Fabulous 5 days in Dubai

Karishma Varshney
Nov 2 · 5 min read
Panoramic view from Palm Jumeirah

I chose Dubai as it is easily approachable from India in a very short duration. This was a mother-daughter trip. :)

Day 1 we were overwhelmed by Dubai even before landing. Since the airport is in the centre the spectacular view of the skyscrapers all around leaves you with awe while in the air.

Airport tip: do not buy a sim from airport as it is almost double the price of what you can find in a local store outside or in the supermarket anywhere near the hotel.

We got a custom-made MakeMyTrip land package for all the 5 days excluding lunch & dinner which was outsourced to a local tour operator called the Royal Adventure. I highly recommend them as they provide remarkable experience to the tourists.

Tip: you could self book a tour of your choice directly on Royal tourism site

Our accommodation was in Excelsior hotel in Al Rigga area (about 7 minutes walk from Al rigga metro). A decent hotel.

Tip: choose your hotel nearby metro if you are comfortable with the metro commute, almost every touristy place is accessed by metro and is a reasonable mode of transportation in Dubai. Buy your tickets from the ticket counter instead of a vending machine, ask for a metro pass to save some bucks. On a Friday the metro opens by 10, otherwise at 5 & the frequency is every 5 mins. How cool!

In Al Rigga there are many restaurants but limited veg options. There is Puranmal restaurant which we missed as the board was covered by a tree until the 4th day. Funny! But the food here feels like home, so you must visit at least once. Another observation on food options was that the Hotel Park Regis is the only hotel which has a series of veg options such as Sukh sagar, Bikanerwala, Chappan bhog, Puranmal and many more. It is closer to Burjaman metro point.

I’m a tea person and was constantly looking for some brewed tea. Surprisingly I did not find any shop where I could grab a cup of tea, all there was vending machine tea. I found some kick-ass ready to make tea with ginger & masala flavour by Hillway brand. They are easily available in supermarkets.

As per the MMT package our first item was scheduled in the evening around 8pm, a cruise ride with dinner. Book the Dhow Cruise Marina Dubai! worth the experience. It is a perfect option for families as there are usaully many other tourists on the same cruise. There is no dress code to board this cruise, wear your best attire! They offered decent veg options, I would not go into details but you would definitely find a full veg meal in the package. It’s a beautiful ride throughout — watch out for a giant wheel structure, mushroom like umbrellas, various lit skyscrapers and some traditional tanoura and puppet dance!

Day 2 due to some free time in the first half we took the metro to reach Meena Bazaar as my mother wanted to visit the only temple in Dubai which is next to the museum. The closest metro is Al Fahidi, about 7–10 minutes walk. We could not visit the museum as it was closed until noon. We got good pictures even outside the museum. For lunch we headed to ‘Foodie junction’ which is in between museum & Al Fahidi metro.

We booked an evening desert safari, details on the link here. When in Dubai miss anything but NOT THE desert safari. I really appreciate the efforts of Royal Tourism to make this experience so memorable to me. There is absolutely no restriction on the type of clothing. You will get enough time to shoot photographs with mesmerising backgrounds, so you know what to wear! :)

Day 3 we did some window shopping in meena bazaar where you could find prominent gold showrooms. We did not buy anything as it pretty much felt like shopping in India. But we purchased some Dates Chocolates from a random shop. There’s no way you can miss them.

Chocolates tip: buy chocolates from a super market as they are usaually low priced than other chocolates exclusive stores

For the evening we had a visit planned to Dubai mall, which is a veryyyyy huge mall. There are about 2000+ stores, hence I’d advice to plan in advance as to what you want to shop where you want to eat etc. and of course you can visit again whenever you get time. We had 6 hours here but due to the aquarium, zoo and burj khalifa activities, there was hardly any time left to go around the mall, shop etc. For the underwater zoo, you easily need an hour — it is state-of-the-art! Burj khalifa can be done in about 1 hour of time. We booked an 8pm slot on a saturday evening, there was no long queue as I had heard except for the sunset timing which is supposedly the peak hours. For food, we opted for Bikanerwala in the food court.

Day 4 Abu Dhabi city tour we booked this tour that did not come with a visit inside the Ferrari World. But it is definitely a must try because it has the world’s fastest roller coaster! We spent about 4 hours in the Yas mall, all in vain as we were not up for any shopping. There were hardly any veg restaurants in this mall.

The grand mosque experience is one of the most serene experience, please do not miss this while in Abu Dhabi. We reached the mosque around 6pm and viewing it in both daylight and night was so peaceful. Remember, there are some dress etiquettes to enter this mosque like your head must be covered with a veil, sleeves covered fully whether be it a top/a dress and a loose pant if the top is short. My sleeves did not cover my wrist, hence I grabbed a veil and wrapped it around my sleeves.

Tip: carry a shrug/coat, that helps. :)

Day 5 Dubai city tour we booked this tour, highly recommended, typically covered on day 1 but since we did not have enough time we did it on our last day. If you get time, whenever, definitely take a ticket to reach on top of Dubai Frame to view glimpses of modern and old Dubai on two different sides standing in one place.

On the whole, we had an enriching experience on our Dubai trip, and I am definitely going back, some time!

Karishma Varshney

Written by

UXer | Avid traveller | Good chef

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade