Summary - Inclusions Dubai, Dubai is the most populous city of UAE. It has everything a traveller needs to explore the Arabian world, you are always surrounded by iconic landmarks, ultra modern buildings & architecture, luxury shopping , Desert adventures and Lively nightlife scene. It's a paradise for Shoppers and City life explorers. Below #itinerary is planned in a way that you save time , money while travelling without missing out on anything. #Hotels, #Transport #Restaurants are suggested below. Each and every cost mentioned below is incl. #food , #stay , #ticket, #fuel , #car . You can choose hotels as per your #budget. My suggestions are based on my budget for the given trip and given day.
1) Flight - Took an evening flight from Delhi to Dubai. So, that we have an entire next day to explore. Flying to Dubai by Emirates is always a pleasant flight experience. Therefore, while going to Dubai. I booked an Emirates and on the way back Jet Airways.
2) Dubai Duty Free Store - at the airport it is definitely an attraction in itself. I stopped at the store before getting out of the airport to buy some beers for the upcoming days. This is only place in Dubai you can buy liquor in Retail.
3) Dubai Airport to Hotel - Airport Taxi - 47AED . When you are in Dubai use Uber or regular taxis, it doesn't make much of a difference.For local transport do use Metro which is the cheapest way to travel. Airport to Hotel 11Kms (10mins)
4) Check-in at Hotel - 8PM - Ramada Chelsea Plaza Hotel. The hotel is located at the busy circle of Satwa. It is close to almost all the prime locations and attractions of Dubai. Plenty of restaurants , supermarkets ,ATMs downstairs incase required. The hotel has nice rooms with amazing view, roof top pool and a sports bar. I booked the room for 3000/- per night for 2ppl . https://www.agoda.com/en-in/chelsea-plaza-hotel/hotel/dubai-ae.html?cid=1844104
5) We kept our bags and went downstairs for a walk. Checking out nearby stores , restaurants and Dubai local street lifestyle. We decided not to see any attractions that night as we had made a proper itinerary for the upcoming 4 days. For the next 1 hr we collected info on Metro , Skybus , Tram , Bus , Taxis , Safaris routes and fares. Also got our Travel SIM Cards.
6) Dinner - We had dinner at Taza it is a food chain serving Arabic food. You can see the outlets in every corner of Dubai.
1) We got up at 9AM. Had our free breakfast at the hotel
2) 11AM - Burj Khalifa - We thought of starting our expedition from the cities best landmark. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world with a height of 828.8 m with 163 floors. (Reached 11:00AM - 10kms - 10mins - 15AED) After having a glimpse of it we decided to come back in the evening.
3) The Dubai Mall - It is the second-largest mall in the world and the most visited building every year since 2009. Last year the mall marked 84 million visitors. It is a part of the dubai downtown project and is connected by a pedestrian route from the burj khalifa. Dubai mall has plenty of activities inside. I bet 1 day would not be enough. We must have easily spent around 4-5 hours here.
4) Dubai Mall Aquarium & Underwater Zoo - is one of the best aquariums I have seen. The count of species or the length is not as high as that of in MY, SIN , KUL or TH. However, there are selected 300 species with a beautifully lit and designed aquarium. Ticket 145 AED Per adult includes Aquarium and Zoo
5) Dubai Fountain - lies at the base of Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. There are beautiful dancing fountains which dances on the tune of music every 15mins from 6pm to 11pm. It is free of charge. The performance is an amazing experience. It is the world's largest choreographed fountain system.
6) Burj Khalifa -At The Top - After the spending the entire day in downtown and mall. It was time to travel from Earth to the Sky. Ticket price - Observatory Deck -114AED per adult
7) Mall of Emirates - We went to the mall of emirates for couple of things. I have been hearing about Cheese Cake Factory from so many years and Big bang theory always used to mention about it. So, when I saw Cheese Cake Factory opened here. We decided to have dinner there and also the restaurant gives a view of SkiDubai, feels like having a cheese cake sitting in the lap of Alps during Christmas. (Take a Metro from Dubai Mall Metro Station to Mall of The Emirates Metro Station - 3-4AED)
8) Dinner - Cheese Cake Factory with a view of Ski Dubai - They have 30 legendary cheesecakes since 1978.
