Dubai : Shopper's Paradise

    If shopping is your religion.. your kashi / mecca / vatican is undoubtedly this place called DUBAI. For many its a desert but for shoppers, its the most fertile land.. and if you are here in Dubai Shopping Festival..... I am out of words to describe what kind of joy will it be...

     But what if you are not shopoholic... or dont like idea of visiting malls for hours?? I suggest, still you visit Dubai, to salute human's creativity where nature has lagged..

Burj Khalifa - Dubai

Huge malls in Dubai:

     Its amazing experience. Malls are really huge.. one can spend 2-3 days exploring each one of them.. & as I said even if you are not big fan of shopping, you will get many interesting things. There are many malls in Dubai, but I guess Dubai mall, Mall of emirates, Burjumaan & Festival city, are very prominent amongst all.. You can enjoy aquarium, Dubai fountain & Burj Khalifa at Dubai mall, ski world in mall of emirates. Food courts in all malls are amazing & you can try various cuisines. Festival city is also worth a visit. Most of worlds top brands are here with their latest collection.. So dont miss these malls.. Best part is, you can visit most of them using Dubai Metro.





Jumairah Beach:

   Very nice beach, one can enjoy stroll here in the evening after a hectic shopping day.. you can book a table for high tea at Burj al Arab if you are big fan of Luxury.. (it will match your expense of two days hotel bill though).. If dont think, its worth the money.. just watch the beautiful tower from Jumairah beach.. click snap with it & move on.. :)

Palm Jumairah:
   Its amazing creation of palm shaped artificial island.. worth a visit but bit away from other attractions. If time permits visit this place to admire human effort in constructing such a huge man made island..


Dubai Creek park:
  Dubai creek divides Dubai city in two parts.. Dubai emirate has constructed a beautiful creek park on one side of the creek. This park also has dolphinarium which hosts dolphin shows everyday at 3 & 6 pm.. but on friday there is no 3 pm show. You can also enjoy cable car view of dubai creek..

There few more attractions which you can find out from dubai tourism sites.. so now we will move to some tips if you are planning dubai trip..

1> Travelling to Dubai from India is not so costly. One can get return fare from emirates airways for 14-16K.
     Emirates will also sponsor your tourist visa for around 3.5K. Visa takes 3 days max.

2> Dubai is very much tourist friendly. Taxi, buses & metro are easily available.. just carry map of dubai with you & you can plan your own sight seeing.. (Taxi is costly though)

3> There are ample of hotels in Dubai, but try to find hotel near Bur Dubai. Bur dubai is central area of Dubai & connectivity to most of places is very good from here. (you can find hotel for around 200-250 dhs per day including breakfast)

4> Dubai fountain & Burj khalifa are worth visiting in the evening. In fact Dubai fountain will start at 7pm.. So plan your visit to Dubai mall accordingly.

5> There is a huge mall called dragon mart, some sites will recommend it, but you should visit this only if you have specific intension of buying something & you are sure you will get it there.. else going there in taxi is a waste of money.

6> Indian food is easily available and at very reasonable rate, but I suggest try arabic & lebaneese dishes.. dont miss shawrma, hamos, falafel, moutabel, badijan, charcoal chicken, kafsa rice, arabic salad etc.

7> If you are planning your trip in Jan - Feb, you can enjoy Dubai Shopping Festival.

8> If you are planning to cover Abu Dhabi, along with Dubai, you can catch bus to Abu Dhabi from Bur Dubai. These buses are at every 20 minutes interval and cost 15 Dhs one way. Bus takes around 1.5 hours to reach Abu Dhabi.

9> You can take bus to Sharjah, Fujairah etc. from same bus station.

So.. Plan your trip to Dubai & feel free to contact me if you need any inputs.. I will cover what to buy & how to send it back home in my next post.. till then bye bye..