Travel to Dubai
- hotel - youth hostels in Dubai : There are lots of hotels in Dubai of various standards, prices starting at 120 Dirham per night. For budget accommodation I strongly recommend the Dubai Youth Hostel. Dubai Youth Hostel actually consists of 2 parts; the "Old Youth Hostel" (45 Dirham per person, per night, not really clean) en the "New Youth Hostel" next door (65 Dirham per person, per night, luxury shared two-person room with TV, shower and big bed). The standard is a lot higher at the new hostel but it is actually also a lot more expensive.
To get to the Dubai Youth hostel catch bus 3, 13, 17 or 31 (they all stop their services at 11pm) get off near the El Ahli football stadium . By taxi, tell the driver to drive to the area of Al Mullah Plaza and El Ahli football Stadium which with its bright red lights can be easily recognized from far.
To get to the Dubai Youth Hostel from The Dubai International Airport take bus number 4 to the clocktower and then continue with bus number 3.
- internet : strangely enough it's hard to find internet cafés in Dubai. Here is the few I found; Abraj Russian shopping centre in Al Sabkha, 6 Dirhams per hour; Khalid Bi Al Waleed 11 (near the harbour), 5 Dirham daytime until 5pm, 10 Dirham per hour in the evening, they also sell Net2Phone-internet telephone cards for 10$.
- Dubai museum : lots of interesting information like in most of the museums in the United Arab Emirates.
- Iranian consulat in Dubai : because of the big number of Iranians living in Dubai there is a Iranian consulate which is situated opposite the Iranian hospital in Jumeira, for details about getting an Iranian visa see travel information Iran.
- Burj Al Arab : this outstanding 7 star hotel is the landmark of Dubai and an absolute must see! Take bus number 8, aprox 15km, best seen at sunset or after dark when its beautifully lit up. It costs 100 Dirham to enter the hotel groundfloor, but you will only be admitted if you're smartly dressed. Actually you have a very good view of the hotel from the beach, go through the construction site to get to the beach. The Jumeira Beach hotel is made by the same arcitect and also worth a visit (this one is for free!) It has a few very good restaurants, I tried out a nice and rustic Italian restaurant. the swimming pool is expensive, 200 Dirhams per person (including a 85 Dirham restaurant voucher but is the only way to visit the private yacht marina harbor.
- Wafi Shopping center : a luxury shopping mall in the style of the old Egypt, with pyramides and hieroglyphs. Next door is a western disco; "The Piramids", very expensive. Inside the delicatessen shop "Goodies" there is a an Libanese restaurant with extremely good food, big portions and reasonable prices, 9-18 Dirhams per person.
- Dubai Heritage museum : nothing really to see, but the in the evenings beautifully lit promenade with a view on the Creek is very nice. Spending a few hours relaxing in one of the open air terrasses in the evening is also not a bad idea.
- Sightseing by boat : for a cheap price, 0.5 Dirham, you can go by boat between Deira and Burj Dubai. With the same boats you also make a little roundtour for 30 Dirham for 30 minutes. There is also a more modern and luxurious glassboat, 30 Dirham per person. Contact phone number 3938904.
- Dubai nightlife : the nightlife in Dubai is completely divided in Indian/Iranian/Arabic and Western and the two last ones are the most expensive. An example of the Indian nightlife you find in the Hotel Paris in Deira where perhaps ten discos are lying next to each other. Some of them are just normal nightclubs while others are full of Russian prostitutes. You can easily tell in which kind of disco you have ended up in by the barprices, 7 Dirham in the cheaper ones, 25 in the more expensive including a girl.
- Dubai WTC : World Trade Center, beautiful view on the "Las Vegas" skyline in the outskirts of Dubai from the Lebanese restaurant on the top floor, main courses from 30 Dirham per person.
- Dubai shopping : in Deira you can find an enormous amount of shops with cheap clothes, I payed eight Dirham for a pure wool jumper, the sortiment is simular to what you can find in India and Thailand. For western non fake brands you have to go to one of the perhaps 50 shopping malls in the outskirts of Dubai where the prices are approxemately 10-20 % cheaper than in Belgium.In Burj Dubai there are very cheap electronics shops, one of them had a contact email address : perfectaele@yahoo.com, he can perhaps give his maximum prices via mail.
- travel with public transport from Dubai to Fujairah : from "Fujairah"-bus stop in Deira, minibus 25 Dirham per person.
