Trip to Dubai: reviews of tourists about holidays in the UAE - 2021

The best beaches, the salary of taxi drivers and the answer to the question: how to travel to the Emirates and get by with little tears over the spent budget.

Travel dates: December 2018; December 2019.
Term: tour for 4 and 6 days.
Company: 2 people.

I suggest starting with accounting.
If you are wondering how much money can be spent in a city where a Big Mac costs ≈ 290 rubles, to two people who do not want to eat a Big Mac, but do not expect to rest "like the last time", then why delay?

Since the publication of the article, we managed to visit Dubai again. The trips came out different in cost: the first is straight economy-economy, the second is average, as most tourists rest in the UAE.
I think it would be nice to compare? :)

Simple calculation, and we deduce that the sum "With you" for a day in Dubai is 5000-6000 rubles for two ($ 65- $ 80), WITHOUT EXCURSIONS. Excursions are an additional $ 50- $ 600 to the budget.

Well, now for the fun part: turnouts, passwords, tips and entertainment that you can manage to spend $ 600 on (spoiler: helicopter flight).

You do not need a visa to the Emirates. The exchange rate in the article: 1 dirham = 20 rubles.

About entering the UAE in 2021.
You must have a certificate in English about a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours (the time is counted from the moment of the test!), An application for your phone “covid-19 dxb” and insurance covering covid - such policies are available on Cherehapa.
During the flight, you fill out a health declaration, and at the airport you again take a free test and wait for the results at the hotel. If the retest is negative, you are free, if it is positive, you continue the isolation in the room.

What is the situation now?
In Dubai (and so far only this emirate is completely open to tourists) with pandemic restrictions, everything is much stricter than in Russia. Yes, all shopping malls, restaurants, museums and amusement parks are open, hotels are open and you can climb the Burj Khalifa - but everywhere the attendance and occupancy rate have been reduced, and masks are required even on the street. Sometimes they ask you to put on a mask on the beach at the hotel, until you reach the sun lounger.

How can you get to Dubai?
As before: on their own, booking flights and a hotel, or on a tour, although they have risen in price. I'll tell you more about the latter now.

Tour is good: how much does a trip to Dubai cost in 2021?

It is more profitable to fly to the Emirates 1) by tour, 2) in winter.
In winter - because off-season and tours are cheaper. By tour - because the price of a Moscow-Dubai-Moscow ticket starts at 35,000 rubles. For one.

Each of our December trip to Dubai meant a flight from Kazan (a huge plus, we are from here), a 3 or 4-star hotel from the cool Rotana or Hilton chains (a good plus) and breakfasts (plus!).

I hope I won't open America to you if I say that we always look for tours online on aggregators:

• Travelata
• Level.Travel
• and Onlinetours

We compare prices for all three, sometimes they differ. In our case, Online Tours won.

By the way, you can swim in the off-season winter, although closing your teeth in the first 5 minutes. But if anything, here's an article about the best period in the UAE. It was written when I was finally tired of googling about the weather in the UAE and reading reviews of tourists every time. A peculiar way to remember 🙂

Our accommodation review: where is the best place to stay in Dubai?

It doesn't matter where the hotel is, it matters where the metro station is. Distances in Dubai are long, taxis are ruinous, and the elevator more or less covers the main attractions. Our 4 * DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel And Residences Dubai (al-Barsha district) turned out to be just candy in this regard: a huge shopping center Mall of the Emirates is 3 minutes walk away, a metro station is 5-7 minutes away, a 20-minute drive away - both the beach and Burj Khalifa.

All budget hotels are concentrated in the Deira area. It is also convenient for transport (the same 20 minutes to the tower), but from al-Barshi it is nevertheless closer to the Dubai Marina beach (and it is worth your attention) - 1 hour versus 25 minutes! On the aggregators from the section above, it is convenient to see the location of hotels directly on the map, metro stations are also indicated.

• I talked about the 6 main areas of Dubai suitable for tourists in a separate article.

It is even more economical to stay in ... Sharjah, a neighboring emirate. We did so on the first trip, the 3 * Centro Sharjah was just there.

I explain: Dubai flows smoothly to Sharjah; border zone between them 100 meters, walk on foot. It is a typically Middle Eastern city, with no skyscrapers or famous locations and mediocre beaches.

In addition to being budget friendly, local hotels often provide a free shuttle service to the Dubai Mall. Because the main disadvantage of Sharjah is the lack of fast and cheap public transport to Dubai. In 99% of independent impulses, a tourist rides a taxi and pays from the center of Sharjah to Burj Khalifa in the region of 70 dirham (₽1400).

