How many of you have questions before planning to visit a new country? Most of you start thinking about should I need visa (this is a common question for people from South America), then it comes another question how much money I need for this trip?? Will I find a cheap flight? How much cost the accommodation? Will I find a good hotel or hostel? Where I should stay?? Should I stay at Downtown or should I be at old town of the city? Then another important question is: where is the best place to eat? And how much I will pay for the food?
If you haven’t travel to Dubai, of course you will have too many question and at the same time you want honest and direct answer. Other thing that we do before planning a trip is searching for experience travelers in google or read the lonely planet, you have lot of different answers and you don’t know who is right or who is per your preference and of course your budget. Here you will read the basics things and I guess it will adjust to any kind of budget. At the end, I want you to have an amazing experience in Dubai. If you have any question, please feel free to contact me or leave some comments below.
1. Should I request a Visa to go to Dubai??
Please read the list below:
Norway, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, Suriname, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic Puerto Rico, Turkey, Spain, South Africa and Australia
If your country is on the list, please click here and you will go directly to the website of a trusted company, to me is the best in processing your visa application to entry to UAE (United Arab Emirates). They are helpful, and please review the cost at their website, I use this link in July 2016 and the total cost to apply for the visa was $195 and it was issue in less than 6 days. The steps that you should follow to get your visa:
Fill the form that is on the website.
Upload your photo and passport.
Pay through your PAYPAL account.
You will get your visa in less than 6 days. Why I didn’t try with others website?? The reason is because the others websites requested more money and others requested to give a deposit as a guarantee that you will leave the country, I know they will return your money but compare with $195 to $450 it is a huge different and this gap will help you to buy more stuff in Dubai or to buy experience.
2. How to get a cheaper flight?
If you live in South America or Central America. Get a cheaper flight it is impossible at least less than $2500 dollars will be extremely difficult. So, what I recommend if you live in this side of the world.
Find a ticket to USA your destination could be: Miami or NYC. Its better if you buy your ticket on Cyber Monday. Agent travels, and airlines will sell flight tickets to this country from $400 to $600 dollars.
Look in Expedia or any travel website and search for flights from the destination you choose in the previous point to DXB (Dubai). If you use Expedia try to find a combo, I mean (flight and accommodation), it will be less expensive than you think.
Subscribe to this companies: LAN, AVIANCA, KLM, EMIRATES, you will always get updates of the special offers and you will earn miles, maybe in a future you will travel to Dubai for free.
3. Where you should stay??
There is a lot of hotels in Dubai for every budget, as well you will find hostel too. Here in this post I will talk about some good hotels for a medium budget. This year (2016) I stayed at the Financial District the hotel name is: Four Points by Sheraton Sheikh Zayed Road. To me, this hotel was perfect I love the relation between price/location/activities. The hotel has a good location, because you are close to the airport, near to a train station, and all the good attraction in the city are not far away. Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain are just 10 minutes driving. I can add that this hotel has a rooftop with a nice view of the Sheikh Zayed Road, also on the same floor there is a swimming pool it is just a flawless place to relax after a busy day walking, sightseeing and there is a nice gym, too.
View from the rooftop of Four Point Sheraton
If you want to experience de luxury that has Dubai but you are not able to pay for the Jumeirah’s hotels. You could stay in the Dubai Marina, or Dubai Palm also known as Palm Jumeirah, in this place you could find affordable hotels, too. I always use Bookings, for me is the best website to find an affordable hotel. Other option is Expedia as I mention before, you can book a flight and a hotel at the same time and you could get discount. Other choice if you already booked the flight is to use Airbnb, it is another website where you can rent apartments or houses for a good reasonable price.
If you are a big group of 4 or more people. You should stay in an apartment hotel, a great website you can use to find it is Airbnb. In my previous travels to Dubai my friends and I stayed at the Golden Sands Apartments. It is affordable and the good thing is that the rooms are spacious, also you have kitchen appliance. The best part is that you could buy food at the supermarket and you will save some money.
If you are a solo travel, and you don’t want to pay a lot for a hotel, I will recommend you to go to a hostel. Dubai has affordable hostels and included the breakfast, when I was looking for nice hostel, I found the XVA Art Hotel and Dubai Youth Hostel. This hostels are close to the old Dubai and to mobilize you could use the bus, because the train station isn’t close.
4. Where I should eat?
There are different options where you could eat cheap one of them is going to the shopping centers and eat at the food court, you will always find good food. But if you want to try the food from Dubai you should search in the website or app of Zomato, where you will find all the Dubai restaurants and you will choose if you want to eat with a view or not; happy hours, Arabian cuisine….
One of my favorites places to eat was at Madinat Souk and at Dubai Marina, there you can find lot of restaurants for every budget and you will have different views, too. If you choose to go to the Madinat Souk your view will be the stunning Burj Al Arab and if you choose to go to Dubai Marina, your view will be the beach. If you have more money you can pay for an incredible experience, having lunch or dinner at Burj Al Arab, it depends on your preference. I went there two times and it worth every penny. To go inside this 7 Stars Hotel, you need to have a reservation in one of the 9 restaurants they have. My suggestion is to have lunch at Skyview bar because to me is a great experience and you will have an astonishing view like the picture below. Or if you want to go for dinner try to book for Al Mahara Restaurant, you will feel like you are eating under the sea level, thanks to their big aquarium. Also, you can go to their new restaurant Scape Restaurant and Bar.
View from Skyview Bar
Still, if you want to enjoy and know more restaurants at the Burj Al Arab, you should book for the Culinary Flight at Burj Al Arab, when I travel in 2012, I went with some friends, the food, decoration, service and the music was perfect, every detail. I wanted to stay there and never leave.
5. How do I move in Dubai??
The option you have are:
Taxi
Train
Bus
Taxi: is a best option when you travel with more than 2 persons. However, it isn’t good to use it during rush hour. Try to avoid the taxis that are Lexus!!! Because they are nice but it will cost you more.
Train: is the best option to mobilize in the city, it has only 2 lines and if you will move a lot, I will recommend to use the train. You can purchase for all day ticket; it will cost you 44dhr and you can use the train all day until midnight when the train will stop function.
In case you want to visit a place that is far away from your hotel or is rush hour, I suggest you to use the train and then use taxi. There are always taxis at every train station. It is cost effective when you are in a tight budget.
Bus: it is other option to mobilize in Dubai because the train doesn’t go further, like to go to Jumeirah beach. The good news is that the same card that you use to mobilize in the train, you could use it for the Bus. In case you want to know more about the routes and how to plan your journey during the days you will spend in Dubai please visit this useful website (dubai-buses).
If you want more information or you have more questions, please free to contact me or to write on the comments below. For a sneak peek of my travels go to my Instagram or if you want to review more great photos visit my Pinterest page.
