Hello to everyone! Now it is time for us to write our travel articles. As you know, we are in the pandemic and we are stuck where we are :(. This situation breaks the motivation of the human being, especially as we cannot travel, it makes us unhappy, neither wants to write or do something. It’s time to say stop to this situation ;).
During the pandemic period, we saw that all artists, bloggers, influencers, celebrities and many people started to go to Dubai for a holiday. The number of coronavirus cases in Dubai is almost non-existent, we thought it was a suitable route to travel in the pandemic and we wanted to share our Dubai travel experiences with you.
Now let’s go to beautiful Dubai, which is completely artificially built :).
The Best Time To Visit Dubai
As you know, every season in Dubai is like summer! Therefore, you can actually go whenever you want. However, especially in summer, temperatures rise up to 50 degrees, it is impossible to travel outside. Since Dubai is very hot, locals generally do not walk outside, they always stroll indoors and in shopping malls. Because the indoor spaces are fully air-conditioned or even ice-cold. If you are going out and inside, you may get cold due to the sudden temperature change, be careful !!
We went to Dubai at the beginning of December and had a great holiday. It was hot but not overwhelming, we walked inside and outside, went to the beach and swam. Considering that there are 4 seasons in Turkey, those who miss the heat, especially in the winter months, can escape to Dubai. In our opinion, the best time to go to Dubai is between mid-October and mid-May. While the cold weather is felt around Europe under 10 degrees, if you want to have a summer vacation in a clean, safe and not far away place, Dubai is for you…
Dubai City and Lifestyle
We can see many prejudiced definitions against Arab culture. But you can see how wrong what you heard after your trip to the United Arab Emirates. In particular, you can experience how a desert is greened and turned into a tourist attraction in Dubai. Although oil revenues come to mind first in these geographies, tourism constitutes the majority of Dubai income. In fact, they are so assertive in this regard that they still create new attraction centers with new constructions every year. We were able to see this difference immediately, especially in the recently built dubai marina area, during the trips we made in 2017 and 2019 with only two years apart. In fact, it is impossible not to appreciate the progress in this city, whose history is not even 100 years old.
The United Arab Emirates consists of seven emirates, its capital is Abu Dhabi and it was founded in 1971. 90% of its land and oil production is located in Abu Dhabi and its second largest emirate is Dubai.
As of 2019, only 1.5 million of its 4.5 million population is local and the remaining part is made up of people coming here from various countries to work. The Middle East headquarters of many internationally known companies are located here and the number of Expat employees is quite high. The local people are called the Emirati, and the State system protects its own people by offering them numerous privileges. When this is the case, it is not possible to get citizenship, even if you marry an Emirati, you cannot become a citizen here. In order to prevent this situation, due to the recent increase in the rate of Emirati marriage to foreigners, the state supports real estate and approximately 70,000 AED (35,000 USD) in case of two Emirati’s marriage.
For Emirati, there is no unemployment situation, and every emirati who applies to the state to find a job is definitely given a position. This position cannot be low-level jobs in the service sector either, as Indian and Pakistani workers are employed in these jobs. What’s more, every person or institution that wants to do business in Dubai has to cooperate with an Emirati.
Mansions of local people living in certain areas of the city are immediately noticed by the flag hanging in their gardens. In the shopping malls, salespeople also pay attention to Emirats.
As it turns out, it is a great chance to be Emirati in this life :). The only disadvantage, we can say, is the necessity to wear clothes in one color and model, especially when working. Tourists, on the other hand, can dress freely as they wish. It is forbidden for veiled people to enter the beaches.
Transportation to Dubai from Turkey
Pegasus and Turkish Airlines fly directly from Turkey to Dubai (DXB) airport. After a flight of approximately 4.5 hours, you find yourself in cozy Dubai. On our last trip, we bought a tour to Dubai, flew with Turkish Airlines and then set off for the hotel where we will be accommodated by the tour vehicle. If you want to fly to Dubai with different companies, you can evaluate the alternatives on Skyscanner’s website.
You can use the red metro line or taxi option to get to the center from the airport.
For periods when you find flights to Dubai very expensive, don’t forget to check your flights to Abu Dhabi, which is 1.5 hours from Dubai by car. You can save on your flight budget, especially if you intend to rent a car :).
Transportation in Dubai
Transportation in Dubai is provided by bus, airline, taxi, Uber or metro. Unfortunately, transportation in Dubai is not very cheap. Metro lines are divided into zones and you have to buy your ticket according to the zone of your destination. There are 3 different wagons in the subway. The pink wagon is reserved for women and children. The Gold wagon is reserved for Gold Nold Card holders, and other people can get on the remaining wagons :)). Since the walking distances between metro stations are quite long, you can consider the option of renting a car instead of the metro, especially if you are with children.
You can use the rentalcars platform to rent a car. However, we recommend that you rent your car before you go, because you may encounter the situation of not being able to find a car when you go. We recommend that you take enough time before the flight and hand it over to the relevant person. We had a friend who had to pay 1 week more rent due to a problem in this matter !! Since the roads are wide and there is a lot of parking space in Dubai, the vehicle is a very good alternative. If you want to go to touristic places close to Dubai, you should definitely consider this option.
