Dubai holiday - recommendations

[jay0101]

Im thinking of going to Dubai for a week end of July/beginning August

I was looking at staying in the Shangri-La Dubai, but having been on trip advisor, expedia etc and read the reviews im concerned about the location, in that it may be too far out from the shopping malls/restaurants/nightlife etc

can anyone recommend a good hotel that is close (preferably within walking distance/a short taxi ride) of the main bar/restaurant/shop district? or where the best area to look into staying with this in mind is?

also what is the nightlife like out there? is there any?! i believe ramadan is September this year..is that correct?

I have done a search but nothing really relevant came up

i have also put this in TP&P

TIA

Edited by jay0101 on Monday 30th June 17:51

[oilydan]

Depending on the time of day, everywhere is a 30 minute taxi ride away. Traffic is that bad!

The clubs/restaurants/shopping are so well spread out around town that pretty much any of the big chain hotels give equal access to them.

Check google-earth, you can get a good idea of hotel and attraction locations.

[yorky500]

End of July/beginning of August will fine and Ramadan will have NO effect on you.

As oily said, Dubai's shopping Malls and bars/restaurants are very spread out. Lots of nightclubs/bars etc to be found as they are all based in Hotels. Shangri-la is pretty well placed on Sheik Zaid Road (hope this is the one!). Lots of bars and clubs along the very same road although you may not want to be walking very far in the heat. I think the Shangri-la would be ideal to be honest although it does not have access to the beach. Shopping Malls such as Mall of Emirates, Burjaman, City centre, Mercato etc are pretty much within a 30min or less taxi ride away.

There is very little to see here in Dubai in terms of architecture/history/culture. Lots of shopping which is good/bad depending on your point of view. Also, Dubai Summer Suprises is on, which means summer sales everywhere.

What are you looking to do when here?

jay0101 said:

Im thinking of going to Dubai for a week end of July/beginning August

I was looking at staying in the Shangri-La Dubai, but having been on trip advisor, expedia etc and read the reviews im concerned about the location, in that it may be too far out from the shopping malls/restaurants/nightlife etc

can anyone recommend a good hotel that is close (preferably within walking distance/a short taxi ride) of the main bar/restaurant/shop district? or where the best area to look into staying with this in mind is?

also what is the nightlife like out there? is there any?! i believe ramadan is September this year..is that correct?

I have done a search but nothing really relevant came up

i have also put this in TP&P

TIA

Edited by jay0101 on Monday 30th June 17:51

[jay0101]

yorky500 said:

End of July/beginning of August will fine and Ramadan will have NO effect on you.

As oily said, Dubai's shopping Malls and bars/restaurants are very spread out. Lots of nightclubs/bars etc to be found as they are all based in Hotels. Shangri-la is pretty well placed on Sheik Zaid Road (hope this is the one!). Lots of bars and clubs along the very same road although you may not want to be walking very far in the heat. I think the Shangri-la would be ideal to be honest although it does not have access to the beach. Shopping Malls such as Mall of Emirates, Burjaman, City centre, Mercato etc are pretty much within a 30min or less taxi ride away.

There is very little to see here in Dubai in terms of architecture/history/culture. Lots of shopping which is good/bad depending on your point of view. Also, Dubai Summer Suprises is on, which means summer sales everywhere.

What are you looking to do when here?

jay0101 said:

Im thinking of going to Dubai for a week end of July/beginning August

I was looking at staying in the Shangri-La Dubai, but having been on trip advisor, expedia etc and read the reviews im concerned about the location, in that it may be too far out from the shopping malls/restaurants/nightlife etc

can anyone recommend a good hotel that is close (preferably within walking distance/a short taxi ride) of the main bar/restaurant/shop district? or where the best area to look into staying with this in mind is?

also what is the nightlife like out there? is there any?! i believe ramadan is September this year..is that correct?

