Fall in love with Dubai! We talk not only about popular sights such as the Burj Khalifa, but also about unused places where tourists do not reach. We share tips from our trip and useful links.
Today I will tell you why you can fall in love with Dubai. These are not only skyscrapers made of glass and concrete, competing in luxury and height. It is also a cozy little world of the Old City with its undersized buildings, abra boats and shady streets, modern Arab art, flower wonders and a lot of entertainment. All these unique sights are worth seeing at least once in your life!
Exchange rate: 1 UAE dirham (AED) ≈ 21 RUB
Caution: interesting excursions! To get to know Dubai better, book a guided tour on the Tripster website. Read the description and reviews to choose the coolest program. Dubai has a wide range of exciting excursions.
Burj Khalifa
This is the top of the top attractions in Dubai - the first thing to see. We liked the 163-storey tower very much; even an inveterate skeptic would be impressed by it at least. It seems that its spire is being carried away into the stratosphere!
To climb the 124th floor of this beauty, you need to pay as much as 149 dirhams - this is the cheapest ticket. But, believe me, it's worth going up to the observation deck.
We bought an online combo ticket with a visit to the tower and aquarium. Took a ticket for 9 am until the haze appeared. The views are unforgettable! Read all the details in a separate article about Burj Khalifa - there are all the tips, prices and life hacks.
If you want to show off beautiful photos on Instagram, come early, until the light reflects off the glasses of the observation deck.
Singing fountains Dubai Fountain
Well, fountains, well, singing. The crowd of tourists in the evening is just crazy and everyone takes the best seats in advance.
I do not argue that it was pleasant to look at the tight streams of water, beautifully illuminated by lights that wriggle resiliently like snakes to the beat of Arabic music against the background of the Burj Khalifa. But when they turned on Russian music (something like Pugacheva), it was overkill! We saw something like this in the Vinperl park in Nha Trang - they generally turned on the Kalinka, to the delight of our compatriots.
We looked several times: in the afternoon at 13:00 and 13:30 (dull and uninteresting), in the evening from 18:00 to 23:00 about every half hour. Better seen from the Apple balcony on the 2nd floor of Dubai Mall if you can get there. All this is free.
By the way, we liked such fountains in the Mexican town of Campeche much more: we were sitting right in the center of the amphitheater, which created the IMAX effect, there were few tourists, pleasant music played - this is pure delight.
Dubai mall
Well, you already understood that everything is being built in Dubai on an incredible scale. Meet and be surprised - the world's largest shopping center "Dubai Mall" with an area of 1.2 million square meters! This is not a Central Department Store or even Chinese endless shopping centers. We walked a kilometer from the metro to the entrance to the shopping center - and we wound many more kilometers along the mall itself. What is there just not! If you are a shopaholic, be careful. We are cold for shopping, so we just ate at the food court and left without a single purchase. By the way, the mall is a real salvation from the heat!
Oceanarium Dubai Aquarium
I breathe unevenly towards the creatures of God, so I certainly went to the aquarium and the underwater zoo. This is not just an aquarium, this is an aquarium! Just imagine - 10 million tons of water. If this thing bursts ...
Not without trepidation, I entered the 48-meter tunnel that runs under the aquarium. What graceful stingrays and funny fish are there! A little higher is the underwater zoo, which is also very interesting.
The aquarium itself can be viewed from the side for free, but we bought a combo ticket with the Burj Khalifa. At that time it was very profitable - for two it turned out 390 dirhams. Combo tickets are constantly changing, see the current prices on the official website. Separately, tickets cost 70 dirhams.
How to get there to the aquarium, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and fountains? They are all in one place! Travel to Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall Metro Station. From there, follow the signs for the mall. The bulk of people go to the mall, so you won't get lost. The fountains are right at the exit from the center, the aquarium is in the mall, and you certainly won't overlook the tower. :)
Bastakiya (Al-Fahidi)
What kind of remake is this restored quarter of Bastakia? At first glance, it seemed to me that way too. But it’s so nice to hide from the sun and the noise of the big city. And when the coolness descends and the moon rises, magic begins! The moonlight casts harsh shadows on the sandy walls, and all the characters of oriental fairy tales come to life at once: here Scheherazade slipped in in a burqa, here the mocking Hodja Nasreddin led his mule, but the robber marks Ali Baba's door with chalk.
We stayed in an oriental hotel right in this quarter and every evening we enjoyed the mysterious silence and fantasized about what Dubai was like before the oil production. You can see a lot of things in Bastakia: an old fort, a mosque, all sorts of museums and art galleries. Have tea or coffee in Basta Art Cafe - their interior alone is worth something!
Deira
Deira is a historic district, a hectic mix of Egypt, Morocco and modern Dubai. Here you can find oriental markets, narrow alleys between traditional houses, and skyscrapers. The aromas in the spice market are stunning: it smells of cumin, vanilla, saffron, cumin and thousands of other multi-colored spices. I think this area in Dubai is a must-see for everyone!
The area caused us conflicting feelings: sticky barkers, signs in Russian, the glitter of diamonds, gold and Rolex annoying. On the other hand, where else in Dubai can you see such a strange mixture of old and new? But all this is only in the area where the markets are concentrated - Al Ras. Further more modern buildings are already located.
Don't miss the Gold Souk - you have never seen SUCH amount of gold in one place anywhere!
To get to Deira, take a traditional boat abru for 1 dirham one way.
Box park
A trendy and vibrant place where you can walk, try different cuisine, take beautiful photos for Instagram and shop. Buildings made of colorful containers, installations and street art. Come in the evening when life is in full swing! This is a completely different Dubai.
La Mer and City Walk
Cozy corners of Europe in Dubai - La Mer and City Walk. If you're around, take a look. It's nice to walk here, look at bright graffiti and art objects, or just sit in a cafe. By the way, City Walk has great views of the Burj Khalifa.
Jumeirah Mosque
They say that this is a very beautiful mosque and must be seen, but we did not visit - there was not much time, and in Dubai there are so many more interesting things than a mosque! If we went to look, we would have chosen twilight - at this time the backlight turns on.
Gentiles are allowed here for 25 dirhams per person. The price includes a long lecture in English, tea and coffee and national dress. You can inspect the mosque yourself.
You can only get there with a change: first by metro to the Palm Deira station, then by bus number 8 to the Grand Masjid Jumeira stop.
Dubai Marina and JLT
The impressive Dubai Marina is a man-made yacht harbor with glittering skyscrapers. A sort of Dubai Manhattan - it's expensive and prestigious here. We liked the area, it is beautiful and photogenic. They say that in the evening it is even cooler with backlighting, but we were only in the afternoon.
It is adjacent to the equally impressive area of Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) - they are similar to each other and have merged a little in memory.
Come here by metro - take the red line to Damac Properties or Jumeirah Lakes Towers.
Sheikh Zayed Highway
The best way to see the skyscrapers of Dubai without melting is from the panoramic window of the first or last subway car. We stared out of ordinary cars, but also managed to see a lot of things!
A real exotic in Dubai is flamingos against the backdrop of skyscrapers! Moreover, it's free. Everything sounds beautiful and we almost even went there until we read the reviews.In fact, it turns out a lot of difficulties: it is expensive to go only by taxi (it is expensive), the birds come close very rarely and you can observe them only through binoculars, and you can take beautiful photos only with a telephoto camera. Nevertheless, in the reviews there are quite a few people who have had a lot of fun watching the birds!
In Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, there are only three places from which you can observe. The reserve is open from 9:00 to 16:00 from Saturday to Thursday. To get a taxi back to the center, you need to get off the freeway.
