Transiting through Dubai
 

Hello All,

I am in the process of finding a ticket from London to Sydney and am considering flying via Dubai with a brief stopover to see the city. I find some very good deals via Dubai but none of them offer a transit time of more than 6 hours in Dubai. Is this enough time to get into the city and take in some sights or would I be better off spending a bit more and breaking my journey in Dubai?

First of all, welcome to FT! :)

You might be better served posting this in the "Middle East" or "Emirates" forums. I've only transited through Dubai (DXB) twice, and I don't think 6 hours is really enough to leave the airport and do anything. The airport has plenty of shopping and other distractions though (something to look into). If you really want to spend some time in Dubai, I would reccomend something like 20 hours and not overnight, so that you can get a full day to see things (probably from inside a bus due to the heat). My sister did a 3 day stopover and loved it, did a desert safari amongst other things...

My other layover was an overnight one and it was just enough time to get into a hotel, sleep, do my morning things and get back to the airport. All I saw of the city was through my hotel van's window...

Yatri, welcome to FlyerTalk! The advice to continue discussion in our Middle East forum is good and, to make that easy, I'll move this thread to that forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

I agree with Jamoldo, 6 hours is really cutting it close. DXB is large, and immigration can take a long time -- it usually takes me a good hour to get out, plus you should allow two hours to get back in.

So that leaves three hours. You could do any number of things:

(1) Have a taxi drive you along Shaikh Zayed Road along a loop to the Mall of the Emirates (on your left), then to the Marina (on your right), then along Jumeirah Beach back toward the airport. With no traffic, this trip would probably take 1.5-2 hours, and you'd see the basic skyline and key landmarks in the city. But, as I am sure you have read about Dubai, "no traffic" is unheard of and the traffic on these main routes can be horrible. Frankly, I would not risk this with three hours.

(2) Take a ride to Deira, the old part of the city, and walk around downtown and the creek. This is not too interesting, but you could do it 3 hours -- with no traffic, it could be as little as ten minutes each way, but allowing 30-45 is more realistic.

(3) Just relax and have a meal somewhere near the airport, like the Park Hyatt, Sheraton Dubai Creek, or Le Meridien.

Thanks!
 

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I spent some more time researching Dubai before finally buying my ticket. There are a couple of useful sites I found

http://www.dubaicityguide.com
http://dubaidesk.com

I eventually concluded that a 6h stopover would be far too stressful and ended up deciding to spend more and stop over for 3 days instead.

From what I have read it sounds like you have to plan your movements around Dubai with military precision coz the traffic is nightmarish. Is that really the case?

EK used to allow stopovers in Dubai free of charge. It might be worth calling them to see if this is still the case.

As others have mentioned, in order to do something within your timeframe, traffic will have to work in your favor. This is rarely a good idea in Dubai. Explore the airport-there is plenty to keep you busy for a few hours.

If you are flying in C or F class, just relax in the lounge.

I'd do #1 that mecabq recommends above, if you're feeling lucky.

But just to stretch your legs, it might be 'interesting' to take a quick taxi to Deira City Centre to see a typical Middle Eastern past-time (i.e. walking around a shopping mall) because it's quite close to the airport. Or take a taxi to the Irish Village (also very close to the airport), for a pint of guinness in the sunshine. It's quite a nice setting, and less than 5 mins by taxi.

Traffic can be diabolical, are you intending on staying in the City or Jumeirah ? Most Jumeirah hotels have a free shuttle bus into various areas of the City. There's also the hop on / hop off Big bus tour

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/dubai/default.aspx

Also come over to the very active tripadvisor Dubai forum

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...872-Dubai.html

We don't bite unless you ask " will it be too hot for me " or " how much money will I need " :D