I have done a search but nothing really relevant came up

i have also put this in TP&P

TIA

Edited by jay0101 on Monday 30th June 17:51

I have posted this in TP&P also and the concensus there seems to be that the best place to base ourselves in order to be close to bars/restaurant etc is a hotel on Jumeirah Beach or the Marina, would you agree with this?

With this in mind we are now looking at staying in either the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach or the Habtoor Hotel on the marina as i believe there a quite a few bars and restaurants around that area and although we are unlikely to use the beach being close to it is a bonus.

When we are out there we will definately want to go onto the sand dunes in the Landcruisers and also go karting provided the heat allows!

Any other suggestions as to things to do gratefully received!

I have heard that the nightclubs/bars in the hotels generally shut at around midnight, do you know if this is correct?

Thanks again

edited for typo

Edited by jay0101 on Tuesday 1st July 14:38

[yorky500]

Jumeriah Beach Hotel (JBH) is very nice, not sure about the Habtoor Grand but both have beaches etc. Next to the JBH is a very, very nice complex called Madinat Jumeriah. Got loads of restaurants and a goodly number of bars. Just down the drag strip is the Barasti Bar, which is always lively.

JBH is also just a short hop from Mall of Emirates, which has the 800m in door ski slope and a st load of shops to keep the Mrs happy for days.

Desert safari (Landcruiser) can be booked through the hotels and is OK.

Karting - funny you should mention that. Dubai Autodrome does karting and I believe have opened an indoor kart track. There is also a fantastic karting facility in Al Ain (bit of a trek though).

The Hotels you mentioned are a wee bit further away from, for want of a better word, Dubai central areas. These being Bur Dubai and Deira. Deira is the older part of Dubai and has lots of shops/markets etc and is also where the Gold Souk is located.

Ask away if you need any more.

PS: are you a serious karter?

[jay0101]

I understand that the nightclubs in Dubai are in the big hotels, can you get into these even if you are not staying in that hotel? Are they open quite late i.e 2am or does everything close quite early out there?

I am going to hire a car whilst there, as looking on the internet the prices are very reasonable and it will be handy to have our own transport given the heat (currently sorting an International driving permit). Is it possible/safe to drive to some of the other emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and also Al Ain if the go karting is good! Are these long/difficult journeys? i have googled it and it appears DXB-AUH is about 120kms or an hour and a half, do you think this is accurate? what is the traffic like? i can imagine the roads are good!

I wouldn't say i was a serious karter, but i go regularly in the UK and have been doing it for years, so will def go a couple of times when out there, will also give the indoor ski slope ago aswell!

from the internet it appears that there are lots of options watersports wise, can you recommend any inparticular that are worth doing?

thanks for your help, sorry for the number of q's!

[yorky500]

jay0101 said:

I understand that the nightclubs in Dubai are in the big hotels, can you get into these even if you are not staying in that hotel? Are they open quite late i.e 2am or does everything close quite early out there?

I am going to hire a car whilst there, as looking on the internet the prices are very reasonable and it will be handy to have our own transport given the heat (currently sorting an International driving permit). Is it possible/safe to drive to some of the other emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and also Al Ain if the go karting is good! Are these long/difficult journeys? i have googled it and it appears DXB-AUH is about 120kms or an hour and a half, do you think this is accurate? what is the traffic like? i can imagine the roads are good!

I wouldn't say i was a serious karter, but i go regularly in the UK and have been doing it for years, so will def go a couple of times when out there, will also give the indoor ski slope ago aswell!

from the internet it appears that there are lots of options watersports wise, can you recommend any inparticular that are worth doing?

thanks for your help, sorry for the number of q's!

Most nightclubs stay open until 3AM if memory serves. No, anybody can go to any night club and if you are with the "Mrs" then all the better for getting in (like the UK, group of guys will be a No NO).

