you may be better heading down to Dubai theme parks, get in to legoland or waterpark etc - If you can get the 100km ish to Yas island then warner brothers, yas waterworld, seaworld and ferrari world are great but not cheap (£50 a ticket).
You should be able to rent a car for about £25 a day - May be a good way to get a few of the bigger things done.
Malls are all pretty much the same, huge and can spend all day in them, mall of the emirates is good with the ski slope (penguins are good), Dubai mall is under the burj and has the aquarium. Dubai marina mall is small but has some ok shops there, I wouldn't plan a visit to one, you'll just naturally find yourself in them.
Burj Khalifa, try and prebook online especially if you want sunrise / sunset (if you're going).
If you fancy a drive you can head up into RAK for the mountain rollercoater or the highest/longest zipline (cant remember which).
If you fancy a nice meal out with the wife theres a place called coucou on the palm, up the tower overlooking the palm, great views foods good too, we paid about £500 for starter and main with 2 drinks each - but you can go up onto the roof and get the sights whilst you're there.
Only recommendation, I stayed in Marina a few weeks back for a night out and the traffic can be quite load, we booked a 7th floor apartment and could hear taxis beeping at 4am, so try and get higher or facing a quite side.
Final recommendation, even in Feb the weathers going to be better than a UK summer, make sure you get sunscreen on the baby and reapply appropriately especially if you're in and out of the water.
PF changs as has been mentioned, cheesecake factory, Awani (fantastic if you want some middle eastern style food), Bosnian house good but take something for the baby (literally 2 turkish items on menu). There will be tons of fast food options too, recommend you download talabat/keeta/noon if you would be happy to get stuff delivered (groceries or food).
Global village, id say with a 1 year old it may not be worth the hype, I always find it too busy (14/10/2 year old kids) It's great for my 14 year old, she'll run off and go on the rides. Theres nice food options there, lots of different areas from around the world selling goods, but all pretty much the same. I think with a 1 year old you may be better heading down to Dubai theme parks, get in to legoland or waterpark etc - If you can get the 100km ish to Yas island then warner brothers, yas waterworld, seaworld and ferrari world are great but not cheap (£50 a ticket).
You should be able to rent a car for about £25 a day - May be a good way to get a few of the bigger things done.
Malls are all pretty much the same, huge and can spend all day in them, mall of the emirates is good with the ski slope (penguins are good), Dubai mall is under the burj and has the aquarium. Dubai marina mall is small but has some ok shops there, I wouldn't plan a visit to one, you'll just naturally find yourself in them.
Burj Khalifa, try and prebook online especially if you want sunrise / sunset (if you're going).
If you fancy a drive you can head up into RAK for the mountain rollercoater or the highest/longest zipline (cant remember which).
If you fancy a nice meal out with the wife theres a place called coucou on the palm, up the tower overlooking the palm, great views foods good too, we paid about £500 for starter and main with 2 drinks each - but you can go up onto the roof and get the sights whilst you're there.
Only recommendation, I stayed in Marina a few weeks back for a night out and the traffic can be quite load, we booked a 7th floor apartment and could hear taxis beeping at 4am, so try and get higher or facing a quite side.
Final recommendation, even in Feb the weathers going to be better than a UK summer, make sure you get sunscreen on the baby and reapply appropriately especially if you're in and out of the water.
sriggers said:
If you fancy a nice meal out with the wife theres a place called coucou on the palm, up the tower overlooking the palm, great views foods good too, we paid about £500 for starter and main with 2 drinks each - but you can go up onto the roof and get the sights whilst you're there.
Is that a typo, for £500 for a starter and main and 2 drinks I’d expect better than nice / good….. especially when OP said his budget is £20-30.OP madinat Jumeriah is nice for an evening, full of canals with electric gondolas and restaurants, plus some souks. It’s effectively a big hotel disguised as a small town - but a nice place to visit.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
donnie85 said:
Never been before but seen some great deals for 4-5 nights.
Any links or whatever? Wouldn't mind a few nights with the wife in Dubai during Feb.Trouble with JBR and Marina is the traffic is awful, so you ll be sat in your taxi for ages trying to get anywhere. It s even worse at the moment because there s a massive construction project going on so the roads are all closed and diverted. A lot of the hotels are quite old and dated too; however if you want that area then check out Address Beach Resort as it s a nice hotel right on the edge and you can walk to Bluewaters Island from it for food (since this is a car forum, DRVN cafe is good if you re into Porsches) and Ain Dubai.
What sights did you want to see? Taxis are fairly inexpensive, probably want your own car seat for your kid though. Can book Uber with car seats but I m never sure about that (had them turn up without them for example).