What you need to know if you choose Sharjah:

• No tourist tax in hotels!
  * for comparison: in Dubai it ranges from 10 (for a 3 * hotel) to 20 (for a 5 * hotel) dirham for each night in the room. The tour price is NOT included.
• Crossing the border by taxi - +20 dirham to the bill.
• From 5 to 8 pm on the road from Dubai to Sharjah, there are terrible traffic jams.

Love to placate the locals a couple of phrases in their language? As an Arabist in the past, I advise: assalyamu aleikum - hello (suddenly!) keifa khalyuk - how are you? mumtaz - super (answer to "how are you") shUkran - thanks

Border between Dubai and Sharjah / View of Burj Khalifa

Food review: where is delicious in Dubai?

There are reviews about Dubai that they live so well here that rice and chicken in a cafe for locals - a traditional low-cost segment in the world of catering - costs 35 dirhams (₽700)! Therefore, we prepared ourselves. And no, not having bought homeless packages.

We bought the Entertainer Dubai app.
With him, they saved 500 dirhams (₽10,200) for both times.

In short: certain establishments are connected to the Entertainer where you can eat according to the "2 for the price of 1" system. For example, instead of 128 dirhams for pizza (66) and lasagne (62) you pay only 66 dirhams. The cost of the application at the beginning of the year is ≈ 9000 rubles. In December, it can be snatched 9 times cheaper.

More pictures and specific locations! It was delicious everywhere, of course, the second dish for free :)

• Urban (Dubai Marina) - seafood. Two cymbals mix for 186 93 dirhams (₽1900)
• Leopolds of London (Dubai Marina) - European cuisine. Pizza and bagel for 111 58 dirhams (₽1,200)
• The duchess (La Mer) - a mix of cuisines. We took the Mexican Bowl and Falafel for 130 70 dirham (₽1400)

• Al ustadi special kabab (Burjuman, not attached) - Iranian cuisine. Two rice with chicken for 70 dirham (₽1400). Take D3, you won't go wrong
• Papa jones - pizzeria. Two pizzas 35 cm per 122 61 dirham (₽1300). Ate four of us, if that :)

• Magnolia Bakery (all over the city) - coffee shop. Two cheesecakes, lotus and lemon, for 72 37 dirham (₽750)
• Caffe nero (in the city) - coffee shop. Two lattes 0.4 per 40 20 dirham (₽400)
• Jungle juice (in the city) - fresh and juices. Two fresh for 50 25 dirham (₽500)
• Arabica (Dubai Mall, not attached) - the only place with delicious specialty coffee, latte 0.3 for 22 dirhams (₽450)

It's hard without an Entertainer in Dubai. Near Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall, it is unrealistic to find something below 100-150 dirhams for two (₽2000-3000). Dubai working-class cafes are scattered throughout the Deira district, where you can dine for 40-70 dirhams for two (₽800-1400). A bottle of water in the store - we went to Carrefour out of habit - 3-5 dirhams (₽60-100). Read more about food prices in supermarkets here >>.

About gifts. We brought from Dubai (but we didn’t deliver something): - for our stomachs: juices-smoothies from Barakat - for the stomachs of people who are not indifferent to us: cookies stuffed with Maamout dates (20 dirhams).

Transport: taxi and metro

A tourist spends a lot on transport in Dubai, often with a scratch in his heart. How else in a city where the speed limit for cars is 100 km / h, and there are 10 pedestrian crossings for the entire area?

Metro.

Overhead, unmanned (without drivers, that is) and with a panoramic frontal window. There are two branches, one of which goes to the main airport.

A few gimmicks and one good thing about the Dubai metro:

• It is difficult enough to sit down on the seat, they are permanently occupied
• Be attentive in gender-segregated carriages. Just so as not to get sidelong glances. In general, for encroachment on the girls' zone - a fine
• Girls-girls-women, if you want to "steer" - check out the view from the panoramic window - you don't have to buy a golden ticket. You can drive in the direction from Dubai Marina to Burj Khalifa, on which the first carriage is available on a regular ticket (but it is only for the female sex!)

At the ticket machine, we immediately took Nol Silver card, one for each, because we would have ridden at least 4 times. It costs 25 dirhams (₽500), of which 19 falls into the account. A trip from one zone to another with a card will cost 5 dirhams (₽100), instead of 8 (₽160); within the zone 3 dirhams (₽60) instead of 5.

A very strange fact about the Dubai metro: the turnstile does not allow the card to pass if it is less than 7.5 dirham. And you can replenish this very card ONLY for an amount multiple of 5. That is, here it is, the last trip for 3 dirhams, but - oops! - there are seven on the balance sheet. There is no choice but to throw 5 dirhams and say goodbye to the 9th. It's like, you know, "throw a coin to come back"!

Taxi.

Taxis are our everything outside the metro lines, because Dubai is not at all for pedestrians. You can walk a dozen kilometers only in the Dubai Mall or in the Dubai Marina area.