Roads are nice but manic with heavy traffic and very easy to get lost (poor direction), but thats the fun of driving, right? hahahahahahaha

Well, petrol is CHEAP (about GBP0.90/imperial gallon), so hiring a car should be OK. You can drive to other Emirates without any bother. Abu Dhabi is around 150km's away or 90mins, but when you cross the border from Dubai into AUH (tarmac changes colour - thats it) you can drive at 160km/h (legal), cameras (flash at 161km/h) are around 8-10km's apart, you can thrash the tits off the hire car (I do the drive every day!)

Sharjah - forget it, complete st hole imho. Fujeriah is awesome, so is Ras Al Khaimah, completely different from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Al Ain is also nice and has a great zoo.

Journeys are not difficult, just the road signs and the other drivers.

When are you coming over? fancy joining a team of two for a 2 hour karting race? 25th July, starts at 5PM in Al Ain?

Not a big watersports fan. Hotels will be able to help you out there.

[j1]

thanks for that, will give sharjah a miss then! will try and get to Fujeirah and Ras Al Khaimar instead. Will also go to Al Ain, for the go karting! How far is it?

The hire company allow the car to be taken to Oman, i would like to see Muscat, is that abit far to go for a full day with 2 people driving? i think its about 350km?

Are the police strict on motorists in the UAE? guessing so if camera's flash as soon as you go over the limit! Am looking forward to thrashing the hire car, but dont want to get arrested for it!!

We are over from PM Friday 8th August - to Am Friday 15th August, Are there any karting races between those dates? We would like to join you for a race if poss

Thx again

eta: I've changed my username to something shorter!

Edited by j1 on Wednesday 2nd July 17:10

[yorky500]

j1 said:

thanks for that, will give sharjah a miss then! will try and get to Fujeirah and Ras Al Khaimar instead. Will also go to Al Ain, for the go karting! How far is it?

The hire company allow the car to be taken to Oman, i would like to see Muscat, is that abit far to go for a full day with 2 people driving? i think its about 350km?

Are the police strict on motorists in the UAE? guessing so if camera's flash as soon as you go over the limit! Am looking forward to thrashing the hire car, but dont want to get arrested for it!!

We are over from PM Friday 8th August - to Am Friday 15th August, Are there any karting races between those dates? We would like to join you for a race if poss

Thx again

eta: I've changed my username to something shorter!

Edited by j1 on Wednesday 2nd July 17:10

Al Ain is roughly an hour away, ot just over.

Muscat is circa 450km's away and will take you around +4 hours (although Oilydan will tell you it took him shorter as he did it fairly frequently at breakneck speeds)

Cops: generally will leave you alone as there are not that many on the streets patrolling. Fixed camera's are everywhere. As a rule, the camera's will "flash" 20km's over the stated speed limit, although there are certain roads where you have to strictly abide by the speed limit.

Our karting challenge dates are 4th July, 25th July, 8th August and 5th Spetember, so sadly, you will have missed them!

As for car hire, just stick with the big boys, you should be fine.

[j1]

Thanks for all the info Yorky

[j1]

Out of interest what sort of temperatures can we expect during the night in August? I understand it regularly gets to 50+ during the day, just wondering if it drops much in the evening/night

[TSFerrari]

jay0101...i have heard that you cant go kart

is that true?

[j1]

TSFerrari said:

jay0101...i have heard that you cant go kart

is that true?

As we all know i am the king of go karting

[Huliganov]

j1 said:

Out of interest what sort of temperatures can we expect during the night in August? I understand it regularly gets to 50+ during the day, just wondering if it drops much in the evening/night

It's still very hot during the night too. It will drop but it will still be very very hot. It's unlike other 'desert' landscapes where temperatures becomes cold at night.

[j1]

Huliganov said:

j1 said:

Out of interest what sort of temperatures can we expect during the night in August? I understand it regularly gets to 50+ during the day, just wondering if it drops much in the evening/night

It's still very hot during the night too. It will drop but it will still be very very hot. It's unlike other 'desert' landscapes where temperatures becomes cold at night.