Global Village is good if you like paying to access a bunch of fast food restaurants in a very crowded car park with lots of shops that sell tat. Fireworks are good though!
What sights did you want to see? Taxis are fairly inexpensive, probably want your own car seat for your kid though. Can book Uber with car seats but I m never sure about that (had them turn up without them for example).
Global Village is good if you like paying to access a bunch of fast food restaurants in a very crowded car park with lots of shops that sell tat. Fireworks are good though!
Edited by ecs on Thursday 1st January 19:01
Some good advice above, I would add the below.
Marina Byblos isn t on the JBR walk, it is on the opposite side of the marina and so isn t as badly affected by the traffic. You have probably checked it out on Google Maps but you can walk across the bridge near to the hotel and be on JBR in about 10 minutes. Lots of food choices over there but not the cheapest area due to tourist demand. Some good bars over there too but as much as I like Lock Stock (recommended above) I wouldn t be going there with wife and 1 year old child. I would suggest Bliss at the Sheraton for beach side sundowners or Wavebreaker at Hilton JBR. Also Claw BBQ which is at the end of JBR closest to your hotel. From that end of JBR you can walk the boardwalk to Bluewater with all its attractions.
Metro is close to your hotel, very cheap transport but avoid morning and evening rush hours, it is bonkers busy and you will be packed in so tight you can t move. I speak from experience. Ibn Battuta Mall is only 10 mins and less than AED 20 in taxi from your hotel, not as flash and busy as the bigger malls but some reasonable food outlets much kinder on the wallet if you just want fast and cheap.
There are restaurants opposite the Byblos, I have used many of them, not 5 star but some good food there and very well priced.
Marina has some good places, there is Sri Lankan TPH Lakwill prob 15 minutes walk that is good for some spicy food or go to the places in Pier 7 close to Marina Mall. The restaurants from 3rd floor up have outside terraces, I use Cargo, food is good but again not the cheapest.
Always check for Happy Hour deals, usually early evening, will offer savings on some drinks.
Unless something has changed recently, the major works referred to by ecs above are further out of JBR and are to construct new access flyovers into the harbour area. Having inadvertently driven into the traffic there a few weeks ago I can vouch for the fact it is to be avoided, however taxi drivers will be well aware and unless you specifically want to go the harbour (nothing there ) then wont give you any issues.
Souk Madinat worth a visit, Belgian Beer Cafe has good terrace with views over the waterway and Burj Al Arab.
You can pick up taxis reasonable easily from the hotel and be on the main road in a few minutes to get to anywhere.
Edit to add, you can pick up Marine Transport boat from outside Marina Mall. For AED50 pp will take you along the coast to the old creek, takes about 90 mins you will go past Atlantis and Burj. From the stop at the creek you can jump on Abra for AED1 (cash) to cross the creek to Spice and Gold Souks but you will need to be careful embarking with your child, you will see what I mean if you go there and make your own judgement. Watch out for the pushy sales guys at the Souks unless you are the market for dupe designer goods. You can either get the Marine Transport back again or pick up taxi.
Long winded post but if you want any more advice happy to give it.
Marina Byblos isn t on the JBR walk, it is on the opposite side of the marina and so isn t as badly affected by the traffic. You have probably checked it out on Google Maps but you can walk across the bridge near to the hotel and be on JBR in about 10 minutes. Lots of food choices over there but not the cheapest area due to tourist demand. Some good bars over there too but as much as I like Lock Stock (recommended above) I wouldn t be going there with wife and 1 year old child. I would suggest Bliss at the Sheraton for beach side sundowners or Wavebreaker at Hilton JBR. Also Claw BBQ which is at the end of JBR closest to your hotel. From that end of JBR you can walk the boardwalk to Bluewater with all its attractions.
Metro is close to your hotel, very cheap transport but avoid morning and evening rush hours, it is bonkers busy and you will be packed in so tight you can t move. I speak from experience. Ibn Battuta Mall is only 10 mins and less than AED 20 in taxi from your hotel, not as flash and busy as the bigger malls but some reasonable food outlets much kinder on the wallet if you just want fast and cheap.
There are restaurants opposite the Byblos, I have used many of them, not 5 star but some good food there and very well priced.
Marina has some good places, there is Sri Lankan TPH Lakwill prob 15 minutes walk that is good for some spicy food or go to the places in Pier 7 close to Marina Mall. The restaurants from 3rd floor up have outside terraces, I use Cargo, food is good but again not the cheapest.
Always check for Happy Hour deals, usually early evening, will offer savings on some drinks.
