First Time in Dubai

Three full days covers the headline sights, five is comfortable, and a week lets you add Abu Dhabi without rushing. Dubai is long and linear, so travel time between Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina and Deira eats more of your day than the map suggests. On three days, be ruthless: one day around Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall, one day in Deira and the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood with a Creek abra crossing, one day in the desert. If your whole trip is a two-night layover, skip the Abu Dhabi day and keep it simple.

The UAE government’s own guidance asks visitors to dress modestly, particularly in conservative areas and public places, says clothing should not be transparent or carry offensive pictures or slogans, notes women are not required to wear traditional Muslim attire, and states swimwear belongs at beaches or pools (u.ae, read 17 August). In practice, shoulders and knees covered is the easy rule for malls, souks and taxis. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is stricter, so carry a scarf. For the desert, closed shoes and long sleeves beat shorts, because sand gets hot and evenings cool fast.

It depends on your passport, and the only source worth reading is the UAE government portal. It lists visa on arrival for thirty days with a ten-day grace period for extension, ninety days for Indian citizens, and fourteen days for Indian nationals holding a normal passport plus a United States visit visa or green card or a United Kingdom or European Union residence visa, with those documents valid at least six months. It also states passports must be valid for at least six months from the date of entry into the UAE (u.ae, read 17 August). Check your nationality there, not on a blog.

The cool half of the year is when outdoor Dubai actually works: rooftop dinners, beach mornings and dune drives at a temperature you enjoy rather than endure. High summer is punishing outdoors, though flights and hotels drop sharply and everything indoors runs normally. If you are heat-sensitive or travelling with small children, the cooler months are worth the higher price. If you are on a tight budget and happy to plan around air conditioning, summer is genuinely good value, and desert trips simply shift later, so ask us for an evening pickup rather than an afternoon one.

An intercity coach, a taxi, a rental car or a private transfer all work, and the drive down the coast is straightforward. Once you arrive, Abu Dhabi’s tourism board lists taxis, shuttle buses, public buses, car rental, bike sharing, the Yas Express and a traditional abra cruise for getting around (visitabudhabi.ae, read 17 August). Honestly, if Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is your only target, the public coach plus a short taxi is far cheaper than any tour and perfectly easy. Book a private car when you want three or four stops without waiting on anyone else.

Yes. Entry is free with a pre-booked online access pass, and the mosque’s own visiting hours page gives 09:00 to 20:30 Monday to Sunday, with Friday split into 09:00 to 11:30 and 14:30 to 20:30 (szgmc.gov.ae, read 17 August). Book the pass before you travel rather than gambling on a walk-up slot. Dress means covered arms and legs, with a headscarf for women. Anyone selling you a mosque entry ticket is really selling transport and a guide, not access, which is worth knowing before you compare what different operators are charging.

Less than you would think, but not none. Abu Dhabi’s official tourism site states the dirham is divided into 100 fils and pegged at one United States dollar to 3.6725 dirhams, that credit and debit cards are widely accepted, and that ATMs are easy to find in malls, supermarkets, petrol stations and the airport, while smaller shops and souks may not have a card machine (visitabudhabi.ae, read 17 August). So carry a modest float for souks, abra crossings and tips, and card everything else. With us there is no deposit and no booking fee, and you pay on the day.

For most first-timers, yes, because it is the one part of the trip that is not a mall or a viewing deck. You get dune driving, a camel, sunset over open sand and dinner under the sky. It is not for everyone though. If you get motion sick, have a back or neck problem, or are pregnant, dune bashing is the wrong purchase and you will not enjoy it. Ask for the version without the dune driving, with a straight drive out to camp, rather than writing off the whole idea or cancelling the day.

Less than the photographs imply on a standard evening trip, because the busy dune areas are not where animals settle. The Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, described on its own site as the UAE’s first national park, protects flagship species including the Arabian oryx, Arabian gazelle, sand gazelle, Arabian red fox, the desert monitor, the Pharaoh eagle owl and the lappet-faced vulture, and it is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a candidate for its Green List (ddcr.org, read 17 August). If wildlife is genuinely your reason for going, book a reserve-based drive instead of a camp evening.

No. Emaar states the Dubai Fountain can be enjoyed free of charge from the promenade (emaar.com, read 17 August), so the show itself costs nothing. What people pay for is a boat ride on the lake or a restaurant table with a view, which are comfort purchases rather than access. Arrive around twenty minutes early if you want a spot on the rail, or watch from the bridge towards Souk Al Bahar where it is calmer. Treat it as the end of a Dubai Mall evening rather than its own outing, because the show is short.

The Metro, topped up with the occasional taxi. RTA lists silver nol fares of three, five and seven and a half dirhams depending on how many zones you cross, and the Creek abra at one to two dirhams (rta.ae, read 17 August), which makes the crossing between Deira and Bur Dubai one of the best-value things in the whole city. Buy a nol card at the airport station and load it once. Taxis are still cheap by European standards, so keep them for late nights and for the Marina-to-Downtown run at peak traffic.

There is no legal rule, and the official portals we checked do not publish a tipping standard. Abu Dhabi’s tourism site covers currency, cards and ATMs in detail but says nothing about tipping at all (visitabudhabi.ae, read 17 August), so every percentage figure you read online is somebody’s opinion rather than policy, and we would rather say that than invent one. In practice, rounding up in restaurants and cafés is normal, and drivers and guides are usually handed cash if the day went well. Nobody will chase you. We add no service charge and no booking fee.

Yes, and it is easier than most first-timers expect, because malls, beaches and attractions are built around families and staff are used to them. The Creek abra costs almost nothing and thrills a small child more than any observation deck. Heat is the real constraint, so put outdoor time early and late in the day. On our side, private tours are priced per vehicle, so children add nothing to the price and a family of four pays what a couple pays. Helmets are provided and compulsory for quad biking, and we confirm age limits per booking.

The big attractions and the Metro handle wheels far better than old souk lanes and sand do. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque uses a pre-booked online access pass, which lets you plan a calm arrival instead of queueing (szgmc.gov.ae, read 17 August), and that helps a lot. Be honest about the desert, though: sand defeats most chairs. On our trips a foldable wheelchair travels in the Land Cruiser boot if you declare it at booking, while powered or non-folding chairs cannot be carried, and if that is your situation a city or coastal itinerary is the better buy.

It is one of the easier large cities to move around alone, and the Metro and licensed taxis run late into the night. The real risk for a first-timer is not crime but rules nobody told you about. The UAE government portal states that holding hands is acceptable but kissing and hugging in public is not, lists noise disruptions, bad language and obscene gestures as unacceptable, and says it is a punishable offence to be under the influence of alcohol in public (u.ae, read 17 August). Keep your hotel address saved in Arabic, and tell someone which operator you booked.