One of my favourite places in the world. (Dubai)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Dubai
Date:	16/08/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to do, You feel Safe, Beautiful Beaches, Shopping

Disadvantages: Nothing Major.

Dubai is a fantastic city to visit and one of the most "western tourist friendly" destinations in the Middle East. Despite recent media stories which claim Dubai is falling to pieces as a result of the recession, as a regular Dubai traveller (I have family there) I would have to say these storys are largely a load of tosh. Dubai is the city of "The World's Biggest" and some of the most amazing modern architecture, shopping malls, natural desert beauty and glorious beaches.

Dubai is of course one the emirates that make up the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and whilst it isn't the capital, it has the largest population. It's about 7 hours away from Heathrow and there are a whole selection of airlines doing this route, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic being the most reputable that offer it as a direct route. Dubai airport is stunning and passing through it is a very pleasant experience, one of my favourite international airports.

Dubai is quite cosmopolitan, there are a lot of native arabs as you'd expect, some of which are very rich and conspicuously so as they whizz down the highways in their ferraris. I would say that the most regularly seen people are the migrants from the Indian Sub Continent that generally work on the contruction projects occurring in Dubai, with some human rights groups having a problem with the small amount of money such workers are paid. There are also of course plenty of tourists in Dubai from all over the world.

Plenty to do, every tourist will want to go the beach and quite right too! Dubai has some of the most pristine beaches I have seen with amazing turquoise waters which are always amazingly clean. Infact, the beaches are regularly cleaned and also patrolled by Helicopter. The most accessible stretch of the beach is at the Jumeirah Beach Park which is easily reached from downtown Dubai with a quick taxi journey. Incidentally, the taxis in Dubai are very reasonably priced in comparison with the UK.

There are lots of shopping malls and shopping "markets", The Emirates Mall, The Ibn Battuta Mall and The Gold Souk being some of the most famous. Beware though, there is a lot of dodgy market trading and lots of fake Rolex watches on sale for about £5.

Dubai is worth a visit, it's an amazing country and doesn't really have ganglands or infamous crime. It's clean and modern, with beautiful beaches and rich shopping developments - One of the best places one can buy a ticket to, and it's not even that far from the UK really.

Summary: I love Dubai.