Dubai

What Dubai actually is

Dubai is a fifty-year-old city laid out along one road. Sheikh Zayed Road runs from the old creek in the north-east down to the Marina in the south-west, and almost everything a visitor cares about hangs off it. That single fact explains most of the mistakes people make here. The city looks compact in photographs and it is not: from a hotel on Palm Jumeirah to the base of the Burj Khalifa is a 30 to 40 minute drive, and in the evening peak it is longer.

It suits people who want dependable winter sun, a hotel that works properly, warm shallow water and an unbroken supply of things to do that do not depend on the weather. It suits families whose children are happy in a pool for six hours. It suits shoppers, and it suits anyone who wants a stopover that feels like a holiday rather than an airport hotel.

It does not suit travellers looking for old streets, ruins or a sense of accumulated history. There is history here - the Al Fahidi quarter, the abra crossings on the creek, the gold and spice souks in Deira - but it is a morning, not a week. It also does not suit anyone who wants to walk everywhere. Pavements exist, but they run beside eight-lane roads, and for a good part of the year walking outside in the middle of the day is genuinely unpleasant.

Beach or Downtown: the decision that matters

This is the one choice that will define your week, and it is the one most people get wrong because both look like "Dubai" on a map.

Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence are the beach-and-walking option. JBR has a proper promenade with cafes, a wide public beach, and towers directly behind it. You can leave your hotel on foot and find dinner. The trade-off is distance: Downtown is 30 to 40 minutes away by road.

Palm Jumeirah is where the big resort hotels sit. Beaches are private, calm and clean, the sea is shallow, and the hotels are self-contained. The trade-off is that you are on a man-made island with one road spine. Leaving the Palm for anything means a car, and everything is 35 minutes plus.

Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim, along the older beach road, hold low-rise resorts and the public sands at Kite Beach and Sunset Beach, with the Burj Al Arab on the skyline. Good for a beach holiday with some city access, and closer to Downtown than the Marina.

Downtown and Business Bay put you at the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Mall and the fountain. There is no beach at all. If you have come for the city, the restaurants and the views, stay here and take a taxi to the sand on the two days you want it.

Deira and Bur Dubai, the old commercial city around the creek, are the cheap option. Rooms cost a fraction of the beach rate, the metro is close, the souks are on your doorstep and the character is real. There is no beach, the hotels are older, and the area is loud.

Al Barsha and Barsha Heights are the value middle: modern mid-range hotels near the Mall of the Emirates, on the metro, roughly equidistant from everything and cheaper than either coast.

Hotel stock and what a budget buys

Dubai has a very deep 4 and 5 star supply and a thin 3 star one. There are almost no family-run pensions. Standards are consistent because the stock is new; a 2015 building here feels newer than a 2015 building in most of Europe.

Around EUR 75 to 100 per person per night in low season gets a solid 4 star in Al Barsha, Deira or Business Bay with breakfast, or a 5 star on a good rate in the shoulder weeks. EUR 120 to 180 per person per night moves you to a beachfront 5 star on the Palm or at JBR in the winter months. Above that you are buying view, brand and beach frontage rather than more comfort.

Board basis is the thing to understand. Dubai is a room-only and bed-and-breakfast market. All-inclusive exists at a small number of beach resorts, but it is a minority product and it is priced accordingly. If you are used to a Turkish or Egyptian all-inclusive week, budget separately for food: a casual main course runs roughly 60 to 120 AED, a hotel dinner considerably more, and a glass of wine in a licensed venue is rarely under 45 AED.

Getting there and getting around

Dubai International (DXB) sits inside the city. Deira is 10 to 15 minutes away, Downtown 20 to 25, the Marina and JBR 30 to 40, Palm Jumeirah 35 to 45. Al Maktoum (DWC), used by some low-cost carriers, is far to the south-west and adds a solid hour to most transfers, so check which airport your ticket actually lands at before you price a transfer.

We should be straight with you here: our own drivers and vehicles operate in Turkey, not in the UAE. In Dubai we quote the hotel through our partner agencies and nothing else. Airport transfers there are arranged locally - by your hotel, by a transfer supplier, or simply by taking a metered taxi from the rank, which is inexpensive and well regulated.

The Red Line metro runs from the airport terminals along Sheikh Zayed Road to the Marina, where a tram loops through JBR. It is clean, cheap, air-conditioned and closed for part of the night. It does not serve Palm Jumeirah directly; a monorail runs from the Gateway station along the trunk. Taxis and ride-hailing are plentiful and cost far less than in Europe.

When to go

November to March is the season, and that is what the price anchor on this page assumes.

November and March are the best value inside the good window: daytime around 28 to 32 degrees, sea comfortable, everything open. December and January are the most pleasant weather of the year at 24 to 27 degrees, but the sea drops to about 22 to 23 and some people find it cool, and the two weeks around New Year carry the steepest rates of the year with minimum stays attached. February is excellent and slightly cheaper than January.

April climbs past 35 degrees and by May the middle of the day is finished for outdoor activity. June through September is 40 to 48 degrees with high humidity along the coast; the sea reaches roughly 33 to 35 degrees and does not cool you down. Hotels are genuinely half price, malls and indoor attractions are full, and if your holiday is essentially indoors with a pool at dawn and dusk, it can work. If you imagined beach days, it will not.

Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each year, so check the dates against your trip. During the fasting month, eating and drinking in public during daylight is restricted, many venues cut back live music and licensed service, working hours shorten and the city is quieter by day and much busier after sunset. Hotels still serve residents. It is not a reason to cancel, but it is a reason to know in advance.

Practical detail

Alcohol is legal for visitors in licensed venues, which in practice means hotels and restaurants attached to them. Drinking in the street or being drunk in public is an offence. Public dress is relaxed on the beach and at the pool and modest in malls and older districts; signage will tell you.

Beaches are clean and the sea is flat, shallow and free of currents at the main strips, which is why Dubai works so well for small children. Shade is the scarce commodity, not sand.

The standard excursions are the desert safari, which means roughly an hour of driving to a camp in the dunes; the Burj Khalifa observation decks, which must be timed and booked ahead; a creek abra crossing and the Deira souks; and a day trip to Abu Dhabi for the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, about 90 minutes to two hours each way.

Who should skip Dubai

Skip it if you want a European-style walking city, if your budget is tight and includes eating out every night, if you need old architecture and layered history to enjoy a place, or if you can only travel in July and August and want to be outdoors. Skip it too if you want a cheap drinking holiday, because that is the one thing Dubai does not do.

How we quote

Send us the dates, the number of adults and children, the area you are leaning towards and roughly what you want to spend. A consultant prices the stay with our partner agencies and comes back with a small number of specific options, normally within one working day. The quote is free, there is no payment on this site, and nothing is confirmed until you say yes.