With two days off after the weekend and low fare tickets to Dubai there was only one question to ask: Is it possible to see Dubai in three days and actually get something out of it?
Planning
To really get something out of a trip this short requires some planning. We sat down with a map and made a list of everything we wanted to see, TripAdvisor is usually a good place to start when exploring a new city. After making the list we drew the places onto the printed map and saw that there were three main areas to visit:
By visiting everything within one area before moving on to the next one we saved both time and money. However, with the very limited time we had we decided to take the planning one step further. For every day we made a kind of schedule with how much time we would spend in each place and when we would go there. It is important to highlight that the goal is to have a good experience, not to complete the schedule as planned. The plan is nothing, planning is everything, as Eisenhower once said. On multiple occasions we discovered that we would like to spend more time than planned, and other times we moved ahead faster than planned. The most important with the planning is to figure out how much time you can use in each place if you want to see everything you have listed. After this you can make priorities as you go.
Even the best plan can go wrong. When we arrived at the airport in Dubai it took forever to pass through immigration. Why it took so long we have no clue to this day, because the passport control itself was quite simple. Say hello, show your passport, turn towards the camera and proceed. Despite this short stop we had to wait an hour and a half in line. Once on emirian ground we had to look for the luggage because the immigration had taken so long that the airport personnel had taken our luggage off the belt and stored it in a corner. I guess it’s well deserved for breaking our own rule of not bringing check-in luggage unless absolutely necessary.
It was now passed 1 in the morning and the metro had closed. Exiting the airport we meet a man with no higher purpose in life than to help us find a taxi. Some serious scam alarms should be ringing in our heads by now … A bit to late we realise that we have taken a pirate taxi and the damage is done. At the hotel we have to pay a way higher price than a metered taxi would have cost us; however, it was still cheaper than a metered taxi in Norway …
A world record in world records?
Shopping is usually not a priority for us when travelling, but Dubai does after all have the largest mall in the world, Dubai Mall, located right next to the tallest building in the world. You can get here by taking the longest fully automated metro in the world. Yes, Dubai loves world records. Inside the mall there is a huge aquarium (the biggest indoor aquarium in the world, what did you expect), and not to far away is Mall of the Emirates, featuring it’s own ski resort – inside the mall. This is of course the largest indoor ski resort in the world.
There are many impressive things in this world, both in Dubai and elsewhere. But few things, buildings or other things, have ever given an impression like Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. On the list of top five tallest buildings in the world number five through two stretches respectively 555, 600, 601 and 632 meters above ground. These are impressive numbers, but Burj Khalifa is 830 meters tall, far more than any other building ever. Most things become a normal sight if you have seen it enough times, but Burj Khalifa was a building we could pass many times every day without ever getting used to the incredible height of the engineering miracle.
Every time we passed the building got a strange and unique feeling of looking at something so tall it was hard to see the top at times. It felt a bit like being in a futuristic sci-fi movie where buildings disappear into the skies.
Locals
As Norwegians we are quite used to walking, preferably at high pace. That has mostly worked well for us so far, but with 40 degrees in the shade and a burning sun this was simply not possible in Dubai. We did of course not realise this before we were dehydrated, half dead and desperate for water. Next stop was a museum, and maaaaybe they had AC and overpriced water. Inside what we hoped was the reception the employees need roughly three microseconds to realise that we were foreign tourists. Pale, red burned and dehydrated people with a DSLR around the neck and confusing looks was probably a tell. They quickly approach us with water and a wipe to try off some sweat. We kindly thank them and ask how much for this and the entrance to the museum. No, the water and wipe is free, we did after all look thirsty, and the museum is of course free. Such hospitality we cannot remember experiencing anywhere else.
Inside the museum we meet a calligrapher in one of the rooms and he invites us for tea and cookies. We talk about how it’s been to come to the UAE, how life is home in Norway and some general topics. As a calligrapher is does naturally have quite a lot of books. When we mention that we are from Norway he eagerly runs into his storage to serif he has any books in Norwegian. He knows that has has at least one somewhere, but after a while he has to break off the search in the piles of books. He does however have a plethora of books in English and shows us a translation of the Koran as well as a book about the interpretation of the Koran. Tora is curious to read what the Koran actually says, and accepts one. Te, cookies and books are of course free; he also gives us his business card in case we want to get in touch again. Again we have to highlight how incredibly hospitably we are treated and how everyone at the museum sees this as a completely normal way of treating guests.
