Tour To Dubai

A relatively new tourist destination, Dubai was gaining popularity in recent years until the global economic crash of 2009.
Dubai is essentially a desert city with superb infrastructure, liberal policies (by regional standards), that became popular for its excellent tourist amenities. Just 5 h from Europe and 3 h from most parts of the Middle East, the Near East, and the subcontinent of India, Dubai makes a great short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, and even a few sinful pleasures. It is a city of superlatives: for the fastest, biggest, tallest, largest and highest, Dubai is the destination. It has the largest immigrant population in the world.
The weekly day off is on Friday. Note that, since September 2006, a harmonised weekend of Friday and Saturday has been adopted for the public sector and schools. Government departments, multinational companies, and most schools and universities are now off on Friday and Saturday (after years of a mixed bag of Friday/Saturday and Thursday/Friday weekends). Some local companies still work half a day on Thursday with a full day on Saturday, but larger companies tend to permit relaxation and time off work for their employees on Friday and Saturday.

Orientation

Dubai is divided into multiple districts or municipalities:

• Satwa — One of Dubai's Little India and Little Manila, due to the presence of Filipinos and Indians, a rise in Filipino and Indian restaurants, shops, supermarkets are seen here. Gold and textiles is what people come here for, Gold Souk might be your top destination but Satwa too has gold shops and is hassle free, not so crowded.

• Karama — More of like a mixed commercial residential district, one of Dubai's Little Indias and Little Manilas, cheap eats and cheap buys are the top things here.

• Bur Dubai — A historical district and Bur Dubai is usual term for the area from Jumeirah to the creek, the creek separates Bur Dubai from Deira. Tourist attractions from abras to souks to floating restaurants to the famous creek are found here.

• Deira — Dubai's old Financial centre, today Deira is a bustling commercial-residential district with some old souks, including one specializing in spices.

• Jumeirah — A diverse district whose residents are the Europeans to the Filipinos to the Pakistanis; a mixed Little Europe, Karachi and Manila. Jumeirah is much favoured by Europeans due to the ease of access of the beach, Beautiful villas are seen here. Jumeirah Beach, Jumeirah Beach Residence's the Walk and Jumeirah Mosque are the top attractions.

• Downtown Dubai — While Bur Dubai and Deira are traditionally considered "Downtown", the Downtown Dubai development is smack in the center of the "New Dubai," between Dubai Marina on the south end and the border with the city of Sharjah to the north. It includes the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world), the Dubai Mall (world's biggest), Dubai Fountain, and lots of other skyscrapers and hotels.

• Dubai Marina — is a mega-development that borders Jebel Ali (the world's largest man-made port). It is full of skyscrapers and hosts the "Jumeirah Beach Walk" with a number of restaurants, hotels an open-air market when the weather permits, and frequent shows.

• Arabian Ranches and Emirates Hills — These are two separate places, residential rents here are expensive due to the land value, just like the whole of Dubai, these two are Man-made.

• Mirdiff/Mirdif — A commercial-residential district which is somewhat newly built and lies directly under the flight path to Dubai International Airport. Mirdif City Center is one of the attractions. This is another residence for the well-to-do.

• International City — Just a simple residential area in the middle of the desert, what special about it is its architectural design, the residential rents here are cheap and is somewhat the next Chinatown as many Chinese businessmen and women reside here.

Climate

The city of Dubai is situated on a coastal strip bordered by desert and gets very hot. It is dry on the hottest days and humid during the cooler days in the summer. Cooler, more pleasant weather lasts from the end of September to beginning of May (although note that pleasant is relative, with daily temperatures from October to January and March to May still being 20°C-25°C (68°F-77°F), but be prepared for cold night temperatures. In winter the temperature at night is usually from 10°C-16°C (50°F-60°F). From May to September, the sun is intense and in August temperatures can touch 54°C (129°F) in the city and even higher in the desert. The heat, coupled with a humidity of 60%-70% near the coast, effectively precludes most activity outdoors for the daylight hours during summer.

Wild Wadi and Jumeirah Beach Hotel

December to April generally produces the highest precipitation, which at 10 cm (5 in), still is little. Some years yield no more than a few minutes of shower in Dubai. November 2006 brought record rains up to 50 cm (25 in) of rain, with temperatures at record lows.

Get in

See Get in section of the UAE page for visa and customs regulations. While Israeli passport holders are not welcome, having Israeli stamps in your passport is not a problem.
If you are traveling from India and are of a nationality for which an advance visa is required, it might be necessary to get an 'Ok to Board' stamp on your tickets and Visa. This is generally arranged by a travel agent. If this has not been done, consult your airline office once you have a visa and airline ticket in your possession.

By plane

Dubai's main airport is the Dubai International Airport. You can also enter Dubai by using Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) in the nearby emirate of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in nearby Abu Dhabi. Frequent visitors from countries granted automatic visa on entry may wish to purchase an e-gate card to speed up immigration formalities and save passport pages. The e-gate card office is situated in the upstairs foodcourt area of the terminal 1 departures concourse. The card will cost AED 200. Note: If you intend to buy an e-gate card in Dubai, you must have entered UAE via Dubai airport.
Airlines are often having price wars to glamorous destinations like Dubai and this can work to your advantage by careful planning and comparison of the various airlines serving Dubai. Emirates[1] is Dubai's official airline carrier which connects Dubai to over 100 destinations while FlyDubai[2] is Dubai's low-cost carrier. Etihad[3] has shuttle services from their exclusive check in facility in Sheikh Zayed Rd or Central Business District of Dubai to and from Abu Dhabi Int'l Airport, you can also fly with Sharjah's low-cost carrier; Air Arabia[4] which flies to over 46 destinations within the Middle East.

