sky74

Hello - c'est moi again, with a different question. On my way to Katmandu I will have about a 30 hours layover in Dubai. I arrive into DXB at 21:30, and will fly out the next night on midnight flight to Katmandu. I am an American woman traveling by myself. I'd like to stay at a hotel that I can get to easily from the airport and from where I can visit any "must see" places in Dubai the following day. If they rent rooms for half days that would be even better, as I'd love to nap and shower before I get back on a plane. Does anyone have any hotel suggestions that might fit the bill? Also, what's the best way to get from the airport to a hotel at night? Are the taxis safe? Honest? I've heard Uber is the way to go. Is this going to be problem for a woman traveling by herself? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

747FC

Taxis are safe and readily available at the airport. You can get cash at the ATM that is directly after the exit from customs.

You have given no indication about your price point for hotels. One quite close to the airport is the Park Hyatt. Excellent. There is a guide who lives in the complex who is a woman expat from France, who does excellent tours.

Travel K

The Raffles Dubai is only about 15 minutes away. It is easy to use as a base for tours too, all things relative, of course.

RohanDXB

The nearest must-see to the airport would be Dubai Mall / Burj Khalifa and the farthest point if interest is Jumeirah Beach Residence at the other end of the city.

Between the airport and Dubai mall you have the following hotels
Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt & Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek, Intercontinental Dubai, Fairmont Dubai, Four Points by Sheraton, Shangri-La, The Address hotel & Armani (in the Burj Khalifa itself), St Regis, Westin & W.

At the other end of Dubai, you have Le Meridien and Westin in Dubai Marina, Intercontinental in Dubai Marina and Sheraton Mall of the Emirates.

Besides these there are a bunch of Sheratons (as I look at the list I can't help but be amazed at the impressive array of SPG properties in Dubai). I have only listed the global chains but you have Jumeirah group hotels & Rotana group hotels in addition to several other smaller chains and standalone properties. It really just depends on your budget. Given that it is peak season until Feb end, hotels will be expensive at all price levels (average $200 a night at the minimum).

Taxis in Dubai are perfectly safe. They do have taxis with pink roofs and these have female drivers should you prefer but they aren't as widespread. Uber cars are nice (and priced as such) and pretty easily available.

Ro

WorldLux

Taking the metro should be fine too. They have compartments for women and I was under the impression that it is respected by male passengers. Moreover, the metro and tramway stations I've been to, usually had multiple security personnel present.

The taxi is however most comfortable and they aren't that expensive. IIRC a cab from Dubai International to the Mariana (25 mi/40 km) was around 100-120 AED (~27 to 33 USD). Moreover I've never had a taxi refuse a ride (which can fairly frequent in other cities).

Duck1981

Hello

I recommend the JW Marriott Marquis, mainly because:

- its a 20min Taxi ride from the airport
- 5 Taxi min away from Burj Khalifa/ Dubai Mall
- it's halfway between DXB and Dubai Marina, which is worth a visit especially in the evening
- the place is modern and one of the tallest buildings in the world, so you might have a good view.

Not sure if of your interest but the hotel has a few bars and clubs so is buzzing Thursday/ Friday night.

Daniel

stargold

Hotel: You really need to tell us your budget in order for us to make any meaningful suggestions, because Dubai has the full spectrum between $30 and $1,000. Most decent hotels will let you use the spa and pool facilities even after check-out, so you should be able to relax and freshen up before going to the airport.

Transport: Taxis are fine everywhere. Very seldom have any problems with trickery and fare gouging. Uber works well too, do not cost a whole lot more than taxis, and typically much nicer cars (mid-size Lexus).

Safety: No worries at all, as long as you take common-sense precautions which apply all over the world.

pinniped

I have one night in Dubai in late September, a Saturday night, and I was surprised my first search at how inexpensive many hotels are. The aforementioned JW Marquis is $130/nt. I could pick anything up to a Ritz-Carlton in the $200 range.

So, excepting only the top few properties in town that are $500-1000/nt., where would you stay as a first-time visitor with one evening and one morning up through about noon in the city?

I have HH Diamond and Marriott Gold, but would be willing to explore outside my American-chain comfort zone if there are more interesting properties to visit anywhere at the Ritz price level or lower.

Don't have any particular agenda of what to do in town...mainly just want to take in the spectacle of Dubai. Doubtful that this will ever be a vacation destination for me beyond flight layovers...

TheMadeTraveler

Below are the hotels which are near to Dubai International Airport and in budget:

US $ 70 - Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai, Airport Road, Casablanca Street, Al Garhoud
4 Star Hotel
2 mins from Dubai International Airport

US $ 51 - Le Méridien Fairway, Al Garhoud Road
4 Star Hotel
6 mins from Dubai International Airport

US $ 103 - Pullman Dubai Creek City Centre, Deira City Centre, Port Saeed Road,Deira
5 Star Hotel
18 mins from Dubai International Airport

One should visit below places during your layover because they are famous and near to Hotel:

• Burj Khalifa
• Dubai Fountain
• Al Majlis
• Zen Gardens

pinniped

This may be a dumb question, but is there any part of this city that one would describe as walkable? (In late September, evening and morning...)

