UAE / Dubai Holiday

[ramkya1]

Hai BHP'ns,

Thinking of planning a 6 day trip with family during this Diwali to UAE / Dubai. Have good friends there, will stay with them.

Other than the shopping, have heard so much about the 4X4 safari, sand dunes and seen lots of photos here too. From what I heard, electronics and other gizmos are more or less same cost as India; so may not do any major purchase there.

We're raring to do one of these safaris. Some questions:

• A 6 day plan would be enough or do I have to increase days? I can stretch this to 10-12 days also.
• With an International driving licence can one hire a SUV there, wouldn't mind giving an arm / leg to do that. Will take of my friends there as a guide, would not want to drive there without local help.
• I checked out some sites, they quote rentals for a 4 x4 Prado, Pajero etc., with the driver, 3 days, about $ 350, don't know if this is OK? Other options like GPS etc. are extra.
• What are the places one can drive to from Dubai, what are the distances and what time lines are possible.
• Travel agent quoted per person, Rs.28900/- ex. Ahmedabd-Dubai-back on Emirates and Rs.24000/- on Quatar Airlines. Is this OK?

Would be grateful to many of Desert / UAE Gurus here for guidance and help. Thanks in advance.

--Ramky

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[abhinav.gupta88]

Well dude
1 thing, you cant drive there as you dont have a Left hand drive license ( That's the way it goes i suppose ) I was denied due to the same reason.

6 Days is a decent enough time to spend there
28900 is good for Emirates. ( Nice Flight)

You can try out sharjah and nearby areas ( sharjah will be the nearest AFAIK)

[vintagepoint5]

Hi Ramkya1,

Wish you and your family have nice trip to Dubai, I will be happy to contribute what I know about Dubai & UAE. These are following places
you can visit in Dubai city I know:

1. Burg Al Arab hotel near Jumera beach, you can go inside if you would
like there is fee of Dhs:200 minimum per head or you can just visit the beach and take snaps of hotel in background.
2. Wild Wadi Amusement park adjacent to Burj Al Arab hotel.
3. Mall of Emirates on King Zayad Road, inside the mall you can see lot
of shopping centres and Ski Dubai is major attraction, huge complex for surfing on snow, artificial snow was created inside, where you can do snow surf on the slopes inside or just watch from the glass outside.
4. Ibn e Batuta Mall named after famous Arabian traveller of 14th century, it has 3 pavillions, Chinese, Indian & Moroco showing culture from each countries.
5. King Zayad Road, impressive line of buildings on both side of road
6. Jabel Ali Free zone
7. Creek park have cable car inside and big park, but it was open on
certain days and closed for maintenance on certain days, check it before
you start.
8. Night cruiser from Bur Dubai
9. Dubai Musuem, Bur Dubai Dhs: 5 per head
10. Small Boats cross from one side of canal to other side for small charges.
11. Internet City, Media City on King Zayad Road
12. Dubai City Center
13. Dubai Gold Market
14. World Tallest Building
15. Old Spice market, Abra, opp Bur Dubai
16. Emirates Tower Hotel (twin tower) on King Zayad Road
17. Parks, Cars showrooms, etc.
18. New attraction: Railway line in final stages Phase-I, criss crossing
all the major city roads.
19. Remember most of the busy roads charges toll taxes from motorist.

Abu Dhabi:
Abu Dhabi nice and clean city 170 km from Dubai, can go by car or
very convenient bus services from Bur Dubai (Bus & Taxi stand) Dhs:30/= approx per head, takes about 2 hrs approx by road.

Places to see in Abu Dhabi, Marina Mall on Abu Dhabi beach, shopping centers, quite peaceful roads.

Al Ain:
Al Ain is garden city 190 km aprox from Dubai or Abu Dhabi, famous
for greenery, gardens, etc. I did not have chance to visit, but my friends
praise about the place.

Sand Dunes & Safari ride:
I don't know, but you can get plenty of information from hotels, people
locally.

Caution:
Avoid driving car specially on highways and even locally, even though
road and traffic systems was very efficient, but still there is danger from
rash drivers.

Fog: Some time early morning fog or in evening fog was so thick you cannot able to10-15 ft in front, so in this situation turn back don't drive or
travel, it is dangerous, safety first.

Have pleasant trip.

[ramkya1]

Hai Vintage,
Tnx for your detailed post. will try to touch most of what you recommend.

Gupta88- Thanks, do we have to take a separate LHDrive licence there?
That's tough. Tnx.

-Ramky

[Dhar's]

Sorry Ramky for the late reply.

Well I guess vantagepoint has covered most of the sight seeing places.

I'd add the Autodrome, UAQ Motorplex, Awir and Sharjah used car market and Festival City etc. By Diwali, the climate would be cooler.

For the dune bashing, I'd rather suggest you to approach a tour operator, hire a LandCruiser and let an experienced driver take you to the desert. Its more safe. But do remember to occupy the front passenger seat. Thats where it can enjoy to max.

Enjoy the trip

[Steeroid]

Six days are fine. Let me have the dates and I will arrange for a booking. PM me for the rest, we'll take care of everything.

Welcome to Do Buy!

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Six days are fine. Let me have the dates and I will arrange for a booking. PM me for the rest, we'll take care of everything.

Welcome to Do Buy!

Hai,

Will PM you the complete plan once I get the quotes from our travel agents etc., then I'll double check it you to see if they're ripping me...
and then I'd leave it to you to paln out the best possibilities. I'm planning to travel to Europe from there, a lot will depend on the leaves I get.

Thanks for the offer.

--Ramky
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[Pankaj1126]

Hi Ramky,
Excellent dear that you are extending your endeavours beyond India.
I did 15 days of fossil hunting (geoscientific field studies for oil exploration) in early 2006 covering 4000kms between Muscat & Dubai and all famous Oman Mountains.

If shopping etc. are not your priority in Dubai..then go out side Dubai for real beauty of Arabia. These so called desert safaris just give you little glimpse of of deserts but for your kind of person would require much more than this. So here is my take

- Must visits Al-Ain (abt 250 kms from Dubai). Jebel Hafit is the place to go there. Jebel means Mountain. You have lot of hot springs scattered in Al-Ain city.

If you have Omani visa then you can enter in Oman form here to visit beautiful Valley Dhank & go upto Ibri in Oman to view ancient Al- Falaj (The old water supply system --very famous for its role in Arabian civilization). But it would be difficult for you to arrange UAE visa again to enter back.

- Do go to Musandam & Fujairah. a.. about 150 kms form Dubai...beautiful place where mountains are hugging the sea. Some outsatnding roads , tunnels & beaches around witha glimpse of Arabian culture (not like expat populations of Dubai)

- Go to Jebel Faya (around 100kms) for some really big fossil called rudhist (of Dinosure time) hunting

- After returning from these places you can do the regular Dubai stuff during evening time

Best plan would have been to land at Muscat & then visit Muscat (prefered over Dubai any day for its natural beauty)) then hire an SUV to take you to Dubai either via Batinah coast (through Sohar) or via Nijwa -Ibri- Al Ain-Dubai route. You can have really majestic view of spectrum colored Oman mountains all through your way & you may wish to spend a day or two in Oman mountains.

Pl. let me know if you need any more information. If you wish I can post some pics from the trip.
chrs
pankaj