Dubai Travel Experience Part 2 – Shopping & Sight Seeing

The moment I landed in Dubai, first thing that came to my mind was shopping. We decided to quickly freshen up and leave for a day full of shopping and looking around. Hotel I was staying Four Points By Sheraton is very close to the metro station and train goes to The Dubai Mall which was 4.5 Km away (from financial centre station). We thought of experiencing metro ride and Oh boy that was the biggest mistake we committed. After getting down at The Dubai Mall station we were walking for good 10-12 minutes because it was way too far. Station directly connects you to the mall but the distance from actual place to board a train and mall is way too much. So my advice would be not to visit the mall by metro, take a cab. This is what we did the next time, it took us just 10 minutes to reach the mall through taxi with no walking involved. Check out the Dubai Travel Part 1 Here

Day 1

The Dubai Mall – Also known as the biggest mall in the world with around 1200 shops. True to its claims the size of the mall and its vastness is overwhelming. Believe me no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t visit the entire mall in one go. It was slightly confusing as well. So we decided to visit it by levels. The mall’s website is not updates and couple of stores weren’t there. I did my homework before leaving the country since I didn’t want to spend much time in scanning malls to find the brands, however The Face Shop & Daiso Japan stores aren’t available there. Apart from these two I visited Sephora, Bloomingdales, Bobbi Brown, Victoria’s Secrets, Bath & Body Works, Boots. Here are some pictures of the mall .

I went to Bloomingdales looking for Burberry Makeup, however the brand is no longer available there. This multi-brand store has all the high end brands available.

Victoria’s Secrets has deals & sale going on so I picked couple of body Mists. Staff in both the stores was quite helpful and helped me in picking desired shades/products. I also spotted Formula X nail polishes from Sephora Brand, since these are receiving such rave reviews, I decided to pick two of them. One is glittery & other one is a beautiful neutral shade.

Boots visit was quite disappointing from the price point. Drugstore brands like Berry M, Revlon & loreal were overly priced. I wanted to pick Revlon Nearly Naked foundation but didn’t because of the price tag, it was for 99 DHS which is around 1700 INR, and that’s insane. I would rather buy Dior than Revlon at that price. Even No 7 brand was insanely expensive or I would have bought their lipsticks. I only picked L’Oreal Elnett spray & one Berry M Glitter Nail paint from there.

Sephora Dubai has major brands like Marc Jacobs, Bare Minerals, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Nars (brands that aren’t available in India). I went in looking for some good gift sets but couldn’t find any good one. I picked up a blush and lipstick from Marc Jacobs though. Number of shades from Nars audacious lipsticks were out of stock and the available ones didn’t appealed to me. Store was very crowded and I get confused when there is too much mob, so I quickly paid for the stuff I had chosen and left the store.

The Dubai Mall also has an aquarium & under water zoo which we couldn’t visit. It has lots of stand alone food stores as well as a huge food court available. We ate at Nando’s and Wafi Gourmet. A picture of the Barbeque Chicken with fries is below for all of you to drool over.. 😀

Entry to Burj Khalifa is from The Dubai Mall only. One can buy ticket for Burj Khalifa from there only and its interconnected. There are couple of options available, we however chose to take the fast track one , which offers panoramic view of the city from the 148 level (the highest observation desk). Cost of the ticket was 300 dhs each. It was a guided tour and refreshments (Juice & Sweets) were offered throughout the tour. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world with 160+ floors and super fast elevators.

The Dubai Fountain which is a choreographed fountain show at Burj Khalifa Lake is just outside the Dubai Mall. Oh God the show which lasts 5 minutes is amazing !

Day 2

Next day we had a word with Martin, who was always available at the bell desk at Four Points By Sheraton. He advise us to visit al the places that are connected through metro in one go. We took the metro which took us Dubai Marina & from there through the tram & mono rail we reached Atlantis The Palm. Its a huge hotel with a fish aquarium and water park.

We visited The Lost Chambers Aquarium, the entry ticket to which was 120 dhs each. Place is mesmerizing and one can spend hours sitting in front of those humongous aquariums.