If you just say that you will be traveling around Dubai and don’t want to deal with renting a car, the best option is to use Uber. While going to the Miracle Garden, we used Uber, which we found more reliable, instead of a direct taxi, and we were very satisfied. It is widely used in the city. Since you see the price that will be formed according to the place you will go in the application, you do not experience any surprises.
Accommodation in Dubai
If you do not have financial difficulties, of course there are magnificent hotels at the bottom of the sea in The Palm Jumeirah, you can evaluate them. But if you want to have a more suitable holiday, there are many hotel options in Dubai. Considering that Dubai is an expensive city, we can say that accommodation is more affordable than other expenses.
Our hotel on our last trip was Novotel Al Barsha. It was 3 minutes walk from Mashreq metro station and 10-15 minutes from Mall of Emirates. The hotel is on the main road, 10 minutes by car from Dubai Marina and 7-10 minutes from The Palm Jumeirah by car. In fact, the hotel is very close to the center, even though it appears at a walking distance on the map, walking can take a little longer. Breakfast was available at the hotel and the options were wide. One of the advantages of the hotel was that there was a shuttle service to Kite beach at certain hours. We went to Kite beach without any problem with the hotel’s shuttle. Only the shuttle hours were limited, if you want to spend the whole day on the beach, you can consider different transportation alternatives.
If you want to spend more time in the Dubai marina area without driving, the Wyndham Dubai Marina hotel we stayed in during our 2017 trip is a very good alternative in terms of price-benefit balance. If the weather is not too hot, you can walk to the beach in 15 minutes without waiting for the shuttle services to the beach. In the evenings, you can have a pleasant time in the area with many open-air restaurant alternatives. If visiting the shopping centers is not a priority for you, you can spend a nice summer holiday in this vibrant area without the need for transportation.
DUBAI DELICIOUS GUIDE
Click Clickkk for Dubai Delicious Guide!
Dubai City Guide
The Palm Jumeirah
Palm islands, which we can call an engineering masterpiece, were completed in 2006 and there are many luxury hotels, restaurants and villas owned by celebrities. The 5-kilometer-long building was designed as a city where 120,000 people live. This island, which was created artificially on the sea, is only made of sand and rocks and is worth seeing.
Desert Safari Tour
We did not find time on our last trip, but we did a Desert Safari on our previous visit. We suggest to do it once in your life, but if you are meticulous like us and are uncomfortable with sticky sand, you probably will not attempt the second one :). Many companies organize the desert safari tour. There are affordable alternatives on promotional websites when I search the internet, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend you to choose them. In these discounted tours, which are usually offered by the Indians, you have to go to the desert area with very old and air-free minibuses, you can wait for a long time and you can get angry instead of enjoying :). Therefore, buy a comfortable tour through your hotel. We strongly recommend that you choose the options that take you from the hotel by car and have a slightly higher price (150 USD per person and above).
While 4×4 vehicles rally in the endless desert, you experience a nice excitement while the vehicle lies sideways in the sand vineyards, although your belts are fastened. Tents set up for dinner and open buffet food did not appeal to us in terms of hygiene. But there were options that could fill your stomach. It was enjoyable to watch the dance show. Especially when the sun goes down, a magnificent view is seen. We had a different experience by taking lots of pictures on the sand. Since your shoes are constantly buried in the sand while walking, you will need to wash your shoes after the activity. For this reason, we recommend you to attend this event with an old shoes or sandals :).
Dubai Marina
Dubai Marina is a lively area where expat employees coming to Dubai from abroad stay densely, where skyscrapers rise and very nice restaurants are located. This region, which has been growing with construction for the last 10 years, attracts the attention of tourists. The beach facilities are also very good in the region designed as a marina connected by canals and bridges. If you do not prefer to stay in a hotel directly by the sea due to its high price, you can spend a very nice holiday within walking distance by staying in a hotel in this area. You should definitely see the JBR Walk area in the marina. There are plenty of restaurant options around and it offers the opportunity to sit and dine in the open air. While you are spending your day at the beach, you can also have your lunch at the restaurants located just behind you. For example, a branch of the Cheesecake factory is located here.
It is beautiful with both daytime beach facilities and evening lights. There is “Dubai Marina Mall” as the shopping center. Although it is smaller than the Dubai Mall, it is enough to spend time in the air-conditioned indoor area.
Burj Khalifa ve The Dubai Mall
The tallest building in the world, yes you did not hear it wrong! Burj Khalifa now holds this record with 828 meters. It is located next to the Dubai Mall. There are water and light shows every day. At the same time, you can climb to the top of the Burj Khalifa and watch Dubai from a bird’s eye view. The fee is about $ 50. Obviously, because Dubai is a new city transformed from a desert, when we look at the photos of this event on the internet, we did not do this activity because we had a time limit. Because we didn’t think there was much to see from above, we don’t regret it for now :). We can evaluate this event when Dubai spreads more years later;).