Dubai International Airport

Dubai Airport Terminal 1 Interiors

Shops at Dubai Airport

Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB) [5] is the largest hub in the Middle East and the home base of Dubai's flag carrier Emirates [6] and its low-cost wing FlyDubai [7]. In fact, it has grown at such a furious pace that the present terminals are bursting at the seams, especially during the peak hours around midnight.
The Dubai International Airport has three terminals and another one in the making as of end 2010.

• Terminal 1 is the main terminal, used by most major airlines and long-haul flights.
• Terminal 2 serves regional and low-cost flights, including all FlyDubai flights.
• Terminal 3 is used exclusively by Emirates.

Terminals 1 and 3 are directly connected to each other via the airside (no immigration needed for transfer), while Terminal 2 is located at the other end of the airport. Terminals 1 and 3 are models of modern airport design, but Terminal 2, despite the recent renovations, is still reminiscent of developing world airports, with long check-in lines, queue-jumping and every other passenger checking in 70 kg of luggage. Shuttle buses between the three run every 20-30 min. However shuttles to Terminal 2 are sporadic at best, so a 30 min taxi ride may be your only option. A low-cost option for traveling to Terminal 2 is to catch the metro to a nearby station, such as GGICO metro station, and from there catch a taxi to Terminal 2.
The airport is famous for its duty-free shopping [8]. However, prices in the airport's duty-free stores are equal or higher than what you can find in the many malls of the city. Alcohol here is very cheap, though. Alcohol is also available at an inbound duty free store situated in the baggage reclaim area. The amount of alcoholic beverages and beers should not exceed 4 liters of alcohol beverages, or 2 cartons of beer (each consisting of 24 cans, not exceeding 355 ml for each can or its equivalent).
Taxi: Most visitors will opt for public taxis from the airport, which are readily available just outside arrivals, which use the meter and start at Dhs 20. Taxis are on the left when you come out of terminal 1.
Public transport: Terminals 1 and 3 are served by the Dubai Metro. There are also buses just steps from the baggage claim, the most useful for visitors being lines 401 and 402 (Dhs 3), which go to the Al Sabkha and Al Ghubaiba bus terminals respectively.
Apart from the Dubai International Airport, Dubai is also developing the massive Al Maktoum International Airport located close to Jabel Ali within the Dubai World Central project. As of end 2010 only a few freighters are operating through this airport but commercial flights are expected to operate from this airport once completed, making this airport one of the busiest air hub for both cargo and passenger transportaion.

Sharjah International Airport

Sharjah International Airport (IATA: SHJ) [9]is located in the emirate of Sharjah. It is only 30 min by road from Dubai and takes an increasing number of international flights as Dubai airport struggles to keep up with demand. The principal carrier here is Air Arabia [10], a low-cost carrier serving the Middle East and South Asia. The airport is fairly basic but is being expanded. A taxi ride to Dubai will typically cost Dhs 50. A Bus service by Air Arabia also runs from the Airport to the Rashidiya Metro Station in Dubai. Rashidiya metro station is located close to the Dubai International Airport.

By car

Dubai's only international road border is with Oman at Al Wajajah. Expatriate residents of Oman will require an official permit to exit Oman by road. Visitors do not require the permit. There is an OMR 3.000 charge per vehicle to exit Oman and, if returning, retain the charge receipt as it will be required to reenter. Ensure that insurance is valid for the UAE (preferably before commencing the journey). Temporary UAE insurance can be purchased at the border for a premium price.
There are also road borders between the neighbouring Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Oman at the Al Burami Oasis which divides the sister cites of Al Ain and Al Burami, Oman.

By bus

The Government of Dubai operates a network of buses linking Dubai city with the capitals of the other six emirates of the UAE. The buses run under the name Emirates Express and operate from various bus terminals in Dubai.

• To/From Abu Dhabi: Buses operate every 40 minutes from 6.20am from both Dubai's Al Ghubaibah bus station and Abu Dhabi's main bus station. The two-hour journey cost Dh20.
• To/from Sharjah: Frequent buses run between Dubai and Sharjah. There are several different routes and buses depart from various bus stations in Dubai including Al Karama, Gold Souq, Baniyas Square, Jebel Ali and Al Ittihad Square. Fares are at Dh7 as of DECEMBER 2010.
• To/From Al Ain: Buses operate every hour from both Dubai's Al Ghubaibah bus station. The two-hour journey cost Dh15.
• To/from Fujairah: The bus to Fujairah leaves from the Rashidiya Metro station and takes about 3 to 4 hours.

By boat

Dubai is a trading hub for dhows from around the Indian Ocean. Travellers wanting to arrive in the city this way will probably need to make their own arrangements with the captain of the vessel.
Dubai has an international cruise terminal [12] at Port Rashid. During wintertime Costa Cruises has based one of its cruise ships (Costa Luminosa) at Dubai.

• To/from Iran:

A boat service by Valfajr Shipping Company [13] leaves Bandar Lengeh (and also Bandar Abbas) supposedly every second day and docks in Port Rashid in Dubai, returning the following day. Crossing the Persian Gulf takes roughly 6 hours, and a two way first class ticket costs as of February 2010 US$145 (IR 1,450,000) and also two way economy class ticket costs US$122 (IR 1,220,000). The ticket includes lunch (Iranian style).

Images Of  Dubai