• The minimum price of the trip is 12 dirham (₽250); for short distances, taxis are more profitable than the metro
• Taximeter starts at AED 5 per landing
• 1 km - 2 dirhams (₽40)
• You do not need to call, the taxi will find you by itself (they are everywhere)

Collection of our trips.

✓ La Mer beach - Burj Khalifa: ≈ 6 km for 15-25 dirham (₽300-₽500), depending on traffic

✓ Al Mamzar beach - Deira (to an Iranian cafe): ≈ 15 km for 30 dirham (₽600)

✓ mall Sahara (Sharjah-Dubai border) - La Mer beach: ≈ 20 km for 38 dirham (₽750)

✓ Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Marina: ≈ 10 km for 25 AED (₽500)

The drivers are all newcomers. Hindus, Pakistanis, Yemenis. They, of course, must know English by profession, but most of them reach the elementary level. Plus, it doesn't matter if they know the city (the navigator on the phone will come in handy) and would not mind cheating the tourist 🙁

If you are embarrassed to catch a taxi on the street and you are in favor of a "transparent" route without accidental turns in the wrong direction, download the application Careem - local analogue of Uber - and call the car through the phone.

At the beginning, I mentioned the cost of transport in 6430 rubles. Of these, only a taxi took 4630 rubles. And this is not entirely true, because we divided the car into four. If we were together, we would have enriched the taxi with ₽9,000. In 4 days! These are the cons of a hotel in Sharjah.

For comparison: on the second trip, when we already lived in Dubai and near the metro, we spent 110 dirhams (₽2200) for the metro and 185 dirham (₽3800) for a taxi.

How much do you earn? read in the voice of Dudya Taxis are an inexhaustible source of jobs in Dubai. But you can't make a fortune here: the state “takes” 70% of the trip amount! On average, a taxi driver receives only $ 1,000 (₽75,000) per month.

What to do in Dubai? Our route and reviews of excursions

If the first time we saved, then the second time we decided to try at least the top 3 activities in Dubai. I will not go into unnecessary details, I will say that they are all interesting, informative and exciting!

We bought excursions / tickets online, I will leave links to sites and services:

• Climbing Burj Khalifa ($ 42 per person) - we even wrote a separate text about this entertainment, there we revealed a life hack on how to buy tickets cheaper дешевле
• Desert Safari ($ 43-45 per person) - this price is for an evening safari with Russian-speaking escort; you can reduce the cost if you take the morning and in English, I will tell you more about it below in "Day 2".
• Trip to Abu Dhabi ($ 60 per person)
• The boat ride from Dubai Marina ($ 22 per person) is conducted in English, but you don't need to understand anything special there, you will be taken with a breeze for an hour and a half with stops for photos in front of remarkable places.
• Helicopter flight ($ 180 per person) - we booked for 12 minutes, and this, of course, wow ... I'll leave the video we shot at the end of the article.

Well, then I will write down our budget experience - how to spend 4 days in Dubai on your own, with a trip on 1 inexpensive excursion :) Yes, and if you are relaxing with a child, then, perhaps, the above entertainments will not work. Recommendations for a "baby" Dubai can be found here.

Day 1.

• A great start to the day can only be found at Dubai's best free beach - La mer... I think photos will express impressions brighter than letters ↑
• Taxi to great and lovely Burj Khalifa and mindless wandering in the Dubai Mall (+ aquarium).

• Metro to Dubai Marina, a walk along the bay, lunch at Urban.
• By 6-7pm back to Burj Khalifa and elbow dancing for a view of Singing Fountains.

Day 2.

• Jeep Safari! This is O-F-I-G-E-N-N-O.
  We chose the ≈ $ 22 morning safari purely for economy reasons. We took it on Airbnb in the "Impressions" section. It is possible that the first booking bonus (via the link) will apply to the excursion if you do not have one yet. The classic evening safari can be booked profitably ($ 43) on Sputnik. For comparison: hotel guides sell for $ 65-70.
• Metro from Dubai Mall to Emirate Mall and km walk to Souk Madinat Jumeirah... We came to see the Christmas market (at the end of December) and - from afar - to hotel sail Burj Al Arab... But in general, here you can shop and eat, a bunch of cafes work with Entertainer.
• Sunset Metro to Creek Station and Abra (AED 2) boat ride to Dubai festival mall... Here is fountain # 2 with projections on the water and buildings.

Day 3.

• Day is laziness. In the morning La Mer, at lunchtime - City Walk and Box Park (walking area with shops), in the evening - the hotel.

Day 4.