The Dubai Mall, adjacent to Burj Khalifa, is the city’s largest shopping center. In fact, it is the largest shopping center in the world with an indoor area of approximately 500 thousand square meters. This is a huge social living space where you can find all world brands. For example, if there is a chain in America where you skip a meal, you can experience it here :). Although it is very large, people spend a lot of time indoors due to seasonal conditions and therefore it is always a lively place. You should definitely go, have a meal or have your coffee here :).
Ski Dubai
In this city where the winter season is like spring, a small artificial ski center has been built for those who want to cool off and ski. Again, an artificial but beautiful service :). This event area is located in the “Mall of Emirates” shopping center in Al Barsha region. Skiing was not attractive at all as we went from Turkey to Dubai to get warm. As a solution, we transformed this activity into eating with a view of the snow :). The best feature of this place is that you can watch this small area while sitting in the cheesecake factory. You can sit on a suitable table where you can see the area and enjoy it visually while having your meal.
Burj Al Arab Hotel
This hotel, which was the icon of Dubai and was the tallest building of its period with a length of 321 meters in 1999 when it was built. It is classified as a 7-star hotel. The hotel in the shape of a sail and can be seen from many points, even if you do not go near it, it will definitely enter your picture frames :). It has ultra-luxurious restaurants inside and the nightly accommodation fee starts from $ 1,500-2,000. Especially when there are newly opened tourist areas and other hotel chains in the city, there is no need to pay such high prices if you are not overly luxurious. Dubai already offers tourists a clean and luxurious environment. Let’s not forget to take a picture of the hotel as a souvenir.
Miracle Garden
Ten hundred thousand million flowers for sake! A true flower paradise. It’s like an oasis in the desert! In a place with such a warm climate, they designed and looked so beautifully that your mouths remain open to the flowers. We haven’t seen a flower fading or rotting, amazing. They created a lot of figures and concepts from flowers. Like a fairy tale land, we loved it here!
The Dubai Miracle Garden, which has the longest flower wall in the world, was created with 50 million flowers. It was opened on Valentine’s Day in 2013. With the longest flower wall in 2013 and the largest flower statue in the world in 2016 with the Airbus A380 plane, it has entered the Guinness world record book twice.
You can visit the Miracle Garden located in the southern part of Al Barsha between 10.00-22.00 hours by paying 55 aed (15 dollars). If you have come to Dubai, we strongly recommend that you spend 2-3 hours in this miracle garden.
However, you should not prefer a very hot weather to visit this place because you usually go outdoors and your brain can be cooked :).
Dubai Beaches
Kite Beach
It is a highly praised and admired beach and we liked it. A long beach, on the left of the beach, you swim in the sea with the view of Dubai’s famous Burj Al-Arab. When we first went, we looked for a facility with sunbeds and umbrellas, and we found it. But when we asked the price, they said a price equivalent to $ 36 per man. After a minor shock we asked the price again for only 2 hours and they said the price was the same. Of course we ran away :). Fortunately, we did so. We spread our towels in a place we found empty. The beach was so clean, the sand was so beautiful… You definitely don’t need anything. If you have sun sensitivity, there are benches in the form of sun loungers near the road, you should walk a little to the sea, but we think it is well thought out. Also, there are small lockers where you can buy and read books in some places along the beach, extremely well thought out, we loved it!
The sea of Kite beach is also very beautiful. The temperature of the sea was very ideal in December, neither hot nor cold. It was in a consistency with a pleasant swim. We also loved the sand of the beach, it does not annoy you by clinging to you, it is very, very beautiful. In addition to these, the cabins and toilets on the beach were generally very clean. We all know that generally these areas are not very clean on the beaches, we approached with a little hesitation when we were going to use it, but we saw that it was not. We cannot say that it is extremely clean but it was very clean when we consider the cabins and toilets in the beach areas in general. In this respect, he got full marks from us. There are also small food carts, dessert shops, snack shops along the beach. In short, it is a beach where you can find whatever you are looking for. Kite beach has become a beach we love very much, we will definitely spend at least 1 day here if we go again.
JBR Beach
JBR beach on the seashore of JBR Walk in Dubai marina area is ideal for sea enjoyment. The sunbeds and umbrellas were comfortable and the surroundings were clean in this area, which served as a public beach. You can even swim here for free without renting a sunbed. Their toilets and showers were very clean. If only there were such services everywhere… You pay a fee of 5 AED for the shower. As a Wyndham hotel customer, we did not pay for sun beds and umbrellas in the area reserved for us. We had our lunch at the Cheesecake factory, right behind the beach :). Many hotels have sunbeds and umbrellas on this beach, you can choose your hotel according to this useful information:).
Built from the ground up with new technologies, the city of Dubai is ideal for a seaside holiday, desert safari, and crazy shopping, thanks to its huge shopping malls. We are planning to travel to this city again in the future to see the change in Dubai. We think Dubai is one of the must-see places and we recommend it to you too.
Have a nice holiday!
