Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai is a nice city to stop, relax and enjoy a small break between flights if you are not in hurry to get to your destination.
Try to get the maximum layover time possible — ours was 14 hours in total — to see a big part of their iconic builidings and experience the extravagant lifestyle of one of the biggest cities of modern times.
One of the first things you’ll notice from the airplane is the gigantic desert that surrounds the city. You’ll quickly realise that not even 1% of the things you’ll see and visit in the next hours was there 30 years ago and you’ll see sand terrains in the city center awaiting the next big construction.
Dubai International Airport
The Dubai International Airport (DXB) has 3 terminals and just like everything they build… it’s enourmous. After you step out of the plane you’ll be welcomed with a 15 minutes shuttle trip just to get to your gate in the terminal. On your way there enjoy the endless sea of Emirates planes.
It welcomes more than 79 million people every year and from here you can fly to more than 260 destinations. Their goal is to reach 100 million people by 2020 when they’ll host the Dubai World Expo 2020.
To enter the city we found a slow passport checking process that took us an entire hour but after that you’re free to explore the city. You can pretty much go anywhere by metro and bus so get a transportation card and hop on!
Burj Khalifa
One of the first things you have to check out is Burj Khalifa. The construction started in September 2004 and after the inauguration in 2009 it became the tallest building in the world with 829 meters in height.
From far away it looks like a shiny needle in the sky. When I stood next to it, somehow it looked smaller than expected… but still is a big challenge to take a picture with the whole building inside. You have to try it.
Dubai Mall
Right next to Burj Khalifa there’s one of the two main shopping malls of Dubai: the Dubai Mall. Here you have 7 floors filled with all the well-known stores you expect to find, plus all the local brands I had no idea existed.
There’s some rivalry between this and the Mall of the Emirates so each one has something out of ordinary to attract consumers. Here you can’t miss the 10 million litre Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, a huge aquarium with an underwater tunnel. Over 300 sharks and rays live in this tank, including the largest collection of Sand Tiger sharks in the world.
Check also The Waterfall, a 24-metre tall waterfall adorned with fibreglass sculptures of divers, and traversing all 4 levels of the shopping. Stick around for a bit, stop for a coffee and then keep moving.
Mall of the Emirates
If you have time, head to the second mall: Mall of the Emirates. This one is a bit far from the centre but easily reached by metro. It has even more stores than the Dubai Mall, including a crazy good-looking Apple store — one of the firsts to adopt the new “Avenue” design.
The highlight here is Ski Dubai, a ski resort that offers skiing lessons for all ages, encounters with a group of penguins for kids and the Snow Bullet, a 150 meter long zip line to race with friends and family.
Even if you don’t go for it, it is mind-blowing to see a ski slope with real snow in the middle of the desert.
Sunset at Burj Al Arab beach
To get to the Bugj Al Arab area it’s a bit tricky. If you want to go by bus like we did, there’s a bus station right outside one of the Mall of Emirates exits.
From there I strongly recommend you to buy 2 tickets in advance: one for the ride to get to the Burj Al Arab and another from there back to Burj Khalifa. I remember that it was almost impossible to get those tickets on the bus stops and they didn't accept cash onboard… so lot’s of tourists couldn’t catch the bus. Always remember you can always get a cab as option B.
Once you get there, go straight to the beach, sit down and enjoy the sunset in the Persian Gulf. It is so relaxing with the waves swashing in the beach.
