Hi My Lovelies!
I hope you enjoy my blogpost on Dubai complete with tips, tricks and personal recommendations.
Let me know if you guys found the below post helpful in anyway.
Chat soon,
GemKen x
Oh My Dubai..!
My boyfriend and I stayed in Dubai for 4 nights as a stopover before continuing our journey to Sydney.
We started our journey from Dublin Airport with Emirates and I cant fault the airline at all. The staff were super attentive to the needs of every passenger on the 7.5 hour flight. The drinks were unlimited and the food, well, it was as nice as it could be considering plane food ain’t the most nutritious or delicious!
Everything was provided (blankets, pillow, earphones etc) but it was the attention to detail with Emirates that impressed me the most. Mid-flight they dished out hot lemon water soaked flannels to freshen up with. The air hostesses were all super friendly, offering helpful advice on where the hot spots were in Dubai.
We stayed in The Habtoor Grand Resort, a 5-star hotel located in Dubai Marina just moments away from Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR).
Day 1 – Monday 3rd July
As the airplane prepared for landing the temperature on the monitor just kept rising. We landed in Dubai at 12:30am to a scorching 39°C. As soon as we exited the airport to join the taxi queue, we encountered the first of the heat; it literally felt like you had opened an oven door with the heat hitting you straight up the face. My glasses fully steamed up, it felt like we were in a sauna, and this was at night time? What on earth were the next few days going to be like? !
The skyline of the city all lit up was amazing to gaze out the taxi window at. (Weird: although the car itself was cool from air conditioning, the windows were radiating heat from the hot air outside)
The taxi to our hotel took approximately 25 minutes and cost 110 Dirham (£24)
When we arrived at our hotel we were welcomed with drinks and escorted to our beautiful room. It was around 2am at this stage and we were both starving so being the foodies we are, we ordered room service and chilled.
Tower King Room with Partial Sea View – 2016 Dirham (£440). Room service cost- 80 Dirham, Pizza & Chips (Approximately £17). Booked through booking.com
Day 2 – Tuesday 4th July
Our first full proper day in Dubai, we started it off with breakfast around 10:30am. We added breakfast onto our stay upon check in costing us 600 Dirham. No day can be started right without a good breakfast and this way saved us a lot of hassle, money and hangry arguments about where to eat.
After breakfast we took off exploring (by ‘exploring’ i technically mean shopping on this occasion, but calling it exploring excited Niall so I ran with it).
We walked outside and got into a perfectly chilled taxi as by this stage it was 42°C and the heat was unbearable. We set off for the Dubai Mall; where do I start on describing the Mall? It has to be seen to be believed, every shop and food place known to mankind is under one roof, complete with an ice rink, underwater zoo, aquarium, cinema and the worlds biggest water fountain display, it literally is every girls dream!!
Breakfast- 100 Dirham each per day for a continental breakfast buffet (approximately £22)
Taxi fare to Mall- 92 Dirham (£20). Time from Hotel to Mall approximately 15minutes.
Although 90% of the time we were just window-shopping and gawking in amazement (partially because our luggage was already overweight, also due to majority of the shops being designer and expensive!), I did manage to pick some items up in Sephora, which I will review for you guys in the upcoming weeks. I could have spent the whole holiday solely in Sephora- it was humongous!
After leaving the mall in the evening we decided to source the train to save us money for the remainder of the trip. The train passes back cost 44 Dirham (£9.50) for the both of us! Just under half of the taxi cost. We selected the daily-unlimited use passes meaning we could come and go as frequent as we wished. The train system was very straightforward to use as well as the cleanest public transport I have ever been on in my life. There are lists of rules to obey whilst commuting; no food, no drinks or no chewing gum are among the many.
On the route home we jumped off at the Mall of the Emirates to do some more ‘exploring’. Again, the Mall was ginormous with so much packed under one roof, including a ski slope!
As the sun went down we were able to manage the heat and decided to go to the beach at 7:30pm. So after a quick stop in the hotel to grab a bikini and swimming trunks, we took a dander down the marina. The sand was like white dust, the sea like bath water and the skyline picturesque. The walk back from the beach revealed a lit up Dubai and what a view it was.
A quick stop back in the hotel to wash the sand from ourselves before heading out to dinner. Tuesday night is ladies night and I was off out to take advantage of my free drink! We went to Pier 7, which consisted of 7 different restaurants; Fume, O’Cacti, Cargo, The Scene, Abd El Wahab, Asia Asia & Atelier M.
We decided on eating dinner in Asia Asia (Floor Six), and it was incredible! We were sat on the balcony overlooking the lit up sky line & the promenade below with all the big expensive yachts docked.
