Dubai was never high up on my list of places to visit. It’s always been described to me as “the Las Vegas of the Middle East” as if that explained every reason to go there. I don’t even want to go to the Las Vegas of America, so this was never much to recommend it to me.
But, like most lists we make, my travel list gets impacted by external factors. Climate change moved places like the Great Barrier Reef, Glacier National Park and Dry Tortugas up the list, while war bumped Syria off it completely. A work trip to London last year unexpectedly moved Europe up the queue, and then in 2018 when my Dad decided he wasn’t retired after all and went to work in Abu Dhabi, suddenly the UAE was high priority.
We knew we’d have to go over the Thanksgiving break if my sister, brother-in-law and I were all to go together, so we had a year to plan. We spent most of that time debating which European city to layover in, to avoid the brutal haul of a direct flight to Dubai. We settled on London, out of convenience and uh, semi-professional interest, and then started wondering what to do in Dubai.
With a full year of anticipation, it’s hard to overstate how much I was looking forward to this trip by the time it came around, and unlike any place I’ve traveled recently, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Most of the adulation lavished on Dubai centers around the extremeness of everything and the nightlife, but we weren’t planning to go out to fancy dinners or clubbing, so how much would be left over to enjoy?
As it turns out, quite a bit! Dubai is tall buildings, that is true, and it can feel like a place manufactured for leisure and nothing more. But it is also the desert and traditional Arabic cuisine and malls and beaches, and the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is one of the most stunning places I’ve ever walked through.
Some recommendations to check out if you go:
Go up in the Burj Khalifa!
Yes, do it, and this is one place to spend your money on the VIP experience. Our tickets took us up to the 148th floor, where we were greeted with coffee, tea, and sweets, and almost no other people. After enjoying the lounge and the view up there, we took the elevator down to the 125th floor and the experience went from “amazing” to “get me out of here” almost immediately. That floor was swarming with crowds, photographers trying to take your photo, and girls lined up to take selfies with various Instagram installations. It was honestly kind of hellish, and maybe worst of all, after being up 148 stories, the view from 125 floors up didn’t feel all that impressive anymore! Brains and perspective are weird.
Go on a desert safari!
We booked a safari that included hotel transfer to the desert, where we then piled into a vintage Land Rover and drove through the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve before watching a falcon show and feasting on traditional Bedouin food. Claire and Ryan rode a camel and I tried to remember how to smoke hookah. If you do a safari, I recommend the ones run by the Conservation Reserve, as they only focus on events native to the UAE (so no belly dancing) and they skip the dune bashing entry to the desert, which, while probably fun, wreaks havoc on the dunes.
Go to the beach!
Dubai has many public beaches and even more beach resorts, but you don’t need to do either to enjoy the beach, especially if you are apprehensive about conforming correctly to local dress codes. I discovered Riva Beach Club, an inexpensive day club where you can go hang out under an umbrella, with drinks, in a calm lagoon for less than the price of a cocktail at a fancy bar. Wednesdays are Ladies Day too, which gets you cheaper admission and some free drinks.
Eat locally!
You can go to Dubai and eat at exactly the same places you’ll find at home. At the mall I saw a range of American fast food places, and then there are the global elite chains like Nobu, and every hotel has representative examples of French, Italian, Japanese, etc. But what is the fun of traveling if you are going to eat something you could find anywhere else? While I’ll admit the food in our hotel was pretty excellent, my favorite meal of all was the first breakfast we ate in Dubai, at the Arabian Tea House. This place is renown for its breakfast, and you can choose platters of Arabian, Egyptian, or Emirati fare. We went with Egyptian and Emirati. If you don’t know the joy that is eating falafel and fries for breakfast, you should go here and find out!
Go to the mall!
Malls in America are dying. Malls in Dubai are life.