Thx, thats what i was wondering

[crossle]

Even when the temperature does go down a few degrees at night, it will be the humidity (90%+) that will kill you...

October to May is the only time to visit the Gulf

Even the locals all ship out to Europe and the USA for the summer!

[oilydan]

yorky500 said:

j1 said:

thanks for that, will give sharjah a miss then! will try and get to Fujeirah and Ras Al Khaimar instead. Will also go to Al Ain, for the go karting! How far is it?

The hire company allow the car to be taken to Oman, i would like to see Muscat, is that abit far to go for a full day with 2 people driving? i think its about 350km?

Are the police strict on motorists in the UAE? guessing so if camera's flash as soon as you go over the limit! Am looking forward to thrashing the hire car, but dont want to get arrested for it!!

We are over from PM Friday 8th August - to Am Friday 15th August, Are there any karting races between those dates? We would like to join you for a race if poss

Thx again

eta: I've changed my username to something shorter!

Edited by j1 on Wednesday 2nd July 17:10

Al Ain is roughly an hour away, ot just over.

Muscat is circa 450km's away and will take you around +4 hours (although Oilydan will tell you it took him shorter as he did it fairly frequently at breakneck speeds)

Cops: generally will leave you alone as there are not that many on the streets patrolling. Fixed camera's are everywhere. As a rule, the camera's will "flash" 20km's over the stated speed limit, although there are certain roads where you have to strictly abide by the speed limit.

Our karting challenge dates are 4th July, 25th July, 8th August and 5th Spetember, so sadly, you will have missed them!

As for car hire, just stick with the big boys, you should be fine.

qDubai-Muscat will take you at least 5 hours if you observe the +20Kph rule. I have done it in slightly under 4 but that was on a litre bike with the number plate removed

For watersports you will need to head to the out of town resorts - Le Meridian Al Aqah in Fujairah is great for diving/windsurfing/waterskiing etc. Gazera beach club at Ghantoot has a wakeboard school and Zapcats. The Habtoor has jet-ski hire but expect them to be strict on how far/fast you can go as loads of accidents happen....

As far as hotel is concerned; the slightly out-of town hotels have the best beaches; Sheraton Jumeriah, Oasis beach, Habtoor etc along the front of the Jumeriah beah residences are good. A bit further in the Le Meridian Mina Seyahi and the Royal Mirage are nice and have good beaches/views over the palm. The 2 hotels at the Medinat are fantastic; best choice by far. Further down you have the Burj and the Jumeriah beach hotel which is a bit 'chav' for my liking (went there yesterday for a bite at lunch-time and the amount of Burburry and soverign rings was alarming). Dubai Marine resort is closer to 'town' and has an OK beach.

My choice would be either the Mina a'Salam or Al Qasar at the Medinat; they have some of the best bars/clubs/restaurants/views/shops/friday brunch in Dubai and is only a very short hop to the large mall/skiing and waterpark etc.The Royal Mirage would be a close second choice.

[Si 330]

Further down you have the Burj and the Jumeriah beach hotel which is a bit 'chav' for my liking (went there yesterday for a bite at lunch-time and the amount of Burburry and soverign rings was alarming).

Great my first trip to Dubai flying on tuesday and staying at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Wasn't expecting that type of guest.

[oilydan]

Si 330 said:

Further down you have the Burj and the Jumeriah beach hotel which is a bit 'chav' for my liking (went there yesterday for a bite at lunch-time and the amount of Burburry and soverign rings was alarming).

Great my first trip to Dubai flying on tuesday and staying at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Wasn't expecting that type of guest.

A miwwion sqwiwwian Pwosh and Bwecks wannabes, innit.

Oh, and Russians/Eastern Europeans; by the Sukhoi load

[j1]

Si 330 said:

Great my first trip to Dubai flying on tuesday and staying at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Wasn't expecting that type of guest.

It will be my first trip when i go in the middle of August. I'd be interested to hear how you got on when you get back..