5 Things to Do to Enjoy Dubai in Your Limited Time

1. City Tour with Hop on Hop Off Bus

By riding this Hop On Hop Off bus (HOHO) you can possibly visit several Dubai’s tourist attractions without too much effort. HOHO bus in Dubai is also well-known for Red Bus or Big Bus. The Red Bus stations are spread in several big malls such as The Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. I happened to visit the one in Mall of the Emirates. It is located at the Ground Floor of Mall of the Emirates. It just a small counter with one officer actually, but you could ask everything about the Red Bus including the available brochures of the routes. Actually, Red Bus offering three routes with different time duration: City Tour (for 2.20 hours), Beach Tour (for 1.20 hours) or Marina Tour (for 90 minutes) all available for day and night tour. The routes will cross selected magnificent Dubai’s famous landmarks and tourist attractions from the tallest Burj Al Khalifa, Palm Island to their traditional spice souk depends on the routes you choose. 

Since we have limited time and we just want to see their famous Jumeirah beach with the Burj Al Arab and the magnificent Burj Al Khalifa, so we chose the Beach Tour. The tariff cost us about USD59.40 or IDR800,000 freakin expensive huh! but we didn't have any choice huhuhu...Those cost including free cold mineral water, recorded commentary in choice of languages with free headset, air conditioned bus, free entry to museums, free entry to Atlantis Aquarium and free Dhow Cruise (if you choose the Marina Tour). So, here we are on the bus! Along the way ride, we saw how tidy and clean Dubai is. They have many pretty and magnificent buildings, even the hospital is also pretty beautiful! Some building are also turned out to be outdoor cafe. And oh the architectural of some houses are also unique. Here's sneak peek of what I found during the ride!

Tips: 

- Before you buy the ticket, look at the available tour map, ensure the places you want to see since if you only have limited time, the 24 hour Day Tour won't exactly be applied, maybe you only take around 2 to 3 hours, unless you have a full day time please strolling around this pretty city! 

- Since this is a hop on hop off facility, be wise with your time. If you stop by to one place, the next bus will come around 30 minutes. For example, when we stopped at Burj Al Arab, we only have around 30 minutes to explore the area before the next bus coming, if you late you have to wait for the next 30 minutes. 

- Wear proper and comfortable clothing. T-shirt with short pants (of course knees-length) is better. You will realize how hot and humid Dubai is when strolling around with that open bus hahaha! 

- Always bring a tumbler with water - though the Big Bus provided it - who will survive in the hot Dubai with only two small bottles of cold water? Me? Of course not, I drunk more than three bottles!!

2. Trying their Dubai Metro

If to take the Red Bus are something pricey for you, why not trying to take the Dubai Metro to enjoy Dubai. Dubai Metro is one of the fastest and cheapest public transportation for Dubai's people, it is similar with MRT in Singapore. The station are spread almost everywhere in the city and also adjoined with almost big mall such as the Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. I tried the Dubai Metro from the Burj Khalifa station which is adjacent to Dubai Mall. There are an access to the station from the second floor of the mall. The worst thing to reach the station was I should walk so soooo far from the mall. 

Before you buy the tickets, make sure you know where are you going and look carefully the metro lines. Dubai Metro has two lines, the Red Line and Green Line. The Red Line encompasses Rashidiya to Jebel Ali stations, while the Green Line encompasses Al Qusais 2 to Jeddaf 2 stations. Between those lines, there are interchange stations Burjuman & Union stations, if you wish to move from the Red to Green or vice versa. Those lines are also divided into zones, ranging from Zones 1 to Zone 6. The more zones you travel, the more you should pay for the tickets. 

To buy the ticket, simply go to the ticket machine, select your destination, select how many zones you would travel and insert your cash to the machine. There are many options for the ticket, if you only travel once just opt for the Regular ticket. For example, when I wanted to go to Dubai's daily market in Burjuman area, I went from Burj Khalifa station, so in the ticket machine I select my destination Burjuman, then select '1 zone' since I only travel in return to one destination (you may select 2 zones if for example you travel from Burj Khalifa to Burjuman then Burjuman to World Trade Centre and end at Burj Khalifa again). After that, I inserted AED5 to the ticket machine (I bought for 2 persons, each for AED2.5 or IDR9300). 

Tips:

- For the first timer, like me, it might be difficult to buy the ticket from the machine. Don't hesitate to ask the officer, they're very kind and humble to help the tourists hehehe...

