Dubai, and everything past it.
The 124th floor at sunset, red dunes forty minutes off the Al Ain road, dinner drifting down the Creek, the Grand Mosque an hour and a half down the E11. How each one goes, what it sets you back, and who it suits.
Seven the week leans on.
First landing at DXB or fifth, an Emirates week tends to hang off these three: the lift to the 124th floor, an afternoon in the dunes past Lahbab, and the boat leaving the Marina as the towers come on.
Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp
Dubai desert safari with Red Dunes dune bashing, sandboarding, optional quad bikes and camel rides, plus Al Khayma BBQ shows.
From $32 per person
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The desert starts forty minutes away.
Leave Dubai after lunch and by four the tarmac has run out, the Land Cruisers are letting the air out of their tyres, and the red dunes past Lahbab are doing the thing they do to the light. Camel string, sandboard, a camp with the grills already going. Back at the hotel by ten.
Which desert safari is yours?
Every hotel desk in the city sells the same three shapes of this day. What changes is the hour you head out and how long you stay out there. Pick the shape that fits the week; each list behind it carries prices and ratings.
Dune bash, then dinner
The evening run
4 - 5 hours · from $49 · 1,627 reviews
Pickup around three, forty minutes of dune bashing as the light turns, then a camp with a camel string, a sandboard and the grills already lit. Tanoura and a belly dancer by eight, back in Dubai by half nine. This is the one most people mean by desert safari.
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Cooler, quieter
The morning run
4 hours · from $51 · 1,782 reviews
Out before six, while the sand is still cold and the wind has wiped yesterday’s tracks flat. Same dunes, a fraction of the vehicles, and the city gets you back with the afternoon untouched. The obvious pick between May and September.
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You sleep out there
The overnight
6 hours · from $88 · 2,588 reviews
Everyone else’s convoy leaves after dinner and the camp goes quiet. Stars with no city glow behind them, breakfast as the sun comes up, often a camel trek before the drive back. Book one night rather than two; the point lands the first evening.
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At night the city moves to the water.
The Creek fills with wooden dhows strung end to end in fairy lights. The Marina fills with something considerably more expensive. Both of them serve dinner while Dubai slides past the window, and neither asks you to walk anywhere in August.
Old Dubai is still standing.
Bur Dubai and Deira, an abra across the water for one dirham, gold and spice souks that never moved, and a local who can point out the unmarked door with the good karak behind it. Three hours, nearly all on foot.
The skyline, from inside it.
Level 124 of the Burj Khalifa, the Palm laid out flat from The View, the Frame standing between old Dubai and new with a glass floor in the middle. Pay the extra for the sunset slot; it is the only timed ticket here worth queueing for.
Abu Dhabi does grand differently.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque holds forty thousand people under white marble and inlaid flowers, and there is no entry fee. Shoulders and knees covered, an abaya lent at the door if you need one, shoes off before the carpet. Afterwards the Louvre sits under its perforated dome letting the light through in pieces, and Qasr Al Watan is open if the day still has room in it.
Pick the part of Dubai you want.
The city runs along one road and changes character every few junctions. Downtown holds the tower and the fountain. Deira holds the souks. The Marina holds the boats. The dunes are for the afternoon all three stop being interesting.
Got a shape in mind for the day?
Twelve doors, one country: sand up one side of the road, salt water down the other. Choose a door and everything through it carries a price and a rating.
There are six more emirates.
Abu Dhabi for the mosque and the museums. Sharjah for Mleiha, the fossils and the dune buggies. Fujairah for the only proper snorkelling in the country. Ras Al Khaimah for the mountain road up Jebel Jais. None of them more than a morning’s drive.
Three days that actually work.
Nobody sees the UAE in a week. Three days, though, gets the parts people fly in for, and this is the order a resident would put them in, jet lag and August heat accounted for.
Day 1
Downtown, then the old town
Level 124 booked for the last slot before sunset, the fountain from the bridge afterwards, then an abra across the Creek next morning, early, before the air turns.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Out to the dunes
Nothing before lunch. Pickup at three, dune bashing while the light turns, dinner at the camp under the stars, and back late enough that day three is allowed to start slowly.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Down the E11 to Abu Dhabi
Grand Mosque first, ahead of the coach parties, back when the marble is still cool underfoot. Louvre after lunch. Corniche if the day has anything left in it.
Plan day three →
Just added, dunes to Corniche.
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