Hotel
As we are not married and the UAE is known to have a different view on non-married couples than the western world we decided that it would be good to stay in a western hotel chain of decent standard. We ended up picking Warwick and paid around 140 euros per night. Far from a high price, but more than we are used to. If the hotel made a booking mistake or if the prices are a lot lower in the UAE than expected we cannot say for sure, but we got a lot more than we expected. Our “room” was a 70 square meter suite. What can you fit inside 70 
The “must see”
We are not going to name everything one “has” to do in Dubai, there’s roughly three million such lists already. Instead we’ll share a few experiences in places where we were surprised, either positive or negative.
First on the list is the gold souks in the Creek and Deira area. Most people say that this is a must see when visiting Dubai. We are not going to disagree with this, if you travel to Paris the Eiffel tower has to be seen regardless of your interest in iron shaped in an interesting way and the same goes for gold in Dubai. The problem is that the whole world loves gold and in our opinion Dubai couldn’t really make an impression here that blew our minds and gave a unique memory for life. Yes, there’s gold everywhere in the souk, but have you ever been to Russia? To finish it off the place is filled with annoying people who want to sell you anything you really do not need. This place might be worth a visit because it is so famous, but don’t spend much time here.
Speaking of souks, Souk Madinat is one of the other well known souks in Dubai. Unlike the gold souks we can really recommend this one. Not only was the souk nice, but the area around is built like a paradise with canals between the buildings and palms. The view to the world famous hotel Burj Al Arab is quite good here as well. If you live in one of the hotels here you can get a free boat ride in the canals; others can also participate but it costs some money. We paid around 20 euros per person, quite a lot for a 15 minute boat ride. Still, we felt that it was worth it, Dubai is after all not particularly cheap.
The last place we think stood out from what the tourist brochures told us was Palm Jumeirah. We were aware that a peninsula shaped like a palm must be pretty big for someone to be able to walk on it, but the fact that it was large enough to sustain a six lane highway up the trunk was totally unexpected! The size of this peninsula was immense, the fact that it is artificial is really amazing. At the top of the palm there is an island with Hotel Atlantis. One of the rooms in the hotel features a complete wall facing their huge aquarium. If you are not a hotel guest you can still visit the aquarium for a small price and an optional free guide is available. The aquarium is nice, but not on the level of “amagad, everything in Dubai in insanely crazily insane”. Still, you can pet horseshoe crabs here, probably the closest you will ever be to seing an alien.
Practical
Entry
Air France/KLM flies here for roughly 320 euros from Norway and was the cheapest option for us. Other destinations in Europe, or anywhere else in the world, is not a problem, Dubai International Airport is the largest airport in the world when counting number of international travellers. The passport must be in good shape with no damages and stamps from Israel can create issues. On the webpages for Burj Khalifa Israel is not listed as a country; however, Occupied Palestine Territories is.
From the airport the metro runs through the city until 1 in the morning. Taxies are cheap, but there are lots of pirate taxis demanding way higher prices. Make sure you get an official metered taxi!
Accommodation
Some hotels require a marriage certificate to allow men and women to share a room. We therefore chose a wester hotel chain to ensure that this would not be a problem.
Due to the heat in Dubai it can be wise to choose a hotel nearby a metro stop. You really don’t want to walk more than necessary out in the sun!
Money
Credit cards are accepted many places, but it’s always good to carry some cash. ATMs are common and the currency used is the United Arab Emirates dirham. 1 euro is roughly 4.1 AED.
Language
Everything is in English. Everything. We only once found a sign only featured in Arabic, only to discover that the English translation was written on the other side. Even though Arabic is the official language more people actually speak English than Arabic here.
Culture
Dubai is in many ways a very western city, at the same time some traditions and culture is different. One should avoid holding hands, women should cover knees and shoulders and drinking alcohol is prohibited in public. There are also strict rules for photography and you cannot take pictures of government buildings etc. Multiple plane spotters have actually been detained for taking pictures of the airport and the awesome metro buildings are also off limits, which is why I don’t have any photos to show of them here …
Read up on dos and don’ts in Dubai and you will probably be fine.
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