It’s always surprised us the amount of people that have questioned our visits to Dubai. In fact, it’s one of three places we have only ever visited twice, the others are Vegas and California! So why do we love it so much there?
Firstly, I want to highlight that Dubai is up and coming, so it’s getting – i guess it already is – really popular, which only means one thing, it can be expensive! So it probably isn’t the first choice for most families to go on a short break, BUT we’ve cracked it.
Every single year in May, Muslims will celebrate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic Belief, known as Ramadan. What what that means to us is that Muslims will ‘fast’ from Dawn until sunset. Meaning Muslims will refrain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking, and engaging in sexual relations. This will last around 29 – 30 days.
Why is that important to me if I’m not Muslim?
We have noticed that booking your trip to Dubai in this time is significantly cheaper than other months. Many people will be put off from this because it may limit certain activities, like drinking in public during Ramadan hours. However some resorts will allow you to drink alcohol in moderation. Also, if it’s your birthday whilst there, like it was mine, and you head out of the resort, don’t expect them to make a big deal out of you. I was whispered the happy birthday song by 4 people surrounding us. Wasn’t weird. At all.
I think many people are just very cautious to go to Dubai during this time, which i do understand but Muslims are some of the most kindest people we have had the pleasure of meeting and just because they are hungry, it doesn’t mean to say they get HANGRY! They deal with it so much better than I ever would be able to! It really doesn’t impact anyone wanting to visit Dubai during Ramadan! So there you go, look out for this years cheap deal while you can! We always book through Virgin Holidays, we how found they do the best Flight and Hotel packages – they even had us picked up from the airport in a private taxi to be taken to our hotel!
Okay so whilst you’re in Dubai, what is there to do and see. where to stay?
Well actually Dubai has a TON of stuff to do, especially with children.
Accommodation –
We actually stayed in the same place both times we visited Dubai, and for good reasons too. It Incredible!
We staying in The Atlantis Palm, its located right at the top of the famous palm island of Dubai, if you get a good room you have the most perfect backdrop of the Palm 😉 But a hotel is just a room right? Not this one, it’s absolutely breathtaking and one of a kind. Because we have always visited Dubai in May, that actually means the weather is hot, very hot. Like if you can’t get to a pool within the space of 30 minutes you’re gunna struggle kinda hot. Good thing this place has THE best water park we’ve ever been too, and Stu and I have been to our fair share of water parks. It’s literally perfect for all ages from newborn right up to 100+. (anyway can actually go to this water park – at a cost of course!)
It’s even added bonuses like spa, fitness area and a kids club. All of which we did not use (because there was way too many slides to fit in to one day!) but looked great all the same. ACTUALLY, i lie, Stu once met a tennis trainer whilst we were there and met up with him to play tennis a few times on the hotels courts – apparently it was a little hot Haha.
Then when the weather gets too hot for you, just take a stroll through the hotel where you’ll find the most incredible Aquarium (where you have unlimited access as a hotel guest), as you walk through you’ll be met with different chambers of the Aquarium, some of the rooms are packed full of cushions for you to chill and lay on the floor and just watch as the marine life swimming past you. This was my go to place for nap time, whilst the kids slept (usually Phoenix), I would just lay there, watching and spotting all my favourite fish! It’s actually super quiet during the day too, even though that’s the best time to go because of the light the water gets from the sun.
We have always got half board whilst there, and making sure we play it smart. It saves us a fortune! We’ll make sure we eat everything possible in the Buffet restaurant for breakfast, perhaps we’d take a muffin or two…or three before we’d leave, this would keep us going through the day. Then we’d buy one of the Atlantis palm refill bottles, bring the bottled water from our room each day down to the pool and politely ask the cafe workers poolside to put some ice in the refill bottles 😀 This would give us unlimited water throughout the day. It’s incredible important to drink plenty of water whilst spending the day at the pool and this was a great solution.
Come evening we would visit one of the restaurants they had on offer within the hotel, all included in your package bar a couple of fancy ones that you’d pay for. But the ones that are included were fantastic anyways! Make sure you try and visit all of them!
Things to do:
So after that ramble about accommodation I want to share with you a list of some of what we got up to whilst there. We usually spend most of our days around the pool so it’s more of a chilled 5 days rather than packed full of sightseeing. You can make it as cheap or expensive as you like and still have an amazing time!
- Burj Khalifa
- Desert Safari, camel ride, sandboarding and evening dinner and dance – Couldn’t recommend this enough. We booked with Arabian nights tours, who was incredible from the moment they picked us up to dropping us off. We done this with our 1.5 year old and 3 year old. They also provided a car seat for both of children, and our driver was so friendly and helpful, he was lovely with our children, in fact Indiana spent most of our time in the desert with him.
- Dubai fountain show
- Souk Madinat Jumeirah – That was a wonderful afternoon/evening – I recommend eating at ‘The Meat Co‘ and then go for a canal ride along the river where you get beautiful views of the Burj al arab Jumeirah
- Dubai Garden Glow
So there you have it. Our review on Dubai, we really do rate it there and have a lot of love for the country and people – perhaps not their ruler but that’s a whole another blog post 😉
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