ALL THE SPECIFICITIES OF DUBAI

Beaches, skiing, diving with sharks, the view from the tallest building in the world, a city where you can’t walk anywhere, where you “live” in shopping malls, buildings that touch the clouds, flower parks in a city that sprung up in the middle of the desert, stores selling dresses made of gold, and in which there is no security – it’s all Dubai.

The first thing you should know is that it is the safest city in the world. The whole city is under cameras, and when you add sufficiently rigorous laws to that, you get a security that Europeans still can’t fully understand. Passports, phones, money, absolutely everything, you can leave anywhere you want and be sure that you will find them exactly where you left them, on the beach, on the table in the cafe, in the shopping center in the food corner while you are ordering food at the other end of the space.

The specificity of this city is that life takes place in shopping centers. Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates are the main shopping malls and you can spend the whole day in them without getting bored at any moment. There is no concept of outdoor walking in Dubai, except in the Marina where you can walk near the beach and on The Walk.

In the country of oil, where fuel is cheaper than water, taxis are extremely cheap, exactly twice as cheap as in Belgrade. The distances you will have to travel by taxi are long, so sometimes you can opt for the metro, whose daily ticket costs 5 euros. The metro in Dubai is above ground and moves in a straight line, so with the help of a map you will find your way very easily.

As taxis are unimaginably cheap, food is unimaginably expensive. Dinner or lunch for two in the most ordinary restaurant costs from 50 to 70 euros, an hour of draft beer on the beach or in a cafe costs around 12 euros. A cheaper way to eat is in the food corners of shopping centers, which are endlessly neat and clean and offer a selection of food from all over the world, so in shopping centers you can find a meal per person for as little as 10 euros. There are no fast food kiosks.

In order for you to enjoy it to the maximum, without really having the skin off your back, here are some practical tips on how to choose a hotel. It is very important that you have at least breakfast at the hotel, because otherwise you will have to walk about 10 km immediately after getting up to get food. Try to find a hotel whose price includes entrance to one of the beaches, which includes umbrellas and sunbeds, with a transfer to that beach (if the hotel is not already on the beach). Otherwise, spend another 50 to 70 euros every day to enter one of the beaches. If you really want to see everything that Dubai has to offer, try to find a hotel that is close to the metro station, because it will make it easier for you to get around the city. It is also recommended that your hotel be close to Dubai Marina, because although it is not the official center of the city, the Marina is the most interesting tourist area.

Author of text and photo

Dunja Bibić