If you don’t devote much time to shopping, then seven nights is perfect for seeing Dubai at leisure. Two of the activities peddled as must-do by tour operators is the desert safari and the dhow cruise. The safari is, indeed, worthwhile and exciting – plan this for the third or fourth day of your visit; the whole business will take the best part of one day. You’ll be picked up from the city, reach the desert, do the safari (in well-maintained all-terrain vehicles) and then watch a belly dance performance after a rather lame dinner. The dinner and dance are a part of most safari trips, and you can’t opt out, because a vehicle will not return to the city ahead of schedule only for you. So get into the spirit and shake a leg with the belly dancer. Budget for about Dh350 per head for a safari. Tour operators abound, but two of the most trusted names are Arabian Adventures (www.arabian-adventures.com) and Lama Tours (www.lama.ae). A comprehensive list of local tour operators is on www.uaeshelf.com, if you want to shop for the best price.
As for the dhow cruise, I’d advise you to skip it entirely. It’s a boring affair, with the cruise boat packed to the gills with noisy tourists, a lousy dinner served on board and the boat moving up and down the same stretch of Dubai Creek for about two hours. You’ll have much more fun strolling along the Dubai Creek. Start your creek tour in the afternoon with a visit to the Dubai Museum (www.dubaiculture.ae) in the Indian-dominated district of Bur Dubai, then walk a few metres to reach the beautiful historical quarter of Al Bastakiya, an area that brings visitors closer to how Dubai once lived, then wind your way through the Bastakiya lanes to come out on the creek promenade, just as the sun is setting. The signage here is not the best, but the walk-through doesn’t take more than 10 minutes. You just can’t get lost. Instead of doing a dhow cruise, consider crossing the creek by abra (water taxi). The crossing takes 5 minutes and costs Dh1 per person, the money collected by the abra operator. An abra may be chartered for your personal cruise for Dh120 an hour. The city’s road transport authority (www.rta.ae) has an abra service running from 6am to midnight. This is something you could do on the first or second day of your trip, depending on when you arrive.
If you have the morning free before the creek walk, take a ride on the Dubai Metro, a comfortable way of viewing the city from the vantage point of hanging high above Sheikh Zayed Road, the main thoroughfare. A Gold Class Nol ticket (www.rta.ae) covering three zones or more costs Dh13 per head. A standard all-zones Nol card (rechargeable red paper ticket) costs Dh6.50 per head, and one end of the train has a carriage with large viewing windows. But unless you’re in the Gold Class, you’ll have to contend with other travellers also jockeying for the best view.
Now, to absorb more of Dubai’s culture, plan a visit to Grand Jumeirah Mosque. The Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (www.cultures.ae) hosts visits to the mosque six days a week, from Saturday to Thursday, at 10am. Visitors are requested to arrive at 9.45am. Each visit (Dh10 per head) lasts 75 minutes. Please carry something to cover your head. After this, head to the nearby Jumeirah Beach Park (Dh5 per head) for a dip in the sea, or simply for a light picnic. The park is open till 10pm, so there’s no rush, but don’t schedule this visit on a Monday or a Wednesday, which are ladies’ days. This could be a fun outing for your son, as the Dubai weather in October is still warm enough to make a swim very inviting.
The Jumeirah area has enough entertainment to keep one engaged all through the day. If your mosque and park visit are over by early evening, take a taxi to the JBR (Jumeirah Beach Residence) Walk. For a city that loves cars, Dubai has an astonishing amount of public space dedicated to pedestrians. The Walk is a major tourist attraction, a roomy open-air space that has street painting, art and photography displays, comedy shows, sand sculptures, and kiosks selling fashion and handicrafts. This is one spot where you can sample the European street café culture in an Arab country.