Travelling to Atlantis is not easy as it needs Metro + Tram + Mono Rail rides and if I include Aquarium & water park visit, it will need one full day.

Mall Of The Emirates – Since we decided to travel by metro , Mall Of The Emirates was next on our list. Its again a huge mall with almost every brand from high end luxury to boots etc. Due to Christmas mall was beautifully decorated. I picked a couple of Body mists from here because the SA was too good and helped me deciding on the fragrances.

One can enjoy skiing at the mall. Its a beautiful separate area laden with snow, full of penguins, rides & fun experiences for kids. We decided to skip it since I am not much of sports/adventurous person. There is an entry fee for this place.

At the end we had our late lunch at The Indian Pavilion restaurant at the mall. However you can also enjoy at the food court on the ground floor which we discovered later. It had lot more options and a huge seating area.

Later in the evening we went to Madinat Jumeirah  to meet a friend. Its a beautiful Arabic themed resort with a small but beautiful market known as Madinat Souk on the ground floor. Its a beautiful warm place with few restaurants. I loved it for its rustic charm and simplicity. If you love lounges, do check out Pacha Club, which is on the right side of the entrance to Madinat Jumeirah.

Then at the night we went to Dubai Marina Walk. Place is beautiful with restaurants at on side and lake on the other side. You can also see sky-scrapers gleaming in the background. Whole place is stunningly gorgeous.. We took a long walk there and went back to hotel.

Day 3

Like day 2, we decided to cover places that were close to each other and didn’t require much travelling. We decided to Visit Dragon Mart (Al Awir Road) which is a Chinese Market that is known for affordable goods, you name it and they have it, right from the replicas of Ted Baker & Michael Kores to Carpets & Toys. The market attracts lots of people on daily basis. It has a decent sized food court and some food counters across the mart. We picked couple of toys for my daughter. Rest everything was meh ! So I wouldn’t recommend going there unless you have lots of electronic or clothing items to buy.

Miracle Garden (Al Barsha South 3) – Its a beautiful garden with floral sculptures & stunning designs. Its gorgeous & Huge with restaurants along the sidewalk. Entry ticket is 30 DHS. We had Kadak Chai and samosa there and then we left for Global Village.

Global Village (Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Road) – This place is like a mini world. It has stalls of all the countries where they offer experience of culture, food & heritage of their countries. There is a lake in the middle where you can see musical fountains and boats. Place is beautiful and a must visit in my opinion.

Day 4

Desert Safari – You can book tickets to desert safari in advance as well. We got our tickets booked from here only and it costed 40$ per person. Safari is inclusive of thrilling ride of sand dunes and a night of entertainment (belly dance, fire show & Buffet Dinner). The trip is inclusive of pick and drop from the hotel you staying in. I loved the ride but rest of the arrangement was clumsy , and food unappetizing.

Day 5

Gurunanak Darbar – A Gurudwara situated at Jebel Ali. Best way to reach there is to take Dubai Metro and take ticket to Energy Station, two stations before Jebel Ali (Last station on the route). Gurudwara devotees runs free cabs from metro station to the Gurunanak Darbar.  We had langar (food) there, believe me or not it was the best meal I had in the entire trip.

Ibn E Battuta Mall – Close to Jebel Ali, Its a large arabian theme based mall. Ceiling looks like open sky with clouds and stars. I found Daiso Japan here though everything was expensive in that store. We looked around for few minutes and then left the place.

Deira City Centre – Its again a mall with over 250 shops and restaurants. I was able to find The Face Shop & Daiso Japan here which I was searching at The Dubai Mall. By the time we reached the mall I was exhausted and didn’t buy anything.

My quick Dubai Haul for all of you. I will be reviewing these soon along with their prices –

I believe we were able to cover a lot of places in such a short span. I would love to be in Dubai again for shopping purposes. I will highly recommend checking with the hotel’s bell desk and asking their advice and plan sight seeing accordingly. Try to travel by metro as much as you can to cut down on travel costs.