- If you stay longer in Dubai and wish to travel everyday with Dubai Metro, you better choose a NOL cards with selections of cards such as Red Card for 90 days or Blue Card for 5 years. For more info about the tickets and maps, you can go to this link. 

3. Visiting Dubai's Magnificent Landmarks

After you decide which transportation you would choose, it's time to visit some places!! The first place to visit and not to miss in Dubai is, of course, the one and only the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. I bet all of you at least have a curiosity to know how tall this building is, right? It is indeed sooo tall with about 148 floors. I even had difficulties to capture the top of this building from the bus, even I should upturned my neck very hard. Geez! There are 2 ways to enjoy this building strolling around the area (since the area is next to the Dubai Mall and other great places such as Souk Al Bahar) or to go inside and explore to the top. I chose the first opt since the second one was sooo wasting my money (well, for someone who loves shopping like me, spending around AED505 or IDR1,9 mio just to reach the top of Burj Khalifa is way better to buy some souvenirs for my family hehehe, but hey if you have lots of money or already saving to see that magnificent view-from-the-top for once in your lifetime, just go for it!!). So, here's my simple captures of the magnificent, Burj Khalifa! (sadly, that time Dubai was so foggy so I couldn't get any clearer picture of this building huft)

The other options was of course seeing the world's biggest hotel, Burj Al Arab. Located at the Jumeirah Beach area, this the one and only 7-stars hotels could be enjoyed from many sides. You can strolling around the beach and selfie with this building as the background (most people do that thing but due to the high temperature and hot weather, I chose to stay in bus hahaha) or visiting Souk Medinat Jumeirah behind this building. From this souk, you can also take an excellent view of this building. Well, Dubai is never not hot, so you better enjoy the weather than not geting anything after you arrive at home, right!

Tips:

- All those places are very reachable with all transportation including the Dubai Metro or Hop on Hop Off Bus.

-If you really want to get to the top of the magnificent Burj Khalifa, an online ticket purchase is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. This is based on my friend's experience, Shanna @shannsational. She told me that if you choose to pay on the spot, you'll be charged three times more expensive that the online rate, moreover you should wait in a very long queue. So, to buy the ticket simply go to At the Top website, link here. Choose your desired level of height, 124th floor or up to the highest 148th floor. Different level, different price and different services. My friend Shanna took the ticket to the 148th floor for AED505 including guide, snacks at waiting room and at the observation room at the top. The other privileges was you shouldn't be in long queue and per group is only limited to max 20 persons so you have more room to enjoy and capture different view of Dubai from the top. Please remember this price is valid for off-peak season, on peak season or especially when you want to see the sunset, the price is subject to higher. Here's how magnificent Dubai from the top of Burj Khalifa. *Photo taken by Shanna

4. Jetset Shopping at the Malls

Well, well, that doesn't mean you have to be rich to go to Dubai, but if you want to feel how jetset the Dubai's people lifestyle, visiting their malls might be eye-opening. If in Indonesia, Grand Indonesia, MKG or PIM are the largest mall for me, when I visited The Dubai Mall, all of them was NONE! The Dubai Mall is very huuuuugeeee, maybe 5 times than those malls in Indonesia. Geeez! They have 1,200 shops with several worldwide famous fashion brands, cafes and restaurants. I was so happy that here I could find my bucket list restos and cafes, such as Shake Shack, Pinkberry, Angelina Chocolate & Patisserie, Hummingbird Bakery until the famous Ladure Paris was here! Dubai Mall is also equipped with several magnificent attractions such as world's largest indoor Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, SEGA Republic, an indoor theme park where you can enjoy about 150 games, world's largest man-made indoor waterfall, and of course the iconic Dubai Water Fountain. Sadly, due to the hectic schedule I missed that fantastic water fountain huhuhu...

Pssst, outside the mall, you can also see the man-made lake with the beautiful view of Souk Al Bahar and the Burj Khalifa. A very perfect spot to take your iconic selfie! 

*Souk Al Bahar, pic taken by @ivyslife

The second famous and largest malls in Dubai is Mall of the Emirates. As I told you before in the previous post, this Mall is adjacent to Sheraton Hotel. This mall is also huge, with more than hundreds shops, you can easily access this mall until 12.00PM if you stay at the hotel. If you love ski, Mall of the Emirates has also the biggest indoor ski rink in which you can do skiing, snowboarding, taking gondola, until feeding the real Penguins! There are many other malls in Dubai, but unfortunately I didn't have much time to explore them all. But ensure, when you visit Dubai, these two malls are very worth visit.