Is there a "neighborhood" I'd ideally book for a 1-night stay? Better to be right in the city or out on one of the island areas?

I don't need to be near the airport. Price isn't a big concern between $50/nt. and $200/nt. I just know I can't expense the Burj Al Arab...

Usually in a new city for a short time, I just want to experience a good local meal or two, walk through an interesting neighborhood, maybe check out a little bit of the nightlife, etc. In Dubai I might want to take a short water tour of some sorts. Only touristy thing I can think of that I sort of want to do is go up in the Burj Khalifa. (Even that could easily get pre-empted if there's some other more authentic local experience that takes up the available time.)

I don't really need to shop or visit malls. If I were there 2 days, I'd want to spend a day in the desert (somehow, however that is done), but in 1 day I assume meandering about the city is the most I'll do.

IAN-UK

If you want a (generally) non-glitz everyday area which is also accessible and walkable, then Deira might be good. No particular recommendation, but there's a perfectly nice but unexciting Holiday Inn a couple of hundred yards from al Riqqa metro. Lots of other 3- and 4- star hotels.

A large part of Deira is a short, no-change ride from the airport by metro. Select a hotel within walking distance of a metro station and you'll be able to get around the city easily and cheaply.

Dunno any island you might stay on. Abu Dhabi has those.

As for desert trips, any hotel concierge will be able to arrange those.

TheMadeTraveler

I have checked that there are good architect structures in Deira. Am I right?

IAN-UK

Deira was the commercial centre of Dubai, and much of the early development was in that area. Now commercial development has (largely) shifted its focus to the other side of the creek and along the coast in the direction of Abu Dhabi.

Deira continues to be of commercial importance but not on the high-end scale found along Sheik Zayed Road: it has some shopping malls, modern high rise office buildigs and hosts the port, fishing fleet and the gold souk. `and probably lots more i'm not aware of!

TheMadeTraveler

Thank you for updating the information about Deira.

I have heard 'Sheik Zayed Road' many times from my colleagues, friends, and relatives.

Hope I get a chance to explore it.

drvannostren

Don't wanna revive a dead topic, but I didn't wanna start a new one either...

I've got just over 12 hours, arriving at 1900, departing at 0900. Never been to Dubai before, not sure if/when I'll get back (on the way back the layover is less than 12 hours, so I've booked a hotel with the goal of getting some Aeroplan miles I need, Best Western Plus River Pearl or whatever, more focused on being near the airport and just sleeping before a long flight) so I'd like to see the Burj Dubai and walk around a bit or see a couple other sights.

My criteria is making the transportation cheap. I don't wanna spend $20-30 CAD just to get to/from the hotel, normally when I go places I try to stick to public transit. Looks like Dubai airport is well connected with the metro, but I'm just basing it of the map having never used it. My problem with the hotels aren't that I can't find one in my budget (I'd prefer < $80 CAD but I'd pay < $100 CAD if I can earn a decent amount of Aeroplan miles or SPG points or Asiana miles) it's that I can't decide cuz there's so damn many. I don't know what's a luxury hotel or what's a faux luxury hotel. I don't usually stay in hotels, generally I find them too expensive for what you get, especially in North America/Western Europe, so I go airbnb. I'm totally fine with places like Ramada, Crowne Plaza is like classy for me. I'm not aiming for Ritz Carlton here or anything, if the price were there I'd do it though, don't get me wrong. It also seems like most hotels, even the ones right near the airport don't offer free airport shuttles, they have shuttles to the beach or mall, but not the airport, what's up with that?

But I saw hotels like The Carlton Downtown, M by Millenium (or something like that) near Burj Dubai, multiple hotels near the airport looked nice and were decently priced, but based on what I read about the size of Dubai, there's not really a reason to stay near the airport if you don't have to be back there super early.

So, tl;dr...

1. Would like to not spend a bunch of money getting to/from hotel...

2. Would like to see some sights, it's nice if they're close by.

3. Would like to spend < $80 CAD, but will go to < $100 CAD if there's AP/SPG/OZ miles to be earned (so usually a chain hotel which I'm a bit more comfortable with anyway)

4. Shouldn't be faux nice. I have a hard time explaining that, but there's lots of "4 star rated" hotels that don't live up to it at all. I've stayed at a couple in Colombia where they were crap for how much more you paid over a budget hotel.

5. Should have free wifi, I always forget to mention that cuz I forget there's hotels out there that don't offer it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Dates would be Check-in Sep 11, 2018 Check-out Sep 12, 2018 if anyone was gonna look for a specific price...but I'm happy to do that myself if people can gimme names of hotels they think I should look at.