Overall

You can often see pictures, brochures, displays and advertisments of Dubai of how spectacular and georgeous the place looked and I am the person who loves the shopping, rich arabic culture and mixing in with the arabic society despite it being cosmopolitan (in which I would tolerate), I thought this is definitely for me so I booked a hotel in Bur Dubai so I did not have to go far to reach the shops. When I got there, this is no exaggeration, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE WHAT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!!! I barely saw a single arab on the street, the streets really smelt bad, the shops were grimy, run-down and dirty, the vending machines were very rusty and some of them did not work at all, there were constant sounds of car horns especially in Bur Dubai and Deira, I barely saw any arabic shops OR restaurants, it was mostly Indian shops selling saris, turbans, curries, Indian fabric, bollywood movies, in which I expected to be more arabic shops selling shisha, veils etc. I felt more like I was in DELHI than Dubai! Another con was that in Deira there was barely anything to eat at all. Me and my wife went to the gold souq to look around, my wife wanted something to eat and we had to walk all the way to McDonalds in Nasr Square. Another con was that if you go into the Burj Al Arab hotel, you can only really appreciate it from the outside. Firstly, you are only allowed to enter the hotel if you buy a buffet which was ridiculously expensive (about £80 each) and the food did not taste very nice, and we were told that we were only allowed to take two photographs at the entrance and we were not allowed to go up OR down the hotel. Another con was Jumeirah Beach. It was a lovely beach but it was so overcrowded, on the beach AND in the sea that I could barely move and I had to go far out in the sea TO breathe. However, the PRO's about dubai is the Jebel Ali beach - that was fantastic, beautiful soft white sands and warm water, not TOO overcrowed just pleasant. Al-Mamzar beach park IS A MUST, the perfect beach in the world! It was quiet, only a handful of people and you can swim where you like - it was wonderful. The Mall of the Emirates is ALSO a must and that IS the best shopping mall in the world. Also a must - is the Desert trip and that was fantastic! We went on a 4x4 car over the dunes and we had an arabic meal at the tent smoking shisha and skateboarding, and that was a dream come true! All in all, you are seeing Dubai by going to the Jebel Ali Beach, Mall of the Emirates, Al Mamzar Beach and the Desert excursion, and MAYBE the Burj Al Arab. But apart from that, go to Luxor (Egypt) instead, It was MUCH better!

Atmosphere

Convenience

Safety

Value

Great for: Beaches

Last Visit: July 2007

29 July 2008 | A Yahoo! User

You did not find this review helpful.