A traveler's guide to Dubai
Winter is the only time the outdoors makes sense. In summer the city is an interior. Plan accordingly and you will like it more.
Dubai is the skyline everyone knows and a creek-side trading city that came first. See the towers if you want. Then take a boat on the creek, eat Levantine or Indian food at a serious level, and go to the desert only if you want sand more than another mall.
When to go
November through March is warm and walkable. Summer is extremely hot. Ramadan changes restaurant hours and the pace of the day. It is a meaningful time to visit if you pay attention and eat after sunset with everyone else.
Neighborhoods
Deira and the creek for the older commercial city. Downtown for the tower and the fountain if that is your postcard. Dubai Marina if you want a walkable modern waterfront. The palm and the resorts are a stay, not a tour. The desert is outside. Treat it as a trip.
Eating
Lebanese mezze, Indian from a community that has been here for generations, and Iranian or Emirati if you look. The buffet is the tourist default. The city cooks better than that. Friday brunch is a local sport with a price.
If you only remember this
- Metro covers a useful slice. Taxis are cheap by luxury-city standards.
- Dress modestly in souks and malls. Resorts are their own dress code.
- Summer midday is not a walking hour.
- Alcohol is in licensed rooms, not everywhere.