We moved our accommodation from the Marina area to Downtown Dubai. Downtown is where the Burj Khalifa is. From where I'm from, downtown is not associated with good-looking buildings, but it seemed to be the opposite here. The balcony of our Airbnb was overlooking Burj Khalifa, and oh boy was it nice, especially at night. At this point, it's been well publicized that Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, and can you imagine they are planning on building an even taller building than Burj Khalifa? Talk about being your competition.
Downtown Dubai was developed by Emaar Real Estate Development, a project that cost US $20 billion. It features world-class assets including commercial, residential, hotel, entertainment, shopping, and leisure components. Almost everywhere you turn, you will see the name "Emaar" plastered at the top of most of the buildings. It is one of the top globally recognized real estate developers, responsible for building Burj Khalifa, and Dubai Mall amongst other famous buildings.
Let's dive into activities you can do in Downtown Dubai
Visit Dubai Mall
It shouldn't surprise you that this is the biggest mall in the world, typical of Dubai. It was built by the one and only Emaar properties development. Here you will find all the luxury brand stores. My first impression when I saw the mall was how exquisite it looks. When you get to the entrance, you might wonder why it was named the biggest mall, but once you start walking around you will know why. For the entire time we were there, we couldn't finish exploring the entire mall. They have a huge aquarium at the mall and I'm pretty sure I saw a shark in there. There are an endless amount of restaurants and shopping stalls. My favorite restaurant was PF Changs. They make some really good Japanese noddles and shrimps. I would 100 percent recommend it. Remember that no restaurant in the mall is authorised to see any alcoholic drinks.
Not so far from the mall, is an Iraq restaurant that was recommended to us by our Iraqi friends from the desert safari tour. The name of the restaurant is Samad Al Iraqi. First time trying Iraqi food and let's just say I will get some getting used to. It was a nice experience though. The restaurant had a breath taking view of Burj Khalifa.
Watch the Fountain show next to Burj Khalifa
Every day from 7 pm, there is a fountain show right outside the Dubai mall. You will find large crowds of people waiting for the show to start. The show takes place for 15 minutes after every 30 min, until 9 pm. They play music and the water jets dance to the tune, with Burj Khalifa in the background lighting up into different themes, so cool! If you want to watch the show while relaxing, you can go to the restaurants that are next to the fountain, and enjoy a cocktail or some shisha as you watch the show. I remember getting very excited when they played a Swahili song on one of the shows.
Go to the top of Burj Khalifa
This is probably the activity anyone who visits Dubai for the first time wants to do. Go up the tallest building in the world. There is an option of going to the top floor accessible to the public (148th) which cost $95 per person or going to the 124th and 125th floors which costs $34 per person. The views are fantastic, they say you get to see the sunset twice when you go up there- one when you are at the bottom and another when you are at the top.
Go on a dinner cruise
This was probably my favorite activity in Downtown Dubai. The cruise takes you along Dubai Creek. You get to see all the beautiful buildings as you enjoy your buffet dinner. My favorite part was when we went underneath a bridge that had a waterfall. The waterfall senses whenever a vessel is approaching then it turns itself off. As you go past it, the waterfall comes up again, so cool. We had an instrumentalist playing the saxophone on the cruise. It was one romantic dinner cruise.
Explore Dubai Old Town
This place feels like time traveling into Dubai's past. To go to that part of the city, we took a traditional dhow across Dubai creek. This neighborhood is home to the oldest building, Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1781. Here you will meet the Emiratis and find most of the local shops and restaurants. If you like to stray away from the popular touristy locations, then this is the place to be. It kind of reminded me of Stone town in Zanzibar. The Arabian architecture is breathtaking. It seems like the perfect place to learn about the history of Dubai. Here you will find a lot of spices and shops selling kitchenware, clothes, etc. If you want to shop on a budget in Dubai, this is where you should visit. I wish we got the chance to explore this area more.
You should consider checking out the Starbucks shop at Al Seef in Dubai's old town. It has this ancient Arabic architecture, so unique.
Explore Downtown on your own
Dubai is a very pedestrian and cyclist-friendly place. We can include people who ride E-scooters on that list too. We enjoyed walking around downtown, and most of the time we would walk from the mall to our Airbnb instead of taking a taxi. It is a nice way of knowing the amenities near you. Not so far from our place was a beautiful park where parents would take their kids and pets to play and relax. There was also a padel court, a popular game in UAE I have never heard of before. It is a combination of tennis, squash, and badminton.
This area in general seemed like such a nice and peaceful place to live in. I honestly wouldn't mind living in Dubai (I think I have said this about 3 other places already).
Other places you can visit when around here:
· Burj Al Arab - a 5-star hotel nick-named "the only 7-star hotel in the world". This hotel was built on an artificial Island and is known to be among the tallest hotels in the world. You can go there for a meal at one of their 8 signature restaurants but don't forget to carry your wallet.
The Dubai frame. This is an observatory, museum, and monument at the same time. It is the largest frame in the world standing at 150 meters.
· Museum of the Future- we were told that this place has been fully reserved for months, so you will be lucky to get a chance to go there.
· Popular restaurants I can recommend around this area are Ce La Vie restaurant and Rose Café.
It is possible to travel to Dubai on a budget. From my country Kenya, flights were around $700 which is pretty reasonable for that distance. Taxis generally tend to be expensive here, which can end up taking a big chunk of your budget. I don't think we had a taxi ride that was less than $10 no matter how short the distance was. Drinking alcoholic drinks at restaurants was expensive because of the ban on alcoholic drinks here. There are only a few designated hotels and restaurants that serve alcohol and the prices are jacked up for obvious reasons. It is cheaper to buy alcohol at liquor stores, but good luck finding one.
For the activities, the Desert Safari cost from $40 upwards depending on the activities you choose. Going up Burj Khalifa cost $34-$95 per person depending on the floor. Airbnbs are not so cheap here, a decent one goes for a minimum of $100 per night.
Dubai was lots of fun and I wouldn't mind going back infinite times!