Unless something has changed recently, the major works referred to by ecs above are further out of JBR and are to construct new access flyovers into the harbour area. Having inadvertently driven into the traffic there a few weeks ago I can vouch for the fact it is to be avoided, however taxi drivers will be well aware and unless you specifically want to go the harbour (nothing there ) then wont give you any issues.
Souk Madinat worth a visit, Belgian Beer Cafe has good terrace with views over the waterway and Burj Al Arab.
You can pick up taxis reasonable easily from the hotel and be on the main road in a few minutes to get to anywhere.
Edit to add, you can pick up Marine Transport boat from outside Marina Mall. For AED50 pp will take you along the coast to the old creek, takes about 90 mins you will go past Atlantis and Burj. From the stop at the creek you can jump on Abra for AED1 (cash) to cross the creek to Spice and Gold Souks but you will need to be careful embarking with your child, you will see what I mean if you go there and make your own judgement. Watch out for the pushy sales guys at the Souks unless you are the market for dupe designer goods. You can either get the Marine Transport back again or pick up taxi.
Long winded post but if you want any more advice happy to give it.
Edited by J4m80 on Thursday 1st January 20:48
Edited by J4m80 on Sunday 4th January 09:12
Sorry to jump on the thread but also looking at Dubai in Feb - this time with two kids 6 & 9.
The Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel in Wafi keeps popping up, seems to have a brand new water park that only opened last year.
However as I understand location isn't great - not close to a beach, and nearest metro is about 15 min walk away.
Any people with local knowledge comment on it?
Ta
The Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel in Wafi keeps popping up, seems to have a brand new water park that only opened last year.
However as I understand location isn't great - not close to a beach, and nearest metro is about 15 min walk away.
Any people with local knowledge comment on it?
Ta
Dan_1981 said:
Sorry to jump on the thread but also looking at Dubai in Feb - this time with two kids 6 & 9.
The Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel in Wafi keeps popping up, seems to have a brand new water park that only opened last year.
However as I understand location isn't great - not close to a beach, and nearest metro is about 15 min walk away.
Any people with local knowledge comment on it?
Ta
Or alternatively the Le Méridien Mina Seyahi is also coming up at a similar price level and looks to be a slightly better location?The Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel in Wafi keeps popping up, seems to have a brand new water park that only opened last year.
However as I understand location isn't great - not close to a beach, and nearest metro is about 15 min walk away.
Any people with local knowledge comment on it?
Ta
I go alot.
The joy of dubai is its nice weather and you can sit on the beach with good service, or go to nice beach clubs / restaurants if your on expenses or got coin. Golf is decent.
The sights? there are none.
The malls - you can go to a shopping mall in any city in the world. Its no cheaper in Dubai.
The traffic is terrible - marina and the palm aweful.
the metro - no one sane would use.
the food is horrendously expensive.
edit: i would jsut go to Abu D.
The joy of dubai is its nice weather and you can sit on the beach with good service, or go to nice beach clubs / restaurants if your on expenses or got coin. Golf is decent.
The sights? there are none.
The malls - you can go to a shopping mall in any city in the world. Its no cheaper in Dubai.
The traffic is terrible - marina and the palm aweful.
the metro - no one sane would use.
the food is horrendously expensive.
edit: i would jsut go to Abu D.
z4RRSchris said:
The sights? there are none.
The malls - you can go to a shopping mall in any city in the world. Its no cheaper in Dubai.
The traffic is terrible - marina and the palm aweful.
the metro - no one sane would use.
the food is horrendously expensive.
edit: i would jsut go to Abu D.
To expand upon that.The malls - you can go to a shopping mall in any city in the world. Its no cheaper in Dubai.
The traffic is terrible - marina and the palm aweful.
the metro - no one sane would use.
the food is horrendously expensive.
edit: i would jsut go to Abu D.
The old town is a sight, but you only need do it once.
I found the malls MORE expensive. Ralph Lauren in Dubai Mall is not actually RL. They buy their stock above trade and sell it 20% over retail.
Traffic is awful. Epic crashes. Lots of nice cars about though.
The food and booze is expensive yes, more so now the discount for tourists on booze ended.
Never been to Abu D, but they get The Flintstones on TV there I believe.
Dan_1981 said:
Or alternatively the Le Méridien Mina Seyahi is also coming up at a similar price level and looks to be a slightly better location?
The Meridien, The W and the Westin are all the same resort. All fine ive stayed at the W a fair amount and you can get to Marina or South Beach in about 20 mins in a uber. Pool and beach are fine. Note barasti is on one end, which is a horrendous pit
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