9) Back to hotel - Take Metro from Mall of emirates to World trade centre metro station. From there you can either walk down for 2kms or take a cab
1) We got up at 8AM. Had our free breakfast at the hotel
2) 10AM - Burj Al Arab - We thought of starting our expedition from yet another landmark of the city. Burj Al Arab is the world's only 7 - Star hotel and 5th Tallest hotel in the world. Burj al Arab is designed like a yacht standing on an artificial island near Jumeriah Beach in the water. Take a bus from Satwa Round About to Burj Arab (25mins , 5-6AED)
3) 11AM - Dubai Marina & JBR Beach - Dubai marina is an artificial canal city built along the JBR Beach. The walk along the canal is interesting with Skyscrapper's covering the canal from all the side with million dollar Yacht's docked everywhere, ready to sail in the Persian Gulf. The opposite side is JBR Beach walk or the marina walk is a beach with extravagant brand stores and restaurants by the beach walk and they are 100's of stores.
4) 1PM - Palm Jumeirah- Palm Jumeirah is one of the worlds most iconic projects. It is a man made island in a palm tree shape. You should travel here by the Skybus. So, that you can actually see the tree shape from above and the view is amazing from the skybus. Palm Jumeriah is an residential island with other landmarks like The Palm Jumeirah , The Atlantis , Adventure Park , Beach clubs.
5) 1:30PM - The Atlantis- is a Uber luxury resort with an adventure park , Aquarium and a mall. While there is no entry fee for the hotel , there is a fee for the aquarium and the adventure park.
6) Dubai Marina Tram - Get down at the Palm Dubai Station and take a tram to Dubai Marina. This is not a must to do but we took the tram as we had never used one before + you get to see the entire Dubai Marina and its hotspots sitting in the tram.
7) 3PM - Madinat Jumeirah the Arabian Resort's - Resort's because there are 3 Jumeirah resorts in a single campus with a 2 kms of private beach. The Madinat is also called as Souk Madinat as it is also has an Arabian Bazaar with stores selling spices , arabian handicrafts , arabian jewellery , souvenirs etc. The place also has restaurants by the artificial lake curated inside. We had our lunch here and moved to our next destination.
8) 5PM - La Mer Beach - is an upcoming tourist destination. It is a stylish waterfront development with restaurants, stores, beach activities. Its a place for a day hang out or a picnic with your family. Take a bus from Madinat to La Mer beach (5AED)
9) 6PM - Dubai City Walk - is an urban living , shopping concept. With beautifully lit up streets , stores , fountains , roofs. At every footstep there will be some piece of art or a laser show or a dancing fountain or some music & with big screens and ads playing on it, feels like you are at Times Square. It is walking distance from La Mer beach
10) 8PM - Old Dubai - Old Dubai consists of lot of Souq's like Gold Souq , Textile Souq , Naif Souq , Old architecture of Dubai, Dubai Creek etc. Take a cab from city walk to Burj Khalifa Metro. Take a metro from Burf Khalifa to Al Ghubaiba Metro. Once you get down, go in the lanes of Textile Souq and experience the age old Arabian buildings from where the trading of Dubai started. When you reach to the end of the lane you will find yourself at the Dubai Creek , take a boat to cross the creek to go to the other side and enjoy 360 degree panoramic view of Dubai from the boat. Once you reach to the other side you will find yourself in the Gold Souq. Gold Souq is a traditional gold jewellery market with 100's of jewellery stores. In this part of the city you will get the best Arabian , Malabari & Pakistani food ever.
11) Back to the hotel by taxi around 9PM. We changed and went out to enjoy the night life. Few friends of mine came to party & meet us from Abu Dhabi. We hopped on to several restaurants and pubs that night till 2AM. I don't remember all of them. However, there was one named Rodeo and the other was The Stables.
1) We got up at 10AM. Had our free breakfast at the hotel. We had booked an evening desert safari package. The safari was suppose to start at 4PM and we were supposed to picked up from the hotel at 3PM. So, instead of the hotel, we scheduled our pick up point to Dubai Museum. So, that we do not waste money on coming back to the hotel for the pickup.
