Dubai in three days!!!

Hello everyone, today we will talk about our trip to Dubai made in the first days of October 2018. We left Lamezia Terme with an Alitalia flight to Rome Fiumicino from where we then took the Emirates flight to Dubai. Needless to say that the flight was impeccable, lasted about 4 hours and 30 in this period of time we are not at all bored, we had at our disposal a monitor with which you could play, watch many first TV, listen to music. We were really pampered, even the food was really great.

We landed in Dubai in the evening around 7 pm and to get to the hotel we took a taxi just outside the airport, we recommend withdrawing cash in local currency or dollars to ATM at the airport, taxi drivers do not accept credit card for short distances distant or accept euro with a change in “their way” that is to our disadvantage of course.

We stayed at the Rove Downtown, which is a short walk from the Dubai Mall, not to be confused with the other Rove which is located in Dubai Marina. The hall of the hotel is very nice, inside it there is a cinema, a supermarket, a Starbucks and a restaurant. The room was very nice and spacious with all the comforts, there is also a kettle with various drinks to choose from. Giant bathroom and very nice. The swimming pool overlooking the Burj Khalifa is very impressive. Very good and really very useful free luggage storage after check out, especially if you have an evening flight as it was for us.

Rove Downtown Hotel Dubai — Rove Downtown Hotel

First day.

The following morning, we began the discovery of this city. The ideal means of transportation are taxis that take you everywhere with a few dirhams (local currency), there is also the metro that comes close to the major attractions, but sometimes the stations are very far, and finally the buses. Instead we decided to take a tourist bus (like those seen in European cities), in particular we chose the city Sightseeing-Dubai for the routes offered and the amount of attractions included in the ticket. Buses depart from the station in front of the main entrance of the Dubai Mall (the biggest shopping center in the world) where you can buy a ticket.

The first stop of our day was the visit to the Dubai Museum, which contains ancient artifacts and describes the traditional lifestyle of the emirate during the various eras, also contains some small scale models that show Dubai as it was before the discovery of oil. The entrance to the museum is included with the bus ticket and also the bus stop is a few meters away.

Markets and old Dubai.

We continued our itinerary by visiting the old market (Old Souk), the traditional market of Dubai, located in the old part of the city, far from the luxurious skyscrapers, very characteristic are the various shops, where you can find various cheap souvenirs, spices , fabrics, perfumes, the famous pashminas.

From this area you can embark on the Abra, the classic boats of the place to enjoy the view of the city on the Creek.

Then we went to the gold market (old souk) located in the Deira district and then to the spice market (spice souk).

The gold market will fascinate you with the many shop windows filled with fantastic jewels you will find silver gold and diamonds. We recommend to those who want to make purchases to be careful to verify the authenticity of the product you buy to avoid being deceived, we also recommend to treat the price.

The spice market (spice souk), on the other hand, is very characteristic and typical of the place, it will make you relive the altomosphere of the past, the large quantity and variety of aromatic herbs and spices give off a strong but at the same time pleasant smell. Also in this case the advice is to negotiate the purchase price and obtain cash.

After visiting the markets, we went for lunch (at 4pm) at Deira city center.

At sunset, we headed to the Dubai Festival City Mall where we stopped to admire the city and the Burj Khalifa along the Creek.

Sunset on the Creek Dubai — Sunset on the Creek

To end the day we went back to the Dubai mall, where we went to visit the aquarium and the submarine zoo. It was an incredible experience to cross the glass tunnel and admire the many species of fish present. In the zoo there are also crocodiles, penguins, beavers, snakes, owls and many other animal species. The entrance was included in the tourist bus ticket.

Aquarium and Submarine zoo Dubai — Aquarium and Submarine zoo

Second day.

The following day we headed to the Jumeirah Mosque, the only mosque that can be visited by tourists, but we did not enter it.

We continued to the public beach (Jumeirah Public Beach) unfortunately we could not stop for lack of time, as we were directed to the Mall of Emirates (the second largest mall in Dubai) to admire, among other things, the Ski Dubai, a great ski slope with temperatures below zero where you can ski as well as snowboarding.

Safari in the desert.

The morning itinerary was very fast because in the afternoon we had to leave for the desert safari with a typical dinner in a Bedouin camp. This was the only activity already planned and booked in advance in Italy. Experience that we recommend to everyone, we have come to take the jeep in the hotel and we left for the desert. We recommend to those who suffer from car sickness to take precautions with a few tablets as drivers push hard enough in the dunes. We stopped to watch a breathtaking sunset, it seemed to be in a movie …

Sunset in the desert...Dubai — Sunset in the desert…

In the evening we headed to the Bedouin camp for dinner, this was also an emotional moment ended with the belly dance show.

“At The Top” ascent Burj Khalifa.

Upon returning to the hotel, we quickly decided to go to the Burj Khalifa to visit the 148 floor “At The Top” to admire the night landscape. It was a suggestive and almost exclusive moment because that night the Burj Khalifa was all for us, on the other hand it was almost midnight and it was not long before closing. Obviously it is the tallest skyscraper in the world, with the fastest elevators in the world, 124 floors in 60 seconds …

Panorama from the Burj Khalifa Dubai — Panorama from the Burj Khalifa

Third day.

And here we are on the last day in Dubai, unfortunately. As a first stop you could not miss the public beach of Jumeirah, with a view to the Burj Al Arab (the 5-star hotel in the shape of a sail) to then continue to the market Souk Madinat Jumerirah, another typical local market.

Jumeirah public beach Dubai — Jumeirah public beach

Later we arrived at The Palm Jumeirah (the artificial island shaped like a palm) from where we boarded the mini cruise; we have seen all the most exclusive hotels in Dubai, some already finished others in construction, because Dubai is known, it is a city in continuous expansion. The cruise arrives at the Atlantis hotel and then comes back. Even the mini cruise was included in the tourist bus ticket.

Dubai marina.

Continuing our itinerary we headed to Dubai Marina, characterized by huge skyscrapers and super luxurious hotels on the sea. Here you can easily stroll along the seafront called “The Walk” of “just” 1.6 km, or relax on the beach. Bathing in the Dubai Sea for hot water lovers will be a pleasure. With this day ended our trip to Dubai, as you could understand we have tried despite the short time to visit as many things as possible, despite the immense heat and the enormous distances that characterize Dubai.

Some tips for visiting this city:

outside the temperatures are very hot but never forget that within the various rooms, buses, taxis is present air conditioning sometimes very high, so our advice is to have with you a sweater to avoid these strong thematic swings.
Remember to withdraw cash directly from the ATMs, especially if you want to travel with taxis that have some difficulty in accepting credit cards. Except taxis, credit cards are accepted everywhere.
For travel we recommend the tourist buses, they are comfortable and well organized, they also guarantee fresh water always included in the price directly on the bus. The first race starts at 8.00 and the last one at 6.00 pm with 30 minute frequencies.
Enjoy.