saint77

first Uber ride in Dubai was 45+ minutes in light traffic in a big Lexus
AED 140 ($38), taxi would be similar price but Lexus was more comfortable

seemed like an odyssey compared to DXB, will not repeat this route soon, probably OK if you are in the Marina area

however the airport is empty, no waiting at x-ray and the Marhaba lounge is decent

sharp5flat9

Sharjah would have been closer if you wanted to avoid DXB. I always try to use SHJ or DWC when flying into Dubai, depending on which end of the city I need to be in. I can be kerbside in 15-20 mins from leaving the aircraft, taking care to avoid the Sharjah rush hour traffic mayhem, of course. I usually fly QR.

Leaving Dubai, DXB is not so bad and the lounge situation is better.

The mid-way point between DXB and DWC is somewhere just north of the Palm.

WorldLux

I guess that depends where you originally come from. I usually fly into DXB from Europe (where I had my first transit). Surely I could fly into DWC, but I'm loosing the saved time at immigration during the transit (40 or 45 min MCT) in DOH (unless DXB is heavily congested and you spend eternity circling in holds).

Furthermore, so far I was under the impression, that you leave traffic mayhem rather quickly behind if you head south to Jumeirah/Dubai Marina. You could avoid rush hour around Sharjah altogether by taking the Metro south to Dubai Mall or Mall of the Emirates and hailing a cab/Uber from there on, but traveling on the Metro during rush hour with luggage isn't fun either.

Arriving and departing in DXB is however annoying. Departure immigration and security took a while, especially as they mix people requiring visa with travelers arriving/departing under the visa waiver program. In February, arrival immigration at Terminal 1 was so overcrowded, that they send me first to the GCC nationals lines before sending me to the Niqab lane.