Dubai

[gargamel]

Does anyone have any recommendations of things to do in Dubai for an evening? I'm going to have an 8 hour layover from 6pm until 2am in a few weeks, so I really want to make my time count. I especially want to find some restaurants that are popular with locals, but I'd be interested in any attractions that won't cause me to risk missing my flight.

[skudr248]

Go do some sand dunes, they basically have packages where you go with the driver, basically you jump into some arab's pathfinder and he takes you for a crazy ride with a huge group (probably funnest thing I did there, thought we were going to die a bunch of times lol) you drive up on a huge sand dune at the end and watch the sun go down, from there your driven to like the middle of no where where you get to do some camel riding, enjoy live music, food, sheesha, belly dancing etc, was a good time and inexpensive - again this is what you can do in the timeframe given

[polak]

Well if you want to go somewhere that is popular with the locals, I heard that there is this great little bar by the airport where you can throw rocks at women, immigrant workers and homosexuals.

All the rage in Dubai.

[asifka]

Hi,
keep in mind, UAE does not offer transit visa on spot for Canadians. You have to pre-apply at UAE embassy in Ottawa.
If you flying with Etihad or Emirates Airways, then they will arrange transit visa for you.

[undercoverbrother]

go skiing.

[REDVAN]

I have been in Abu Dhabi the past few months. Been to Dubai only once so far, but we went to the aquarium one day. Would have gone up the tower (Burj Khalifa- the tallest building in the world) had it not been all sold out due to Eid. Might take another trip to head up the tower beore I go home.

I swam in the Gulf, went to the big mall, and spent way too much money.

So: go to the Burj Khalifa, maybe see the aquarium. But the sand due thing sounds awesome. I wish my company would let us do it!

[JD]

If you want to go up the Burj Khalifa, go to this site https://tickets.atthetop.ae/eticketing/homepage.aspx
and prebook. It's usually fully booked every night.

For a good dinner, there's a nice restaurant in the Address hotel by the Dubai Mall that for 200 dirhams will get you all you can eat and drink. These kinds of deals are everywhere in Dubai and Abu Dhabi though. Many of them limit the types of drinks you can order, this one doesn't.

Swimming in the Gulf is pretty awesome... a natural body of water being that warm just seems ... wrong.

If you go to Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa, it's a gruesome walk, especially if it's hot, from the Metro so take a taxi. They're dirt cheap in the UAE.

The sand dune thing is definitely a must-do if you're in the country for any length of time, but I don't know if you have the time.

Skiing in the Mall of the Emirates is surprisingly fun and affordable. The mall itself is something to see.

Go to the Irish Village and have a drink. Good fun place where you'll find lots of expats.

Head out to the tip of the Palm Jumeirah and visit the Palm Atlantis Hotel. You'll see all the sights on the way out, but honestly, if you're not going in the waterpark, there's not much to do once you're there. And it's pricey.

Rent a seadoo. So much fun. Just understand the shady dudes that rent them out will be shady. They'll tell you 150 AED for two hour or whatever and then they'll slap on another 200 AED when you return with a scratch on the machine that was already there. Still not a bad deal.

Head to old Dubai (Deira) and walk around the souks. Yeah, it's mostly junk that they sell, but if you want an authentic Middle East experience...

Go to Dubai Marina in Jebel Ali and walk around there.

REDVAN, where are you at in Abu Dhabi? I'm not there anymore, but my coworkers are living in Al Reef. Nice place to live, but soooo far from the city. We started out in Markaziyah.