Dubai: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Until the 1960s Dubai lived on pearls and smuggling and did not have a single paved road. Oil was found in 1966 and has nearly run out — it is under one per cent of the economy today. This quarter is all that is left of that city, and it is small: two hours on foot, and come after four.
A short history of Dubai
In 1833 about 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe, led by the Al Maktoum family, which still rules Dubai today, settled on the banks of the narrow creek, the Khor. The town lived from fishing and pearl diving. In 1902 the ruler abolished customs duties, and many merchants from Persia moved here. In 1966 oil was discovered offshore, and in 1971 Dubai joined the United Arab Emirates. Its oil is modest compared with its neighbours', so it built its economy on its port, aviation and tourism. In 2010 the Burj Khalifa was opened here; at 828 metres it is the tallest building in the world.
The ten best sights in Dubai
1Burj Khalifa828 metres. Book sunset weeks ahead or pay triple
2Museum of the FutureThe calligraphy on the facade is the building’s structure
3Dubai FrameOld city on one side, new city on the other, on purpose
4Al Fahidi Historical DistrictWind towers from 1890 — air conditioning without electricity
5Al Fahidi FortThe oldest building in Dubai, 1787, and it is a museum
6Al Shindagha MuseumThe ruler’s own house, and the story of the pearl trade
7Cultural Understanding CentreBreakfast with Emiratis who answer any question
8Jumeirah MosqueThe only mosque here open to non-Muslims, on a tour
9Etihad MuseumThe house where seven emirates became one country in 1971
10Alserkal AvenueGalleries in old marble warehouses. Free, and quiet
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Dubai →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Dubai:
Free walking tours in Dubai
Before the Oil
Until the 1960s Dubai lived on pearls and smuggling and did not have a single paved road. Oil was found in 1966 and has nearly run out — it is under one per cent of the economy today. This quarter is all that is left of that city, and it is small: two hours on foot, and come after four.
- Al Fahidi Historical District · Persian merchants from Bastak built these houses around 1890 and brought the wind tower with them: an open shaft that catches any breeze and drops it into the room, cooling it by up to fifteen degrees with no electricity at all.
- Al Fahidi Fort · Built in 1787 of coral blocks cut out of the sea and bound with gypsum, it is the oldest building in Dubai. It was the ruler’s residence, then the arsenal, then the jail, and the museum underneath it is dug three floors into the ground.
- Textile Souk · The wooden roof is not decoration — it is what makes the alley walkable in August, and the whole souk is five degrees cooler than the street outside it. The tailors here will copy any garment you bring in, in two days.
- Al Shindagha Museum · Dubai lived on pearls, and the diving season sent men down on one breath, forty times a day, for four months. The trade collapsed almost overnight in the 1930s when a Japanese chemist worked out how to make a pearl inside an oyster on purpose.
- The abra across the creek · A wooden boat with a bench down the middle, one dirham, no ticket and no schedule — it leaves when it is full. The same crossing has run since the 1870s, and twenty million people a year still take it.
- Gold Souk · Something like ten tonnes of gold sit in these windows at any moment. The metal itself is sold at the global rate of that morning, posted on a screen — so the only thing you can bargain over is the workmanship, and it is usually half.
The Height
Everything here was built in twenty years on empty sand. The tower was meant to be called Burj Dubai, and the name was changed to Burj Khalifa days before it opened — after Abu Dhabi saved Dubai from default with ten billion dollars. An hour and a half, mostly in air conditioning.
- Museum of the Future · There is not a single column inside it. The Arabic calligraphy cut through the facade is the building’s structure — 1,024 steel-and-fibreglass panels, no two alike, each shaped by a robot. The poem on it was written by the ruler.
- Burj Khalifa · Eight hundred and twenty-eight metres on 192 piles driven fifty metres down, and the concrete had to be poured at night with ice in the mix, because by day it would set before it reached the top. From the ground floor you can watch the sun set twice.
- Dubai Fountain · Two hundred and seventy-five metres long, jets that throw water a hundred and fifty metres up — the height of a fifty-storey building — and it runs every half hour from six. It is by the same firm that built the one in Las Vegas, and it is five times the size.
- Dubai Aquarium · Ten million litres behind a single acrylic panel thirty-three metres wide and seventy-five centimetres thick, which weighs more than the water does not. You can stand and watch it from the mall floor for nothing; the tunnel is the part you pay for.
- Souk Al Bahar · Built from scratch in 2007 to look four hundred years old, with stone arches and lanterns and a plan that deliberately gets you lost. Its terrace faces the fountain straight on, and the tables there cost nothing extra.
- Dubai Opera · It is shaped as a dhow: the bow holds the stage, the hull the auditorium, and the long flat deck at the back is the lobby. The floor of the hall folds away so the same room becomes a flat standing venue in six hours.
Sand Into Skyline
In the year 2000 this whole strip was empty sand. The marina is a canal dug into the desert, and the Palm is an island built from ninety-four million cubic metres of sand dredged off the seabed and rock quarried inland. Two hours, and only after dark — by day the pavement burns.
- Jumeirah Mosque · Built in 1979 in Fatimid style from stone brought from Egypt, and it is the only mosque in Dubai that non-Muslims may enter. The tours run under the phrase the city uses for itself — open doors, open minds — and you may ask anything.