Tips:

- Since the malls are so huge, you better try to make a marking point or to remember one places from your starting point. If not, you will lose your way back haha. I need to remember many times the places I passed from my starting point at Mall of the Emirates, when I forgot once, I should strolling around the malls just to find my way back to the hotel. So did at the Dubai Malls, trust me, I lost many times, I even should write what I passed since too many shops there. Unless you're an adventurer and ready to get lost, please ignore this tips!

- Do not shopping in a hurry unless you bring lots of money and have been observing before, especially souvenirs. In malls, you know, everything isn't cheap, even just a keychain. The price would be double than the one in the souk or traditional market. However, since this tips for a limited time trip, to buy souvenirs or something you might want to bring home such as chocolate, spices or perfumes, buying it in Carrefour or big supermarket in Dubai is better than in the souvenir shops in the mall.

5. Go for Cheap Souvenirs at Dubai's Souk

Nah, this point is specially made for shopaholic hahaha, I mean for anyone looking for souvenirs or anything cheaper than malls. Thanks to my travel partner @mareretha who has Rebecca Bloomwood's soul inside. I'm the one who do backpacking every time I do traveling, but when it comes to shopping, just for souvenirs for my mom or sisters, I just can't resist when someone ask me to explore the market hahaha! Dubai is famous for their souk or let's called it market or traditional market. There are many souk from spices souk, flower souk to gold souk. The souk in some areas are also appear in modern and up-class way, such as this Souk Madinat Jumeirah. This souk sells mostly souvenirs from key chain, magnets, t-shirt, sculptures, paintings, to daily clothes but in a mid to high prices but as not expensive as the malls.  This souk is also equipped with air conditioner, so it really helps us after sweating around the Burj Al Arab hahaha...

Unfortunately, to reach more cheaper souk or cheaper shopping places, you should go to the side of the city. Some cheaper souk such as the famous gold souk, is far from the downtown Dubai, but it offers a real traditional and down-to-earth shopping experience without air conditioner but you can do bargaining and get lots of cheaper things! If you want to make it simple, let's say you don't wanna get sweat inside the-exactly-hot-Dubai's traditional market, you might go to the heaven places I visited a one price shop! Yup, have you ever heard a shop selling all item in one price? In Jakarta, you might know Daiso with IDR22,000 for all items or Doku Doku which sells all items for only IDR5,000! In Dubai, there are such places in Burjuman area named Bollywood World of Fashion and Day to Day Market, those shops sell all items for AED1 to AED10 or around IDR4000 to IDR40,000 ONLY! They sell almost everything from domestic things, candies, chocolate, clothing, stationery, electronics, to many choices of souvenirs. It's like just all the daily things are available here exclude the groceries one hehehe...

I even found some Indonesian food here! Look at how famous the Indomie noodles brand here. They even have a special rack for this noodles! Gosh, how I proud to be Indonesian hahaha!! And oh, look I also found my fav childhood chocolate, Choki Choki, aaaah I love love this places!!!

Shopping in the one-price places like this might be good for you who has a limited budget, but might be bad for you also since everything looks cheap and you just can't resist to not buy one! Souvenirs here such as keychain and magnetic fridge are sold from AED5 to AED10 or IDR15,000 to IDR30,000 only while in malls or modern souk you will get above AED15 to AED20. Geez! The miniatures of the Dubai's landmarks such as Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab were also very affordable, here you can get for only AED40 or IDR120,000 while in malls it migh cost you around AED80 or IDR240,000. Almost chocolate packages or candies are also the same, I got the same mix chocolates I found in Carrefour for only AED10 while I paid it around AED20 at the Carrefour hehehe...

Tips:

- To reach the Day to Day Market and BW World of Fashion, you can use Dubai Metro and stop in Burjuman station. After you get out the station, go upstairs, those two shops are right across the station's exit gate.

Well, that's all the 5 Things to Do to Enjoy Dubai in Your Limited Time. It might not long or complete enough but I wish it'll helps you to arrange your trip. I would love to receive any questions, comments, or suggestions about this post. Just dropped your comment below or email me to annut.khairisa@gmail.com. Visit also my instagram @ichakhairisa for more info about travel tips and delicious food.

Thank you for reading and have a nice trip!

See you on my next holiday!