You still have four days left of your visit, assuming your seven-night tour also has seven days. Spend one day visiting Hatta, a mountainous area about 115km outside Dubai city. It is a popular day trip spot for locals, so avoid going on a Friday. The same travel agents who do desert safaris also organise Hatta tours, and it’s not a bad idea to board a tour bus. If you don’t mind the expense, hire a car for the day. Steering wheels in Dubai are on the left, and your Indian driving licence won’t be accepted. Renting a car with a driver at a reasonable rate is not as simple in Dubai as in India, but don’t make the mistake of accepting an offer from an unknown person. There are plenty of Asian expats in Dubai who make a living by driving cars that are essentially taxis but without a taxi licence. These unofficial taxis are cheaper than official ones, but to find one that’s trustworthy, you need a solid reference from a local resident you know well. If that doesn’t work out, book a group tour, or see about hiring a regular taxi for a day (http://dubai-taxi.com/dubai-taxi-corp/taxi-fares).
There must be one Friday in your week-long trip, and that’s not a day you can visit the Jumeirah Mosque or go to Hatta. This is the best day to do the Friday brunch, a highly enjoyable ritual in the city, with buffets to suit every pocket. The local guide Time Out Dubai has a complete list of brunches along with prices (www.timeoutdubai.com/restaurants/offers/friday-brunches/friday). Posh neighbourhoods such as Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Lake Towers all have an amazing variety of brunches. One of the best deals is the brunch at Spectrum on One, at Fairmont Dubai hotel, right next to the World Trade Centre Metro station. The average star hotel brunch costs upwards of Dh250 (Rs 4,000 approx) per head; less expensive options are in the cafes lining Dubai Marina, a stunning car-free walkway meandering along an artificial lagoon. An ideal way to spend the Friday would be to sit down for a brunch at Dubai Marina, enjoy the view of the lagoon flanked by highrises, its waters foaming occasionally as a sleek motorboat passes by, let mid-morning roll into afternoon, then take a walk along the Marina as twilight descends.
Next, take the Metro from the nearby Dubai Marina station to have a look at the Mall of the Emirates, a humongous shopping complex full of designer stores and high-street brands. You said ‘not keen on shopping’, but Dubai mega-malls are not just about shopping; they’re fantastic places for people-watching and all sorts of recreation, albeit not of the cultural kind. Still, your family could have great fun rolling in the snow at Ski Dubai (from Dh150, www.theplaymania.com/skidubai), inside the Mall of the Emirates. The Dubai Mall in the Downtown area, about 10 minutes by Metro from the Mall of the Emirates station, has an enchanting dancing fountains show daily from 6pm, once every 30 minutes. Shop, don’t shop, you gotta visit the mall that is the world’s largest. Afterwards – if going up to the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa next door is too cheesy for your taste – you could have a cocktail at At.mosphere (www.atmosphereburjkhalifa.com), the lounge bar on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa.
In the time left to you, we strongly recommend a visit to the Miracle Garden (www.dubaimiraclegarden.com), a relatively new attraction in the city that has a mind-boggling profusion of floral sculptures. The nearest Metro stations are Sharaf DG and Dubai Internet City; from either station, the garden is about 11km by taxi (approx fare Dh20). You’ll need at least half a day to experience the entire garden.
Your trip duration has room for a day visit to Abu Dhabi, if your pace of sightseeing around Dubai is not too leisurely. The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi is a much quieter place than Dubai, though no less beautiful. Buses run from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, taking between 90 minutes and 2 hours to reach. There are inter-emirates services by Dubai Bus (Dh20 per head each way, from 6am to midnight) from the Al Ghubaiba bus station in Bur Dubai. Also, Emirates Express (Tel: 800 4848) has a service that is highly rated and, at Dh15 per head each way, very affordable.
At Abu Dhabi, do visit the beautiful Corniche and, to satisfy your craving for the local culture, the Heritage Village near Marina Mall (http://visitabudhabi.ae). This is a reconstruction of a traditional oasis village, and the open museum displays aspects of traditional Arab life such as a campfire with coffee pots, a goats’ hair tent, and a falaj irrigation system. At the craft workshops, you can try your hand at being an artisan for a little while.