Dubai is a city and an Emirate, in the United Arab Emirates. The emirate of Dubai is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is one of seven that make up the country.
We visited Dubai in January 2013 and stayed for 5 nights as part of our honeymoon, and we loved it. Dubai, has only two seasons, Summer and Winter. Summer starts around mid April. The temperature is around 30-32C till end April. Then it gradually starts increasing. So during June to October the temperature will vary from 35 – 40C. This is the extremely hot season of the year. Also, there are days where the temperature could go up to 45C.
“Winter” starts around the beginning of November. Dubai weather changes from extremely hot and humid to nice and cool days in November. Temperature could drop from 33C to 20C during this month. December-January is the peak of winter. Temperature could drop to 15C during the daytime.
We stayed at the Al Manzil hotel, located in down town Dubai which is the area that surrounds the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa. Our hotel was also only 200 meters from the Dubai Mall, also the largest in the world, handy for anything and everything.
During our stay, we did a half day city tour which I would recommend that you do early in your stay to get your bearings around this massive city. Taxi’s are the cheapest way to get around and are all air conditioned, which come in handy for the Summer months.
No trip to Dubai should be without a day tour to the desert. We did the quad bike tour at sunset which was definitely worthwhile, but there are also 4WD tours that are recommended for Summer months. Both tours include hotel pickup, transfers, touring, camel rides, henna and a night of Arabian entertainment in a private fort, including dinner.
I picked up a rental car in Dubai, for which you must have an international drivers license and passport to collect, and GPS is a MUST! We drove to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and after about 1 hour of straight highway, we arrived at Ferrari World. This Ferrari themed, theme park was filled with fun for all ages, and included rollacoasters, with the Testerosa Ride simulating a formula 1 racing car was the best ride I have been on EVER!!
Another must during your stay would have to be the Atlantis the Palm. There is a massive water park along with other attractions to see and do on this man made reclaimed land that stretches out from the Dubai coast line.
Finally, if you are not afraid of heights, a trip to the highest point of the Burj Khalifa would allow you to see the entire city of Dubai. Tickets must be prebooked so you don’t miss out!