In a country where the average summer temperature defies human habitation, the air conditioned malls are a refuge, and simply calling them malls doesn’t do justice to what you will find in them. Yes, there’s shopping, and yes, you might spot an Emirati in traditional dress waiting at the valet with 20 bags from Hermes, but for the rest of us, there’s the Gap, and so much more. At the Dubai Mall, spot a shark swimming by in the giant Aquarium across from Aldo, go ice skating, eat next to an indoor waterfall, or venture outside to watch a fountain show. And then, at the Mall of the Emirates, you can go skiing in an indoor ski slope kept at a cool 25 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s trippy as hell, but so fun, and a two-hour ski pass, including equipment and clothing rentals, costs less than $30. Tahoe? I don’t know her.
Do Brunch!
Forget everything I said about not eating what you can find everywhere else! On Fridays in the UAE, they brunch. And when they brunch, they brunch hard. I never understood until we arrived at Al Qasr that what we call brunch in America is just a peasant’s humble breakfast. This was an event, where they hand you prosecco as you walk in the door, offer you more prosecco upon seating 2 seconds later, and then turn you loose upon a buffet spanning three restaurants and every type of world cuisine. There was paella, pork ribs, traditional English Sunday roast complete with Yorkshire puddings, Indian street food, fois gras, a seafood and sushi spectacle, mezze, cheese and cured meats, lamb chops, prime rib, dumplings, fried rice, mashed potatoes and more that I probably didn’t even notice. And then pies, cakes, tarts, candy, ice cream, cookies, chocolate gardens, chocolate fountains, and other desserts galore. And oh, should you be thirsty, there’s the previously mentioned prosecco, but also wheelbarrows full of beer bottles, an Aperol spritz bar, a mojito bar, a gin and tonic bar, and my favorite, a bloody mary bar. I walked in wondering how we were possibly going to spend three hours at brunch and left understanding that Dubai brunch is a marathon, not a sprint, and I think, requires just about the same amount of training to truly do it right.
See the flowers!
Ok, this one is a little harder to enthusiastically recommend, but if you are in Dubai between November and May, the Miracle Garden is wacky and interesting and felt distinctly local in a way other attractions didn’t. But…it is weird! Imagine a small theme park that is entirely a display built of standard garden flowers, inexplicably (and somehow legally?) featuring a Disney theme. We walked in the gates and were immediately confronted with a giant Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and more Disney-ish elements like tea cups, castles, and dancers. My favorite structure was the Emirates plane, which I think was only there as sponsor advertising, but looked the most natural, as if a plane crash-landed in a meadow and was gradually overtaken by the flora.
Hang out at the hotel!
This isn’t usually on my recommendation list when traveling, and it definitely depends on which hotel you are staying at, but in Dubai the hotels and resorts seemed to exist as a separate (and more permissive) world within the larger city. Our hotel touted itself as the tallest in the world (actually number 2) and the views from our rooms were stunning, but the view from the hotel bar on the 72nd floor was even more spectacular. But the hotel was also great as a place to just relax in between sightseeing. We hung outd by the pool bar in view of the Burj Khalifa before Thanksgiving dinner, made full use of the executive lounge most days for breakfast, and the night my brother-in-law and I went to the bar it was ladies night, so I got handed a sheaf of free drink tickets when I walked into the elevator.
Go to Abu Dhabi!
Dubai gets a lot of the attention, but Abu Dhabi has some sights to offer too! We spent an afternoon there, and the Grand Mosque alone was worth the trip. Unless you are covered from ankles to elbows, women will have to don the cover-ups provided. I wore a floor length dress with full sleeves to mid-upper arm and still had to change.
Dressing for Dubai
Dubai offers a few challenges for wardrobe, especially as a woman. It’s hot, so you need to take that into account, and of course, it’s better to err on the side of modesty. But for the most part, I didn’t notice any problems in touristy areas, and saw a range of dress from traditional to booty shorts, so wear what makes you comfortable and just be aware of local expectations. I stuck to maxi dresses and jumpsuits for the most part, and carried a scarf to cover my shoulders when needed and provide warmth in the over-air conditioned buildings.