• Al Mamzar Beach (entrance 5 dirham) - good.
• Taxi to Deira area and cafe Al Ustadi Special Kabab - a super local place with an elevated oriental atmosphere. We like such establishments very much, but "non-shot" ones can get a shock.
• Metro to Dubai Mall, walk along the Bin Rashid Boulevard to Dubai Opera - cool mini-installations and just a pedestrian street along the way.
• In the evening a taxi to Level 43 Sky Lounge - This the best bar with an open terrace! View from there to night Dubai - ♥. Happy hour is held from 6 to 8 pm, you can have a cocktail for 35-50 dirhams (₽700-₽1000).

What else to see in Dubai?
What we have not reached, but the guidebooks strongly recommend (should fit if you are for a week):

✓ Hop-on hop-off bus - double-decker buses running at landmark points.
Ticket - from $ 60 per person

✓ Dubai City Tour is a popular sightseeing tour. It is possible by bus for $ 25 per person or individually by car for $ 250 (group of up to 4 people).

✓ Dubai Frame (lookout with glass floor)
Entrance - $ 14 per person

✓ XLine Zipline (shouts and tourists can be heard-seen at Dubai Marina)
$ 180 per person

✓ Park of flowers, but first read the reviews of tourists

One of our favorite beaches - Marina Beach

Review of beaches in Dubai

After all, the UAE is a resort destination, and they come here with clear goals on vacation. Therefore, they are looking for reviews about Dubai, first of all, about the beaches.

Private beaches at hotels are not as common as in Turkey. A tour like this is expensive - from 90,000 rubles per week. But in Dubai, everything is in order with public recreation areas - they are sandy, they are cleaned daily, there is all the infrastructure (from lifeguard towers to changing rooms).

Popular public beaches:

• Jumeirah Public Beach - sandy, wide, long: it is distinguished by its view of the Burj al-Arab sail hotel and a temporary building from all sides. Changing cubicles and toilets are scattered at a decent distance, and it is easier to change clothes wrapped in a towel.
• Marina Beach (or JBR Beach) - a beach in the Dubai Marina area. It seemed to us the most "childish" in the city and crowded. From here you can see the Ferris wheel under construction, which, according to the promises, will be the largest in the world.
• Al mamzar - a complex of beaches on the outskirts of Dubai (on the border with Sharjah). The entrance is paid - 5 dirham per person. As for us, it is worth a visit only if you live nearby. It does not stand out in anything other than the park area. There are pebbles somewhere, the entrance to the water is deep. We wouldn't go the second time.
• La mer - a new beach and one of the best in the whole UAE: reviews of tourists confirm our opinion. The sand is fine and clean, the water is blue, toilets and showers are frequent, the embankment along the coast is modern and beautiful - what else is needed for the status of "cool"?

... and three more beaches, which we will talk about in another article.

About the rules of conduct on public beaches:

✓ No one forbids wearing an open swimsuit - but only within the beach area.

✓ Of course, you cannot drink alcohol (allowed in licensed beach cafes).

✓ Usually people sunbathe on towels - a set of 2 sun loungers with towels + an umbrella costs 160-180 dirham (≈ 3500 rubles)!

By the way, we filmed three of the four mentioned public beaches for vlog. You can see, evaluate which one is suitable for your holiday!

Review of the weather in the UAE

We were in the Emirates in December and February. I got the impression that this is an ideal resort for the winter - one, you know, to warm up in the sun, but not get depressed like after a hot and relaxed Thailand. And fly to the UAE is not far away.

December is warmer than February (+ 25 ° C in the air versus + 22 ° C). You can swim, but not everyone will like it: from the beginning of winter, the water gradually cools down from + 25 ° C to + 22 ° C. But! In December, Christmas markets shine in Dubai, decorated shop windows sparkle and Santa hats loom in the crowd - all under the hot sun. Contrasting, right? 🙂

If you read about the UAE, reviews mainly fall on September-October and April-May - the very "high" months when all tourists flock to rest. I do not recommend going in the summer - this is the time when it is equally hot on the street and in the sea up to + 40 ° C.

Our reviews about holidays in Dubai: pros and cons

Is Dubai the same as tourist reviews describe it?

If it seemed to you that there was not enough soul in the text, then I saved it for the end.
Honestly, my vacation in Dubai did not bring about any impressions and images that I would miss.

I do not like:

• when the city takes a lot of time to travel and does not provide space for walking
• when you can't join the life of the locals
• when attractions are limited to a hike from one mall to another

At the same time, I love:

• good climate - warm, but not hot - and clean sea
• a Middle Eastern component that can be found in the Deira area
• unusual activities, like a desert safari. Real!

Three by three - subjective pros and cons balance each other, leaving emotional zero. But all this is such a taste that I do not advise you to listen closely (but only to this section) 🙂

Travel. It's worth it. And thanks for reading!