Dreaming of Dubai

I honestly have to say Dubai is a very unique place. I would describe it as New York meets Vegas meets luxury lifestyle in the middle east. It’s not only one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the United Arab Emirates, but it a city with dreams and limitless adventures.

My husband and I needed a little getaway together and decided to stay at FIVE Palm Jumeriah Hotel. This hotel is luxurious, hip, fun and gorgeous! It’s mainly a young crowd that has a live DJ on the weekends at the pool and a nice private beach as well.

There are so many to do in Dubai so you really have to plan it out well and budget your activities as well. Being from NY I think prices of restaurants and things to buy are comparable in prices but all these adventures can really add up. We decided to just do a few things but I will list a bunch of cool things I’d love to do if I had more time and money at the end of this blog post!

I’ve been skydiving twice before but nothing compared to Skydive Dubai. I would highly recommend booking weeks ahead of time because time slots fill up super quick! Prepare to spend 2-4 hours there by the time you check in, call your group, actually jump, and wait for your video and pictures (which takes about 45 min after your jump). The views are really like nowhere else in the world! It really makes you appreciate what this beautiful world has to offer.

Right near Skydiving is Dinner in the Sky Dubai. I’ve always wanted to do this and really happy we got to do it. You can have lunch, afternoon tea, or dinner in the sky. We decided to do afternoon tea because the food just sounded better and we wanted to start off during the day and get to see the sunset and finish off our meal when it was dark so we got to appreciate all times of the day. Make sure you look when sunset is during the time of year you go so you can plan around it. I thought overall the food was great, service was excellent, they played the best music during the entire thing and the staff made it super fun.

If you could stay at One & Only Royal Mirage I highly recommend it! It was out of our price budget for the week so instead we decided to go to their beach/pool club for the day instead at Drift Beach Dubai. It is elegant, luxurious, beautiful and the food is out of this world. You just have to email them to make a reservation in advance.

We also decided to go to Dubai Miracle Garden. It’s definitely more family friendly, but very cool none the less. We got tickets for entry right when we got to the place and there wasn’t really a line.

I highly highly recommend to do a Desert Safari Tour. We did it through Arabian Adventures which included sand bashing, watching the sunset, dinner in the desert, belly dancing show, camel rides, sand boarding and overall just a really fun afternoon/night. They pick you up from your hotel at about 3 pm and you start your adventure dune bashing and the night just gets better.

We rented a car which was super helpful and we took a ride to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi definitely has a more middle eastern vibe and is very beautiful. We went to the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which was beautiful. Make sure you dress appropriately but incase you are not they give women robes (you must be covered to you wrists and ankles).

We decided to have lunch at Emirates Palace which about a 15 minute drive from the Mosque. There is a restaurant inside called Le Cafe that is a little pricey but still good! They are known for their Cappuccino with 24k gold flakes in them.

You obviously can’t go to Dubai and not visit Burj Khalifa. I highly suggest going super early before the crowds come and before parking at the mall becomes a nightmare.

I wanted to visit Burj Khalifa during the day but we had dinner at this amazing restaurant Called Armani Amal that is in the Burj Khalifa that was stunning! Asked to be seated outside and you won’t regret overlooking the beautiful fountains of Dubai and staring up at the Burj.

Recommendations:
1. Sky Dive Dubai
2. Dinner in the sky
3. Summersalt for Brunch at Madinat Jumeriah (you can see Burj Al-arab)
4. Visit Atlantis
5. Visit the Dubai Mall and Aquarium
6. Go skiing in the Mall of emirates
7. Zip line over the Dubai Marina (wish I did this)
8. Go to Burj Khalifa (earlier the better)
9. Swim with dolphins
10. Day trip to Abu Dhabi
11. Visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
12. Dubai Miracle Garden
13. Desert Safari Dubai (is a must)
14. High tea at At.mosphere at burj Khalifa
15. Helicopter ride of Dubai
16. Hot air balloon
17.Armani Amal for dinner!