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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

Beach Club Recommendations:
1. Drift Beach Dubai
2. Saadiyat Beach Club (Abu Dhabi)
3. Zero Gravity Dubai
4. Drais Dubai

Tips:
1. Rent a car- made our lives so much easier
2. Exchange money to their currency
3. Book things ahead of time

Sometimes you just need a staycation. I’ve never appreciated New York so much until this summer. Earlier in the summer I stayed at the William Vale which I previously blogged about.

Incase you wonder why you live in New York like I do, the 1 hotel Brooklyn Bridge will remind you exactly why. I did a staycation for my 8 year anniversary and it was one to remember. The rooms are definitely not cheap but I think it was worth it for that occasional splurge. The hotel has Tesla’s waiting in the front that will drive you to you destination within a 1 mile radius free of charge. I highly suggest going in the summer so you can really enjoy what the hotel has to offer.

 

The Williamsburg Hotel 

If you’re looking for a gorgeous rooftop overlooking the city skyline that does NOT involve you getting a room for the night look no further than The Williamsburg hotel.  You can get a day pass for about $75.. I suggest arriving extremely early as people who are staying in the hotel will probably already be there by the time you come. I believe the earliest they let outsiders come in is at 10am.

Tip: If you go there in the evening they don’t charge you anything and you can still swim/lounge out/eat/drink.

My sister and I did a day trip to Genoa/Portofino from Milan which was really nice. I booked the tour through Viator but if i could re do that day I would have actually booked a train ride from Milan to Santa Margherita which is a stunning place!

Stay as long as you want on the gorgeous beach of Santa Margherita and then take a 5 minute ferry ride to Portofino. Portofino is great to walk around and have some delicious gelato and do this cute little hike but you don’t need an entire day there.

 

Tips/Recommendations:
1. Spend the day or stay at Santa Margherita
2. Take a ferry ride to portofino
3. Eat at the restaurant Belmond Hotel Splendido in Portofino

Eurotrippin all summer. My first stop on my 3 week trip was Milan. I flew Emirates (which wasn’t so impressed by I have to say) to Milan from JFK. Milan is a really cute city but I mainly used it as a hub for my travels. I was in Milan for a few days but did some really awesome day trips I highly recommend.

I leave no time to waste when I’m in Europe. We landed at about noon and decided to do obv do some shopping and walk to the Duomo. We stayed at NH Collection President which was in a great location and pretty much walking distance to most places.

If you have time take a walk to Navigli Canal. It’s so picturesque and there are so many cute restaurants to eat in. HIGHLY recommend.

There are some amazing day trips that you can do from Milan that you can find on Viator.  We did a day trip to St. Moritz in Switzerland, Portofino and Cinque Terre. These places kind of deserve their own blog post so check out those posts to see what I did there!

Tip/Recommendations:
1. Ubers are all Uber black and extremely expensive! So see if you can walk places.
2. Take day trips from Milan! Everything is super accessible by train
3. Most places take credit cards
4. Carrefour is a super popular supermarket if you need to grab anything

Places to eat:
1. Cioccolati Italiani
2. La Proscuitteria
3. Terraza Duomo 21
4. Pulia