2) 12PM - The Dubai Mall - This was actually our last day in Dubai and so we had to shop few souvenirs and parfums. Dubai has got one of the best collection of Parfums and Parfum stores. Took a taxi from the hotel.
3) 2PM - Dubai Museum - We wanted to do Dubai Museum the previous day. However, we fell short of time. So, we revisited old Dubai to see Dubai Museum. It is located in the Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1787 and is the oldest existing building in Dubai.
4) Desert Safari - Inclusions - Pick up & Drop , Sand Dune Riding , Camel Ride, Refreshments,Buffet Dinner, Arabic Dance & Show. Exclusions - ATV Ride in Dunes , Drinks. You can pay additionally at avail it. 4:30PM - The first stop was at the ATV Rides. I wanted to try ATV riding in the sand dunes. At the same time we were also still trying to connect to my phone.
5) Lost Phone - So, we took a Metro from The Dubai Mall to Al Ghubaiba Metro for our visit to Dubai Museum. The phone slipped outside the pocket onto the chair and I was completely unaware of it. I realised after reaching Dubai museum that I dint had my phone on me. We tried to call on it. However, there was no response. No one was picking up the phone. We had to make a choice if we need to rush to the police station or to continue to the next destination which was desert safari. Our pickup car came exactly at 3PM outside the museum. We told the driver about the lost phone and he said if you have forgotten it in the Metro there are 99% chances that you will get the phone back in few days. However, we were flying back to India by an early morning flight. We thought of continuing the trip as we had already paid for the safari and kept trying the phone at regular intervals, Hoping that will get it back.
6) The next stop was the most awaited part of the trip 4WD Sand Dune Drive in a Land Cruiser into the Arabian Desert which climbs up and slides down over the dunes. We were still trying to connect to the phone. Finally the phone got switched off may be because of low battery.
7) The 3rd stop was to enjoy the beautiful Desert Sunset
8) The 4th stop was where the show setup was done with shamiyanas with an Arabian Nights feel. There were 3 performances Arabian Dance , Fire Show and Tanoura Dance followed by Dinner.
9) 8PM - We headed back to the city. The car that was suppose to drop us was waiting outside the Camp. As we were on the road, we got a call from Dubai Police asking us if we have lost our phone. They asked us few questions and told us to visit them at the Dubai Marina Metro in the morning. We told them we had a flight to take in the morning and to help us out the same night. They asked us to meet them at Nakhell Tram Station in Marina area before 10PM with our Passport and Visa.
10) Hotel - The safari car driver dropped us at our Hotel at 8:30PM. We picked up the documents and headed to Nakheel Tram Station. However, I thought we still have time and can cover Dubai Frame. We couldn't have covered it later as it closes at 9PM.
11) 9PM - Dubai Frame - We took a cab to Dubai Frame which is located in Zabeel Park. The frame is the worlds largest frame and stands as an emblem to the new face of dubai. Dubai frame is located in between the New Dubai City and the Old Dubai City, from the top of the frame you can see both the sides of the city. We got there just 2mins before its closing time.
12) 9:15PM We headed from Dubai Frame to Nakheel Tram Station. We were calling the Police who had called us but he wasn't responding. We took a cab and reached Nakheel Tram Station in 25mins at 9:40PM. We called the police but he wasn't still responding. The only chance we had was to wait there. The station was completely empty we were the only ones waiting there, we saw couple of tram station in-charge to whom we described the story. They made couple of calls and in next 5mins Police had arrived in 3-4 cars. They asked some questions about the phone type , pictures , contacts list to make sure it was my phone , got a form filled and gave the phone back. Best part was that they had charged the phone 100%.
13) We went back to the hotel. Enjoyed our dinner and drinks in the sports bar at the hotel itself. Packed our bags as we had to leave at 3AM to take 5AM Jet Airways to Delhi. We were also asked at the immigrations before the flight, if we got our phone back.
14) We were back in India by 10AM. When were unpacked, I realised I had forgotten my back up phone in the hotel room. I got a call after 7-10 days from the Chelsea hotel that I have forgotten my phone and then can courier it to India. I asked them to submit it to one of friend in Dubai which I got back on my next trip. Dubai is very Safe and it is absolutely a right place to lose anything :-)