With all due respect, I don't think my opinion is 'over the top' at all ; in fact, before my trip when I checked the Mövenpick rates were over AED 1000 -- what time of year were you traveling? Or maybe as a graduate student I had a different budget than you. :p

Well no wonder they are smart they see a Tourist a mile away.
As for my ethnic backround well my mother is Lebanese(enough said) spend almost half my youth in Beirut,As for my look i have no problems there either and for the wallet well the last time i paid for (it) was at the age of 18 :D

Has Beirut really been THAT bad towards you SMART51 :confused: . Really sorry about that :( . Next time you are here (sounds like "Never again" to me though :D ), please let me know. I would love to take you around and show you the side of Beirut you need to see :) .

I am in Beirut today, and stick to my earlier comment, this is a different part of the world than the Gulf. The social/legal/economic/geographic factors are totally different, they are incomparable.

I've been to Dubai 6 or 7 times. It's fine for a couple of days (shopping, a desert trip, the souk and an abra ride) - or if you just want to sit by the pool in the sun as increasing numbers of Brits are doing. If you have not visited the Gulf before it is an easy introduction...but it is fundamentally quite dull and really reminds me of an upmarket Spanish costa. Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are not much more exciting either.

Oman is the only country in the region I have visited that really delivers a cultural and historical punch. Saudi does too, but in a different way!

And GK is quite right - the Levant and North African countries are a world away from the Gulf.

Sure they are totally different. Agreed!

However the initial question of the thread initiator was: "My first trip to the Middle east - Dubai"...any tips...

And well, i would recommend for the first ME experience Beirut/Lebanon. However it depends what everybody EXPECTS and/or wants to EXPERIENCE.

If you want to enjoy a convenient touristic life with shopping, fantastic hotels and desert trips, Dubai should be your choice.

If heavy meeting the locals and learning about all the contradiction of "middle eastern" and "western" including a rich history and fantastic nightlife.. Beirut should be one's choice.

Wanna taste? check here:

http://bn.energyradio.fm/i/bn/video1.swf

http://beirutnights.com/lebanon.asx

Early July.

I'll grant you that the "Paris of the Middle East" has a richer history as Dubai was mostly empty 30 years ago. However I don't go to Dubai primarily for tourism. I go for business. So I do spend a lot of time with the locals (both nationals and residents), enjoy the fantastic nightlife, and learn all about the contradictions of "middle eastern" and "western".

But as others have said, the two places are very different so I'll repeat my suggestion to visit both.

You drove while there ? You've got bigger balls than me Garaps :D

Got a deluxe plus room at Hilton Jumeirah for 350 Aed in July

Hotel rates in the incredibly hot summer are always cheap. Rates in January can be tougher, but there are so many hotels now I always find a deal somewhere.

As for driving, its easy in Dubai! I have always rented a car, even my first time. It's so spread out you really need a car to be free to see what you want to see.

I didn't think of it as a particular achievement. If anything, I thought driving around Dubai was very easy! Renting a car was well worth it as it gave me a semi-private, airconditioned place to relax before checking into my hotel (my flight was arriving at around 1:30 a.m., there was no way I would pay a full night's rate or that the hotel would let me into my room at 3 for anything less).

Driving is more of an adventure in Beirut than in Dubai. Remember all the craters and cars packed in ways that cars should not be packed in a road?

Both are great places to visit ... and quite different from one another.

There was a time when everyone with money in the vicinity of the Arabian peninsula (and immediately neighboring countries) would try to get over to Beirut (or elsewhere in Lebanon) for some part of the year or another (the R. Karami years come to mind). Now, that same traffic is generally more toward Dubai than toward Beirut -- with the exception of people of Syrian-Lebanese origin.

Presently the Best Value Hotel deal [Low Season]is the 5 Star Sheraton on Jumierah Beach, The quieter part, for UED500 or around $140 a night thats for a De-luxe Sea View. ^

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sherat...D=1326&back=-1

Will do that with Pleasure :)
Should be in the area in August

So its not just me :D