Dubai City Guide

I’ve had Dubai on my list for places to visit for some time now and my boyfriend surprised me with a trip last week for my birthday. It was such a lovely surprise and I was so excited to get some winter sun in January. I didn’t really know what to expect when landing in Dubai, but what I can say is, what an incredible city.

We flew to Dubai International airport and then got a cab from there to our hotel. It wasn’t a bad ride, took about 20 minutes. We arrived in the morning so it was a good chance to see some of Dubai. We had a total of five days in Dubai and we managed to pack a lot in.

Our hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers was situated in the centre of the city. It seemed to be within reach to of all the must – see sights. As it was my birthday we got an upgrade to one of the junior suites which was just beautiful. The bed was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever stayed in. The breakfast buffet in the morning was exceptional, it had everything you could possibly think of.

On our first day we did a bit of wandering around the Souk’s in Deira, the old part of Dubai. A huge array of spices and seasonings were displayed in huge heaps outside each shop. The smell of all the different spices were endless. After the spice Souk we then went on to explore the Gold Souk. They have over 25 tonnes of gold on display, in which you can get elegant gold jewellery and trinkets. After lots of wandering it was on to some lunch.

Arabian Tea House; First meal was this authentic, beautifully decorated tea house serving delicious Arabic food in an area called Al Bastakiya, the oldest and most historical part of Dubai. We sat out in the beautiful courtyard which had a very relaxed, romantic feel to it. We ordered a mixture of food to share. The falafel and the hummus were delicious, it was then followed by fresh juices. Our friend living in Dubai took us here and I’m so glad she did otherwise I don’t think we would have found this little gem.

We spent an evening having some drinks at the bar in the Palace Downtown hotel. It had incredible views of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, tallest free – standing structure in the world. It looked stunning at night as the whole building lit up. The Dubai fountains also came on every 30 minutes from 6pm, it was a wonderful display.

Black Tap Burgers & Shakes; Everyone recommended here, the cult burger joint from NYC, famous for it’s burgers & freak shakes. This was in a different area to where we were staying , however everywhere was only a short taxi journey away. It’s situated in the Jumeirah Al Naseem hotel. The open plan restaurant had graffiti covered walls, neon signs and old school hip hop playing. We started with some beef tacos topped with salsa verde, pickled jalapeno, sour cream and cilantro with a side of guac and chips. Of course we then had to try the cookie shake, a vanilla cookie shake topped with crumbled cookies, it was heavenly.

We had to visit the Atlantis, The Palm where it has a aquaventure water park and Nasimi Beach. It also has the Lost Chambers aquarium inside as well as lots of restaurants and shops.

If you’re after stunning rooftop views, dreamy interiors and a cocktail menu to match – make sure to pop Folly by Nick & Scott on to your list. We tried our first ever prosecco pop cocktail, I didn’t even know this was a thing!? Brunch is big on Friday’s in Dubai, where you get unlimited food and drink. We did the brunch at Nobu in which there is a separate blog post linked.

We managed to have some chill time as well, our hotel had a pool so we spent an afternoon sunbathing, we also had an evening stroll along the beach reaching the 7 star hotel Burj Al Arab.

Dubai has the world’s largest mall by area. It has over 1200 shops, every shop possible you could think of is in the mall. I found it quite overwhelming as there was floors full of shops, food courts, restaurants, an aquarium, cinema ice rink, you name it it had everything. Luckily there was a map to help navigate you around.

Have any of you visited Dubai? Or plan to visit Dubai, let me know in the comments 🙂

Gem xx

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.