Tuesday night is Ladies Night in many venues across Dubai. The places we went I got 3x free tokens to use towards drinks. This was actually brilliant considering how expensive drinks are in Dubai. Ofcourse mine was a G&T every time but there was a variety of spirits and cocktails to choose from.
A G&T cost around 50 Dirham most places (£10.90).
Day 3- Wednesday 5th July
Day three was special, I woke up to a gift from Niall to mark the beginning of our seventh year together (cutie-patutie).
After stuffing our bellies at breakfast we filled two backpacks and headed on our way for the day. We dandered over to the train station (5 minute walk from our hotel) and got off a stop early so we could walk towards the Dubai Mall in order to catch a birds eye view of the Burj Khalifa.
Tip- take a bottle of water and a change of top in your bag! Sweat patches- not so cute.
After taking a few pictures we walked to the Dubai Mall as we wanted to go to the Aquarium.
The 10-million litre Dubai Aquarium tank is located on the Ground Level of The Dubai Mall. All different packages are available depending on how much you want to see and do.
We opted for the ‘Explorer’ package as this entailed a glass bottom boat trip which was pretty cool. Continuing to the underwater zoo where we seen animals such as penguins, alligators, parrots, iguanas, otters, turtles, crabs, and jelly fish amongst many.
Explorer Package120 Dirhams each (£26)
We came back and had a few drinks in our hotel room and then headed down to the hotel bar. Dubai is strict on people being drunk in public so we always limited ourselves when we were out and had our own drink in the hotel room to enjoy without worry.
Tip- Buy a bottle of drink in duty free to take with you, we didn’t come across one off-licence in Dubai.
Day 4- Thursday 6th July
Our final day in Dubai! We started the day off at Zero Gravity, which is like a mini Ocean Beach (Ibiza). Great music pumping, sunbeds galore, drink, food, a cool ass swimming pool and access to the beach (the ocean was actually hotter than the pool water!). Upon entry we received tokens to use towards food and drink to the value of 75 Dirhams and the meal we had was absolutely gorge.
Entry was 250 Dirhams for a couple (£55) or 150 Dirhams per person (£33). Note: Management only class a couple as a male and female.
We bought tickets in the Mall the day before for an evening slot to visit the the worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. After a security check we were greeted with Arabic Tea and local delicacies before visiting 3 floor levels; 148, 124 &125!
Anyone who knows me knows I don’t do these kind of heights, I walked around the viewing deck with my back against the wall grasping on for dear life to anything around me! It was terrifyingly high, I legit felt dizzy, and nauseous feeling as though I were on a boat! Niall reversed me up to the window whilst I shut my eyes, opening them for a photo and sprinting back inside as soon as I heard the camera click!
Cost to go to the observation decks- 700 Dirham for both of us (£152)
A friend of Nialls had recommended we go to Madinat Jumeriah for a stroll about and some dinner. The Madinat did not disappoint, walking in it had a real authentic Dubai feel about it with a strong smell of essence lined with market stalls. When we got out the other side the hotel resembled a manmade Arabian version of Venice with its cute waterways, little boats and chilled vibes. There was an amazing view of the Burj Al Arab (the worlds only 7* hotel). We went to dinner at Trader Vics in the Madinat and it was beautiful. The atmosphere was buzzing, there were singers, belly dancers and chefs cooking your meal beside your table.
After dinner we returned to our hotel to repack and be set to leave at 6am for our flight to Sydney!
Recommended– Visiting Dubai at a cooler time of the year, it was far too hot and humid to even try lie out for a sun tan! Although i thoroughly enjoyed my Dubai Break, I would defiantly visit at a different time of the year next time so I could experience the Desert Safaris and be able to walk for more than 2 minutes without profusely sweating through every pore in my body!
Currency– Dubai is a closed currency, meaning you can’t buy Dirham outside of the country. Either use a travel card, take cash to exchange in the airport (Sterling) or use your bank card to withdraw Dirhams directly from the ATM machine. There are a number of currency exchange desks in the airport as well as ATMs, the exchange desks in the airport offer a slight lower rate at 4.3 Dirhams to a £1 in comparison to the 4.6 Dirhams offered in the Malls.
Clothing– In certain areas you are expected to be wearing appropriate clothing. No eating dinner with tops off, covering up in holy mosques, walking through the Malls. I always carried a light shirt in my bag that I could pop on if we came across the signs for ‘Appropriate Clothing’.
Time Difference– Dubai is 3 hours ahead of UK time.
Tipping– I tend to tip wherever I go anyway. You aren’t expected to tip in Dubai but its always nice to show your appreciation to people for their services. Plus 5 Dirham is only like £1!