- Kite Beach · A free public beach with showers, a running track and food trucks, and the Burj Al Arab standing in the water at the end of it. This is where the city itself goes at six in the evening, and it is the cheapest thing in Dubai.
- Burj Al Arab · Three hundred and twenty-one metres on an artificial island two hundred and eighty metres offshore. Building the island took three years and the hotel two, and the white face is a double teflon skin, not stone — glass would have cooked the atrium.
- Souk Madinat Jumeirah · A resort built as a fake old town with three kilometres of man-made canals running through it, and wooden abras that carry you between the restaurants. It is not real, it never pretended to be, and the view of the Burj Al Arab from the far terrace is the best there is.
- Dubai Marina Walk · The canal is three kilometres long, entirely man-made, and sea water was let into a dug trench in the desert to fill it. It is the largest artificial marina in the world, and twenty-five years ago there was nothing here but sand.
- The Beach, JBR · An open beachfront of low buildings and cafés at the foot of forty towers, free to walk and free to swim, open until midnight. It was built to give the marina a ground floor, because the towers had been put up without one.
Getting to Dubai and getting around
- Dubai International · The metro reaches Downtown in 25 minutes for four dirhams
- Al Maktoum Airport · Most low-cost flights land here, an hour from the centre
- Burj Khalifa Metro · A ten-minute covered walk to the mall, in the air conditioning
- Union Station · Where the two metro lines cross, and the old city begins
- Al Ghubaiba Bus Station · Buses to Abu Dhabi every twenty minutes, 25 dirhams
- Abra dock, Deira · A wooden boat across the creek costs one dirham
Museums in Dubai
- Museum of the Future · Book ahead — it sells out days in advance, 149 AED
- Etihad Museum · The best hour in Dubai for understanding the country
- Al Shindagha Museum · The ruler’s own house, and the whole pearl story
- Al Fahidi Fort · 1787, coral walls, and a museum three floors down
- Alserkal Avenue · Galleries in marble warehouses. Free, and nearly empty
- Coffee Museum · Free, two rooms, and they brew you one at the end
- Louvre Abu Dhabi · An hour and a half out, and worth the whole day
Things to do in Dubai with kids
- Dubai Aquarium · The window from the mall floor is free. The tunnel is not
- The Green Planet · A rainforest in a glass cube, and sloths at eye level
- Ski Dubai · Jacket and boots included. Book the first slot
- IMG Worlds of Adventure · The largest indoor theme park on earth, and air conditioned
- Legoland Dubai · Built for two to twelve, and genuinely for them
- Aquaventure · The biggest waterpark in the world, open to non-guests
- KidZania · A city where children do the jobs and get paid for it
Cheap eats in Dubai
Eight counters where Dubai actually eats. Nine out of ten people here are not Emirati, and the food follows them: a Pakistani canteen in Satwa that has not raised its prices in years, a fish shack by the beach with no sign, and a kebab house in Bur Dubai going since 1978.
- Ravi, Satwa · Open until three. A full meal for 25 AED
- Al Mallah, Satwa · Shawarma and fresh juice on the pavement since 1979, 12 AED
- Bu Qtair · Point at a fish. About 40 AED, cash only
- Special Ostadi · One dish, 30 AED, and photographs on every wall
- Al Ustad Special Kabab · The other 1978 kebab house, fifty metres away
- Sind Punjab, Karama · North Indian, a thali for 20 AED, and always full
- Waterfront Market grills · Buy a fish downstairs, they cook it upstairs for 20 AED
- Meena Bazaar lunch stalls · Indian Dubai eats here. Nothing over 15 AED
Nature and day trips near Dubai
- Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary · Free. Best between November and March, before nine
- Al Qudra Lakes · Desert lakes dug by hand. Camping is free and legal
- Love Lake · Two lakes shaped as hearts, and only visible from the air
- Al Marmoom Desert Reserve · Ten per cent of Dubai, protected, with wild oryx in it
- Hatta Dam · Kayaks from 60 AED. Go on a weekday
- Mushrif Park · A real forest of ghaf trees, and barely any tourists
Holy places in Dubai
- Jumeirah Mosque · The only one open to non-Muslims. Tours at ten
- Grand Mosque, Bur Dubai · The tallest minaret in the city, over the old souk
- Cultural Understanding Centre · 120 AED with breakfast. Book two days ahead
- Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque · Free, in Abu Dhabi, and cover your arms and legs
Nightlife in Dubai
- Zero Gravity · A beach club under the skydiving drop zone
- Soho Garden, Meydan · Several clubs in one compound, and one entry
- CÉ LA VI · Fifty-four floors up, facing the Burj Khalifa
- Dubai Marina Walk · Where the evening actually happens, and it is free
- Boxpark · Shipping containers, open late, and no dress code
- Global Village · Open till one in winter. The cheapest night in Dubai
Frequently asked questions about Dubai
What is there to see in Dubai?
The top sights in Dubai are Burj Khalifa, Museum of the Future and Dubai Frame. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Dubai?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Dubai without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Dubai?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Dubai, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Before the Oil.
How do you get to Dubai and get around?
The main ways are Dubai International, Al Maktoum Airport and Burj Khalifa Metro. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Dubai, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Dubai that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Dubai for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.